hotels

The guests of Hotel Indigo can now browse the Bible on Kindles left in their room.

The Newcastle hotel has removed all the complimentary Gideon Bibles from its rooms and replaced them with e-versions loaded on Kindles, the Telegraph newspaper reports.

The hotel said it's the first in Britain to offer the service, which includes the ability to download any other religious texts that costs 5 British pounds or less. Guests can also order books, but those will be added to their hotel bills.

The hotel is trying out the service for two weeks to see if it wants … Read more

Social networks catering to adolescents have a serious trust issue -- and justifiably so.

Location-based flirting app Skout and teen social-networking game Habbo were hit by reports that adults allegedly used their services to sexually prey on underage users, causing both sites to temporarily restrict access this week.

The incidents serve as a reminder of the potential risks that arise when a minor logs on to any social network, an issue that has gotten even more scrutiny with Facebook looking to possibly open its doors to users under 13. More importantly, it reinforces the notion that no network is truly … Read more

Quirky and innovative travel search service Hipmunk has just updated its mobile apps (Android | iOS) with a nifty new calendar integration feature. As of today, the already powerful travel apps can now take inventory of your Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, or Apple iCal events, and overlay its findings on your travel search results pages. This can be an especially useful tool for business travelers with difficult schedules.

If you haven't used Hipmunk before, it's a Kayak-like travel search service on the Web and mobile devices. What makes it unique is its capability to factor in things like departure … Read more

More is not always better.

Bump Technologies said today it has radically overhauled its hit iPhone and Android apps, ditching little-loved tools that allowed users to trade music and app recommendations and concentrating Bump 3.0 entirely on enabling photo and contacts sharing.

When Bump launched three years ago, it took off immediately by making it dead easy for people to share contact information with others: simply bump iPhones with another user of the app and voila! Since then, the company added Android support, expanded its feature set, and racked up more than 75 million downloads.

Along the way though, … Read more

Google+ finally allows nicknames, Priceline is killing Shatner, and a solar radiation storm crashes communication systems.

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

If you need to book a hotel, flight, or rental car, or you just need a little advice before going on a trip, you should definitely check out Kayak.

Think of Kayak as a digital travel agent that searches through hundreds of different travel sites to help you book your trip. It searches through popular sites like Travelocity, Expedia, and Orbitz, all at the same time, and gives you current rates and itineraries that can all be booked in just a few clicks. In addition, Kayak offers convenient travel tools like a packing list, currency converter, and airport information, all … Read more

TripAdvisor is the comprehensive companion app to the popular travel Web site of the same name. It's a great resource for discovering hotels, restaurants, and things to do in destinations all around the world. It even lets you read reviews, talk in forums, and look through tons of photos shot by other travelers.

From the main Dashboard, you can jump directly into a section, and conduct a search for Hotels, Restaurants, or Things to do. But the better way to use the app is through the global search tool at the top of the screen, which pulls up all … Read more

Room 77, the very cool site that finds the best room for you at the hotel you want, has taken the next logical step in its growth and added the capability to actually book the rooms it finds for you.

The mobile app is unchanged: It can tell you about a room at a hotel when you check in but before you leave the front desk, so you can have a nice discussion with the hotel clerk if it's a stinker.

As I wrote back in February, there's no programmatic way yet for the network of hotel reservation … Read more

IBM has created what they're benignly calling "cognitive semiconductors," which are computers that can actually learn, think, and creatively process information. So, that sounds like a good idea, right? I mean, seriously, great work, IBM, but when one of your big backers is DARPA, you can't fool us. We know Skynet is upon us. Also, don't get caught with your patents down!