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A New Kind Of Heist: Six Apps For Free

Those crazy MacHeisters are at it again, and this time the deal is even harder to resist.
The first ever MacHeist Nano won’t cost you a penny. You can download, without charge, fully licensed copies of ShoveBox, WriteRoom, Twitterific, TinyGrab, and Hordes of Orcs. If 500,000 people take part (which I think is a pretty safe [...]

Getting More iPhone Home Screens – And Keeping Them

A couple of weeks back, I wrote Temporarily Get More iPhone Home Screens Via Cunning Bug Exploit, but had heard staying away from the iTunes Applications tab within my iPhone was probably a Very Good Idea. Reader Larry Pressnell noted that since the most recent iTunes update, his extra screens have been accessible in iTunes.
Since [...]

Cult of Mac Favorite: MobileStacks Is the Best Reason To Jailbreak. Period.

I really like Stacks on my Mac. Stacks makes it fast and easy to find files, folders and apps right from the Dock. It makes managing a Mac pretty slick with all sorts of little UI tricks. That’s why I recently gave MobileStack a go on my jailbroken iPhone.
I must say that it lives up to the [...]

Gallery: Behind the Scenes From Two Classic Apple TV Ads

Is this Steve Jobs driving a tank in a classic Apple TV spot from the late 1990s? That was the rumor at the time: Jobs was making cameos in Apple commercials.
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The iPhone Hotel: Check In, Tune Out, Room Service

A California Inn is dubbing itself the world’s first “iPhone hotel.” When guests check into the Malibu Beach Inn, they’re asked if they have an iPhone or iPod Touch. If guests have got the gear, hotel staff loads an app called “Hotel Evolution” from Hollywood software firm Runtriz, to the device. If they don’t, they’re given a 16gb iPod Touch (with the application pre-loaded) to use during their stay.

Guests punch in room number plus security code for access to hotel services: order room service, set a wake up call, request dry cleaning, extra blankets or replace forgotten toothbrushes, check your messages or set your room to “Do Not Disturb.” Shopping, eating and cavorting info for the area is on tap, too. Cost to the hotel is about $10 per room, no word on whether the cost is passed on to guests.

Feeling a bit like an over-Botoxed actress on this one, I’d like to get excited, you know, move some facial muscles, but just can’t.

First, because the usual hotel Flintstone phone service, paper “do not disturb” sign and flesh-and-bones concierge do just fine most of the time. And the fact that most people travel with electronic gear — cell phone, mp3 player, pda, computer, watch — means that stuff like the wake-up call function isn’t all that necessary. The idea of a loaner iPod Touch is cool but you just know it’d be left in a cab, stolen, get stepped on or something. Then what?

It’ll be more interesting if it were to catch on and be widely available abroad, where lost-in-translation mishaps are the order of the day or for foreigners in the U.S. in a bunch of other languages to avoid that problem of not understanding what was just mumbled at you from across the counter.

So, what do you think, is the iPhone Hotel future perfect or conditional?

Via Washington Post

About the author

nicole_martinelli

Nicole Martinelli was born in San Francisco and has lived in Milan and Florence, Italy. Cultish tendencies and love for DIY increased while living on the Old Continent, where tech came late and cost more in Big Mac index terms. She's written for Wired.com, The New York Times and Newsweek, and since 1999 on her site, Zoomata. If you're so inclined, friend her on Facebook.

Email the author | Read more posts by Nicole Martinelli.

10 comments

    it’s a nifty idea that will probably catch on. but one caveat. if you have a phone or touch, say no anyway, cause there is a strong chance that this is not App Store software and thus they will have to jailbreak your device to load it and if something happens it’s not worth the hassle to get your phone etc fixed.

    As if they’d jailbreak your phone to install the app – that’d be highly illegal and get them in Apple’s bad books. It’ll be ad hoc authorisation.

    Anyway, this sounds like a good idea. I hope more hotels take this sort of initiative.

    From the looks of it, it’s a web app. No jailbreaking. Sounds like it’s a great idea! Imagine booking a spa appointment while having dinner. Way better than a phone if you ask me.

    [...] are called iFeatures. Although the site’s a little fuzzy on the details (maybe they should call the iPhone hotel folks?) amenities include iArt, which lets homeowners to download artworks and update their [...]

    As others have said this is a BAD idea. See all the comotion it causes? Steve the Nazi locks down the phone and then there’s talk about ordering room service from your iPhone potentially being *ILLEGAL*??

    F— the iPhone. I love the hotel concept, if it was device-agnostic.

    [...] The iPhone Hotel: Check In, Tune Out, Room Service [...]

    interesting!