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The introduction of Web TV service by Aereo is going to lead to another serious threat to the cable TV companies by offering lower-cost choices to customers with the same channels you may get thru cable TV. In addition to your television, it provides live TV on smartphones, computers and tablets, through a set-top box. Aereo is going to change the cable tv industry, no matter Aereo succeed or not in pursuing this idea, the revolution will keep going, and cable tv companies cannot ignore the fact.

Mobile users are not just playing Angry Birds or checking the local weather, 38% have used their mobile devices to plan a trip and 60% of respondents said they have downloaded travel apps on their mobile devices, according to a TripAdvisor survey. While travelling, 62% of travelers said they use their mobile devices to research restaurants. 51% check their flight status and 46% research attraction, 28% have checked in to a restaurant, hotel or attraction using their mobile device while on a trip, according to TripAdvisor. (travelmole, May 2011). A research conducted by PhoCusWright shows that 75% of frequent business travelers (those making at least five trips a year) are smartphone owners. About half of frequent leisure travelers have smartphones. There's more than enough evidence for the hospitality industry to use mobile apps, and some hotels have already started and are successfully doing it.

There are many ways to help the environment, especially when it comes to deciding what to do with old electronic gadgets. What will you do with your old phone, if there is a new one coming out soon? What will you do if there is a new computer with new features from apple that comes out next month? We are all tempted to buy new products and tend to forget about the old ones we have that get piled up at home. There are so many solutions, to help prevent the world from getting polluted with toxic elements that are harmful to the people. Many solutions that this article mentions are we can resell our items, we can donate to the less fortunate i.e schools etc, we can recycle to save energy and valuable resources and so much more. Many of us tend to pile up our electronics gadgets because we feel some sort of attachment to it. Like the author mentioned, he feels guilty throwing them in the trash. As stated, the inner workings of electronics "can contain toxic materials including lead, beryllium, cadmium and flame retardants. If crushed or burned these materials can seep into the environment and harm human health." With that being said, we have to make smart decisions so we can save the world we live in!

You probably still think of it as a "cash register" - basically a fancy calculator and cash drawer that sits at the end of the shopping aisle just before the exit, which gives you the correct change on your way out. The modern point-of-sale (POS) system is a tightly integrated computer that almost certainly knows all about your buying history, how often you shop online and what you're likely to buy next week Computers can work out if you are sick and how often, the number of people you live with, if you have pets and can even make an educated guess as to your pregnancy status. One of the biggest shifts recently in POS technology is to make the "point" mobile. Apple stores have championed this. Its "associates" interact with their customers and finish the transaction on the spot. Now others are following. We will all see POS systems becoming more customer friendly and ever present in our everyday lives. So far the self-checkout has been targeted at consumers who have a little bit of pioneer spirit and plenty of patience.

This article is talked about the company's new door lock system that uses Bluetooth connectivity to allow guests with smartphones to bypass check-in and unlock their door simply by touching the handle. The guests can download the hotel's app, and put their username and password in, and then it links the reservation to their mobile devices. This system is providing guests convenience as well as automation when they check-in and out from the hotel but keep the safety. What is more, this automating the check-in experience was not meant to deemphasize the role of the concierge and other human staff, but to enhance it. The reason for appling this system is that customizing the guest's room in the best benefit, reducing the guests' trouble, and helping guests to get the real experience they are looking for.

This article looked at the views on IT investments of Hospitality Technology's Editorial Advisory Board. The Board represents a variety of hospitality industries. The article focused on areas of improvement, emerging technologies, IT priorities for 2012, "wish list" IT investments, and more. Among the areas for improvement, guest Wi-Fi and mobile apps, loss prevention technologies, and social media targeting older clientele topped the list. Older guests connecting to and understanding social media are a worry among many of the Board members as well as lack of standardized, secure payment methods. Many also mention that their current systems (POS in particular) tend to hold them back from implementing new IT technologies because they would not be compatible.  Most Board members listed having mobile devices that could be used for a variety of purposes on the guest end as well as on the business end would be top on their "wish list" for IT implementations. With almost everyone owning smartphones today, I think this would be the smartest and most effective IT implementation to invest in. Many customers and guests are looking for easy and accessible ways of navigating through the hotel and restaurant environments without extensive help from others. Since many people, especially the generation coming up, are more and more attached to their phones and tablets, mobile apps for nearly everything seems like the smart way to go.  Cloud-based servers were a close second in terms of what they wanted in invest in. Many of the Board members pinpointed technologies that have been around but are still new, especially in their respective areas, when speaking of useful emerging technologies. Mobile apps, tablet and 73456

this article gives a great overview of the steps leaders in the Hospitality industry are taking towards new technology. In this article members of the industry were interview regarding weaknesses in the current hospitality market as well as emerging trends that each believe is in rapid increase. Some of the answers give very interesting approach towards technology. Although, overall it seems that the number one emerging technology is the use of cloud-based/mobile-based services.

Two former restaurant servers have developed software that provides an end-to-end point-of-sale (POS) system that allows taking and submitting orders, printing kitchen slips, customer receipts and processing payments-all using an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. Ambur does not require a computer on the back end. Instead the hand-held device is the hub. The program can be loaded up by any iOS device and run on a wireless network. Waiters can easily fulfill customer requests right at the table. One drawback is that some customers have complained because they thought the waiter was texting on their iPhone.

Priceline has launched their online same day booking application for iPhone users.  The app will soon be available for Android users as well. Travelers are able to search for last minute inventory from 165 countries and 200,000 properties, the app shows a list of available hotels in the area of the device the user is using to search for hotels.  The quick 2 step process to booking a hotel is easy to use and user friendly, guests also get a map with directions on their display to help them find their hotel.  This technology was introduced last year and had secured $1 billion in transactions 40% of the mobile bookings were for the same day reservations. Today's travelers and consumers are looking for instant deals, bookings, and conformation, with the technology of this app and the continued improvements consumers continue to be in their favor. 

I was really surprised when I read this list of high technology enhancement because the hotel I work in already has all these features. I guess just as in life you can take things for granted and working at a 4 star hotel maybe I took it for granted myself. There must be thousands of hotels out their that don't offer these features, Marriott is a huge company and its nice to know they are up to date with the latest technology.This list I assume is the norm in 4 star hotels and probably in the near future will be the norm in all hotels.

NEW YORK, NY, Jun 26, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Infor, a leading provider of business application software serving more than 70,000 customers, today announced the availability of Infor10 HMS Hotel Check-In, an innovative hospitality management application for the Apple(TM) iPad.

The Infor10 HMS Hotel Check-In enables check-in to run much more smoothly with staff now having the ability to provide room assignments, registration cards with online signature options, credit card swipes and hotel room key generation straight from the iPad. Our society is based now based around the use of technology in our everyday lives. Almost everyone has a smartphone these days and everyone uses it like their own personal assistant. The hospitality industry has to keep up with this growing trend and this is a step in the right direction. . "Enabling many hotel functions on mobile devices will help hotels better communicate, allowing them to respond to guest questions and needs in real-time giving them a leg up on the competition. Providing a more personalized experience to guests will help increase overall satisfaction, encouraging more repeat visits." This innovative technology is not just to increase customer arrival experience but also to increase operational efficiency. This device is equipped with the lastest technology that can connect the front of the house to the back of the house and basically throughout the hotel to ease communication. This tool is just one of many that I believe will be seen in the coming years in the hotel/lodging industry. It will increase the customer arrival experience and contribute to the increase of repeating guests.

This article introduce a very nice, brand new 3D application that can help many tourists when they arrive, in Baltimore. As useful as the app may be to tourists, it's pretty sad that they have all these lovely features for one city and nowhere else.We can see that from google map to this 3D map, seems like it is a trend that the companies are developing theapplication of navigating tourists. However, I'm glad that they haven't revealed this app to the App Store or Play Store yet for the public because they need to expand their horizons before they even think to release it to the market. But as long as they improve this app and release to the public, it will be great convenience for the tourists.

I highlighted the two passages I found to be most interesting in blue. I read that the system will update it's self every 24 hours but I'm wondering if that would include the forecast and traffic conditions. Does this also offer some type of naviagation device weather it be by car or foot? Baltimore, can be a rather rough city at time. I know that it will high light tourist attractions, convention centers, etc. But will it highlight street names and areas that travelers should stay away from?

The Intelity's ICE is a new virtual concierge program, as a digital supplement to its renowned "GEM" (guest engagement manager) service, which is established in Mogans hotel in New York. By launching the Intelity's ICE, nearly all guests' requirements can be accomplished quickly, for guests can explore the amenities in the hotels, search for events in the city, buy tickets and communicate with the hotel working staff through an ipad in each room. Not only that, but the hotel managers also find it a great program to communicate with the working staff. To the hotel managers, they think that the program can enhance customer service and increase communication opportunities as well as heightening operational efficiencies

I found the mobile app to be most interesting because my article disscussed that as well. I feel that the mobil app will certainily create a unique experience for the visting guest. By going digital there are many benefits to not only the guests but the environment as well. There will be longer be a need for plastic room keys, or large amounts of paper. Hotels will be able to save expenses and man power by providing systems like the new virtual concierge program. In particular, you won't need to hire so many people to book reservations over the telephone. Everything can be done through the Ipad which most people have now a days anyway. However, I would feel better if there was trouble shooter around should the guest not be able to comprehend the technologic system.

This article presents insight into the best technology available right now to put into a new construction or facelift of a hotel.  From the basics like HDTV and internet connection, to facial recognition key locks, this article discusses the trend in the industry.  It also discusses energy management systems, which are clues that the industry is evolving and looking to save cost and the environment at the same time.  These style of systems, I believe will emerge as the most important out of the whole list because they demonstrate the exact way to cut cost.  The article says that an effective energy management system "can reduce a hotel's carbon footprint by 75 percent."  Thats not too shabby...  For more on energy management systems, visit http://ems3.com/.

The technology to rotate the Croatian hotel once every day is absolutely phenomenal. By giving their guests a chance for an ocean view during their stay, they provide the guest with the utmost of service although like the article pointed out, this is not feasible for most hotels. I especially like the energy efficient programs being implemented in hotels across the country. Most guests, including myself, leave hotel rooms with out adjusting the air, leaving lights on, etc. Because we are not at our own home, we seem to lack concern. With energy-efficient air conditioning, water harvesting shower heads and sensors to detect when the room is vacant will all help reduce the hospitality industry's carbon footprint drastically.

echnology director at Quadriga, recommends the top ten bits of technology that every hotel room should have, ranging from the most obvious to the more unusual. They should provide a range of high quality HD channels to reflect the needs of guests and most major suppliers including Samsung and LG, for example, offer a range to suit all requirements and budgets.

The article above describes a new innovative system for the typical small business owner. If you are in need of some simple, easy to use technology then this might be the article for you. It's called NCR Silver, a new POS system capable of performing all the necessary function of operating a business all with one solution. It has the ability to track sales, manage inventory and records, and review key data. With all these features at the disposal of a small business owner, it could do a great deal in helping them increase their businesses profitability. The software is a cloud-based system and has the ability to be used on all portable Apple products. It is like having your business in the palm of your hand, literally! NCR Silver is already being used in Georgia throughout the Atlanta area and is slowly gaining popularity. As the cloud-computing idea takes hold, I believe this software will be found nation wide. Below is a link that demonstrates the software in use. ENJOY! www.youtube.com/user/NCRSilver

I like the mobile being discussed here, can these be expanded into tracking devices I wonder. I don' t like the rather vague description being provided on there customer service polic. It makes me weary of using the software if I don't see any benefits listed under customer service or troubleshooting. Would someone be there to assist if I was trouble using there system or if goes down. What assurances are provided? Warranty, Insurance, etc. It should be more than just we provide customer service.

IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) is the first hotel company to launch apps for both Kindle Fire and Google TV. Last year, IHG alos launched apps for Iphone and Ipad. The investment of new technologies will bring over $130 million in revenue for IHG from mobile bookings in 2011. Recent year, more and more travel supplier, such as airline, or hotel, developed direct booking system on website or mobile phone in order to get rid of over dependency of GDS (global distribution systems). As new technology developing, such as wifi, there will be more and more hotels groups lanuch direct booking apps on mobile phone in the future.

Wow, that's a great jump into the Android apps. There are some people who will not buy Apple Products for whatever reason so it's great they are covering all the mobile tablet reader area's.

Fujitsu has released a 2-inch mobile receipt printer that is compatible with apple iOS, blackberry, and android systems. It also has bluetooth and USB interfaces to support connectivity with various mobile computing devices.

Google+ launched the business pages platform, which is similar as the platform of Facebook. The advantages of Google business pages is not obviously, but one thing very clearly is that if a hotel joins in Google+ platfrom, it could be more easier to search on Google and show on the top than pages or accounts on their competitors' sites.

This article is about how the POS system works with the ipads. Nowadays, as the Apple products-ipad attract so many people, more and more restaurants notice that applying ipads as part of their point of sale system is a good decision. iPad users are running the terminals in a variety of POS system configurations, including those centered around remotely hosted software running at so-called "cloud" data centers, to which store-level devices communicate via wireless Internet connections. Many restaurant operators feel satisfied with the POS running work with the ipads. The ipads are attractive, and many guests are interested in the products. The most important, using ipads as part of the POS system, they can help speeds up the ordering process in the restaurant. However, using the ipads is not a perfect idea because there is a high cost associated with the high technology products. In my opinion, it is good the combining the POS system with the latest popular products. As on one hand this can make the restaurant more attractive, on the other hand, it is a good way to increase the service speed.

This article describes how there are an increasing number of eco-friendly hotels,(popping up) in general, but more specifically in urban center. The article points to be the cost of energy and the new abundance of green technology as the primary reasons for the surge in the number of eco- friendly lodging. The article gives several examples of how city hotels are employing eco-friendly practices and products. First, Sheraton has introduced fuel cells in four of its urban locations. Fuel cells are ultraclean power plants with up to twice the efficiency of fossil fuel. Second, Hyatt is using renewable energy source (wind, hydro, and solar). Finally, Marriott and Hilton are even seeking difficult- to- attain leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certificates for the U.S Green Building Council, which can yield significant tax benefits.

From this article,I think it is amazing to have such revolution of POS system. First of all, POS system itself is wonderful for the hoteliers all these years. The latest i-trends and NFC put it much further step to not only free the employees,but also bring efficiency to the customers. It is said that "the point of sale on the move" which free the employee to use the mobile device to control everything it matters of the business. It makes hoteliers more flexiable and at the meanwhile, it provides quantity information. The other innovation here is that there is one IPAD POS kiosk which allows self-service card swiping system so the customers can complete their own transaction. Though this technology is the only IPad enclosure, it help eliminate theft and tampering. Then ,when the growing trend of Near Field Communication comes, it free the customers another further step to eliminate the necessity to carry money/credit cards to pay their bills. This technology is also come with the smartphone by just swiping the mobile device across a special kiosk at the counter, and the payment is done quickly. This technology also developed another growing technology "RFID" card readers. Another name for the NFC is the digital wallet means that a customer's device can store all their bank account details and credit card information with no need for a real wallet. That's amazing for the people who are not good at financing. This technology can really impact the hotel market and bring the competitive advantages for the hotels. It's a new trend for the hotel to update themselves to level-up. This trend is also fit the market nowadays, the consumer is more and more younger, they curious about the high-tech things, the success of Apple proves this trend. In order to meet with the customer needs in current hotel industry, this technology is worth to have a try.

This article talks about the importance of POS systems in the hospitality industry and the new technological trends that are affecting it. POS systems are extremely important to hoteliers primarily to keep track of sales and bookings. With recent technological developments though, POS systems have revolutionized that hospitality industry by increase efficiency and production. The newest trend in these accounting and POS systems are cloud-based technologies. I believe this type of technology will allow for busy hotel managers to track all accounting information through either a smart phone, PC, or even tablet. This type of technology, as stated in the article, would allow for managers to keep track of sales data and profits even when they are away from the office. All in all, I believe this is a very helpful technology for hotel operations and will benefit the industry in the long run.

Allow the customers to to use smartphone across a special kiosk at the counter to pay may benefit restaurants a lot. It may reduce the stress of the servers in the peak time. Customers no longer waiting a long time for the servers to get their bill, they can pay by themselves through mobile devices. Moreover, the customers do not need to bring their wallets to the restaurants which may improve the security of the restaurant environment.

Mobile Key by OpenWays is the hospitality industry's first and only ubiquitous mobile phone-based guest front-desk bypass solution that is truly deployable today and enables guests to use cell phones worldwide as a room key. OpenWays, inventor of Mobile Key announces new apps and makes it possible for ALL smartphone operating systems, including Apple iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone 7, J2ME, Symbian OS, Brew, MeeGo, Bada and more, to run the Mobile Key App. This generation Mobile Key app is much simpler than ever before in deployment, maintenance and updating. New features include: tutorial for new user; messaging function between guests and property; customizable brand information; 3D secured set up and security PIN code management. Hotel chains with existing mobile applications also can enable Mobile Key as a value-added service to mobile guests. In a word, it is fully interoperable, carrier independent and highly secure. This self-service option is meeting guests' demands for more service and it's reducing hotels' operating costs while building competitive advantages.