When traveling, you will likely have three consistent companions: your family (if you’re bringing them), your plans (if you have any), and your smartphone (no ifs, ands or buts). You will likely use your smartphone more than anything to navigate, communicate, and do whatever you need to do to make your travelling as smooth as possible.

What makes a smartphone so great is that there are all sorts of different applications available to make your life so much easier. If you are having a hard time navigating a new city, GPS apps abound. If you can’t understand a language, translation apps are available. If there isn’t an app for one of your needs yet, give it time, and someone will create it.

Here are 5 apps for your smartphone that will help you make sure that your trips go perfectly:

TRIP SPLITTER

Trip Splitter takes care of who owes what when handling expenses on a trip or dinner. It works great even for large parties because you can put in as many participants as you want. You can also email participants a reminder after the trip is over if you don’t want to take care of everything right away. This is great for travelling in a large group that isn’t necessarily financially linked or for certain business situations. 

This is a travel app that has equal use at home, allowing you to split up a shared bar tab or simply let you figure out how much everyone owes for pizza. If you find yourself a social person, this app is definitely worth downloading.

EXPRESS VPN

If you are travelling, then a Virtual Private Network (VPN) can be the savior to your privacy and data. If you are travelling, you are likely using many public networks, which can be incredibly risky to use since hackers can intercept sent data (including private communications and financial information) over unprotected networks and then use it against you.

What a VPN will do is connect your computer through an encrypted “tunnel” of sorts to an offsite server that no one can infiltrate, and this server will handle your requests and send you whatever information you want just like normal. Using this server also has the benefit of masking your IP Address and location data, which means you can get around regional restrictions and even possibly allow you to take advantage of regional pricing for airline tickets.

There are several options to choose from, but ExpressVPN is a great choice in particular due to its compatabilty with smartphones on any operating system.

CITY MAPPER

If you are travelling to a major city, you should check out Citymapper. It is one of the most popular and highest-quality apps for figuring out transit (in almost any form) in major cities, particularly in the United States, which can be harder to navigate than many European cities. Some of the things that are especially useful are real-time updating of departure times, bike routes, and alerts if there is a disruption on a route so you can adjust accordingly.

If you put in a location within a city, this app will find a way for you to get there. In fact, it will probably find multiple ways for you to get there. When you’re in a new place, there will be nothing you are more thankful for.

GOOGLE TRANSLATE

If you are going to a different country that doesn’t speak English (which is most of them), you want this application on your phone. While not perfect, Google Translate is improving constantly. It has most every language you will need and is fast enough to beat out most other translation devices available and certainly faster than lugging around a two-way dictionary for each language you might need.

ENTRAIN

This one might be considered a little extreme for some, but jet lag is awful and can ruin a day or two of a perfectly good vacation. If you don’t want this to happen, then Entrain is the app you need both before and during your trip.

It provides you with a schedule and data for when you should seek light in order to help your body adjust to the new time zone as quickly as possible. You can use this data to adjust your circadian clock and keep up your energy after your flight. With lots of options at the press of a thumb, you won’t need to figure out anything else to get your sleep cycle in check.

Thank you for reading. Please note that any applications listed here can be found on both iTunes and Google Play. I hope that you have found something here that you are looking for so that you may travel with improved safety and convenience.

A first of its kind App for Clubbing is launched for Android users on 16 May 2014 at Imperial Ice Bar at The Fort Strip.

Guestlist.ph answers partygoers’ main challenge that is being able to have their names listed for access to the hottest clubs in town. It is challenging to find the right connection for VIP listing and even more painstaking to line up in queue but end up not on the guest list.

Founder and CEO of Guestlist.ph, Ron Baetiong started Guestlist.ph as a thesis; and then presented this business idea to Kickstart Ventures. However, he failed twice. A man of perseverance believing he will change the landscape of partying, Ron improved his craft and on his third attempt, Guestlist.ph successfully secured funding.

At the Android App launch, Ron walks the audience through how partying is made easy by this App.

It only takes 5 easy steps to register on Guestlist Android App and you are out to conquer the night.

Step 1: Download Guestlist from Android Playstore for free

Step 2: Sign-up with your Facebook Account

Step 3: Choose your subscription/membership

Step 4: Choose your party from the partner clubs

Step 5: Join the fun

Guestlist.ph currently has 18 Club partners. Its VIP Membership comes in three packages: (1) Silver VIP – all access pass to all clubs in North of Manila (2) Gold VIP – all access pass to all clubs in South of Manila and (3) Platinum VIP – all access to all clubs featured on Guestlist.ph plus exclusive parties. Subscription rates starts at Php499.

Guestlist.ph is not just about access; more features will be added to the mobile app such as table reservations, pre-order of drinks, and party rewards. Ron is exuberant to make partying like a VIP seamless, easy and fun. 

This post was contributed by Ania del Rosario of Maskiunu.

Tourists are common targets of crimes and abuses. Especially when you’re in a rush or unfamiliar with commuting, you can be easily compelled to take taxi cabs that charge excessive rates. Good news: a new mobile application allows you to order a taxi fast and easy, while still following the regular taxi meter rate. 

What’s more, the taxi drivers are registered and trained for a more secure and hospitable riding experience.

Easy Taxi is a FREE downloadable application that delivers the nearest registered taxi anywhere in Manila, in just a few clicks of your Android phone, iPhone, Blackberry 10 phone, or Windows computer. In just three steps, you can have an exclusive taxi service without feeling robbed by excessive fees. 

First, download the application from www.easytaxi.com. You can also order a taxi on the same website without downloading the application. When the application is active it can automatically map your phone or computer’s address. 

Second, confirm your current location by typing your name, mobile number, and preferred pick up location. You can click “call taxi now” to place your order, or “add to favorite” to save the location for future transactions. 

Third, wait for the Easy Taxi message saying “your taxi is on the way” that includes the taxi driver’s details like full name, photo, car model, and plate number. Your taxi will arrive in a few minutes at your chosen pickup point. 

The Easy Taxi customer service will call a few times to update you about the driver’s location. Through the application, you can also save the taxi driver history, and track your taxi approaching in real time. For just 70PHP booking fee added on top of the regular taxi meter rate, you get a friendly, English-speaking, trustworthy driver armed with a GPS smart phone and a 24/7 customer support team to tour you around the city. 

Easy Taxi is the world’s largest taxi-hailing application, operating in 17 countries and over 50 cities worldwide. This means that you can use the same application in over 50 cities, including Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, and more Southeast Asian cities in the future. Easy Taxi follows international business models but has a local advocacy of improving the image of the Philippine transportation industry as safe, modern, and efficient. 

Even the core values are very Filipino such as building positive driver-passenger and employer-employee relationships. Easy Taxi helps educate drivers on technology use, hospitality, and self-improvement. Just last week, Easy Taxi organized a basketball tournament for taxi drivers with professional players from the Philippine Basketball Association. 

Unlike in other countries where the booking fee is shouldered by drivers, booking fee in the Philippines is paid by passengers and taxi companies, another big help for drivers who usually just rent their cab units. Easy Taxi’s philosophy of “happy drivers equals happy customers” will surely make any city smile.

Easy Taxi is perfect for tourists in Manila and frequent travelers especially in Southeast Asia who want safe, fast, and easy, transportation, not to mention reliable taxi driver friends in Manila they can call anytime, anywhere. 

This article was contributed by Kerby Maca

With thousands of applications already available on the mobile market, it is high time that we Filipinos start raving about all the little app development companies that have started sprouting all over the country like mushrooms. And like the fungi, these companies are just as resilient and proud to be producing apps that actually matter.

Jeprok Applications, LLC

“Be Cool … Be Smart … So Jeprok!” With a motto that just oozes of 80s Manila nostalgia and laid-back coolness, JeprokApplications, LLC, is an app development company that is clearly all about the Philippines. The startup has already slowly churned out two free applications for Filipinos around the world.

Countrok, Jeprok's first ever educational application, teaches Filipinos around the world how to count in the country's national language, Tagalog. A play button teaches the correct pronunciation of the words in Tagalog and English. It's like the aspiring multilingual's best friend!

VeggieRok, meanwhile, was made to help Filipinos around the world learn the names of the common vegetables in a language none other than–you guessed it– Tagalog. The second educational app from Jeprok nurtures a child's love for the Philippines' national language and commonly available vegetables!

Kuyi Mobile

An independent game development company in the Philippines, Kuyi Mobile regularly releases fun and interesting games with very modern graphics. Its most recent app, Streetfood Tycoon, has already caught the attention of plenty of people around the world. Even their flagship game, Card Drop, has already garnered awards the first year it was released!

Card Drop is marketed as the Solitaire game on steroids, but it's a simple stacking game that gets you hooked for hours. The best part about this addicting game? It's free!

Streetfood Tycoon, meanwhile, is a more complicated game that's also free on iTunes. Inspired by the common food cart businesses here in the Philippines, the game promises countless hours of entertainment while remaining patriotic. Hot tip: Look for all the things that clue you in that the game is set in Manila, Philippines.

AppLabs Digital Studios Inc.

A slightly younger company from the bunch, AppLabs Digital Studios has already released several free educational applications for children around the world. Their flagship app, Maddie & Matt's A to Z's of Good Manners & Values aims to influence children to take the right path when dealing with the elderly and their peers. The Tagalog version of this application includes Filipino values like pagmamahal and respeto, so the Filipino children all over the Philippines can have an enjoyable learning experience.

The newer educational application, Maddie & Matt's Happy Earth, encourages kids to do their part in helping Mother Earth. The app is apt in this generation of global warming.

Final Words

So there you have it. Three noble app developers that are proudly Filipino and worthy to be chronicled online. All their applications are available on iTunes for free, so download them now!

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Guest Author : Ethel Kay Merioles.
A dreamer, Ethel likes to put words in a string and turn them into a beatiful poem, short story or blog post. A scribbler, she turns hastily drawn lines into realistic copies of the people that interest her. She's currently writing for WheninManila.com and Applatter.com, but she would like to reach a bigger audience soon.

In the current state of the world where we are living which is filled with devices and other gadgets that interact and connect with each other through the power of the Worldwide Web and software and applications that provide targeted solutions for specific problems, it is very easy for people to forget that there are actually real people behind all the technology that they are using in their day to day lives.

One of the people whose job and passion is to develop such technology to help people is software engineer and part-time app developer Jomar Tigcal.

Jomar is a Computer Science graduate and is now working as a software engineer in an IT company here in Metro Manila. After graduating in 2009, he immediately dove into the IT industry with his first job as a Java developer. As he was slowly immersed into the world of information technology through his work, he found a number of interesting topics about different aspects of developing solutions for other platforms.

One of them is app development for Android – one of the top selling mobile operating systems in the market. During that time, he still had a lot of technologies and APIs, such as those from Google, Facebook and Twitter, he wanted to learn. But after getting himself an Android phone, he started to focus more on developing apps for this platform especially during his free time.

At present, Jomar is using a variety of different tools to create apps. Most of them are open-source tools and are available for free online like Eclipse for his IDE and the Android SDK (Software Developer Kit) tools. For version control, he’s using Subversion and Git while for the OS, Jomar said that he has used several versions of Ubuntu and has tried some mock-up software.

As of the time being, Jomar Tigcal has already released several apps on Google’s app market – Google Play. These include a Pinoy Jokesapp, the GDG Philippines app, Sweldong Pinoy (a salary calculator app for Filipinos) and the Moochfood app which was developed closely with the Moochfood team. He also hinted that he is already working on a few more apps, but the details of which are not to be disclosed yet.

When asked on what problems he has faced in the past about app development, Jomar says that one major hurdle he has faced and is still facing today is time. He explains that there is so much to learn and try but he just doesn’t have the time to do all of it at once. As he is just a part time developer, he need to constantly juggle the requirements of his work as a java developer with his passion and interest of apps development.

Nevertheless, Jomar adds that finishing an app gives him great joy and satisfaction. Aside from that, getting messages that you made a good app, or that it has helped a lot of users of that people like the app you made makes him feel good.

As for new horizons, Jomar hopes to learn more about game development, either using HTML5 or game engines, as well as learning better cross-platform development technologies.

We also asked Jomar to leave a message to our readers and here are his tips to aspiring app developers and his message to all our readers:

Don’t stop learning. Continue to study about the technologies and languages you use. Keep up to date with the latest information about them. Also, don’t limit yourself to the technologies you’re using now at work. Use other technologies and APIs too. Experiment! Attend events like meet-ups and hackathons to learn more about what is happening in the industry as well as to be updated with the latest technologies. Also, community events would allow you to meet and collaborate with other developers.

Lastly, Jomar adds that making apps for mobile and web is fun and exciting because it changes how people go about their everyday lives. He hopes the people would continue downloading his apps and that people would give more feedback on how they can improve them in order to better address the needs of the people who use them.

If you want to contact Jomar Tigcal for personal or professional reasons, you can reach him through his LinkedIn account or you can visit his website for more information.

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