Urban Living

Your Wi-Fi To Go

The voice-centric mobile operator previously known as SMART is now shifting its focus to mobile data. The company’s latest offering is a mini-router that churns out wireless connectivity to five devices from one EV-DO Rev. B radio signal, a potentially superfast mobile broadband connection, if you can get a clear signal – and all for less than Rp 1 million. Learning from past sins, this mi-fi device not only outlasts most devices, but can also function as an external battery to your gadgets, thanks to its chunky, card-sized lithium brick contained in a white-and-purple plastic cover. The package includes the device and 30 days free of fast unlimited Internet (signal permitting).

Rp 888,000, smartfren.com/data/ar910b.html

Feeding Time

Heard of yelp.com with its online culinary reviews? Well, OpenRice is its Asian counterpart. Initially launched as a Chinese-only guide feeding Hong Kong’s massive appetite for great dining, the site has expanded beyond that island and recently landed in our archipelago with the same feature set it was built upon: user reviews. With an iPhone app, you can seek out an eatery based on your location, dish type, even user ratings. If you a) live in the city, b) are a foodie and c) don’t take your friends’ words for granted, OpenRice might offer you something that dozens, or perhaps hundreds of other apps don’t: decade-long maturity and reliability.

Free, id.openrice.com

Tripping Out

A major downside to planning your travel is that finding the best deals on airfares is no fun. More often than not, you’ll find yourself up against endless pages and lists of dates, routes and prices before you find one that works with your holiday times – and most of the time you’ll just get your agent to book the actual flight. Skyscanner attempts to solve that for you. The app and the web interface are hooked to a live database of airlines, routes and specials; when you enter your departure and arrival locations, it presents a list of options in a readable and pleasant manner. It’s even smart enough to figure out multi-carrier flight options. Another option allows you to compare prices, time and routes for each airline. Most important is that Skyscanner has a service for Indonesia, an area where others are lacking.

Free. App available for iOS, Android and Windows Phone.

www.skyscanner.co.id

Watch Yourself

Along comes e-ink, so someone decides to make a wristwatch using it. A different kind, that is. Using the latest short-range wireless technology, the Bluetooth 4, this smart watch will communicate with your iPhones and Android phones and pull some cool stunts, like showing incoming calls, emails, calendar or weather alerts, and even Twitter and Facebook messages, and more. It even has an accelerometer with gesture detection and a built-in vibrating motor, so it can communicate with you too.

US$115–150

Online from www.getpebble.com.

Also see: Day Maker by Habitco on Kickstarter (www.kickstarter.com).

Back to The top page