Traveler 2.0

Google launches new hotel search tool

To paraphrase Billy Joel, the folks at Kayak might be having a little heart attack-ack-ack-ack. 

Google has just launched Google hotel finder. Branded an 'experiment,' hotel finder lets you search for U.S. hotels in a given city by date, location on a map, price, hotel class, and user rating. One cool feature: The hotel finder will tell you how the rate listed for your dates compares to the hotel's regular rates. This way, you can see if you're paying more--and how much more--than usual, which can help you decide when to go. You can also create a 'shortlist' of hotels you prefer. 

The tool also lets you see photos, read reviews, and book a room (by providing links to other sites like Priceline, Expedia, Hotels.com). I like the tool's clean, uncluttered interface, though Kayak still gives you far more filtering options (such as the ability to only search for hotels that have Internet access and a pool, for instance.) 

Online travel booking tips from today's Wall Street Journal

The Thursday edition of the Wall Street Journal's Personal Journal section had several good tips for frequent travelers. Here are a few: 

* If you fly coach and prefer the aisle seat, you might want to either pay for early boarding or pay to check your bag. Airlines are fine-tuning the boarding process. Several, such as United and Delta, are now boarding passengers by window first, followed by middle and then aisle seats. So if you're an aisle seat ticket holder, you'll probably find less room available in the overhead bins.

* American Airlines passengers should preprint boarding passes or download them to a smartphone. American is using a new randomized boarding process, and checking in online may give you a better chance of being assigned to an earlier boarding group at the airport vs. those who check in at the airport.

* Mobile apps for travelers can help you snag a great last-minute hotel or rental car deal. For example, the Journal's Timothy W. Martin writes that "Some hotel chains, eager to fill empty beds, offer special discounts to travelers who book while in town," which a GPS-enabled smartphone or tablet enables you to do.  

How to fix iPad syncing 'required file can not be found' problem

Since I bought my iPad 2, I have consistently received an error message that the sync didn't work because the 'required file can not be found.' It seemed like everything was syncing OK with my iMac so I didn't worry about it.

However, when I tried to add new photos to my iPad 2, the syncing issue became a problem. Turns out this problem has to do with syncing photos and the iPod photo cache. After some Googling, I found the solution, which I'm passing along here:

1. Shut down iTunes.

2. Open the Pictures folder in the Mac finder. 

3. Right click on the iPhoto library and click on 'show package contents.'

4. Find the 'iPod photo cache' file and drag to desktop or delete it. (A new file will be created automatically later.)

5. Close the finder.

6. Reopen iTunes and sync your iPad.

7. The iPod photo cache rebuilds itself and your problem should be solved.

You can read comments about this solution in the Apple Support forum.