Argophilia

Αργοφιλία: For the love of the journey.

Travel Technology

Hackers Infiltrate TripAdvisor, Steal Emails

Aleksandr Shatskih

TripAdvisor admitted today that hackers had infiltrated its servers and managed to steal user emails.  According to the big-name travel website, only emails were stolen, but all passwords and other member information are safe.  Therefore, the only damage done to users will be extra spam, phishing schemes, or anything else the evildoers came come up […]

Expedia Says Hotel App for iPhone Coming

Aleksandr Shatskih

Expedia’s recent acquisition of mobile app developer Mobiata has paid off, and the web-based travel company says it has created an Expedia Hotels app for the iPhone and iPod touch. Within four taps of a finger, Expedia says, a traveler can go from researching hotels to booking a room. The app will also make use […]

WhichBudget Introduces Online Airline Ratings Tool

Aleksandr Shatskih

WhichBudget, a site that makes it easy to search for “cheap flights” around the world, has introduced a new online airline ratings tool so you can more easily complain about your cheap flights.  In all seriousness, the tool provides a 5-star rating systems for the airlines featured on the site, allowing users to express their […]

IBM Promises to Squeeze 40 Percent More Bags into Schiphol

Aleksandr Shatskih

Two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time.  It is a simple concept but one that IBM hopes to work around using its technology to squeeze more baggage into an already overflowing Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. Schiphol is one of the top airports in the world (the 5th largest in Europe), handling […]

Hopper Building Advanced Travel Search System

Aleksandr Shatskih

Hopper, a full-text search engine for travel, is now in early alpha testing for its new natural-language-based search technology.  The company is the brainchild of Frederic Lalonde and Joost Ouwerkerk; Lalonde is also the chairman of Tnooz.  The developers working on the project are former Expedia geeks, and the tool they are trying to create […]

Google People Finder Helps Locate Japan Quake Victims

Aleksandr Shatskih

The powerful earthquake that rocked Japan and sent 30-foot-high tsunamis crashing into the shores has left many travelers in the region disoriented, frightened, and, in some cases, missing loved ones.  Google is now featuring its “People Finder” once again, which has helped some local residents and travelers in the area locate each other. The interface […]

Sabre Launches AgentStream Germany With Resounding Thump

Phil Butler

In travel news from Germany, online travel giant Sabre Group has announced the launch of a social networking platform here in Germany. AgentStream is theoretically designed for travel agents in Germany to be able to engage the social web, at least this is what the over four thousand global participants at AgentStream hope. But aside the obvious PR push of this, is the platform really all that social? It looks more like a push to keep up with Travelport than anything.

Bing-Kayak: Travel Search or Dumb Meets Dumber?

Phil Butler

The still raging war for online travel supremacy continues with news from Microsoft and Kayak. The pending sale of ITA to Google has spurred some fairly ridiculous allegiances and deals, not the least of which is the latest Bing “slash” Kayak pairing. Let’s face it, Microsoft has already spent two king’s ransoms trying to beat Google, and now this?

Italy Welcomes Movolo: Point-of-interest Travel Booking

Mihaela Lica Butler

Movolo, the only search and booking engine that makes door-to-door travel booking a simple process across multiple places with or without an airport, has recently launched its Italian version.

US Airways Sabre Deal Calms Travel War Waters

Phil Butler

In airline travel news, US Airways just announced the signing of a multi year contract for full content distribution and merchandising with Sabre Travel Network. This latest news, pertinent to the ongoing wars between the various online agents and service providers, is at least a positive sign for global distribution players.