Bed and Breakfast Wire - Google News

Search giant could collaborate with makers of online game communities like Playfish, Zynga - More

The interesting thing about this transaction is that it is clearly targeted at expanding Google's influence in the travel industry, yet it includes a company that has invested primarily in technology to serve the air traveler, which only represents 15% of total overnight trips in the US (per the U.S. Travel Association). - More

Last week, Google announced a deal to acquire ITA, a Boston-area company that makes flight information software. The move will give Google a large foothold in the online travel search market, and control over a critical data source used by many of its competitors, including Kayak.com, Orbitz.com and Microsoft’s Bing. But first comes the r... - More

Google is working on a social service to rival Facebook, if Web rumors are to be believed. And while Google's social-networking efforts have so far fallen flat, even satisfied Facebook users should hope that the search engine's efforts bear fruit. - More

Google on Thursday announced that it is moving into the travel industry, buying a flight-information company called ITA Software for $700 million. But what does the entry of the Internet giant mean for companies already in the market, like Expedia, Priceline and even Microsoft’s Bing Travel? - More

ITA Software, Inc., a flight information software company, and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) announced that they have signed a definitive agreement for Google to acquire ITA for $700 million in cash, subject to adjustments. - More

Summer 2010 Whitepaper: 'A Paper Of Two Halves' - More

This long-awaited update brings a reportedly 50% faster indexing system than on previous versions of Google, as well as even faster search results for users. - More

According to this blog post, Google has acquired online travel guide and community Ruba. - More

Google may have just entered a new battlefront with Apple at the 'I/O' developers conference when it took the wraps off its plans for the VP8 video codec. - More