Globe-trotting on my app screen

I admit, I downloaded the new Priceline app just to watch William Shatner break through my screen. Playing off the iPhone Genius function of shaking the phone to update music and Urban Spoon's similar slot-machine shaking to display viable restaurants, the Hotel Negotiator gets physical too.

Travel apps are one of the main reasons I bought an iPhone. For business travelers and wanderlusters like me, travel apps locating Cheap Gas or informing me of my surroundings no matter Where I am redeem the poor connectivity of an iPhone. I've watched my international friends stay glued to their desktops or gingerly carry their laptops while Skype-chatting with their families. With the free Skype app, the service returns us to talking on the cellphone, bringing us back to their primary use.

If I can walk through the City of Lights by tapping on my iPhone screen before traversing Paris, or reinforce my learning following a Rick Steves serial, then it will not be true that technology reduces our brain exercise by fragmenting our user experience between reality and technology. Add onto these travel apps the latest Layar augmented reality app, and I may very well not need a tour guide on my next urban holiday.