If you’re traveling to or through the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) anytime before now and mid-January, keep your smartphone handy.

It could save you some money on parking, dining and shopping.

The airport has rolled out a holiday campaign that offers coupons and special offers for nearby concessions to anyone who uses the Microsoft Tag app to scan what looks to be highly visible barcodes that will be posted in the parking garages, the Skylink cars and otherwise scattered around the airport.

There’s more information here, including a link to download the app.

If you try it out, let me know what you find. And buy.

Categories: Shopping, Technology
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Dick Tracy had a two-way wrist radio.

On the 60s TV show, Get Smart, Agent 86 had that infamous shoe phone.

Now there’s the M-Dress: a little black dress that the designers at CuteCircuit describe as a “functional soft electronics mobile phone.”

Here’s how they say it will work:

“The wearer inserts their usual SIM card in the small slot underneath the label and the dress is ready to be used, having the same phone number as your usual phone. When the dress rings, the simple gesture of bringing your hand to the ear will allow the sensor to open the call and when done talking the gesture of releasing the hand downwards will close the call.”

Sounds strange, but somewhat promising, especially if you’re hoping to travel light.

But don’t throw away your iPhone just yet: back in 2006, the same company now touting the M-Dress (“Coming Soon” says the website) invented a sensor-embedded shirt that lets people transmit hugs.

Time Magazine gave the shirt a Best Inventions of the Year award, but the hug shirt has yet to hit the market.

Categories: Fun Stuff, Technology
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Here’s a quick round-up of some fresh amenities airports are offering.

On Wednesday, May 18^th, 2011, Oakland International Airport will put into service eight ChargePoint networked charging stations for “new generation” electric vehicle (EV) such as the Chevrolet Volt, the Nissan LEAF, Tesla Roadsters and others.

Los Angeles International Airport now has a cadre of bomb-sniffing canines on duty who are trained not just to sniff out explosives, but to pick up the scent of explosives in the air and track down the person who may be carrying the explosive material -even if that person is on the move.

And some time next year there will be a new food hall on Delta’s Concourse G at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport filled with new food and beverage outlets that are branches of, or partnerships with, local favorites.

The $2 billion concourse upgrade will include a Media Bar that OTG Management is billing as the first virtual newsstand. Passengers will be able to rent an iPad and download publications, movies, music, apps and other items before boarding a plane. (Those with their own iPads will be able to download material as well.) If you do rent an iPad, you’ll be provided with a postpaid envelope so you can mail the iPad back when you’re done.

The OTG Media Bar is going launch at MSP airport, but plans are already in place expand the program to other locations.

Categories: Air Travel, Airports, Animals, Food, Openings, Power Outlets, Technology
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If your Mileage Plus status on United Airlines lands you in the Economy Plus section, or if you pony up some extra bucks and buy your way into the seating area that promises 5 extra inches of legroom, the airline will buy you a drink.

Free drinks in Economy Plus on United Airlines

According to the airline website, anyone sitting in the Economy Plus section August 6-16, 2010 will get a free drink.

But you may have to ask for it. According to the Terms and Conditions of the offer, the complimentary beverage is only available during the first beverage service and is “upon request.”

Flying car design gets updated

And it seems there’s news about design changes for The Transition, the “roadable aircraft” that the folks at Terrafugia claim is the world’s first flying car.

According to Adam Hadhazy’s TechNews Daily story, mild design makeovers to the car include “a more car-like front courtesy of traditional headlights and a license plate holder” and “On the engineering side of things, the next generation of the vehicle has an improved wing that folds up smoothly per a command from the cockpit, rather like a convertible.”

And in the in-dash espresso maker?

Categories: Air Travel, Airplanes, Design, Free Stuff, Technology, Transportation
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(Courtesy Field Museum, via Flickr Creative Commons)

According to a story by Tanya Mohn in the New York Times, Düsseldorf International Airport and seven other airports in Germany are using bees as ‘biodetectives.’  Clues about the air quality around each airport show up in the honey.

“The first batch of this year’s harvested honey from some 200,000 bees was tested in early June…and indicated that toxins were far below official limits…”

That’s good news of course, but here’s my favorite part of the story:

Beekeepers from the local neighborhood club keep the bees. The honey, “Düsseldorf Natural,” is bottled and given away as gifts.

The article describes what sort of substances the honey was tested for (“certain hydrocarbons and heavy metals”) and offers intriguing information about the pros, cons and reliability of biomonitoring – the use of living organisms to test environmental health:

Assessing environmental health using bees as “terrestrial bioindicators“ is a fairly new undertaking, said Jamie Ellis, assistant professor of entomology at the Honey Bee Research and Extension Laboratory, University of Florida in Gainesville. “We all believe it can be done, but translating the results into real-world solutions or answers may be a little premature.” Still, similar work with insects to gauge water quality has long been successful.

You can read the full article here. And you can be sure I’m busy as one of those airport bees trying to figure out how to get some of that Dusseldorf honey for Souvenir Sunday.

Categories: Air Travel, Airports, Health, Technology
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