Airbnb to expand the experience element of Trips to 200 U.S. cities

Seems like Airbnb’s expansion beyond providing alternative short-term rentals is paying off. Airbnb launched Trips a little over a year ago with the objective of offering unique experiences while their travelers are visiting certain areas. The company is investing US$5 million to expand this part of the business for 200 cities in the US. There are currently 4,000 experiences being offered globally with 1,000 of them being offered in the US. Airbnb describes Trips as helping “small business owners, new entrepreneurs, and community non-profits to create immersive experiences for travelers.”

It seems growing beyond offering rentals has helped the company. According to Airbnb, global weekly guest bookings have risen by more than 2,000 percent year-on-year, while the number of experiences offered has increased by 500 percent.

Source: Digital Trends

Google Clips sold out a few hours after going up on the Google Store

Google Clips is the company’s experimental product that merges artificial intelligence with photo- and video-taking in what PocketNow describes as a “set-it-and-forget-it interface.” It can be set to Smart Capture and have the tiny camera decide what photos to take in the span of around three hours. The first batch of these small cameras went up for sale over the weekend on the Google Store and was sold out in a couple of hours. According to Android Police, the delivery date for the units they got were around March 1 or 2. Individual customers who got their hands on the camera were getting timeframes between February 25 and 28. 

Beta version of Google Maps shows that you might soon be able to add or remove places you’ve visited

If you use Google Maps on your mobile phone frequently, you may or may not know that when you check out a specific location, the app logs this under the “Your places” list. If you want to see places you’ve visited before, it’s accessible through that tab, too. Now, if for some reason you want to add locations that aren’t on the list or you want to take some out, Google Maps is testing this out right now. Beta version 9.70 of the app adds these two options. When you select a specific location, it will show you if you’ve been there and when you were there the last time. It can be seen in your timeline as well. And, as mentioned, a Remove option has been added, too.

Some of the other features seen in the APK teardown done by Android Police have seen features like custom shortcuts, movie show times and ticket sales support, as well as native screenshot feature, among others. It’s important to note that some of these features might not show up in the non-beta version but there is also the possibility that it might. Let’s just treat these as a heads up of features you might see in the near future.

Source: Android Authority

Elon Musk’s Boring Company has a US$500 flamethrower, because why not?

SpaceX, Tesla, and Boring Company CEO Elon Musk has made some bold proclamations in the past and has entered random segments for what seems like the heck of it. The latest product from his Boring Company seems like an elaborate, pre-April Fool’s Day prank: a US$500 flamethrower. He tweeted back in December that he planned to sell The Boring Company flamethrower after he sold 50,000 of Boring Company hats. When that hit its target on Christmas Eve, he tweeted that the flamethrowers were coming soon. Musk is known to make promises on deadlines he can’t keep. But this was apparently a promise he could keep. The Boring Company is now accepting pre-orders for the flamethrower and is even selling a $30 branded fire extinguisher to go with it.

They claim it’s the “world’s safest flamethrower.” The Boring Company warns against additional custom fees international orders might get when the product is shipped, and they promise international customers can receive full refunds if they aren’t happy with the fees. And as a warning, it says on the pre-order page that the flamethrower “may not be used on Boring Company decorative lacquered hay bales or Boring Company dockside munitions warehouses.” With shipping said to be starting in April, we’re thinking this is an April Fool’s Day prank that has been set up really early.

Source: The Verge