TechCrunch has an article today about TV Trip, a new site that allows visitors to see videos of hotels and hotel rooms before they book. I was a bit skeptical of how useful this would be, but after seeing some of the videos, I think I'm sold. The difference between a live video and photographs for rooms is amazing. There's something about video that brings the hotel to life - whether its people walking around, panning for different views... (It might be the fact that the videos don't appear to be staged in any way - so you get a real look at what the hotel looks like).

One of the things that I like most about writing this blog, and sites like TV Trip, is how people are really thinking outside the box to come up with ways to improve the user experience. I think TV Trip is a good example, as is Teamwork Athletic Apparel's website that allows you to design team uniforms online, or Allurent's AIR based e-commerce application that makes matching your existing clothing as easy as dragging, dropping and clicking.

If you're building a website these days, I'd urge you to brainstorm about how you can do things differently. How can you improve the user experience - can you display information in a map rather than a table for a more visual experience? Can you integrate online video? The technology these days is the easy part - Flex Builder is now 1/2 price, Flash Media Server is available for free for limited connections, Amazon allows you to build and host websites reliably.

The technology is the easy part these days - the hard part is coming up with unique ways to use it.