The Onion has just joined the long lineup of online city guides with their newest publication; Decider. Decider launched in beta mode with a guide for Chicago and covers everything from movie reviews to restaurant guides. If you visit the site expecting the usual amount of Onion humor, you'll be disappointed. The Decider is actually a serious site, with real reviews.

Of course, starting in Chicago is quite a challenge as they will be up against established sites like Metromix, Yelp and Citysearch. The advantage for the Onion is that they already have a large pool of journalists to use, and thousands of fans of their other work who might be interested in seeing how interesting an Onion publication is without satire.

The site currently lists over 5700 restaurants, but the vast majority have not yet been rated by readers, and I doubt that many people will be willing to sit down and post their reviews on this site if they already feel comfortable posting to Yelp or Metromix.

The site is also missing mobile access which is something they'll need to get up and running as soon as they can. Yelp already has a GPS enabled version of their site for the iPhone. Then again, the only mobile version on Citysearch is for Mobile,AL. The ability to search for a restaurant or store on the go is something that can make or break a site.

I'm sure that the guide will improve over time, but I can't help feel that it's all just a little more of the same. There is nothing really new on the site and it'll take a lot of user submitted reviews to become a truly useful resource.

When airlines (slowly) started introducing in-flight Internet access to their flights, they were very quick to point out that "VOIP calls" would not be possible. VOIP stands for "Voice over Internet Protocol", and basically means making phone calls over the Internet. All popular VOIP applications like Skype and Vonage have been blocked.

The airlines, and the provider behind the service obviously do not want a plane full of people chatting on the phone, yelling loudly about how they just made a fortune on the stock market. The other reason is of course because each flight only has a limited amount of data to share between all the passengers. If half the plane suddenly starts calling their aunts and uncles, regular web browsing would become impossible when all the bandwidth is sucked up by phone chatter.

Of course, when you tell people they can't do something, their natural response is to see how they can prove you wrong. It took a week, but the block on VOIP calls has been successfully bypassed. By using a web service called Phweet, passengers have been able to make phone calls to their friends. The system only works with people who have a Twitter account, but it's better than nothing. Of course, now this workaround has been published, it will only be a matter of time before the fun comes to an end, and the creative minds will have to find another working solution.

(Source: Wired)

If you can't decide where to go and you need some direction or original suggestions, you might want to check out travel website Trazzler. What makes you actually want to use this website is 1) Its simplicity 2) The fact that it tries to assess your "travel personality" before it makes suggestions.

Log on and it will give you short trip suggestions wherever you live. I logged on and immediately got 3 recommendations of trips around Madrid, so I'm assuming it picks up where you are logging in from and gives you ready information, (or it's a random coincidence). Likewise, you can ask for the same for any other destination, or if you want to narrow your search for a trip that (for example) will stimulate your taste buds, you can search under "culinary".

Then you can fill information about what sort of trips you have already been on, and where you'd like to go. This is partly how they capture some of your emotional qualities and recommend your trips accordingly. For the same purpose, there are also some travel pop-quizzes you can take.

It has a talented team behind it and like Tumblr and Twitter, it functions on an easy platform -- so it's no surprise that the co-founders of Twitter are the "Founding Advisors" (whatever that means) of Trazzler. It's quick, effortless, and worth a check out.

Our friends over at Engadget just let the world know that the mobile version of their site is now "iPhone friendler".

In addition to the existing m.enagdget.com link, iPhone and iPod Touch users can view the site in an optimized version for their device by pointing Safari to i.engadget.com. The good news is, that this works for any site in our family, including Gadling!

If you own an iPhone or iPod Touch, and you'd like to keep up to date with the news posted on your favorite travel site when you are on the road (or in the bathroom), you can browse to i.gadling.com.

While this may seem a little unfair to all the other mobile users out there, Engadget posted the statistics of visitors to the current mobile site, and it turns out that a whopping 95.9% of all mobile browsers came to the site using an iPhone or iPod Touch.

Now you have no excuse for not keeping up to date with the latest articles posted here!

Several weeks ago, I reported that Delta Airlines was gearing up to offer the Aircell Gogo inflight Internet service, but it is American Airlines who beat them to the first operational service.

Aircell Gogo is now offered on select American Airlines Boeing 767-200 flights between New York and San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles and New York and Miami. This puts the total number of flights with the Gogo Internet service at 174 per week.

For just $12.95, passengers get unlimited access to the Internet, but Aircell points out that VOIP (Internet calling) and cell phone calls are not possible.

To use the service, you'll need a Wi-Fi capable laptop, PDA or smartphone, you can find a comprehensive list of supported devices on the Gogo site. If you plan to travel light, you'll be able to use your Wi-Fi enabled Blackberry, iPhone or iPod touch to get online, which should help keep you entertained for the duration of the flight.

Aircell is working on a very swift roll out of their service, in addition to American Airlines and the previously mentioned Delta rollout, they are also working to bring inflight Internet to Virgin America.

This service has all the key features of a successful product; it is affordable, it comes at a time where airlines are scrambling to generate some more revenue, and the market penetration of Wi-Fi enabled devices is larger than ever. My feeling is that it will be a huge success, and certainly more successful than previous attempts at airborne broadband.

Source (and image) from Gogo Inflight Internet

My daughter is approaching driving age. Gaad! Let's just say, I'm not thrilled. Dings and dents abound in Columbus. This is a city. It's not that people drive like maniacs, but there are many cars and many possibilities for an amiss to happen while navigating the roads. Dents and dings are the mildest forms of mishaps.

One day though, it's inevitable; my daughter will be driving. To get her ready for the day when she hits the road on her own, I've come across a guide that could come in handy. In July's Car&Travel: New York, a AAA publication, is a blurb on AAAStartSmart, a newsletter that is geared for teen driver education.

Developed in partnership with the National Institute of Health, the on-line newsletter, published every two weeks, covers topics such as driving at night, teen passengers' seat belt use and drivers' distractions. It gives tips to parents on how to set limits and what limits to set.

I can see how this newsletter might help illuminate the issues that occur with teen drivers to help parents know what to expect and how to prevent a problem before the problem ever has a chance to happen. For example, setting limits such as not letting a teen drive with other teens in the car since teens are a major distraction for teens.

To get the newsletter go to AAA.com/StartSmart and register.

If you're an rabid Olympic hawk like me--and there seems to be plenty of other people with almost as much free time on their hands--then you were probably incensed NBC didn't show the historic opening ceremony live last Friday.

To help you get around the 12-hour time gap, here's a quick run-down of how you can watch all your favorite events live.

First are the up and up options.

• NBC has the exclusive rights to broadcast in the US, which means you can't switch channels to ABC or CBS. Some of the events are broadcast live, notably swimming, but their online counterpart has some 3,000 hours of on-demand video and 4 live streams. Personally, I wasn't very impressed--had lots of difficulty in tracking down the stream for the epic USA-China basketball showdown.

Delta Airlines is joining the ranks of American Airlines and Virgin America with in-flight Wi-Fi Internet access.

The service will be provided using the Aircell Gogo technology (reviewed here by Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal). For $9.95 on flights of 3 hours or less, or $12.95 on flights over three hours, passengers will be able to enjoy "mobile broadband" speeds on their laptop or Wi-Fi enabled PDA or smartphone.

The service will first be introduced on the Delta Airlines MD88/90 fleet, then on their Boeing 737, 757 and 757 aircraft. In total, 300 planes will be outfitted with the necessary equipment, making this the largest committed rollout of in-flight Internet equipment in the world.

It is needless to say that inflight Internet access is here to stay. Previous services that offered basic Internet connectivity all failed because of the price (Verizon Airfone) or the investment for the airline (Connexxion by Boeing).
The Aircell Gogo system is a great combination of the right price, and perfect timing. Airlines are scrambling to find affordable ways to generate some additional revenue, and there are only so many services they can take away or start charging for. One of the big differences in the marketplace over previous years, is that more people are now carrying Wi-Fi enabled devices.

Of course, the Aircell Gogo system won't be of any use to anyone leaving the domestic airspace, as the ground stations only cover the United States. You can read more about the technology powering this service on the Gogo Inflight Internet site.

In the US, gambling online is technically illegal, but that doesn't stop millions of Americans from playing poker and betting on sports over the internet. Some of us are even known to fund our travels that way (allegedly).

It turns out all of us dangerous gambling delinquents have something in common with the Iranians-- we're both fans of non-government-sanctioned internet gambling.

A British online gambling outfit called RummyRoyal has determined that the Islamic Republic of Iran has the highest ratio of online gamblers to population in all of Asia. This despite the fact that gambling is forbidden in Islam and under Sharia law.

Sasha Arkin, RummyRoyal's game room manager, sees this as a good sign coming from Iran: "[T]hrough the exchange of messages and money, [Iranians] are breaking out of their isolation imposed by the State."

It's nice to know that the US and Iran, two countries often at odds with each other, have something in common: a propensity for passing dumb laws and an inability to enforce them. (Also we both like gambling.)

So you've got 1237 miles in your Northwest frequent flyer account, forty five minutes at lunch and some mischief rolling around in the back of your head. What to do?

Make some baggage tags -- Northwest Airlines just fired up a tool to redeem 1,000 miles for customized bag tags. Customized with any pictures and text that you want.

While this does afford you the opportunity to make cute bag tags with you and your girlfriend/dog/house plant/parents, I think that we should be taking better advantage of this feature. Yes, Northwest did prohibit most of the fun stuff, including:

• Competitive marks/names (e.g. American Airlines®, United, Continental Airlines®, etc.
• Political statements
• Branded products
• Copyrighted or trademarked material not owned by Northwest Airlines
• Celebrities/musicians/public figures/athletes/cartoons, etc.
• Socially unacceptable groups (e.g. gangs, supremacy, etc.)
• Provocative or sexual content
• Violence
• Profanity or obscenities
• Any references to the Olympic Games or events (really?)
  
• Any photo image that might interfere with airline or government security control (e.g. TSA, CREW, Diplomat, etc.)
• Any printing or process that interferes with the production of the luggage tags
• Other images as designated solely by Northwest Airlines

But there is yet plenty of room left to be creative. Some suggestions:

• Photos of your friends' mothers
• Dirty pictures that are pixelated/zoomed in enough so that NW can't tell what the image is.
• A photo of your bag (in case they get separated!)
• Personal Ads, in case you want to woo any baggage handlers
• A photo of blogger Matthew Firestone, who I hear is a sexy, sexy devil (I can provide these photos if you would like).
  

Other thoughts? Send them our way.

Short on miles? Try out the Worldperks University where anyone with a mouse and a clue can get five hundred miles for free.

Give it a try at nwatagyourbag.com.