One of the things I love about smartphone technology is apps that make life better.  Yep, apps that make life better.  Recently I rode the Megabus overnight from Knoxville, TN to Washington, DC, and I woke up a few minutes from the end of the trip.  I had some vague instructions from a friend to metro to his apartment, but I quickly realized I had no idea on the metro schedule, the lines or even where the closest station was to the bus stop.

A quick search in the Android app market yielded -  DC Metro Transit Free, an AMAZING travel app that quickly told me the closest station was a few blocks away and I had 23 minutes until my train left.  Additionally it also had a trip planner to help me figure out the best route to get from station A to station B.  Other features included real time updates, and it estimated fares which helped me figure out to put on my metro card.  (more…)

Image via CrunchBase

“When I first heard about Foursquare, I emailed [co-founder] Dennis Crowley. He said, “Are you ever in New York?” I said, “Actually, yeah! I plan on being in New York tomorrow.” [Laughs.] I booked my flight that night, met with him and, a month later, I was working for Foursquare. ” says Tristan Walker responsible for Business Development at Foursquare in his interview with VIBE.

I like this story, because it shows the attitude that Tristan attacked his career with.  He swung for the fences and did work to make it happen.  How many “could have….” have been missed because of not pushing forward?  Plenty.

Just a reminder to make it happen.  Or as Garyvee would say HUSTLE and CRUSH IT.

Last weekend I was in Nashville, TN and stayed at the Embassy Suites – this wasn’t my first time staying with this chain but it was by far the most memorable.

It started with my room keys which listed features of the hotel in catchy copy.  One said “The guy in the white hat grants breakfast wishes.” – which speaks to their GREAT breakfast which is gratis.  The guy in the white hat refers to the chefs who make omlets and what not.

I’m not sure how many keys they have, but my two were different.  I’m a big fan of using keys for messaging, they get views and they also get replaced fairly often so messages can change without major investment cost.

Another benefit of the hotel was a free happy hour for beer, wine, and mixed drinks, I tweeted about it here

they had a name for this time, like the managers reception or something, but it was great and the lobby was packed.  I’m not sure how much this costs the hotel, but I’d be interested to see the bar and restaurant rings of one that doesn’t have it vs the hotel I was in.

Overall, just another example of a hotel making some waves in some cheap (and not so cheap) ways.

What do you think?