| WSJ: Google set to acquire Frommer's from Wiley, add trusted travel reviews Aug 13th 2012, 15:48  Just one year after its Zagat acquisition, Google has made a move on another trusted lifestyle brand. John Wiley & Sons Inc., the current owner of the Frommer's network of travel sites and guide books, confirmed the Mountain View acquisition, with a closing expected shortly. According to The Wall Street Journal, Google hasn't made a call concerning Frommer's printed guidebooks, which don't necessarily fall in line with the company's otherwise online-only model. It's also unclear whether or not the the new content arm will fall under Zagat's leadership, though a department executive did comment on the acquisition in an interview, saying that Google planned to keep Frommer's on its current path for the time being. Neither company was able to confirm pricing for the buyout, which could help Google boost its reviews portfolio, backing user-submitted travel content with professional credibility. Full details are at the source link below. Filed under: Internet WSJ: Google set to acquire Frommer's from Wiley, add trusted travel reviews originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Aug 2012 11:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink |  WSJ | Email this | Comments | | Armchair Darwinians discover new insect species on Flickr Aug 13th 2012, 15:41  Entomologist Shaun Winterton has discovered a new species of Malaysian Lacewing from the comfort of his computer. Idly browsing Flickr, he came across Guek "Kurt" Hock Ping's snap of an insect taken while hiking in the Malaysian jungle, which bore an unfamiliar black-and-blue pattern along its wings. When his colleagues couldn't identify the markings, he realized he was staring at a new species and hurriedly emailed the photographer -- who, a year later, had captured one of the elusive creatures. Sent to Simon Brooks at the Natural History Museum, the suspicion was confirmed. The armchair explorer named it Semachrysa jade after his daughter and promptly used Google Docs to co-author the paper with Guek and Brooks on opposite ends of the world. If your mom complains that you're spending too much time on your computer, you can tell her you're searching for strange life-forms and old civilizations with a straight face. [Image Credit: Guek "Kurt" Hock Ping, Flickr] Armchair Darwinians discover new insect species on Flickr originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Aug 2012 11:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  The Verge, NPR, io9 | OrionMystery, Zookeys, Flickr | Email this | Comments | | Imo rolls out free voice calling for iOS users, hopes you'll use it to talk about free voice calling Aug 13th 2012, 15:24  Imo has no doubt gotten a bit of boost in the last couple of months, when Meebo finally shuttered its Messenger offering ahead of its social-boosting Google integration, and now the service is getting a bit more robust for iOS users. The instant messaging aggregator (AIM, Google Talk, Facebook chat, et al.) is bringing free voice calling to iPhones running iOS version 3.1 and higher, a feature already available on its Android offering. Interested parties can check out a press release and not particularly informative video of the new feature after the break. Continue reading Imo rolls out free voice calling for iOS users, hopes you'll use it to talk about free voice calling Filed under: Tablet PCs, Software Imo rolls out free voice calling for iOS users, hopes you'll use it to talk about free voice calling originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Aug 2012 11:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | imo.im | Email this | Comments | |
