airfare
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Google is changing how other sites use its flight data
Google is getting serious about its role as a travel service. Come April 10, 2018 the search giant will shut down access to its QPX Express API that's used by the likes of Kayak and Orbitz for airfare data, as spotted by Hacker News. This could seriously affect those sites' customers. Travel listings are one thing, but if you've stored a ton of reward points with one and it isn't able to fetch flight times and prices for your a trip next summer, that could cause some headaches.
Bing Travel's airfare price predictor is gone, but not forgotten
Despite Microsoft's years of effort, most of us haven't switched from Google to Bing for our various searches. Still, one of our favorite Bing features has always been the airfare price prediction. Added in 2009 after Microsoft acquired the startup Farecast for $115 million one year earlier, it could give you an idea of the best time to buy an airplane ticket at its lowest price. That feature is gone now, as a Microsoft spokesperson told GeekWire "It was a business decision to focus resources on areas where we feel there are the greatest opportunities to serve travel needs." It faded out earlier this year, and Tnooz mentions that key members of the Farecast / Bing Travel team left Microsoft back in 2009. Last year, Farecast's founder Oren Etzioni lamented the state of of the service, telling GeekWire at the time "I would have expected more [from Bing] during the past few years." Apparently what was left didn't survive Microsoft's current reorganization, however travelers looking for the best time to buy can still find a similar service from Bing frienemy Kayak.com. Kayak launched a curiously similar price prediction feature last year, and now Google is beefing up its search results for travel queries with direct information on hotels, room photos and reviews. Ah well, at least Bing is still our go to for easy Bitcoin conversions.
The Daily Grind: Got cons?
So the New York Comic Con is in full swing, and the fact that it's here already reminds us of just how many game-related cons there are scattered throughout the calendar year. Whether it's NYCC, Dragon Con, E3, GDC, or the various flavors of PAX, there always seems to be something just around the corner that calls for hotel reservations and airline tickets. More often than not, the next convention on the circuit sneaks right up on us before we manage to shake the jet lag from the last one. While we'd like nothing better than to shirk responsibilities and tour the world of gaming and pop culture conventions for a year, work must occasionally intrude, and most of us have to pick and choose our events. What about you Massively readers? Did you attend NYCC this weekend, and are you a regular on the gaming convention circuit? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of our readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's The Daily Grind!
Ryanair planning in-flight bingo, gambling
Singapore Airlines has its heavenly seats, and Virgin has textual Q&A sessions, so you knew Europe's low-cost leader in air travel had to find a gimmick of its own to implement before long. Should its in-flight calling proposal get the big thumbs-up from regulatory agencies, the airline is planning on giving customers the ability to play online bingo and a "number of other instant-win games" that will offer jackpots in excess of £200,000 ($380,000). To assist in promoting the in-flight gambling service, the company has teamed up with JackpotJoy to offer Ryanair's games on its website, and Ryanair's own CEO has already announced his plans to make "millions upon millions" off the deal. While we're certainly down with in-flight gaming creating lower ticket prices, encouraging gambling in order to so is admittedly dodgy, but if all goes as planned, you can roll your own dice starting in "mid-2007."[Via CNET]
