With my head firmly buried in four separate major guidebook projects (including a completely revamped edition of Tuscany & Umbria With Your Family due out in April), as well as commissioning some great new additions to the Instant Cities series of iPhone apps, this Autumn has been a little light on the journalism front. In addition to a feature on essential technologies to take travelling, for Singapore Airlines’ inflight magazine SilverKris (not online), I wrote about Finding the best late holiday deals for the UK’s Sunday Telegraph. The piece covered private sales and auctions, smartphone and iPad apps, deals newsletters, luxury hotel discounters, Twitter, Facebook, cashback sites, forums and voucher websites. Anyway, read it all at telegraph.co.uk.

More coming soon…

It’s been a busy few months working on two new guidebooks plus the new edition of an Italian phrasebook, but here are links to a couple of my recent contributions in print.

Every September, history and architecture buffs have a field day as countless private and government buildings across Britain throw open their doors to visitors – for free.

For Singapore Airlines’ SilverKris magazine; read it all at silverkris.com

One of my favourite Dorset walks takes me in and around the “ghost village” of Tyneham, by the southern coast of the Isle of Purbeck. This farming hamlet at the foot of Ridgeway Hill was requisitioned by the War Office in 1943 (the area was suited to gunnery practice), with a promise that it would be returned to the villagers after the war… It never was.

A short contribution to the Telegraph‘s “Best countryside holidays in Britain”; read it all at telegraph.co.uk

Finding the best late holiday deals online. It isn’t only tour operators’ websites that offer bargain holidays. For the best deals, you have to look farther afield.

Read it all at telegraph.co.uk

How is technology changing the way we travel?

Smarter search

Searching the web means typing in words and expecting Google, Bing or Yahoo! to deliver the answer. It’s the way we’ve got used to working, but it’s not how real human beings sift information. We want to know what’s nearby, what our friends like. Improvements in local search, social search and visual search will do just that.

An Android-iPhone Shootout

Apple won’t have it all its own way this year. We’ll hear a lot more from Google’s Android mobile operating system, which is available free for phone hardware manufacturers to install. Several new handsets from Sony Ericsson, Motorola, HTC, Samsung and Google itself (the Nexus One) are Android-powered.

Read it all at Telegraph.co.uk


Then read my guide to the best iPhone and Android apps, eReaders, Augmented Reality, travel inspiration websites, and freebies for travellers (also at Telegraph.co.uk).

Following soon after the release of my Instant Florence app last month, Instant Turin for the iPhone was released into the App Store on the first of this month. It’s my second contribution to the Instant Cities series of travel apps produced by smart start-up Never Odd Or Even (of Ask the Hoff fame).

Once again, we’re hoping that a combination of photo-driven menus, original content, and a keen price (£1.79/$2.99) will be a winner. We certainly think the app is pitched just right for anyone spending a weekend in the capital of Piedmont. Turin is a great (and much under-rated) city, and I hope my love for the place comes across in the app.

If you want to buy Instant Turin, this link opens iTunes and takes you straight to it. If you would like to review the app for your website or publication, then drop me a line and I’ll arrange a review copy for you.

If you’ve used the app and have any comments, then please leave them below. We’re always trying to make better stuff, and feedback really helps.

The first of three iPhone apps I’ve authored has just been approved by Apple. Instant Florence, co-created with the exceedingly smart folk at Never Odd Or Even, went on sale a few days ago.

Anyone familiar with travel apps on the iPhone knows that there are a daunting number of competitors for our new app, and writing for a startup means there’s almost no cash for marketing. Happily, most of what’s out there uses unoriginal text scraped from Wikitravel and given a shiny custom coat. Ours is original content researched and written from scratch (and also has a shiny coat). Some have been created from the bones of books. Ours has only ever been an app; it’s a square peg designed for a square hole. We think that tailoring the content to its function gives us an advantage in a crowded market. If you’re looking for a photo- and menu-driven guide to the city of the Renaissance, we think Instant Florence is the best product in the App Store. We’d love to hear your thoughts.

If you have any questions or comments about the app, do get in touch. If you want to buy Instant Florence, this link opens your iTunes account. And watch this space. There’s more coming soon.

Below are two screenshots from the app. Feel free to use them.

Imagine how much better your guidebook would be if it knew exactly where you were as you read it, what time of day it was and your interests. Welcome to the world of the app.

An “app” (short for application) is basically a program designed to perform a task. You use them already: your word-processor is an app, so is your internet browser. Now the smartphone – mobile phones that do a whole lot more than make calls – has put the app into your pocket.

For travellers the app is big news.

Read the rest at Telegraph.co.uk.