One question: do you have an iPhone?

If YES: Sweet. You can easily see the original photos we're adding to Instagram by simply following us on the free app (our name: Jaunted). Instagram is social photo sharing, but we're playing it nice by only posting some of our own best aviation and travel shots. These are photos you won't see here on the site; they're kind of special-edition images in that way, if you think about it. Anyway, here's one to show you what we mean. Nice, huh?

If NO: That's okay. While the world waits for Instagram to launch on Android, you can totally still catch some of our shots and other (non-boring) updates on our new Google+ account right here. Add us to your circles! We promise to be cool about it.

[Photo: Jaunted]]]> JetSetCD 2011-12-23T16:00:13-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/12/12/104836/80

We never have enough time or space to get to all the Google Travel news that we'd like. A few weeks ago we talked about their new airport maps, and a little before that we did an introduction to their burgeoning flight search service. Unfortunately Google Flight Search got dragged down by how the airline industry does business, and it has remained unimpressive.

On the other side of the success spectrum, though, developers and programmers expanded Google Earth to include games—a move that involved airlines and has implications for social media—and an MIT student playing around with Google Maps made a de facto travel itinerary checker.

But this post isn't about any of those stories. This post is about deep, abiding, biting, bitter jealousy.]]> Omri 2011-12-12T11:40:56-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/11/30/133633/11

Having more or less mapped the world's roadways—up to and including getting the security hyper-conscious Israelis to let their guards down—the Google Maps kids have taken to sending their cars and tricycles to increasingly esoteric destinations.

They've mapped bike routes and jungle trails, which are natural extensions of roadway mapping, but they've also extended their maps into our beloved San Diego Zoo and the insides of Japanese businesses—neither of which are particularly intuitive additions.

One area into which Google had yet to expand was the inside of airports. The oversight was particularly notable because, in sharp contrast, Microsoft's Bing search engine had added airport maps a few months ago. Bing's maps launched with support for 42 national airports, and included locations for restaurants, ATMs, ticket counters, restrooms, and so on. The implementation was not only pretty slick, but it was something that Google Maps just didn't have. So guess what Google just announced as the newest feature for Google Maps.]]> Omri 2011-11-30T15:20:49-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/9/14/141541/474

Last May we told you that Google was getting into the travel business, with the Mountain View search giant having just acquired travel software company ITA. ITA provides the algorithms that power sites like Orbitz, Kayak, and CheapTickets - to say nothing of handling schedules for a bunch of airlines - and that's pretty much all it does. So Google's intentions weren't exactly inscrutable, even if the exact details of what they wanted with ITA weren't totally clear.

Then a few months later flight schedules started showing up in Google results. That wasn't particularly exciting in and of itself, but it banished any remaining doubts about whether Google was getting into the flight search game. And so no one was really surprised when, earlier this week, Google finally launched their new Google Flight Search. It's exactly what you think it is, and you can check it out here.]]> Omri 2011-09-14T16:00:01-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/8/23/111955/396

Often the news stories about Google Maps Street View—the Mountain View technology that allows you to virtually walk up and down roads, alleyways, and even zoos—have controversial political upshots. There are perennial privacy issues, including ones that have brought Google into conflicts with European governments. In an age of terrorism there are also genuine security risks, and it took until this week for Israel to greenlight Street View despite the Israelis' numerous safety concerns (although we did kind of tell you they'd end up deciding that way). In any case, mapping the world has turned out to be a more problematic goal than Google might have imagined.

The newest Street View project shouldn't turn out that way. Instead, Google seems to have found a project that just about anyone can get behind.]]> Omri 2011-08-23T12:55:33-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/6/30/231834/967

Virgin America wants to help us get to the Chrome zone, and we can hardly wait to help them out. If you haven't heard of Google's new Chromebook computer what it is is basically a laptop tricked out exclusively with all of Google's latest technology. The kicker is that things are all stored in that little thing known as "the cloud," so your stuff is with you no matter where you are. That's a good thing, especially with in-flight WiFi on all Virgin America flights.

Starting today and running through the end of September you'll be able to test drive a Chromebook on select flights from San Francisco, Dallas, Boston, and Chicago. There will be kiosks near the departure gate, and all you have to do is grab one and take it for a spin up in the air and enjoy some free in-flight Wifi, but please remember to return your loaner laptop when you're back on the ground. It's also probably a good idea not to spill any of your in-flight beverages or snacks in the keyboard. ]]> kjb 2011-07-01T08:35:02-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2011/6/7/8120/32051

Not too long ago, Google wrote an oversized check to acquire ITA and all of their airline software and scheduling goodness, so it’s not too surprising that the big G is pretty curious about working more airline info into their site. They haven’t started to utilize their new software toys just yet, but they are improving search results for those looking to head out of town.

Anytime you do a Google search between a couple city pairs in hopes of finding the best deal on airfare, there’s now the option to check out the whole schedule between the two locations. Just enter a couple of airport codes—or city names—and you can see every major legacy carrier and low cost option flying between the two places, and at what times. ]]> kjb 2011-06-07T12:45:01-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/