Barnako.com

MySpace is setting the pace

Yahoo is embracing Web 2.0 strategies because it's seen the fantastic growth of MySpace.com - and finds it threatening, according to John Bray, an analyst with PhoCusWright.  In a note for clients he pointed out Yahoo is using as much technology as it can to make its services newly compelling.  This includes the about-to-go-live Outlook look-a-like e-mail service.

Yahoo is "clearly seeing the trajectory of page views at MySpace in their rear-view mirror," Bray wrote.  Then he added: "When school starts in fall 2006, MySpace will be the #1 most visited site on the Web."

Yahoo's freshening of its travel options is an example of the company's drive to revamp and integrate its services. Travelers can type ''compare Las Vegas hotels'' in Yahoo Search and see the best hotel prices within the results.  Clicking on prices takes you to FareChase, with the hotels plotted on a dynamic satellite/street level map.  You can also read other travelers' comments and, in a nod to the 'social-networking' mania,  you can review other people's "Trip Plans".

Travelers prefer one-stop shopping

More online travelers still use online travel agencies than buy direct, according to the latest consumer survey results from PhoCusWright Inc.  However, when travelers are making a single purchase, like an airplane ticket or a hotel room, supplier Web sites become more attractive. "They’re more likely to use an online travel agency to purchase add-ons such as sightseeing tours and event tickets," the research firm said in its new report.  "Because air is perceived as a commodity purchase, online travelers are easily swayed by lower prices to purchase directly from an airline." The number one reason why online travel shoppers switch sites is overwhelmingly, price.

Top travel sites

It's spring and a family's fancy turns to thoughts of summer vacation. 

Travel and Leisure magazine has done some of the heavy lifting to make your search easier by identifying the top 28 Web resources for travelers.  Why 28?  Unusual number, I agree.

Besides the usual suspects like Kayak.com and Hotwire.com, T&L offers pointers to sites which focus on themes and activities.  Like cookforfun.shawguides.com, which should also set you off on a safari through the "parent" site, shawguides.com.  It's got 9 other categories including a guide to tennis camps, photography workshops and crafts classes.

Raileurope.com gives you access to a variety of single fare and country pass options across the ocean, spafinder.com can direct you to 3,000 spas, and jiwire.com will help you find wireless hot spots in 117 countries.

I've aggregated the T+L list into this file you can save and open in your browser.  The tool I used is URL Extractor.