Iphone 3g

The New York Plaza hotel has turned to the iPad to offer guests a little extra comfort during their stay. The rollout was completed in January and gives guests access to a huge list of features.

Some of the features include ordering of room service, restaurant reservations, wake up calls, city guides, check airline schedules and even printing of boarding passes. The iPad can even control the rooms lighting, heating and air conditioning as well as offering guests’ access to the web. The hotel worked with developer Intelity who customised its ICE software (Interactive Customer Experience) to provide the experience.

“Before in the guest rooms, we had another digital panel that controlled the lights, the temperature and some guest services," Shane Krige, general manager of The Plaza explained to Luxist. "But it wasn't sophisticated enough for what we wanted to do. So we teamed up with Intelity to devise the software for the program.” "We chose the iPad because it is a great piece of equipment that is here to stay and won't disappear tomorrow," adds Krige. "It brings another five star element to the hotel."

The iPad will not replace the current concierge service, but is meant to offer guests more choice should they wish to use it. The app will also be available in iTunes for guests to download and use on their iPhone too. There is a video after the break showing how it works!

[Luxist]

According to the New York Times, Apple has rejected a few apps recently including Sony’s Reader app, based on the way content is purchased for use within the app. Sony's Reader app is an eBook platform similar to Apple’s own iBooks app and the Amazon Kindle app. Content can be found and purchased outside the app, bypassing Apple's iTunes Store and therefore bypassing Apples slice of the pie.

Online UK bank First Direct has launched an iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad app that lets you view your statement but also carry out some simple transactions too. Other UK banking apps are limited to viewing your account statements which is a handy feature to have; First Direct has taken it a step further.

The app will allow you to view your balances and your last 20 transactions, make transfers between your accounts but most importantly, make payments to other personal accounts or organisations. To use the service you must already be a registered First Direct internet banking user and payments can only be made to those accounts that you have setup online already.

According to a Boy Genius source, and as reported yesterday, iOS 4.3 will definitely be coming to all iPhones and include the Hotspot feature which we saw at the Verizon event yesterday. Accoring to the source, the OS version will be 8F5148b and will have a baseband 04.08.00.