kayak

Links from Wednesday's episode of Loaded:

Facebook revises its update to prevent you from inadvertently sharing your phone number and address

Federal regulators approve the Comcast-NBC Universal deal

American Airlines is on the outs with online reservation sites

Sprint raises its monthly fee for smartphone users by $10

Starbucks expands its mobile phone payment system to all stores nationwide

Playboy claims to be bringing its entire archive of magazines uncensored to the iPad in March, mysteriously skirting Apple's no-nudity rule

There are a great number of travel Web sites on the Internet that let you search flights, hotel listings, and car rentals, but if you want a quick way to get that info while on the go, check out the new Kayak for iPhone app. Though Kayak has been around for some time, this latest version for iPhone includes a completely redesigned interface and faster search results making it much easier to get your travel plans in order quickly. Like the older version, Kayak works seamlessly with the Kayak.com Web site.

Instead of the older tilelike interface, Kayak has … Read more

The likelihood that Google may acquire travel search technology company ITA Software has been causing waves of nervousness across companies in the existing travel search market--many of whom count themselves among ITA's existing clients.

Now it appears the heat has been turned up a notch at one of those companies, Kayak: According to a source with knowledge of the situation, the company may have quietly laid off as much 25 percent of its workforce last Thursday as it forges toward an IPO.

Kayak representatives did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A news outlet called Tnooz reported on … Read more

Kayak HD is a free app associated with the popular travel Web site Kayak.com. The Kayak site (whose tagline is "Search one and done") is famous for letting you quickly and simultaneously search multiple other travel sites (such as Priceline, Expedia, and Travelocity), and the iPad app provides similar quick-search options but with some touch-screen innovations that make searching even faster--and even kind of fun.

Fans of the Kayak site will feel right at home with the Kayak app's interface, which has options along the bottom for Flights, Hotels, Cars, and Explore--and in fact, the Cars … Read more

Turns out, you get punished for being a cute girl on Facebook ... at least that's our speculation about the bug that was disabling some women's profiles. Also, Google Voice debuts in the iTunes app store, Hulu Plus drops to $7.99, and we watch the Green Lantern trailer live and ... we're not impressed. Plus, Cooks Source Magazine elects to go quietly and passive-aggressively into this dark publishing night. --Molly

Travel search site Kayak launched a new feature earlier this week called Kayak Explore, a visual search engine that starts with the basic question of, "I have X amount of money to spend. Where can I go?"

The map interface of Explore lets you select a price range, a time of year to travel (this year or next), whether you're looking for attractions like beaches or casinos, and whether you have a maximum flight time in mind. Then it'll display the lowest fare available for a pretty extensive range of destinations--but mostly just to major global … Read more

I can think of some people who would pay $4,839 for the chance to wind up on a beautiful tropical island where Matthew Fox routinely takes off his shirt--even if there were man-eating smoke monsters and vicious polar bears involved.

Buzz started spreading around on Twitter that you can find something awfully funny on travel search site Kayak.com: search for a one-way flight from Sydney to Los Angeles to take place on September 22, 2010, and one of the search results that pops up is Oceanic Airlines, the fictional airline made famous by TV sci-fi drama "Lost.&… Read more

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, although on the Web it can be followed by the threat of litigation.

Wired reports that travel search site Kayak.com sent Microsoft a "legal letter" this week based on Microsoft's Bing travel search tool looking too similar to its own. While the Farecast-powered travel search provides differing results from Kayak's, the company is citing its similarity in look and functionality.

A Microsoft spokesperson rebutted the allegation, telling Wired that the latest design was a joint venture with Farecast and the Bing team.

Microsoft redesigned its Farecast travel search … Read more

There are very few ways to view job openings, book a vacation, or find that perfect home without plowing through multiple websites and advertisements. Alertpedia is a useful website that saves you time by performing filtered searches based on what you're looking for. The search results are delivered in the form of a daily, weekly, or immediate email. The best part? No sign-up required.

Unlike websites like Kayak or Crazedlist, who deliver an immediate search result, Alertpedia saves you time by doing an automatic, periodical search. You can search for weather, traffic, jobs, travel, YouTube videos, and other categories.… Read more