Ben Shoemate's Notebook

[DEMOFall 08] I recently tested an innovative travel site PlanetEye so, when I saw this one in the DEMO company list I wanted to try it. TravelMuse is less visual exploration oriented than PlanetEye and it also offers the social networking component that a lot of new travel sites have now. Having performed a quick test late at night, I cannot tell about the extended features. It seems that this site allows more collaboration with co-travelers than any of the sites that I visited. The Trip Planner is the core of the user experience and it allows people to collect all their interests and potential activities in a very interactive schedule page that displays a day by day plan. It is possible to collect information found on TravelMuse and on other sites. The option to share any trip information found on TravelMuse with a wide selection of social networking sites is also pretty neat. I like the combination of information discovery, collaborative social networking and the solid booking engine capability (provided by WorldChoice Travel, a division of Travelocity).

Add a comment | From: TravelMuse: the Social Trip Planner | Visit Ubergizmo

[DEMOFall 08] Finally! Someone is coming up with a universal login for the internet, that will (I hope) replace the painful-to-use Open ID. I have not tested the service yet, so I will update this article after I do. Idea: the user can download a UsableLogin browser extension, personalize it with a photo and a password that is an easy word to remember for them. Each time he/she needs to login to a website, whether it is a bank account or a social network, the UsableLogin box appears and the simple password is typed. The photo is also part of the security features, when the user sees it, it means that the web site he/she is login into has been authenticated. The technology behind the box creates a complex password that is only used by that website, it combines the user's codeword with secret information from different sources like the computer the person's is using, the Usable Security's servers and the website. UsableLogin is compatible with any browser or operating system. The interesting concept is that Usable Security never stores the user's word and websites never see it. That's great!

It will be available in early 2009 and you can get it from the Usable website.

Add a comment | From: Usable Login: the Universal Login | Visit Ubergizmo