Springwise: With gas prices a topic of urgent concern, it's no wonder bicycle-related innovations are coming fast and furious. One of the latest we've spotted is the Zigo Leader, a bicycle that's easily convertible into several different forms.

Much like the Danish trioBike, which we covered a while back, the Zigo Leader can be easily converted into any of four different modes: stand-alone bicycle; bicycle with front-attached kid trailer; jogging stroller; and traditional stroller. Converting from one mode to another is simply a matter of swivelling casters and attaching or detaching the "child pod" trailer, and can be done in 30 seconds or less, Zigo says. The vehicle also folds easily for storage. Priced at USD 1,349, the Zigo Leader will be available in August direct from the New Jersey-based company or through a network of dealers including bicycle shops and baby stores.

Convertible bicycle serves multiple needs [Springwise]

Springwise: With hooligans grabbing the spotlight more often than not, warm and cozy aren’t terms that are usually associated with fans of European soccer/football. A new Swiss venture called Sleep-In could change that. Set up in advance of the 2008 European Football Championship that will take place in Switzerland and Austria this June, Sleep-In enables area residents from both countries to offer their homes to visiting soccer fans. Visitors can list the type of accommodations they’re looking for, and local hosts choose their temporary housemates based on the write-ups that guests submit.

Besides access to accommodation that is low cost and in some cases free, the site’s overriding benefit, its organizers say, is the chance it affords both parties to meet new people. To make sure everyone is satisfied with the arrangements they negotiate, Sleep In exhorts its users to be truthful in the descriptions they place in their ads.

Soccer fans to share beds at Euro 2008 [Springwise]

The Cool Hunter: Here at TCH, we love riding bikes through the city. There's something immensely pleasing about sailing past scores of traffic with little more than a push of a pedal. And at the same time, you're burning the calories, and doing your bit to stay green. But there's one thing we hate about this simple mode of transport. People like nothing more than stealing them, damaging them, or driving buses into them. While your safe at work crunching the numbers, who's looking after your ride home?

Cue the bike dispensing machine. Brought to you courtesy of bikedispenser.com, a small firm from Amsterdam, the idea is to help facilitate bike rentals in urban areas. Cyclists pay a small fee to hire a bike, and then they can take it where they please. Once they’ve finished, they can return it either to that machine, or another one across town. And because they’ve been fitted with RFID tags, they won’t all have been nicked before you can get one.

Bike Dispensing Machines [The Cool Hunter]

Springwise: Launched in eleven Minneapolis suburbs this month, Get Home Free is a flat rate, prepaid cab card that gets its holder home safely. Mainly targeted at teenagers and college students, the concept's initiators are aiming to help out kids who are stuck with car trouble, have been drinking, or whose ride home has fallen through. Cardholders place a call to the Get Home Free hotline, and a car is immediately dispatched to bring them home, no questions asked.

Teen drinking and driving is a serious issue. As reported in the Star Tribune: "According to the 2004 Minnesota Student Survey, 28 percent of high school seniors reported having driven after using alcohol or drugs at least once in the previous year. Also, almost 40 percent of seniors reported that they had ridden with someone who had been using substances." Having a Get Home Free card as an emergency back-up should help keep some of them off the road.

Prepaid Cab Card: Get Home Free [Springwise]

Babygadget: OK, I know the whole concept of going on holiday is exciting for children, but you can make it even more so with a lovely piece of luggage like this old-style suitcase from Couverture. Stickers plastered across it are redolent of the old days of steamer travel and world cruises, and might - who knows? - even encourage an impromptu geography or history lesson. What's more, it's built to old-fashioned and robust standards, so with a bit of luck you'll get quite a few years' use out of it.

The nicest thing of all, though, is that Couverture will make each of these suitcases to order, and no two are exactly the same. With a choice of four different colours, it's enough to make the ordering process feel really special. All that excitement and the holiday hasn't even begun!

An old-fashioned suitcase makes a trip so exciting [Babygadget]

BusinessWeek: For years, airlines have sought to emulate the low-fare, low-cost business model of Southwest Airlines, the much-studied pioneer in the cutthroat aviation game. Terror attacks? Exorbitant jet fuel costs? Little matter, the profits still flowed at Southwest, as its ultrafrugal ways kept pace with expenses.

Now a new generation of discount carriers is set to make Southwest look downright generous. The latest breed is borrowing a page from Ryanair, the Irish carrier that roiled airlines across the continent with near-zero fares and scant amenities—and became the biggest European airline in the process. They're charging for seat assignments, checked bags, early boarding, and more. Want some water? Get your wallet.

The latest entrant in this niche of extreme budget travel, Skybus Airlines, takes to the air on May 22. The Columbus (Ohio) company is led by a small band of commercial airline veterans, including several from Southwest. Its pitch is based on using second-tier airports, lean staffing, Internet-based ticketing, revenue from beer and snack sales—and super-cheap fares starting at $10.

Get Ready to Pay for Peanuts [BusinessWeek]

Popgadget: Hailing a cab works great in certain neighborhoods, but if you're off the beaten path there's not a lot of chances that a cabbie is going to randomly swing by for a pickup. One man is betting that the Digg generation would be more inclined to use taxis if there was a convenient web interface. Jason Diaz’s 1-800-cab-ride.com (800-222-7433) plans to be the one-stop online shop for scheduling taxi cabs. Essentially, 800cabride.com is a car service that doesn't own a single automobile - it uses a network of independent cab shops around the country to arrange rides from one central dispatch office.

It's a pretty simple setup. Just go to the website, choose pickup and drop off locations, and the service will have a ride dispatched. Cab rides are billed at a flat rate that includes all applicable fees and tip, and payment is made on the website via credit card or corporate account. Airline pickups are "will call" when debarking so there's no chance of a delayed flight causing a missed ride. If you don't call the 800 number to confirm arrival there's no charge to the credit card. It's nice that they've kept it flexible because traveling can sometimes turn into a nebulous form of performance art.

Hail a cab with point and click [Popgadget]

DailyCandy: Modern aviation is nothing to laugh at.

Although crying about it is quite acceptable. Especially when you discover that your $600 ticket entitles you to an extra pack of peanuts, a seat that doesn’t recline, and the stewardess’s tortured life story.

Before the situation goes from bad to worse (her teen years were soooo tragic), pull out the SkyRest. The miraculous, wedge-shaped travel pillow makes even the most uncomfortable spots downright pleasant.

Just set it in your lap and snooze. The angle ensures that your head always stays forward. No more back and forth between the tray, the headrest, the window, and your neighbor’s shoulder. Or use it as an impromptu table, foot prop, or back support during long layovers. Because it easily inflates and deflates, you’ll always be able to give things a rest.

Straighten Up and SkyRest Right [DailyCandy]

Springwise: In London alone, 10 women are attacked each month after getting into an unlicensed mini-cab. No wonder that many women feel safer taking a taxi driven by a woman.

Pink Ladies spotted a business opportunity, and created the UK's first women-only private car hire franchise. The Pink Ladies drive Renault Kangoos that are pink inside and out, making them highly visible. Passengers sign up as members, and fares are either pre-paid, paid by credit card or with a 'pink account', which is both convenient for members and safe for drivers.

Cabs for & by Women [Springwise]

SPACE.com: Frequent flyer miles will for the first time be good beyond this planet, based on a new offering from Virgin Atlantic airways and its space-related sister company Virgin Galactic.

Flying Club members will be able to convert their regular miles into space miles. To get to space, members will need to log 2 million miles down here.

"A journey into space seems like a distant dream for many but this deal makes it more even more achievable for our frequent travelers to become astronauts," said Sir Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Galactic. "We expect the first Virgin Galactic space flight to take place in 2008 which gives our Flying Club members time to save up all their miles."

Virgin Galactic commercial flights are expected to cost $200,000 initially but the company expect prices to fall over time. Virgin Galactic will own and operate privately built spaceships, modeled on the history-making SpaceShipOne craft, which won the Ansari X-prize for repeat trips to space by a privately built craft.

Frequent Flyer Miles Good for Space Travel [SPACE.com]

BusinessWeek: Airline flights are one of the few situations where you find yourself wedged against a total stranger for hours at a time. It might as well be someone you like. With that in mind, a new Web site, AirTroductions.com, aims to match like-minded fliers for business networking, book discussions, romance -- whatever it is you want from a seatmate.

To get started, you'll need to fill out a short form that includes your bio as well as preferences on topics such as hotels (Holiday Inn or Four Seasons?) and clothes (Prada or Levi's?). Once you have a ticket, enter your flight data to see who is signed up on the site for the same flight. You'll pay $5 if you contact anyone. Then you'll need to ask the airline to put you in adjoining seats.

Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Find Me A Seat [BusinessWeek]

Western People: A Ballina man who is already one of the most successful businessmen in the West of Ireland is embarking on a new venture to match potential employers with qualified drivers who are available for work.

Tiernan Gill, who established Gills Driving School thirty-five years ago, said, "I have quite a number of truck owners contacting me and asking if I knew of anyone who had recently passed the artic. licence and who was looking for a job."

He added that qualified drivers were very hard got at present and potential employers often had to go through a lengthy process of advertising and interviewing on a number of occasions before they got the right person.

Tiernan Gill says what he intends to do is to interview drivers who are looking for jobs and then to rate them - one to ten - on a number of factors including driving ability and personality.
He said the agency, which is the first of its kind in Connacht, presents a lot of advantages for both the employee and the employer. For example, for the employee it opens up a wide range of opportunities for jobs all over Connacht and for the employer it represents time and costs saved in interviewing and advertising.

New business idea will put truck drivers into top gear [Western People]

Iconoculture: Reservations and convenience services widen the range of possibilities for those who use pedal power. Why fight the crowd at the bike rack? Clancy Systems International's Bicycle Parking Network allows bikers to use their cellphones to reserve and pay for bike storage. Users locate available lockers online and then use their cells to reserve space and retrieve access codes for drop-off and pickup. Customer accounts are linked to cell numbers, enabling automatic monthly billing. Lockers cost $2 per day, plus a 10% "convenience fee." The service is available in Denver, at UCLA, and at select stations of San Francisco’s BART and Los Angeles’ Metropolitan Transit Authority systems. As bicycling continues to roll as a viable commuting alternative, services and amenities that cater to bikers' special needs – like parking stations with showers and changing rooms and valet bike parking – are going to become more important. Bikers dial up for quick and easy ways to protect their bicycle investment.

Ring Up A Rack Spot [Iconoculture]

NetImperative: Technology firm Crane Dragon has begun testing a new taxi service in Liverpool that encourages travellers to text a taxi request via their mobiles, and then share the journey with other passengers going to the same area.

The ‘Texxi’ service allows users to text their house address and postcode to the Texxi SMS number.

The system will then aggregate other passengers wanting to go to the same area and confirm details of the taxi driver’s name and badge number to the passengers.

Passengers will be directed to pre-determined ‘muster points’ to meet up with their driver who will have received a text confirming each passenger’s booking reference.

SMS-based taxi carpool service launches [NetImperative]

Forbes: It's time for a revolution in business travel. The commercial airline business is going through another round of bankruptcies, route shakeouts and confrontations with unions. Having fewer airlines will exacerbate the already lousy service that makes so many people hate to fly these days--the long waits, the delays, the cancelations, the lost bags. Short flights aren't worth the hassle anymore. Since 2000, reports the Air Transport Association of America, there's been a 21% drop in passenger volume for flights of 500 miles or less.

Crandall and Burr are calling their air taxi service Pogo--after the stick that bounces, not Walt Kelly's cartoon possum. At this point it's little more than a grand plan, $8 million in capital and a small fleet of new-generation lightweight jets on order. The idea is to introduce air travel on demand, using Web-based software to route small aircraft as needed. "The planes will go wherever the customers go," says Burr, 63. "If you're in Syracuse and want to go to Portland, Me., we will probably be over in Rochester and have to fly over and get you. You might say I want to go at 4 p.m., and we'll say, ‘Yeah, we can't go at 4, but we can pick up at 4:30.'"

Pogo will begin service next year with a new class of six-seat minijets flying from North Carolina to Maine. The jets will fly point-to-point among the nation's largely underused 5,400 smaller airports, situated within a half hour's drive of 93% of Americans. These airports are free of the aggravating congestion of the 50 largest domestic hubs, through which 90% of travelers pass. "There're no ticket counters, no terminals and no baggage handlers," says Crandall, 68, who still chain-smokes his cigarettes down to the filter. "You drive up to the airport minutes before your flight, the pilot loads your bag and away you go."

Sky King [Forbes]

Next September, a fleet of taxis in Barcelona will begin testing a multimedia system which aims to serve both the taxi-driver and the passenger better.

The taxi-drivers are smiling because the satellite-connected system will ensure that the locations of their cabs are constantly being tracked and connected to the local emergency service. A navigational program is also available to guide the driver to a route free of traffic jams. With this system, they can focus on what is perhaps the most important part of their job: delivering the passenger safely and promptly to the destination.

Passengers are smiling too; a taxi ride is no longer a boring affair. With a touch screen connected to the Internet, they can read their online newspapers, listen to music, watch digital films, find information on the city and do so much more. And if the passengers are from abroad and the driver doesn't understand what they are saying, an online translation program can help to facilitate communication.

These multimedia taxis are part of the Europetaxi project being promoted by Barcelona's Union of the Catalan Taxi. Although similar projects can be found in cities like New York and Paris, Barcelona's is by far the most ambitious. Imagine finding such cabs in your home city; a taxi journey will never be the same again!