Tech On Tour: Postcards from around the world
Remember the days when you traveled without a phone or computer? What about the days when you sent a postcard from a destination and arrived home before that postcard? And how about developing your pictures and putting together the photo album weeks after the trip ended? Today social media sites like Flickr, Facebook and Twitter allow us to share photos, updates and messages instantly from our phones and computers. And those are all great but one sharing service perfect for travel is web to mail postcards.
Hippopost is one such company that brings together digital photos and postcard delivery. Their ‘web to mail’ service allows you to take a photo of yourself and have it physically printed and mailed with a personal message. You can send 2 postcards a day for free from anywhere in the world to anywhere in North America. Other companies like WYWH and Posti have similar services and mobile apps.
If you own a Blackberry, you can use the HippoMobile app to send any photo you take on your phone, just shoot the picture, select ‘send as postcard’ from the Blackberry menu, type in a message and send to anyone in your contact file.
So what is the catch, you say? Well the service, which is free to you, is supported by advertisers. Each postcard mailed sports a small banner ad. But Hippopost has even managed to personalize this by allowing you to choose the advertisement that you feel the recipient of your postcard would like. Everything from discount coupons to product specials can be selected based on the recipient’s location and your knowledge of their interests.
Picture this: You and your spouse are on Collette’s British Landscapes tour, sitting at café in Bath, England having afternoon tea and you ask the waiter to take your picture with your Blackberry. You see that it is a great picture and you wish your best friend was there to share the experience. Just press the menu key and select ‘send as postcard’. The HippoMobile application opens, you type a personal message and choose your friend from the contact list. HippoMobile lets you select a coupon ad for a local tea shop where your friend lives and a couple of weeks later they receive the postcard and use the coupon to buy tea and enjoy their own experience.
Now instead of carrying a bulky camera to take pictures to share later in an album or searching for the right postcard and stamps to post back home, you can personalize and share your experience in a traditional way with a modern time saving twist.
posted by Joseph
Joseph Cromwell, Director of Tour Managers
Collette Vacations
Tags: mobile apps, photos, Tech on Tour, Travel Tips
