The Week in Travel Tech - Google buys, Bangkok burns, Hostelworld wavesNewsBy PhocusWire | May 22, 2010Share What you missed on Tnooz this week, Sunday 16 May to Saturday 22 May 2010:Story of the week: Google buys online travel guide RubaTop three most commented articles:Orbitz pushes media business for tour operators with AdventureFinder launchPriceline acquires car-rental firm TravelJigsaw as part of expansion driveHostelWorld puts real-time travel planning and booking into Google WaveControversial topic of the week:Does Twitter have an in-built problem for travel company branding?TLabs:TLabs Showcase – TravelJournalStats:UK Travel Site Crunch: Data Week End May 15 2010US Travel Site Crunch: Data Week End May 15 2010Australia Travel Site Crunch: Data Week End May 15 2010Hong Kong Travel Site Crunch: Data Week End May 15 2010And the rest (most recent first):BuyWithMe hires former online travel executivesSabre misses a beat — thankfullyFTC clears Google acquisition of AdMob — cites Apple as emerging competitorSurvey — Amadeus uses financial incentives, gains US travel agency market shareTravel technology marketing is not what it used to beGoogle TV and the travel industry: time to make better videosHomeAway, Booking.com lead the way — Expedia resigned to me-tooBarton, Blachford, Pittman, Shank, Fliess kick in several million dollars for Room 77 startupAn abusive Google if it grabs ITA Software? Expedia is worried and not worriedUnite digging in with a brutal web war against British AirwaysMultimillion dollar TripAdvisor Business Listings expands with hotel special offersInsideTrip finally comes out of Beta with string of new features and bold statementsYell ready to push user reviews globally as it buys TrustedPlacesGDS Bitesize – service news, agreements, products from Amadeus, Travelport and SabreCornerstone offers crisis management reports for Thailand-like flare-upsVisit Florida tourism board uses Google Maps and Twitter feeds to cleanse oil-spill fearsAmerican Express shows independent streak in its mobile strategyCould Google-ITA talks lead to a burst of online travel acquisitions?Lonely Planet launches online bookstore assistant, but plays down Bangkok crisisExpedia-Google technology guru takes on 3D destination mapping roleA theory about harnessing the Long Tail of TravelPriceline — no fear and loathing about Google-ITA SoftwareLocation-based mobile services bolstered by acceptance of advertisingConcur to integrate hotel.info and Hotel Reservation Service into booking toolTravelport plots intriguing move, buys travel search engine SpricePractice what you preach on Twitter or risk angering your customersTripCase works on multisystem synchronization for GetThereTravelzoo chief technology officer leaves in CEO-succession dust-upMoneydirect offers payment solution for travel providersTagWhat aiming to bring social media and trip planning to Augmented RealityHotels.com follows the mothership with celebrity-voiced TV ad for the UKAnother hint about the new hotel-review oriented TravelPostWego and Yahoo extend South East Asia metasearch pactTraxo goes the extra mile with loyalty tracker101Holidays gets married, launches wedding honeymoon travel siteLast Week in Travel Tech:Pondering Google while trip planners squabbleNotices:Explore the Tnooz TSoftware storeNode biographies and articles