The photos that rotate through Bing’s homepage are, at least from an aesthetic standpoint (we mean no disrespect to the search engineers), one of the best things about the site; it’s always a pleasure to stop by and see some interesting scene. And now artistic types are getting a chance to contribute thanks to the new Bing Photo Contest.
California Sues Online Travel Company
California Attorney General Jerry Brown is suing an online travel business for operating a "gigantic pyramid scheme" that recruited thousands of members with misleading claims that they could earn huge sums of money through its online travel agencies.
U.S. Testing Online Travel Approval Plan
Travelers who do not need a visa to fly to the United States will have to answer questions about their health and criminal background under a new electronic system launched today.Starting January 12, 2009, people traveling to the U.S. from the 27 visa waiver countries will be required to fill out an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) form online three days before departure.
Houston Files Lawsuit Against Online Travel Companies
The city of Houston has filed a lawsuit against online hotel bookers for keeping money the city claims should go towards its occupancy tax."We believe the (online) companies are, essentially, pocketing the money that should go to occupancy tax," Mayor Bill White told the Houston Chronicle. "It’s unfair to those who are paying the price where the full taxes are paid."
Travel Search Sites Kayak, SideStep Connect
In the official press release, forms of the word "merge" are used four times, "purchasing" comes up once, and "acquire" and "buy" are nowhere to be seen. Nonetheless, the bottom line is that Kayak.com secured a spectacular round of funding, and proceeded to take over SideStep.com.
Google, Search Drives Health, Travel Traffic
Websites in the health & medical and the travel categories received substantial traffic driven to them from search engines in November 2007.
Yahoo Hacks New Shopping, Travel Products
The last Internal Hack Day at Yahoo, 24 hours of coding fun fueled by lots of pizza, has yielded a couple of new services that have been rolled out to their Travel and Shopping products.
MySpace Gets Facebook Travel App
Where I’ve Been (WIB), an interactive map that allows users to share the places they have visited has launched on MySpace.
Yahoo Travel Gets Personal
Yahoo has added several new features to its travel Web site. The new version of Yahoo Travel focuses on personalized travel deals, travel guides and a new mapping system.
Taxes, Travel On Your Mind Online
A pair of opposing ideas have been occupying web surfers as they cruise the Internet: the desire to ditch the office for a week in the sun, and the need to pay Uncle Sam his annual due with the money you might otherwise use for that vacation.