travel

The iPad was made to move, but even if your iPad never leaves the house, these three apps deliver the world to your tablet.

Tilt your iPad to flatten your 3D satellite view Do you remember the first time you used Google Earth to fly over your favorite world capitals -- or maybe just to get a bird's-eye view of your own back yard?

The novelty of panning and zooming may have worn off, but there's no denying the encyclopedic information Google Earth provides about all four corners of the globe.

The Google Earth iPad app bears a … Read more

Airbnb, a service that helps travelers book places to stay that are rented out by homeowners, renters, and landlords, has reached a milestone.

The company announced today that 10 million nights have been booked on its service since its launch in 2008. To put that figure into perspective, Airbnb revealed that 2 million nights were booked last June, and it reached 5 million in January -- four years after its founding. Less than half a year later, it has tallied the same figure.

But before the company's growth is marveled at, it's worth noting that Airbnb in March acquired its largest U.K. competitor, Crashpadder, for an undisclosed sum. … Read more

Looking for the best camping and hiking spots in your area that are also dog friendly? Subaru has created a guide for travelers just like you.

Subaru's Guide to Everything is like a Yelp for road trips. The new crowdsourced travel guide contains 250 unique reviews written by Lonely Planet, and other destinations supplied by Subaru drivers.

The guide is available online and as a free downloadable iPhone app. Guide users can search for or add locations for camping, hiking, biking, dining, and sightseeing, and write comments, reviews, and provide tips. There's even a travel section specifically for … Read more

Quick housekeeping note: I'm taking a rare vacation day tomorrow, so this is it until Monday. Have a great weekend, and I'll see you then!

Apple's new MacBooks are getting lots of attention right now, but it'll cost you a minimum of $999 to get one. For that kind of money, you could literally buy three of today's deal.

While supplies last, Newegg has the refurbished HP Pavilion dv6-6c48us 15.6-inch laptop for $339.99 shipped. How good a deal is that? The same model sells new at Office Depot for $599.99.

The Pavilion … Read more

Every year, we engage in the same dance: Apple announces a new version of iOS, and we instantly start wondering how our devices will change as a result.

iOS announcements tend to work forward for phones (the new iPhone is expected this fall), but for iPads they work backward: the third-generation iPad with Retina Display came out in March.

A host of new iOS 6 features change some of what the iPhone can be. Will iOS 6 change the iPad, too? Yes, if you're thinking of heavily using Siri or own a 4G/3G third-gen iPad or iPad 2.… Read more

Google Translate for Android is a simple, versatile tool that supports more than 60 languages, offers an SMS translator, and even speaks some of your translations aloud.

The best thing about Google Translate is its simplicity. The app is decked out with a sleek, ICS-flavored Holo theme, complete with Android 4.0's signature action bar and drop-down menu. Altogether, the new skin is a marked improvement over the slightly clunkier interface developed for Android Gingerbread.

To use Google Translate, just select your input and output languages, then type in your text. For even faster results, you can set the … Read more

Although Facebook's initial public offering hurt investors and the social network's share price, there appears to be another victim of its troubles.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today, citing sources, that online travel site Kayak decided against holding its "roadshow" with would-be investors around Memorial Day as planned, due to issues with Facebook's IPO. The Journal's sources say that Kayak is trying to determine the willingness in the investment world to drop cash into another Internet IPO.

If investors are concerned, it wouldn't be such a bad idea. Over the last year, … Read more

iTranslate Voice lets you speak to translate in 31 different languages offering excellent speech recognition so you don't even need to use the keyboard. Great for learning new languages or acting as your personal translator when traveling, this app has a great layout for quick translations on the fly.

iTranslate offers a clean intuitive interface that only requires a couple of steps to translate in the languages you want. Simply touch the gear icon (settings) in the upper-left corner, then choose your spoken language and the language you want to translate to. You also have options for having the … Read more

As a self-employed guy who rarely leaves his basement, let alone his house, I've never had much need for a Slingbox. But, ho, boy, do some people love them. I've heard them discussed with the same kind of gushing admiration usually reserved for TiVos and Kindles.

Curiously, although they've been around for years, prices haven't dropped much. Indeed, Slingbox deals are pretty rare, which is why today's is something of a sellout risk.

Today only, and while supplies last, Best Buy has the Sling Media Slingbox Solo for $99.99 shipped, plus sales tax in … Read more