Apps

The airasia Super App lets you book flights, hotels, and more

It’s called a Super App for a reason!

Published

on

Capital A, formerly known as AirAsia Group, launched its digital venture called the airasia Super App in the Philippines. It’s Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing integrated digital travel and lifestyle platform.

Following its success in Malaysia and Thailand, the app is expected to change the local e-commerce game in the Philippines. Especially with the country’s efforts gearing towards its post-pandemic recovery.

One-stop-shop travel and lifestyle app

Currently, the airasia Super App is the first and only one-stop-shop travel and lifestyle app in the country. It allows users to compare and book flights to more than 3,000 destinations with over 700 airlines to choose from.

For example, you can only visit El Nido — one of the most beautiful islands in the world — through a direct flight via AirSWIFT. Meanwhile, AirAsia doesn’t have a direct flight to El Nido. This means passengers should get off in Puerto Princesa and take land travel up north to reach El Nido. Through the Super App, you have the option to book AirAsia’s flights or even AirSWIFT.

Book hotels and more

The airasia Super App lets you find accommodations. It offers a roster of over 200,000 hotels to help you secure the best deals. Moreover, the Super App aims to take a jab against the likes of Grab and Klook. It also has services such as car rides, parcel deliveries, travel packages, and activities in the nearest future.

In the coming months, expect to see a ride-hailing service called airasia ride and digital food delivery called airasia food.

“With the reopening of borders across the region, we are sure that Filipinos will find the best travel deals on our super app, and enjoy other lifestyle offerings such as airasia food, airasia ride, airasia xpress and more when they travel to other countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and when they’re introduced in the Philippines soon,” says Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A Berhad.

The Super App also presents a digital tax-free shopping platform called TravelMall, which will allow users to shop for food, clothes, and other products at lower prices in just a few taps.

Full-on support from the Philippine government

Cabinet officials graced the launch of airasia Super App, welcoming the app and discussing its promising growth.

“With innovation, it’s all about introducing new ways of doing things, processes, products and services. Obviously, that kind of mindset is what we need with or without pandemic. What Super App is doing is definitely one step and probably many steps towards innovation,” says Mon Lopez, Secretary for the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Emmanuel Caintic, acting secretary for the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) also congratulated Capital A on the launch.

“airasia has once again proven itself to be a digital company that evolves with time and is committed in developing relevant business solutions for the people. The official launch of the airasia Super App is a remarkable milestone as it makes technology in travel, lifestyle and financial services more understandable, affordable and flexible,” Caintic stated.

Further, Caintic described the Super App as “a testament to pivot to digital economy because it’s the best driver for growth.”

Celebrating the milestone with a month-long Super Sale

The airasia Super App offers a Fly Home to Vote Promo. Users can book from April 3 to 10 and travel from April 3 to September 3, 2022. The promo encourages Filipinos to practice their right to vote in the May 9 elections.

There’s also a SNAP (fly + stay) promo at Amorita Resort in Bohol for only PhP 10,199 per person for three (3) days and two (2) nights. The booking period is from April 4 to 10 and the travel period is from April 4 to September 30, 2022.

If you’re flying domestically, get airasia Super App’s Online Travel Agency 20% discount with promo code PHSUMER20. The airasia TravelMall also offers a special promo from April 1-30, 2022 for those flying back home. Simply use the promo code PASALUBONG50 to slash as much as 50% off of TravelMall items.

The airasia Super App is available in the App Store, Play Store, and the AppGallery.

Apps

Apple continues to backtrack from Liquid Glass

A new toggle will let you turn Liquid Glass down.

Published

on

Liquid Glass is Apple’s laborious experiment in discovering why Microsoft dropped the Windows Vista aesthetic all those years ago. As cool as the translucent glass looked, having so many elements on screen tended to be distracting or overwhelming. Apple started discovering that when they toned down the transparency of Liquid Glass prior to the launch of iOS 26. Now, the update is going further by adding a new toggle to make the interface even less transparent.

Starting with iOS 26, Apple introduced a new aesthetic called Liquid Glass. The design offers a departure from Apple’s flatter past. It’s supposed to make the interface more dynamic, but Apple quickly realized that it’s heavily dependent on the content underneath the glass interface. The update’s current version is, in fact, more opaque than its original iteration.

Today, Apple launched a new toggle in the iOS 26.1 beta (via MacRumors). The toggle, dealing with Liquid Glass, has two simple options: Clear and Tinted.

It does what it says it does. Under Tinted mode, the design is darker, and the elements underneath are more blurred. The intention is to make information more readable.

Unfortunately for those who really dislike the new aesthetic, there is no way to completely turn it off. However, the toggle, which should ship out when the update leaves beta, can at least give some reprieve from the translucent nightmare.

SEE ALSO: Apple is already backing out of Liquid Glass

Continue Reading

Apps

ChatGPT will soon allow NSFW conversations

The platform will start age-gating users in December.

Published

on

Every day, we inch closer and closer to the strange reality of Joaquin Phoenix’s Her. Today’s AI-powered chatbots have inevitably adapted to address our more carnal desires. Some, such as those offered by xAI, are even explicitly designed to only flirt with the user. Soon, ChatGPT will offer the same thing: a way for adult users to… well, be adults.

Through a post on X, OpenAI’s Sam Altman reiterated ChatGPT’s impending drive to introduce age-gating in December. Keeping younger users from the platform will open ChatGPT to more “mature” conversations. Altman specifically names “erotica” as one of the potential uses of a looser platform.

Additionally, ChatGPT is rolling out an update which will make the platform more personable and comparable to actual conversations. This includes using more emojis or talking like a friend.

The platform is also adding more safeguards when it comes to mental health issues, given that more people are using it as a makeshift therapist. Recently, Altman made sure that ChatGPT treated mental health with more delicateness. To some, especially those without such issues, the platform became more unusable. To bring back how it used to be, the platform will add better tools to detect whether the user is in “mental distress.”

Finally, OpenAI is implementing a backend solution to mental health by creating a new council of researchers and experts to accurately determine the impact of AI on mental health. Currently, it’s still unknown how much this new technology is helping (or harming) our wellbeing.

SEE ALSO: ChatGPT Go now available in the Philippines, more Asian countries

Continue Reading

Apps

YouTube is getting a redesign

The update looks a bit like Liquid Glass.

Published

on

What’s your favorite YouTube design? I still hold a bit of nostalgia for the silver era, but the practicality of the current minimalist design is remarkable. Now, it’s time for a change. YouTube is refreshing its design starting this week.

Much like Apple with Liquid Glass, YouTube is going for a more transparent approach. The new design lets more content through the interface. It also features rounder buttons, in contrast to today’s blockier features.

The comments section is also getting a bit of an upgrade to allow for more structure between original posts and replies.

For engagement with actual videos, some videos will now have custom like animations. The update gives an example of a music video which puts out a musical note when liked. Adding a video to a custom playlist or the Watch Later list is also more natural.

YouTube is rolling out these updates starting this week. It will also be available for web, mobile, and TV users.

SEE ALSO: YouTube has become ‘new TV’ in the Philippines, drives better ROI for ads

Continue Reading

Trending