XYDO.COM: Travel

Celtics travel in style across social media - Boston.com (blog)

Kevin Garnett and the Celtics headed to Miami Sunday and flew a few notches above first class, as seen this photo via Garnett on Facebook. Garnett's "Let's Do It" admonishment toward the Heat was a trending topic on Twitter in the hours after the Celtics' Game 7 triumph, which came within minutes of the Red Sox walkoff victory over the Rays Saturday night. Both brought out congratulations across the Twitter spectrum. Here's a sampling: Great night in Boston! Walk off bomb from Salty and game 7 win for the Celtics! Yesssiiirrr! #beantown— Darnell McDonald (@MacDime54) May 27, 2012 As painful as it is right now for Philadelphia 76ers fans, please join us in congratulating the Boston Celtics on a tough 7 game series win.— Adam Aron (@SixersCEOAdam) May 27, 2012 As always, let us know what you think. Post your thoughts here, on our Obnoxious Boston Fan Facebook page or e-mail them to me at obnoxiousbostonfan@hotmail.com. And don't forget to follow us on Twitter @realOBF. Thanks for reading. Pass the clicker.

Two years after BP oil spill, tourists back in Gulf Coast

NEW ORLEANS, May 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. Gulf Coast is a hot destination again two years after the massive BP Plc oil spill made the region a tourist dead zone, with the petroleum giant pumping more than $150 million into promotions to help the region recover.

Eco-Friendly Ways To Enjoy Your Memorial Day

Memorial Day is on Monday, May 28th this year, and can kick off months of summertime fun. Beyond the activities, Memorial Day is a time to remember the soldiers that gave their lives for their country, and honor the ones that are still fighting. Taking care of the Earth is one way that you can have your Memorial Day fun while still giving the holiday a deeper meaning. Here are a few eco-friendly ideas to spice up your weekend while honoring and appreciating nature. Have a great eco-trip planned that we didn’t mention? Leave it in the comments below!

Budget Travel: Latin America's Most Unusual Hotels - Fox News

Some travelers crave the familiar comforts of chain hotels. Other travelers prefer to seek out the unusual. Some travelers crave the familiar comforts of chain hotels, which offer the same amenities whether you're in Manhattan or Mexico City. Other travelers, though, prefer to seek out the unusual on their journeys. They look for hotels offering unconventional design or unique activities that couldn't be found elsewhere. Latin America abounds with the weird and the wonderful. From a hotel made of salt to one that's entirely mobile, these are some of the once-in-a lifetime hotels you can find in the region. You may not even be satisfied with a first class seat on your flight after you stay at Hotel Costa Verde, which overlooks the Pacific Ocean from its rainforest perch. The hotel's most unusual accommodation is a refurbished 1965-vintage Boeing 727, the interior of which has been converted into a 2-bedroom suite. The fuselage of the plane sits on top of a 50 foot pedestal, which makes you feel like you're flying. A balcony has been built on the exterior of the plane, straddling the wings, so you can enjoy the ocean views. The owners of Hotel Costa Verde trucked the pieces of the plane in on five big rigs and completely refitted the interior with teak paneling and new fixtures and furniture. From the outside, Le Blanc Spa Resort in Cancun looks like a typical upscale hotel, offering no hints about something unusual inside. Visit its spa, though, and you'll have the option of getting one of the stranger treatments the spa world has developed: the “doctor fish” exfoliation and micromassage. A fish pedicuret is also available. The Garra Rufa, popularly known as the doctor fish, comes from Turkey originally, but Asian spas have been offering fish treatments for several years. Now, the treatment has arrived in Mexico. By nibbling and suctioning itself across your body, the fish removes dead skin cells and promotes the growth of new, healthy skin. Akilah McConnell, who has had the treatment, says the doctor fish is amazing; “It left my feet as soft as a baby's bottom,” she said. You've probably heard of Bolivia's famous salt flats, which are a popular tourist destination. The Palacio de Sal has taken salt and turned it into a concept hotel where everything—including the furniture—is made of salt. Even the hotel's golf course is a salt course. Palacio de Sal, which was built in 1998 and has 16 rooms constructed in the shape of igloos, calls itself the world's first salt hotel. Even the on-site restaurant specializes in a salt-based menu. The big draw here is the novelty of the hotel's design concept and its proximity to the salt flats. There's nothing unusual about the hotel itself; it's one of many lodge-style options available in and around the spectacularly beautiful Torres del Paine National Park. What distinguishes this property, though, is that it offers a particularly interesting option for the traveler who doesn't want to rest during vacation. Guests who feel up for the challenge can register to participate in the annual Equestrian Endurance Race, which enters its ninth year in 2013. The race has three categories: 40-, 80-, and 100-kilometers. The hotel arranges accommodation, transfers and other activities for guests who wish to participate in the race. This hotel on wheels is available for private charter only, so gather up to 28 friends for the road trip of a lifetime. The home base for Exploranter Overland Hotel, which is a tractor-trailer converted into a vehicle with passenger riding and sleeping spaces, is Sao Paulo, but guests can choose from a variety of routes and trip themes that showcase the most spectacular scenery of South America. The mobile hotel doesn't exactly have all the comforts of home; Exploranter is essentially a glorified RV. But there are bathrooms and a kitchen on board, and when the truck stops for the day, a large canopy is rolled out to create outdoor dining and living rooms, making the vacation on wheels fun and comfortable for a family or group. Julie Schwietert Collazo is a freelance writer based in New York City. Follow us on twitter.com/foxnewslatino Like us at facebook.com/foxnewslatino

Beyonce Serenades Michelle Obama, Cements Comeback In Atlantic City

Queen B ascends her throne during the second in a four-night run of Memorial Day weekend shows.By Rebecca Thomas Beyoncé performs in Atlantic City, NJ Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey — The "year of 4" continues. Four months after giving birth to her first child — an arrival announced last August at the MTV VMAs — Beyoncé returned to the stage Saturday night, on the second of a four-night run in this East Coast resort city. And it was a spectacular fitting her rising icon status. So what kinds of clues allude to near-icon status? Well, it's in the details. For one, Revel, the sparkling, 6.3-million-square-foot beachfront destination that played host to Beyoncé's comeback, devoted a channel on its guest-room flat-screen TVs solely to B-related content: no weather broadcasts, nary a "Housewife" and no commercial breaks; just videos, all-star performances and more, all through Memorial Day weekend. It was evident in the distance traveled, too, with fans telling MTV News they'd made cross-country pilgrimages, while still others came from as far as Tokyo and South Africa to hail the Queen B. But those are just the hints, peripheral proof. The presence of First Lady Michelle Obama at last night's concert left little doubt that the little girl from Houston who joined a girl group and then struck out on her own had seen another benchmark in her relatively young career. After exchanging letters in recent months, with each calling the other a role model for girls, Obama turned up in a sleeveless green sheath waving like royalty from a balcony in Ovation Hall. A little after 10 p.m., as the pounding opening march from "End of Time" kicked in, Beyoncé appeared in silhouette; the sequins were hard to make out but the wind-blown mane was impossible to miss. Finally, B, stunning in hot pink heels and a beaded body suit, appeared on the massive stage backed by her dancers. "Atlantic City, snap your fingers," she commanded, launching into "Love on Top." Without missing a step of the New Edition-inspired choreography, B powered through the song's modulations in an extended vocal showcase. Then she took an exaggerated pause, as if to catch her breath (or to bask in the adulation?), before belting out a final coda. The 30-year-old's comeback was officially under way. Pushing through hits from her debut solo effort, including "Naughty Boy" and the dancehall-infused "Baby Boy," and the Sasha Fierce smashes like "Diva," B defied all post-partum laws as she kept pace with Frank Gatson's acrobatic dance style. ("Y'all don't know how hard I had to work. I had to lose 60 pounds!" she laughed to the crowd later. "They had me eating lettuce.") And just as songs like "Single Ladies" and "Run the World (Girls)" are meant to serve as empowerment manuals for women, it became clear last night that Beyoncé's choreography is meant to do the same: a series of sensual quickstep moves that revolve around the hips and legs. It showed in the Fosse-style swing and formations on songs like "Get Me Bodied," and the strut-heavy footwork on "Freakum Dress." "Sasha Fierce disappeared, but y'all bringing her back," B joked midway through the euphoric two-hour set. For one of our favorite numbers, "Party," the 4 singer donned full-on showgirl regalia in a heady rendition that saw confetti coming from the roof and dice-shaped beach balls being tossed through the crowd as dancers in large feathered headdresses magically turned up in the aisles. There were ballads, of course, at Ovation Hall, the more memorable among them a tribute to Whitney Houston and a cover of Lauryn Hill's classic "Ex Factor." And if Beyoncé reminded us of what we've lost in those gut-wrenching covers — she proved, too, that she's more than ready to carry the weight on her shoulders. Share your reviews of Beyoncé's Revel shows in the comments! Related Photos Beyonce Kicks Off Summer In Atlantic City Related Artists Beyoncé

Just for summer: 51 great beaches

USA TODAY asked local experts to select one great beach in each state and the District of Columbia.

Travel Troubleshooter: For travel insurance, read that fine print - Sacramento Bee

I'm writing on behalf of two friends who booked a trip of a lifetime to Italy recently. They also purchased trip insurance through Access America. A couple of days after paying for the insurance, they found out that the husband had to have hip replacement surgery. It was a situation that became serious within a couple of days. The entire cost of the trip was $10,074. However, they didn't read all of the fine print in the terms and conditions and didn't realize that no refund would be available to them for cancellation due to a pre-existing condition because they didn't purchase insurance on the full cost of the trip – only $10,000 of the trip. I find it very disturbing that a couple who have worked so hard for their money, and purchased a trip in good faith, along with travel insurance, could find themselves in this predicament. Not all consumers are as computer-savvy as others and they would never have purchased insurance for less than the full amount of the trip if they knew it voided the provisions for cancellation due to a pre-existing condition. They saved $74, but they lost more than $10,000. Personally, as a consumer, I find this practice revolting and would appreciate any suggestions you could offer. You're right, this is a frustrating case, and I can certainly understand your anger. Basically, Access America is denying your friends' coverage because they didn't insure the full value of their trip. I had a lengthy conversation with the company about your friends. According to the terms of their coverage, they had to buy their insurance within 14 days of making their first trip payment or deposit and had to purchase trip cancellation coverage for the full cost of their nonrefundable trip arrangements. In addition, they had to be a U.S. resident and medically able to travel on the day they purchased the insurance. Your friends met all but one of those criteria: They failed to insure the full cost of their nonrefundable trip arrangements. "It's important for customers who need existing medical condition coverage to understand and meet the terms for this very valuable benefit," a company spokesman told me. Would an insurance company deny you $10,074 in coverage because you tried to save a buck or two on your policy? You bet. Is it ridiculous? If you're a traveler, you bet. If you're an insurance underwriter, maybe not. Look, at the risk of repeating myself, you need to read the fine print carefully when you book travel – but especially when you buy travel insurance. I understand when you say not all consumers are as computer-savvy, but if you're not sure of something, you need to find a travel agent to help you or ask a family member who is computer- savvy to review the fine print online. Access America decided to "make a consideration in this case" and will honor your friends' claim. Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine. You can read more tips on his blog, elliott.org or email him at chris@elliott.org.

Mali rebels agree to Sharia state

Two rebel groups that seized nothern Mali two months ago agree to merge and turn their territory into an Islamist state, both sides say.

Washington hopes to buy historic ranch for conservation

McWhorter Ranch is going up for sale June 1, and state and local officials are working with conservation groups to try to preserve it.

Mali rebels agree to Sharia state

Two rebel groups that seized nothern Mali two months ago agree to merge and turn their territory into an Islamist state, both sides say.

Use Baby Powder as Dry Shampoo [Grooming]

Dry Shampoo is great if you have oily hair and you'll be out late or won't have access to a shower. Commercial dry shampoos work great but most of them are just talc or baby powder combined with a fragrance—you can use regular or unscented baby powder for the same effect. Real Simple magazine's weblog gives this tip as well as how to use the baby powder. Sprinkle a light dusting of powder on your hair and comb it in through to your roots. Keep combing until you can't see the powder anymore. Baby Powder as Dry Shampoo | Real Simple

Use Baby Powder as Dry Shampoo [Grooming]

Who’s Up Late Booking Memorial Day Weekend Hotel Rooms Online? [INFOGRAPHIC]

Did you impulsive book a hotel for Memorial Day weekend late at night, tired and groggy eyed? Whether it was because you needed an emergency place to crash for a night or you’re a budget-conscious traveler who spotted an excellent last-minute deal, you’re not alone. It turns out plenty of hotel patrons are reserving rooms after-hours. Hotel Tonight, an Apple iOS-powered accommodations booking service, did some research to figure out what types of people are booking rooms late at night and why they’re doing it. Who are these late night crusaders of last-minute late-night reservations? 24% of them are workaholics, 22% are tired drivers who need to get off the road and 20% are “thrill seekers” who crave the adrenaline rush of an impulsive escape. What kind of hotels are late-night bookers looking to snag? 40% of them want a hip joint — no-frills roadside motels won’t do it for them. It turns out that Washington, D.C. is home to the greatest number of bookings past 10 p.m. — and you’d think visiting foreign dignitaries would be a little more prepared! Meanwhile, Las Vegas, Nev. had the earliest bookings, so while visitors to the strip want to gamble on the craps table, they’d rather have their hotel confirmed nice and early. Find out more in the infographic below, then share with us your story of a last-minute online hotel deal in the comments below. Thumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, fototrav More About: hotels, infographic, online booking, travel

'Dangerous' rip tides bring Memorial Day weekend beach warning

After wind and some drizzle, Memorial Day weekend should become warmer and sunnier. But officials warm about potentially dangerous surf. Windy conditions Friday and Saturday morning brought warnings of high surf. The National Weather Service warned of rip currents though Saturday evening at some west-facing beaches in Southern California. The NWS says the rip currents at Orange County beaches will be "very strong" and that "dangerous swimming conditions are expected." The winds and cold weather actually resulted in a sprinkling of new snow at some mountains above 6,500 feet. The NWS said Saturday afternoon should be sunny with highs in the 70s along the coast and 80s inland. Sunday and Monday should have pretty much the same forecast, with gray conditions along the coast in the morning. ALSO: Crews work to fix water main breaks in Silver Lake, South L.A. Palmdale mom tried to drown 8-year-old son in pool, police say LAPD seeks interview tape in hunt for new Manson murder clues --Shelby Grad Image: NWS

Subtropical Storm Beryl forms off S.C. coast

Tropical storm warnings have been issued for the Southeast coast from north Florida to South Carolina as a cluster of thunderstorms was gathering strength early Saturday and expected to become Tropical Storm Beryl over the Memorial Day weekend.

One Direction Keep Fans Screaming All Night On Tour

U.K. pop sensations hit New Jersey's IZOD Center for a sell-out show on Friday packed with hits and rocking covers.By Sarah Brotherton One Direction perform in East Rutherford, NJ Photo: Uptin Saiidi/MTV News EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey — Maybe you've heard their songs on the radio or caught their TV performances on the "Today" show or "Saturday Night Live", but nothing quite captures the success of One Direction like the screams. On Friday night, thousands of fans from across the tri-state area hit the IZOD Center, filling the 19,000-capacity arena for the U.K. pop sensation's latest stop on their headlining Stateside tour. They were there to experience a new wave of a British Invasion, and they weren't disappointed. Even before the show started, there was an excitement and energy in the air as Directioners — young and old alike — rushed into the building wearing homemade T-shirts, carrying posters and sporting body paint declaring their love for their favorite 1D members, be it Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson or Harry Styles. After two opening acts and a few warm-up songs, including Busta Rhymes and RUN DMC classics, One Direction finally hit the stage as the crowd jumped to its feet. Opening with " Na Na Na," the boys — dressed in the matching theme of red, white and blue, but each with their own signature touch — hit the harmonies hard. The concert followed a seasonal theme with corresponding video and costumes to match. A few songs in, Harry told the sell-out crowd, "I think this is our"biggest show" as a band!" which sent fans screaming all over again. Veering from their chart-topping debut album, Up All Night, each 1D member took a shot at a solo cover of some of their favorite songs, including the Black Eyed Peas' "I Got a Feeling" and the Gym Class Heroes hit "Stereo Hearts." The boys then sat on stools as they serenaded fans with "Moments." Cell phone lights took the place of lighters as the audience sang every word of the ballad. After a quick change into the next outfit (and the next season), 1D proceeded with some of their more popular hits, including "More Than This" and the album's title track, "Up All Night." The set soon moved onto the live-tweeting portion of the show, where fans tweeted questions from the audience to their favorite bandmember. Then Liam showed off some beat-boxing skills and Harry attempted to do the worm before the guys were back at it with another cover, this time the hit Kings of Leon song "Use Somebody." To end the night, 1D gave a shout-out to their impressive backing band and closed with singles "One Thing" and, of course, their #1 hit "What Makes You Beautiful." But a perfect evening of hearty pop wouldn't be complete without an encore! So the boys returned to perform "I Want" to the delight of their devoted fans. If you missed the 1D performance on Friday, fear not Directioners, a full list of U.S. tour dates is available on their official website. Full Set List: 1. "Na Na Na" 2. "Stand Up" 3. "I Wish" 4. "I Got a Feeling"; "Stereo Hearts"; "Valerie"; "Torn" 5. "Moments" 6. "Gotta Be You" 7. "More Than This" 8. "Up All night" 9. "Tell Me a Lie" 10. "Everything About You" 11. "Use Somebody" 12. "One Thing" 13. "Save You Tonight" 14. "What Makes You Beautiful" 15: "I Want" (Encore) Are you going to check out 1D on tour? Tell us in the comments! Related Artists One Direction

Spain to inject €19b into Bankia

Spain will make an emergency 19 billion euros investment in Bankia, the stricken savings bank, in a bold bid to restore confidence in the stability of the country’s financial sector. The FT reports.

Fla. Mermaid camp lures aquatic wannabes

For 65 years, mermaids have been the magic behind one of Florida's oldest and quirkiest attractions.

British Airways has been embroiled in a row with musicians

British Airways has been embroiled in a row with musicians over new restrictions it has imposed on cabin luggage.

SpaceX makes breakthrough for commercial space travel - Washington Post

SpaceX Becomes First Company to Dock Ship at Space Station Space Exploration Technologies Corp. docked a supply ship at the International Space Station in a breakthrough for commercial space travel. Closely held SpaceX, controlled by billionaire Elon Musk, connected its unmanned Dragon capsule to the station at 12:02 p.m. New York time, according to Kyle Herring, a spokesman for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It is the first company to accomplish the feat. “There’s so much that could have gone wrong, and it went right,” Musk, 40, said in a press conference from SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California. “This really is I think going to be recognized as a significantly historic step forward in space travel.” He said the timing of an initial public offering of SpaceX shares wouldn’t be affected by the successful docking. He told Bloomberg last month that an IPO was likely in 2013. The U.S. is on its way to having a cost-effective space transportation system, Michael Lopez-Alegria, president of the Washington-based Commercial Spaceflight Federation, said in a statement. SpaceX, he said, should be thanked for “restoring U.S. access to the space station.” NASA retired its shuttle fleet last year and wants the private sector to take over the job of carrying supplies and eventually astronauts to the station. The U.S. currently relies on the governments of Europe, Japan and Russia for that work. After almost three years of delays in the mission, SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket, carrying the Dragon ship, on May 22 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. A previously scheduled attempt on May 19 was called off with a half-second left in the countdown because of a faulty engine valve. Astronaut Don Pettit, with help from colleague Andrew Kuipers, grabbed the craft with the 60-foot-long robotic arm at 9:56 a.m. New York time. Actual docking, or berthing, was completed at 12:02 p.m. The Obama administration in 2010 canceled a program to develop a shuttle successor, betting the private sector would offer lower costs. John Holdren, assistant to President Obama for science and technology, called the docking a milestone. “That is exactly what the President had in mind when he laid out a fresh course for NASA to explore new scientific frontiers and take Americans even deeper into our solar system while relying on private-sector innovators” to ferry astronauts and cargo to the space station, he said in a statement. SpaceX is among several companies that have won a total of more than $1 billion in NASA contracts to develop the technology to transport cargo and crew into space. SpaceX may begin regular supply deliveries to the station in September, NASA Station program manager Mike Suffredini told reporters at the press briefing. The company and Orbital Sciences Corp. (ORB) will do the “lion’s share” of the station supply work, he said. Publicly traded Orbital, based in Dulles, Virginia, plans to launch its new Antares rocket for the first time in August, from a new launch pad near Wallops Island on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, according to NASA. It’s scheduled to deliver supplies to the station with its Cygnus craft in December as part of a test flight similar to SpaceX’s. Others working with NASA include Blue Origin LLC, based in Kent, Washington; Boeing Co. (BA), based in Chicago; Paragon Space Development Corp., based in Tucson, Arizona; Sierra Nevada Corp., based in Sparks, Nevada; and United Launch Alliance LLC, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT), based in Bethesda, Maryland. Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK), based in Arlington, Virginia, has teamed up with Lockheed and Astrium, part of Leiden, Netherlands-based European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., in offering the Liberty rocket to compete for NASA business. To contact the reporter on this story: Brendan McGarry in Washington at bmcgarry2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephanie Stoughton at sstoughton@bloomberg.net

'Chernobyl Diaries': Horror movie and travel book depict extreme tourism - Los Angeles Times

Twenty-six years after the worst nuclear accident in history, Chernobyl is suddenly hot again — at least culturally. This weekend, "Chernobyl Diaries," a horror movie that follows a group of tourists on an excursion to the abandoned Ukrainian site of the meltdown, hits theaters just as a pollution travelogue by journalist Andrew Blackwell, "Visit Sunny Chernobyl," is arriving in bookstores. The movie, co-written and produced by "Paranormal Activity" creator Oren Peli and directed by visual-effects supervisor and first-time feature filmmaker Brad Parker, was inspired by the very type of extreme tourism Blackwell undertakes in his nonfiction book: visits to ravaged, sometimes unexpectedly beautiful polluted sites around the world. Blackwell canoed through Chernobyl while researching his book and also jogged in smoggy Linfen, China, and sailed for the swirling Pacific Ocean garbage patch, all in pursuit of a glimpse of the Earth's contaminated future. The travelers in "Chernobyl Diaries" embark on a different sort of trip — more akin to disaster rubbernecking. Four Americans, played by Jonathan Sadowski, Jesse McCartney, Olivia Taylor Dudley and Devin Kelly, pack into a van with a former Soviet special forces soldier for an unauthorized day trip to Pripyat, the Ukrainian city that today resembles the set of a post-apocalyptic movie after it was hastily abandoned in the wake of the 1986 disaster. At first the movie's scares are natural: intimidating guards, eerily overgrown buildings, a hungry bear. But, this being a Peli production, it soon becomes clear Pripyat is inhabited by some unusual and aggressive tenants. The notion that Chernobyl, which led to radiation exposure for hundreds of thousands of people, has become the subject of a horror film is distasteful to some. There is a Facebook page boycotting the movie, for instance. But Chernobyl tourism is a real phenomenon. According to the Lonely Planet, a day trip to Pripyat will cost an adventurer $100 to $300, and sightseeing opportunities include a never-used ferris wheel, some forgotten children's toys and sun-faded Soviet-era propaganda. As for the safety issues, the travel guide warns: " 'Hot spots' are scattered throughout the zone, so any visitors are advised to follow guides extremely carefully. No breaking off from the group for a bit of independent exploration here." Reviews of "Chernobyl Diaries" seem equally foreboding. USA Today's Claudia Puig says, "Avoid a boredom meltdown and give this formulaic scarefest a wide berth." While writing for The Times, Mark Olsen warns, "The lack of suspense and surprise in this dispiritingly rote film becomes its own form of contamination." "Chronicle": Like "Paranormal Activity," but with superpowers?

Hugging the Seine: Fashion, Design Restaurants and Club

Les Docks en Seine, a new fashion and design hub, was inaugurated recently.

Your 2012 Memorial Day Sales Savings Cheat Sheet

Filed under: Secret ShopperThis Memorial Day weekend, Americans will mark the unofficial start to summer with barbecues, picnics and beach outings. But they'll also indulge in that favorite national pastime -- shopping. And more people look inclined to hit the malls this year than in 2011, according to IBM (IBM) findings, based on analysis of chatter on social networks. They'll be embarking on more weekend getaways this year, too. The ratio of positive to negative comments about shopping and Memorial Day travel, whichYour 2012 Memorial Day Sales Savings Cheat Sheet originally appeared on DailyFinance.com on 2012-05-25T15:15:00Z. Permalink | Email this | Comments

How I Fell for Lisbon

I didn’t expect romance, but this city had other ideas. No must-see list or hard-fought reservations. It lets you in.

NYPD: Person implicated in Etan Patz death

NEW YORK (AP) — A man in custody who has implicated himself in the death of 6-year-old Etan Patz has been tied to the case in the past, a law enforcement official said Thursday. The boy's disappearance 33 years ago on his way to school helped launch a missing children's movement that put kids' faces on milk cartons. The man was picked up late Wednesday in Camden, N.J., and was being questioned Thursday by the Manhattan district attorney's office, which is heading the probe by the FBI and police. The man's emergence as a person of interest was not related to the search of a Manhattan basement in April, according to a person familiar with the investigation. Both the person familiar with the probe and the official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the ongoing probe into the boy's disappearance in 1979. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the man made statements implicating himself in the boy's disappearance, and expected to provide further details Thursday. At the time of the boy's disappearance, the man in custody lived in the same Manhattan neighborhood as Patz. He had been known to detectives for years, but it was unclear what brought them back to him this week. Investigators were still going over details of his story. The development came one day before the anniversary of the boy's disappearance, when detectives traditionally receive a landslide of hoaxes and false leads related to the case. Wearing a backpack, the boy with sandy hair and a toothy grin vanished May 25, 1979, while walking alone to his school bus stop for the first time, two blocks from his home in New York's SoHo neighborhood. There was an exhaustive search by the police and a crush of media attention. The boy's photo was one of the first of a missing child on a milk carton. Thousands of fliers were plastered around the city, buildings canvassed, hundreds of people interviewed. SoHo was not a neighborhood of swank boutiques and galleries as now, but of working-class New Yorkers rattled by the news. Etan's parents, Stan and Julie Patz, were reluctant to move or even change their phone number in case their son tried to reach out. They still live in the same apartment, down the street from the building that was examined in April. They have endured decades of false leads, and a lack of hard evidence. The Patzes are among the residential holdouts in what has become a chic and artsy shopping district. At one point Thursday morning, the actress Meg Ryan — wearing dark glasses despite a drizzle — walked briskly past the scene, ignoring photographers who trailed her. The April excavation of a Manhattan basement yielded no obvious human remains and little forensic evidence that would help solve the decades-long mystery of what happened to the boy. The Patz family did not immediately return a message requesting comment. "I hope this is the end of it," said Roz Radd, who lives a couple of blocks from the Patz family's home and knows Etan's mother casually from walking dogs in the neighborhood. "There's going to be hopefully closure to her, to know what happened to her son." Etan's disappearance touched off a massive search that has ebbed and flowed over the years. It also ushered in an era of anxiety about leaving children unsupervised. In 2010, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. announced he was reinvestigating the case. In the past, the case seemed to have been largely focused on Jose Ramos, a convicted child molester, now serving time in Pennsylvania, who had been dating Etan's baby sitter at the time the boy disappeared. In 2000, authorities dug up Ramos' former basement on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, but nothing turned up. Stan Patz had his son declared legally dead in 2001 so he could sue Ramos, who has never been charged criminally and denies harming the boy. A civil judge in 2004 found him to be responsible for Etan's death. More recently, the focus had shifted to a 75-year-old Brooklyn resident, though he was not named a suspect and denied any involvement. In 1979, he was a handyman who had a workspace in the basement where the April excavation occurred. Associated Press Writers Tom Hays and Karen Matthews contributed to this report.

Beyonce's 'Back To Business' With Memorial Day Concerts

'Yes, I had a baby, but it just made me more grounded,' singer says in behind-the-scenes video. By James Dinh Beyoncé Photo: Getty Images Time is ticking. It's only a matter of hours until Beyoncé makes her post-Blue Ivy Carter performance comeback with her string of Memorial Day weekend shows at Atlantic City's recently launched Revel entertainment center. And with anticipation high, the pop titan is giving her fans a small taste of the behind-the-scenes action it took to transition back to her stage show ways. In the first of a two-part video montage segment that was posted on the singer's website, Queen B is seen working hard almost two months prior to the gigs on everything from choreography to show concept and vocal rehearsing. Despite admitting a few nerves and her inclusion in the pop-star-turned-mom club, Beyoncé remained adamant about her return to the stage, "I'm enjoying being a mother, so it's like going back to my old job. It's a little strange, but it's important that you don't lose yourself and have your own passions. I'm back to work. I'm back to business." It's the first of many candid moments in which the singer opens up and allows camera lenses to document the planning of the concerts. And by the looks of it, the chart-topper will be giving it her all. At one point, Beyoncé is seen sitting on the floor with her crew of dancers conceptualizing the event. "What I'm trying to say with the show yes, I had a baby, but it just made me more grounded," she says. In comparison to her intimate four-night affair at New York's Roseland Ballroom in August 2011, the Revel shows are expected to be much more of a grand spectacle, with high-tech LED, intense choreography and video backdrops. Positivity goes a long way, as her choreographer Frank Gatson Jr. co-signs with the singer's intent to create a stellar event. "I think this show has the potential to be one of the greatest shows we've done. People, re-sit and listen to Beyoncé, we will have a brilliant show at Revel," he said. Will you be seeing Beyoncé in concert this Memorial Day weekend? Tell us in the comments! Related Artists Beyoncé

Plane passenger restrained on Miami flight

An American Airlines passenger was restrained Friday after his flight landed in Miami, a spokeswoman for the Miami International Airport said.

Finding community in America's Appalachian region

Getty Images photographer, Mario Tama, spent time in and around Owsley County, Kentucky documenting the life and times of some of it's 5,000 residents. The 2010 U.S. Census listed Owsley County as having the lowest median household income in the country outside of Puerto Rico, with 41.5% of residents living below the poverty line. Familial and community bonds run deep, with a populace that shares a collective historical and cultural legacy uncommon in most parts of the country. The community struggles with a lack of jobs due to the decline in coal, tobacco and lumber industries. It's just a glimpse into their lives, but one we wanted to share. -- Paula Nelson (EDITOR'S NOTE: We will not post on Memorial Day, May 28, 2012.) (46 photos total)Craig and Cora Adams, married nine years, outside their trailer in Owsley County, April 20, 2012, in Booneville, Kentucky. Daniel Boone once camped in the Appalachian mountain hamlet of Owsley County which remains mostly populated by descendants of settlers to this day. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Egypt to pick Islamist or military man as president

CAIRO (Reuters) - The Muslim Brotherhood said on Friday its candidate in Egypt's first free presidential vote had won through to a run-off next month against ex-air force chief Ahmed Shafiq, who was deposed leader Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister. This week's first-round vote has polarised Egyptians between those determined to avoid handing the presidency back to a man from Mubarak's era and those fearing an Islamist monopoly of ruling institutions. The run-off is planned for June 16 and 17. The election marks a crucial step in a messy and often bloody transition to democracy, overseen by a military council that has pledged to hand power to a new president by July 1. The second round threatens further turbulence. Opponents of Shafiq have vowed to take to the streets if he is elected. But to supporters, Shafiq's military background offers reassurance that he can restore order on the streets, a major demand of the population 15 months after Mubarak's ouster. A Shafiq presidency would also mean smoother relations between the head of state and the powerful military. "It is clear that the run-off will be between (the Brotherhood's) Mohamed Mursi and Ahmed Shafiq," a Brotherhood election official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. The Brotherhood's Guidance Office, its top body, was meeting to mull a campaign "to galvanise Islamists and Egyptian voters to face the bloc of the 'feloul'," he said, using a scornful Arabic term for "remnants" of Mubarak's order. Official results are not due to be announced until next week, but representatives of the candidates are allowed to watch the count, enabling them to compile their own tally. The Brotherhood official said that with votes counted from about 12,800 of the roughly 13,100 polling stations, Mursi had 25 percent, Shafiq 23 percent, a rival Islamist Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh 20 percent and leftist Hamdeen Sabahy 19 percent. No comments from any of the dozen candidates or state election officials were immediately available. Election committee officials had said late on Thursday as counting began that turnout was about 50 percent of Egypt's 50 million eligible voters. The Brotherhood official, however, said about 20 million votes were cast, or about 40 percent. The Brotherhood, Egypt's most organised political group, has already secured the biggest bloc for its party in parliament after an earlier vote. Long repressed and banned under Mubarak, the 84-year-old Islamist group has a broad grassroots base. Many Egyptians, including those who saw the revolt against Mubarak as a matter of national pride not religion, fret about Islamist gains since his fall. Christians, who form a tenth of the population and who already complain of discrimination, worry that Islamists in power could marginalise them further. "We are confident that the next president of Egypt is Mohamed Mursi," said Essam el-Erian, a senior official in the Muslim Brotherhood's party, said after early counting. If Mursi becomes president, Islamists will control most ruling institutions - but not the military - in Egypt, the most populous Arab nation, consolidating electoral gains made by fellow-Islamists in other Arab countries in the past year. The powers of Egypt's next president remain undefined because of a tussle over who will write the new constitution. He could be restricted by generals determined to retain their privileges and influence, even after the promised handover. First-round voting was held in a calm atmosphere over two days with polls closing late on Thursday. Monitors did not report any major infringements that would invalidate the vote, although some candidates grumbled about their rivals' conduct. A page on Facebook, a medium used to devastating effect in the revolt against Mubarak, was launched on Thursday and threatened a "revolution" if Shafiq or another former minister under Mubarak, Amr Moussa, was elected.

Apple's Cook takes pass on stock dividend

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook will not be earning dividend income on the more than 1 million shares to which he is entitled, which will cost him about $75 million.Apple said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday that Cook had asked to be excluded from a recently instituted company program through which employees can accumulate dividends on their restricted stock units that are still vesting. Asked why Cook was doing this, Apple declined to comment beyond the filing.Cook, who took over as chief executive from late co-founder Steve Jobs in August, has 1.125 million outstanding restricted Apple shares that are vesting over the next 10 years.In January, Apple's board granted Cook 1 million restricted stock units (RSUs) for running the company during Jobs' medical leaves and as a retention tool. Half of those are due to vest in 2016 and the rest in 2021.Apple said in March that it would pay a cash dividend of $2.65 per share to its shareholders.

Senate rejects GOP, Dem plans on student loans

WASHINGTON, DC - The Senate has rejected Democratic and Republican plans for averting a doubling of interest rates on federal college loans for 7.4 million students.The election-season standoff means efforts to resolve the dispute will be delayed until next month. Beginning July 1, interest rates for subsidized Stafford loans for undergraduates would double to 6.8 percent without congressional action.Preventing that increase has been a priority for President Barack Obama.Senators voted 62-34 against the GOP proposal and 51-43 for the Democratic bill on Thursday, with each falling well-shy of the 60 votes needed for approval of the $6 billion measures.The Republican measure was paid for by eliminating a preventive health program created by Obama. Democrats would boost payroll taxes on owners of some private companies. WASHINGTON, DC - The Senate has rejected Democratic and Republican plans for averting a doubling of interest rates on federal college loans for 7.4 million students.The election-season standoff means efforts to resolve the dispute will be delayed until next month. Beginning July 1, interest rates for subsidized Stafford loans for undergraduates would double to 6.8 percent without congressional action.Preventing that increase has been a priority for President Barack Obama.Senators voted 62-34 against the GOP proposal and 51-43 for the Democratic bill on Thursday, with each falling well-shy of the 60 votes needed for approval of the $6 billion measures.The Republican measure was paid for by eliminating a preventive health program created by Obama. Democrats would boost payroll taxes on owners of some private companies.

Yahoo! TimeTraveler: a travel app whose time has come

Question: what would you do with six hours in Amsterdam? Dubai? Barcelona? That is precisely what Yahoo TimeTraveler was created to answer. A few years ago I stopped for six hours in Amsterdam en route to a conference in Cairo. I took the train from Schipol airport into the city, picked up a ride on a canal boat, dawdled through the ancient streets by the Oude Kerk, and toured the Anne Frank house. But did I see the best of Amsterdam? Hard to say. Yahoo, which seems to be on a bit of a roll in the past few weeks, releasing “killer” mobile browsers and reinvigorating Flickr groups, released TimeTraveler for iPhone and iPod Touch today. With TimeTraveler, I’d have had a much better chance of seeing the best of Amsterdam that fit in my 6-hour slice. Using TimeTraveler is easy: input your destination, your starting point, and the time you have available. TimeTraveler will do the rest, finding points of interest, tourist destinations, and historic monuments. It will then map them into an itinerary tailored to your available time and desired route, which can be shared with friends via email, Facebook, or Twitter. Yahoo calls it “timed travel” … hence the app’s name. Part of the technology behind TimeTraveler is, interestingly, Flickr. Apparently, photos uploaded to Flickr with date, time, and geographical metadata are used in the calculation of what destinations you can expect to visit within a set period of time. As Shouvick Mukherjee, a vice-president for Yahoo India told The Business Standard, Time Traveler “computes through Flickr images which people have uploaded in the past and tells him the destinations he would visit, say in an hour.” Another clever feature is the ability to save your trips in the cloud. Once you publish your trips to Yahoo, they are accessible online as a permanent record of your adventure. Available cities include London, New York, San Francisco, Bangkok, Rome, Paris, and 23 more. More are undoubtedly on the way. Actual time travel, alas, is not. Image credit: Dave Highbury/Flickr Filed under: mobile, social, VentureBeat

Harvard alumni group apologizes for Unabomber entry in directory

Kaczynski is escorted into the federal courthouse in Helena, Mont., April 4, 1996. (AP/File) Harvard University's alumni association has issued an apology for references made by Ted Kaczynski, a graduate of Harvard's Class of 1962, in the school's latest directory. A spokesman for Harvard told Boston.com that Kaczynski, the so-called "Unabomber," submitted the entry for the directory himself. "While all members of the class who submit entries are included, we regret publishing Kaczynski's references to his convictions and apologize for any distress that it may have caused others," the Harvard Alumni Association said in a statement on Wednesday. Kaczynski was convicted in 1998 of killing three and injuring 23 in a mail-bombing spree spanning three decades. The alumni report issued before the class' 50th reunion listed Kaczynski's occupation as "prisoner," "8 life sentences" under the "Awards" section and home address as his Colorado prison cell: "No. 04475-046, US Penitentiary—Max, P.O. Box 8500, Florence, CO 8126-8500." "It's funny," Gary Peterson, a fellow graduate of the Class of '62, told the Harvard Crimson. "He's more famous than anyone else in our class." While other Harvard alums, like Peterson, were amused by the listing, Kaczynski's victims were not. "It's very chilling," David Gelernter, a Yale professor who lost a hand and eye to one of a Kaczynski's mail bombs, told the Boston Herald. "He's an unrepentant terrorist murderer who cut people, and slashed people to death in their kitchens, leaving them to bleed, while he hid in a shack somewhere in the West. For some institution to lend authority to him, well, I can't believe such things happen in the United States." Gelernter added: "The new criminals here are the publishers of this 'Red Book,' for their passive collusion with this murderer." • iFound you: Woman posts pictures from her stolen iPhone on Facebook

This iPhone app makes sure you don’t get ripped off by those airport exchange booths

Sometimes the beauty of an app is its ability to solve one simple problem. Sure, a geo-locating social group food photography app sounds fancy, but it’s not often enough that designers build something that actually solves a problem. This is where Dmitry Dragilev comes in, formerly a member of the awesome team at Zurb, with his Currency Exchange Fee Calculator. Dragilev built the 99 cent app while traveling the world for 5 months, as he needed a way to calculate the commission fees charged by exchange booths. His result works by comparing the rate you are being quoted with the going market rate. Here’s the step-by-step process: You input the type of currency you are exchanging (example: 100 USD into EUR) You enter the exchange rate you are being offered The app fetches the latest market rate from the internet, compares it to the rate you are being offered and tells you how much you’re being charged From Dragilev: While traveling you need to exchange currency. After doing that a number of times we simply got a little mad at the currency exchange booths for not telling us the fee they are charging us. The exchange places figure the fee into the exchange rate itself so you have no idea what they are charging you since you don’t really know the going exchange rate usually and if you do you don’t have time to calculate the fee and convert the total fee per transaction back to your home currency when you are standing in line and being hurried by everyone else. We wanted to disrupt the currency exchange booths a little, so we developed an app to calculate the fee for us. Couldn’t find an app out there like this. All apps are just silly converter apps which don’t actually tell you the total fee you’re being charged. Our app fetches the latest going rate and calculates the total fee for us. Works like a charm for us now. Figure it would save lots of money for other travelers as well. Perhaps the best part of this app is that it doesnt require a data connection at all — if there is no connection, it instead uses the previously downloaded rates from the last time you opened the app. Overall, it’s simply a useful tool for any traveler, helping users make sense out of an easy way to get ripped off while at the airport. Having recently gone abroad for TNW’s 2012 Amsterdam Conference, I wish I could have gotten my hands on this app last month! ➤ Currency Exchange Fee Calculator, $0.99 via the App Store

Airplane door falls onto golf course

The FAA is investigating what caused a private jet to lose its door as it flew over a Florida golf course.

Presidential vote polarizes Egyptians

CAIRO (Reuters) - Millions of Egyptians, choosing their leader freely for the first time in their history, voted on Thursday in a fraught contest between Islamists and former officials of President Hosni Mubarak who was toppled in a popular uprising last year. After six decades under authoritarian, military-backed rule, Egypt's 50 million eligible voters may entrust the most populous Arab nation to an Islamist president for the next four years, alongside the Islamist-led parliament they elected earlier. But secular figures like ex-Arab League chief Amr Moussa, 75, and Mubarak's last premier Ahmed Shafiq, 70, are in with a chance, appealing to Egyptians wary of radical change. If no one wins more than half the votes needed for outright victory in Wednesday and Thursday's first round, the top two candidates will contest a June 16 and 17 run-off. Initial results may emerge well before Tuesday's official announcement. With two days of voting in the first round almost over, Egyptians seemed increasingly polarized between those determined to avoid handing the presidency back a man from Mubarak's era and those fearing an Islamist monopoly of ruling institutions. Some voiced fears of a backlash on the streets, particularly if Shafiq, who like Mubarak was air force commander, triumphs. Protesters hurled stones and shoes at Shafiq when he voted in Cairo on Wednesday. "If Shafiq or Moussa wins, they will create a revolution. Everyone will go down to Tahrir again," said one voter, Sherif Abdelaziz, 30, who backs the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi. Shafiq and Mursi supporters clashed in a village north of Cairo on Thursday, wounding five people, police sources said. A page on Facebook, a medium used to devastating effect against Mubarak, was launched on Thursday entitled: "I am the first martyr of the revolution if Moussa or Shafiq wins." The mother of Khaled Said, the activist whose death in 2010 at the hands of police helped galvanize anti-Mubarak protests, also derided "feloul", or remnants of the old order. "Khaled died for his country. Youth like him are entitled to a better future. If any of the feloul win, it would be because the vote was rigged. Egyptians will never retreat from their revolution," Said's mother Leila told Reuters by telephone. The strongest Islamist candidates are Mohamed Mursi, 60, of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most influential political group, and ex-Brotherhood member Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh, 60. Leftist Hamdeen Sabahy, 57, is a dark horse in the race. As evening fell, Moussa made an 11th-hour appeal for Egyptians to head to the polls. "Grab the chance of the last few hours to go down. It is vital that they vote ... Go down, take part in building the new Egypt," he told reporters, walking near his campaign office. He stopped to shake hands with motorists stuck in the jam created by the scene. "It's the president," shouted one woman. Some voters voice disappointment with the performance of parliament, where the Brotherhood's party has the biggest bloc. The assembly has been unable to assert itself over the government appointed by the generals who took over from Mubarak. Alarmed by rising crime, disorder and a failing economy, some Egyptians favor a man with government or military experience, even if he harks back to the Mubarak era. In an angry exchange as voting drew to a close, Moussa accused Shafiq of underhand methods and spreading "lies" that he had quit the race, saying Shafiq should withdraw himself. Shafiq responded: "How can I pull out if all the voting centers say Amr Moussa is finished and ... has no chance?" Voters queued patiently, determined not to miss their chance to influence the first round. The government declared Thursday a public holiday to allow state employees to cast their vote. According to election consultant Ossama Kamel, fewer abuses have occurred in this vote than in the parliamentary poll that ended in January, partly because of lessons learned then. "We have seen a lot better control of campaigning on election day than during the parliamentary vote when there were lots of violations, with candidates and their supporters hustling people outside polling stations," he told Reuters. The vote marks a crucial stage in a turbulent army-led transition racked by protests, violence and political disputes. The generals who took charge when Mubarak was ousted on February 11, 2011, have pledged to hand over to the new president by July 1. Even then the army, whose grip reaches deep into government and the economy, is likely to wield influence for years to come. A tussle over who should write the constitution also means the new president will not know his own powers when he is elected. Egyptians accustomed to the routinely forged votes of Mubarak's era have relished the uncertainty of the election. "This is the first time we can really choose our president and no one will mess with the result," said Ahmed Shaltout, a 36-year-old lawyer who said he would vote for Mursi. Explaining why he favored Moussa, Mohamed Salem, a shopkeeper near the Pyramids, said: "I want security and prosperity like before. We in the tourism sector were the most hurt. We could not count the number of tourists coming into our shops every day. Now we hardly need our fingers to count them." The next president will face huge tasks in reviving Egypt's wilting economy and restoring security. The sprawling police force, which virtually collapsed during the anti-Mubarak revolt, is only a shadow of its once-feared presence. Security is Shafiq's strongest card. A former aviation minister, he was appointed prime minister days before Mubarak fell and quit soon afterwards in response to popular protests. He is also favored by many of Egypt's 10 percent Christian minority, fearful of the rising power of Islamists. "We all need a president who will curb the Islamist or any other non-moderate current in society. Shafiq can do this because he will be a powerful president," said Samuel George, a Christian in Alexandria, Egypt's second city. Mubarak, 84, is contemplating the spectacle of a free election from the upscale Cairo hospital where he is confined while on trial for ordering the killing of protesters and for corruption. A verdict is due on June 2, two weeks before any presidential run-off. A death sentence is possible but unlikely. (Additional reporting by Tom Perry, Edmund Blair and Marwa Awad; Writing by Samia Nakhoul; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

New York Senate bill seeks to end anonymous internet posting

If the bill passes, get ready to hand over your full name and home address Anonymity is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the United States was founded, in part, thanks to Thomas Paine's anonymously written, pro-revolution pamphlet Common Sense. On the other hand, 12-year-olds who post anonymously on the internet can be rather unpleasant and cause real problems by cyberbullying. Whether you think the good outweighs the bad, this news is troubling indeed: A far-reaching bill introduced in the New York State Senate could end the practice of posting online once and for all. Sen. Thomas F. O'Mara / NY SenateIntroduced by New York State Sen. Thomas F. O'Mara (R—Big Flats), S6779 would require that any anonymous post online is subject to removal if the poster refuses to post — and verify — their legal name, their IP address, and their home address. From the (likely well intentioned) bill (from a senator who clearly does not "get" the internet): "A web site administrator upon request shall remove any comments posted on his or her web site by an anonymous poster unless such anonymous poster agrees to attach his or her name to the post and confirms that his or her IP address, legal name, and home address are accurate. All web site administrators shall have a contact number or e-mail address posted for such removal requests, clearly visible in any sections where comments are posted." Critics are quick to point out how dangerous and ineffective the anti-privacy bill would be in the off chance that it somehow passes. After all, IP addresses do nothing to verify a person's identity, and including your home address on a controversial internet post could open you up to real-life threats. In effect, the bill is an online stalker's dream. Of course, the most likely result of the bill's passage would just be the full-scale elimination of all comment systems everywhere, because the system is an unworkable burden on both the poster and the "web site administrators" who would need to respond to ludicrous take down requests at all times of the day. This article was written by Fox Van Allen and originally appeared on Tecca

National Geographic is documenting one team’s ascent of Mount Everest using Instagram

National Geographic was Instagram’s very first big brand partner and so it seems quite fitting that the media giant is using the photo sharing app for the very first time to let viewers in on an Everest expedition. With a National Geographic expedition team expected to reach the summit tomorrow morning, it’s the magazine’s Twitter and Instagram followers who will be the first to know the exact moment it happens, 3G network allowing. Following the team from the moment they set out, National Geographic has given its audience the chance to take a front row seat, watching the expedition as it unfolded, with a sense of immediacy that only social media can provide in real time. The magazine is going all out with its tech integration, keeping its iPad audience up to date with exclusive content, following mountaineer Conrad Anker and his team as they make their way to the top of Mount Everest. A dedicated section on its website also features a fair share of content, including dispatches, audio and video posts, and even a Google+ hangout, which took place at Everest Base Camp. Bringing Instagram into the expedition mix for the very first time, National Geographic’s follower count shot up by 40,000 new followers in the past 8 weeks of the journey, to a total of well over 60,000 followers today. While the National Geographic Instagram account has been around for a while, this expedition is the first time it has truly come to life. The images shared are a gorgeous combination of the scenery around them, the people they have encountered, and photos of the members of the team themselves. The social media journey to the top of Mount Everest will be culminating tomorrow morning (May 25) when the team sets off at around 5am Kathmandu time (GMT+5), and they will be posting photos of the summit, as soon 3G service is available. This expedition in particular also holds particular significance, as it commemorates the 50th anniversary of the very first American ascent of Mount Everest.

Solar plane begins first flight from Europe to Africa

Single-seater aircraft with 207ft wingspan aims to reach Morocco via Madrid and is being seen as a trial for a round-the-world flightAn experimental solar-powered airplane took off from Switzerland on its first transcontinental flight on Thursday, aiming to reach North Africa next week.Pilot Andre Borschberg will fly the jumbo jet-size Solar Impulse plane on its first leg to Madrid, Spain, by Friday. His colleague Bertrand Piccard will take the helm of the aircraft for the second stretch of its 1,554mile journey to the Moroccan capital Rabat.Fog on the runaway at its home base in Payerne, Switzerland, delayed the take off by two hours, demonstrating how susceptible the prototype single-seater aircraft is to adverse weather."We can't fly into clouds because it was not designed for that," Borschberg said as he piloted the plane with its 63meter (207ft) wingspan towards the French city of Lyon at a cruising speed of just 43.5mph.Before landing in Madrid in the early hours of Friday, Borschberg will face other challenges, including having to fly over the Pyrenees mountains that separate France and Spain. He has a parachute inside his tiny cabin that he hopes never to use.Piccard – the son of an undersea explorer Jacques Piccard and grandson of balloonist Auguste Piccard – will have to cross the windy Straits of Gibraltar from Europe to Africa.The team has been invited to Morocco by the country's King Mohammed VI to showcase the cutting edge of solar technology.Morocco is about to start construction on a massive solar energy plant at Ouarzazate, part of a country-wide solar energy grid with a capacity of 2000MW by 2020.The solar flight is described as a trial for a round-the-world flight with a new aircraft in 2014. That trip will include stops in the US, said Borschberg.In 2010, the Swiss flew non-stop for 26-hour to demonstrate that the 12,000 solar cells attached to the aircraft can soak up enough sunlight to keep the plane airborne through the night. A year later, he took Solar Impulse on its first international flight to Belgium and France. The project began in 2003 and is estimated to cost about $100m (£67m) over 10 years.Solar powerEnergyRenewable energyEngineeringAeronauticsguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Memorial Day: Atlantic City Third Most Popular Destination, Perhaps Due To Revel (PHOTOS)

So far, it's a gamble that's paid off.A new, multi-billion-dollar resort that opened in Atlantic City this April seems to have sparked a tourism renaissance in the seaside town, new tourism data shows.Online searches for hotels in AC "are up a staggering 94% from last year," says Dinah Alobeid, a spokeswoman for travel site Kayak.com. The beach town has jumped from the 10th most popular Memorial Day destination in 2011 to the 3rd most popular this year, Alobeid adds, placing it behind only Las Vegas and New York for the upcoming holiday weekend.Read More...More on Destinations

Paris Loves Jazz, This Time With a Festival

Now in its 12th year, the St. Germain Jazz Festival in Paris runs through June 3, featuring a top-flight line-up that includes Kurt Elling, Ahmad Jamal, Yusef Lateef and Jacky Terrasson.

Mind the Map: a journey through London cartography – in pictures

Chris Michael: The London transport network has inspired a dazzling array of posters, designs and cartographic artwork for more than 100 years. Explore some of the best examplesChris Michael

Suu Kyi to make Thai forum visit

Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is to attend the World Economic Forum in Bangkok next week, leaving Burma for the first time in 24 years.

Suu Kyi to make Thai forum visit

Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is to attend the World Economic Forum in Bangkok next week, leaving Burma for the first time in 24 years.

U.S. female soldiers sue to lift combat ban

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two female soldiers filed suit on Wednesday to scrap the U.S. military's restrictions on women in combat, claiming the policy violated their constitutional rights.

Domestic giant Southwest sticks nose into international air

Southwest is branching into the international market for the first time. It's another sign they're looking more like big network carriers..

Keep Cords and Gadgets Organized in a Hanging Toiletries Bag [Clever Uses]

Hanging travel bags—used for storing cosmetics, toiletries, or jewelry—make great organizers for all those chargers and cables you travel with. Just grab one and roll it up when you need to go. More »

How Pinterest Boosted Jetsetter’s Traffic by 150%

The Behind the Social Media Campaign Series is supported by Oneupweb, a relentless digital marketing agency focused on search, social, mobile and design services for mid-to-enterprise level brands. What’s your company’s social media policy? Download the free paper — Social Media: The Guide to Creating a Kick-A$$ Company Policy. There’s nothing quite like Pinterest when it comes to eye candy. And few sites, if any, have more stunning photography than Jetsetter. So it’s not surprising that Jetsetter’s most recent initiative was a “pin it to win it” Pinterest contest. It’s also not surprising that the contest performed very well. Pinterest is the darling of the interwebs, with staggering referral traffic and a rapidly growing user base, and it’s natural that stunning travel photos spread like wildfire on the social media platform. “Pinterest is the perfect platform for Jetsetter’s photo-driven [content],” says Jonathan Goldmann, social media manager at Jetsetter. “While Jetsetter focuses on inspiring vacation ideas and providing insider deals for the immediate future, Pinterest helps users store and organize inspiration for an aspirational trip … Pinterest is travel research at its best and most enjoyable.” How It Worked Few jobs are more enviable than a travel curator — you stay in the best hotels, test every amenity, eat the finest food and see the world. Since its launch in 2009, Jetsetter has fielded many an inquiry from customers who were curious about becoming a Jetsetter curator. So Jetsetter made it happen. For its Jetsetter Curator Pinterest contest, Jetsetter asked pinners to create “the ultimate destination pinboard” from April 22 through May 6. Using content on Jetsetter and around the web, Jetsetter members pinned photos in four categories: escape, adventure, style and cosmopolitan. To be eligible, boards needed to have “Jetsetter Curator” in the name, and each pin required the hashtag #JetsetterCurator. Winning boards were selected by Jetsetter editorial staff and a panel of judges, including Arianna Huffington and the editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar. The winner in each category won a three-night stay at a Jetsetter destination pertaining to that category — the escape winner won a trip to Turks and Caicos, cosmopolitan to Miami, style to Los Angeles and adventure to Belize. The most followed Jetsetter Curator board won its owner $1,000 in Jetsetter credit, a reward that incentivized pinners to share their boards and pins with friends. Engagement Metrics Marketers have bandied about several ways to quantify social media success, but engagement seems to be the prevailing metric. If that’s the case, we can call this a win. More than 1,100 users vied for a free trip, with an average of 40 images per board, totaling nearly 50,000 pins. Throughout the contest, referral traffic from Pinterest to Jetsetter.com increased 100% and pageviews increased 150%. Not only were more people coming to Jetsetter.com, but they were also sticking around longer — the bounce rate decreased by 10 to 15% during the promotion. Thanks to Pinterest’s integrations with Twitter and Facebook, Jetsetter also experienced a boost in referral traffic from those social networks, too. On Pinterest, the promotion helped Jetsetter jump from 2,000 to 5,300 followers — a pretty dramatic leap. Given the way the Pinterest eco-system works, those 50,000 pins gave the Jetsetter brand immense reach throughout the promotion — especially because jaw-dropping travels photos are exactly the kind of things that dominate Pinterest (well, that and quinoa recipes). Understanding what catches users eyes also serves as a valuable market research tool for Jetsetter: The “Jetsetter Curators” helped to provide the actual Jetsetter curators with a wish list of destinations for the site, so Jetsetter can better serve its members. Another reason why the contest was a win is that, aside from the prizes, Jetsetter Curator was a free activation — all of the content was user-generated. This bootstrapped approach is promising for small businesses, who seek to innovate and engage without breaking the bank. “The overall goal of our Jetsetter Curator contest was branding, quality content generation and engagement with members,” says Goldmann. “We wanted to build an engaged community of travel curators on Pinterest. When people think ‘travel’ on Pinterest, we want them to think ‘Jetsetter.” If you can afford to get lost in travel photos for a while, check out the winning boards: Escape: @EarmarkSocial (276 photos!) Style: @grnktchn Cosmopolitan: @Emily_Sumners Adventure: @Jessi Most Followed: @therealmurphy (The board name has changed to “P-L-A-C-E-S,” as the user is now collaborating with Jetsetter’s Pinterest account) Has your business run a contest on Pinterest? Let us know in the comments. Series presented by Oneupweb The Behind the Social Media Campaign Series is supported by Oneupweb, a relentless digital marketing agency focused on search, social, mobile and design services for mid-to-enterprise level brands. Every company should consider the goals of its social media strategy and the extent to which they are comfortable with employees engaging in social media activity on the job. Download Oneupweb’s free paper — Social Media: The Guide to Creating a Kick-A$$ Company Policy. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, LUNAMARINA More About: Behind the Social Media Campaign Series, contest, engagement, features, jetsetter, Marketing, mashable, pinterestFor more Business coverage:Follow Mashable Business on TwitterBecome a Fan on FacebookSubscribe to the Business channelDownload our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Artist arrested while hanging ‘I ♥ NY’ bags from streetlights, charged with ‘planting bombs’

An artist who installed illuminated plastic shopping bags emblazoned with the "I ♥ NY" logo on lampposts in Brooklyn was arrested over the weekend, charged with "planting false bombs" and ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation. Takeshi Miyakawa, the 50-year-old Tokyo-born artist, was arrested at 2 a.m. in Brooklyn while he was hanging one of the bags from a tree, according to his website. The NYPD bomb squad was alerted after a passerby noticed one of Miyakawa's installations on Friday morning and called to report "a suspicious package attached to a tree." Police cleared the area for two hours, according to the Daily News. They later observed Miyakawa on top of a ladder with "an assembly consisting of a plastic box containing wires which was connected by a wire to a plastic bag containing a battery suspended from a metal rod." The installation project was intended to be part of NY Design Week 2012. On Sunday, a judge ordered Miyakawa held for a mental evaluation, "extending his detainment for an additional 30 days," his lawyer said. A Facebook group called "Free Takeshi Miyakawa" launched within hours of the judge's ruling. It was more than 1,200 members. "Takeshi loves New York, he loves this city," Louis Lim, Miyakawa's friend, told Gothamist.com. "All his installations are nonevasive. He doesn't drill into things ... We had no idea that his designs were being misinterpreted at this level. And if anything he does offends or bothers anyone, Takeshi always apologizes profusely. He's very traditional that way." According to Gothamist, the person who purportedly reported Miyakawa to police did not intend to: "I called 311 asking how to get that thing off my tree, if it was my responsibility or the city's ... the 311 woman put me through to 911 then the cops came. I left for work." • Car with four kids riding in trunk nearly hit by semi truck (VIDEO)

United Airlines ends coach preboarding for children

Traveler alert: United Airlines no longer routinely offers early boarding to families with small children flying coach class.