What the Tech? Use tech to help your July 4 travel
By JAMIE TUCKER Consumer Technology Reporter
If you’re going to be traveling over the 4th of July holiday get ready for crowded highways and airports. AAA predicts over 50 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more between Thursday, June 29 and Wednesday, July 5, which will set a record for the holiday.
AAA asks anyone hitting the road or taking to the air to be prepared for travel delays and cancellations.
While tech gadgets won’t prevent an accident ahead of you or a light cancellation, they can make delays a little less stressful.
Here are a few gadgets and apps to pack in your digital suitcase:
● Gas Buddy app. The most popular crowd-sourced gas prices app helps travelers find the cheapest gas prices on their trip. Give the app permission to see your location and it will show gas prices based on reports from other travelers.
● iExit app. This app uses your location to show what’s coming up on the exits before you get there. Do you ever wonder if you should stop for the restaurant at the exit you’re approaching or wait for a few exits later for more choices? iExit can show you everything that’s located at each exit along the way.
● Streaming movies, YouTube, and music can gobble up all the cellular data you pay for each month. Before hitting the road download a couple of movies on your kids’ devices so they can watch offline. You can do the same thing with music on Spotify, Amazon Prime, or Apple Music.
● If you lose connection with your cellular provider while traveling down the interstate, just turn on Airplane mode for a few seconds before turning it off again. This forces your phone to search for the nearest cell tower to make a connection.
● There have been warnings about hackers using airport charging stations to install malware and steal information from any phone plugged into one. It is a risk but is probably overblown. Still, it’s best to take your own portable charger wherever you go.
● Speaking of keeping a phone charged, instead of carrying multiple charging cables, Anker makes a charging cable with all three (USB, USB-C, and Lightning) adapters so you’ll never need more than one cable for all of your devices.
● Whether you’re traveling by car or airplane a good set of noise-canceling earbuds or headphones will keep background noise at a minimum.
● Your airline’s smartphone app is probably pretty good at keeping you posted on any delays and gate changes but the app Flighty seems to be faster and with more information. The app has FCC clearance to get the same information pilots receive.
You’ll see a prediction of whether your plane will be at the gate on time, based on airspace mandates and how your airline has been performing for the 24 hours before your flight is set to take off.
● And if you are traveling by air it’s a good idea to open the Airdrop application on an iPhone and change the settings to allow Airdrop requests only from your friends. In the past, jokesters have shared images publicly with anyone who has Airdrop turned on.
