Today, almost half of all airline tickets are sold online. But for many people, finding the right flight at the best price is a frustrating experience; pricing and availability change constantly, and even a simple two city itinerary involves literally thousands of different options. We’d like to make that search much easier, which is why I’m pleased to announce that today we have signed an agreement to acquire ITA, a Boston-based software company specializing in organizing airline data, including flight times, availability and prices.

While online flight search is rapidly evolving, we think there is room for more competition and greater innovation. Google has already come up with new ways to organize hard-to-find information like images, newspaper archives, scholarly papers, books and geographic data. Once we’ve completed our acquisition of ITA, we’ll work on creating new flight search tools that will make it easier for you to search for flights, compare flight options and prices and get you quickly to a site where you can buy your ticket.

We’re confident that by combining ITA’s expertise as the leading developer of flight information software with Google’s technology we’ll be able to create great user innovations in flight search. ITA has built a very successful QPX business, and we’re looking forward to working with their current and future customers. Google will honor all existing agreements, and we’re also enthusiastic about adding new partners. You can read more about this deal here, and we’ll keep everybody up to date as we work to close this exciting acquisition.

Posted by Marissa Mayer, Vice President, Search Products & User Experience

See the full story at Google’s Blog

The USA kick off their campaign against England…Shout be interesting!

Anyway comment below, and let us know what you think!

According to reports, Suge Knight was arrested by police in Gardenia, California, after he allegedly waved a gun at another motorist while driving his white Cadillac Escalade truck.

It is alleged that Suge had an altercation with another man on Wednesday evening (May 19th) in Los Angeles, when he brandished the weapon.

Suge Knight, 45, was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery and Homicide Division and charged with suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and driving with a suspended license.

Police are still attempting to locate and identify the man Knight allegedly threatened, that could take some time.

Knight was originally held at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Southwest Division but was soon transferred to a downtown jail, where he is being held on $65,000 bail.

Source: Allhiphop

Source: Billboard.com

A source close to the entrepreneur/rapper has confirmed to Billboard.com that Diddy is not only co-managing Lil Wayne protégé Nicki Minaj but also Rick Ross.

Last week, just two days after dropping out of Rihanna’s “Last Girl On Earth Tour,” Nicki Minaj’s former manager, Debbie Antney — who also managed Gucci Mane and is mother to up-and-coming rapper Waka Flocka Flame — sent a statement confirming Minaj had fired her.

“I received a letter, which was a suspension. The next letter that came in was a cease and desist in doing all business with Nicki Minaj from Nicki’s attorney,” she explained. “I love Nicki. I wish her the most success. It’s not about the music, she’s like one of my children… I wish her no harm, only much success.”

While hip-hop bloggers have speculated the firing was due to mismanagement on Antney’s part which consequently caused Minaj to drop out of the tour, Antney revealed to Billboard.com almost a month ago — before the tour was announced — that she no longer was working with Minaj “I’m not gonna sit here and drop a bunch of bombs on her now, even though she really, really disappointed me. Now Nicki did fire me. She did,” Antney said.

According to our source, Minaj subsequently went on to seek management from Troy Carter, Lady Gaga’s manager. Although some websites claim to have confirmed that Carter is co-managing Minaj with Diddy, our source says it isn’t the case and that Gaga pumped the breaks on the deal, threatening to find another manager if Carter took on Minaj as well. When that happened, Carter stepped back and Diddy stepped in, asking one of his own managers, James Cruz, to co-manage Minaj with him instead.

While Diddy’s new connection with Nicki Minaj seems to have come out of left field, it comes as no surprise that he is also working closely with Rick Ross. The two have been appearing together often lately, including on the remix to Waka Flocka’s “O Lets Do It” track. Diddy has also praised Ross’ rapping skills in public as of late, comparing him to the late Notorious B.I.G. “Big shout out to my brother Diddy. We have a big announcement to make real soon, so stay tuned for that,” Ross said on the airwaves during an interview with Power 105.1 DJ Envy earlier this week, alluding to an official announcement of the business move coming soon.

The partnership between the two is poised to go a step further as well; Ross is also rumored to be extensively contributing to the writing of Diddy’s upcoming album.

CANNES, France – British singer and classical piano player Katy Shotter stole the show at MIDEM this year with her solo performance in the glamorous Martinez Hotel ballroom.

Katy got her big break when she took part in Matthew Knowles’ Bootcamp and won the chance of a lifetime to support Beyoncé Knowles on her 2007 UK tour, and was asked again to sing at her New Year show in Las Vegas in 2008. She has since been developing her writing skills, collaborating with songwriter Jack Knight for her new debut album coming out later this year.

Her manager was keen to bring her to MIDEM to showcase her work in Europe as she has spent a considerable amount of time in the US in the past.

Film Industry Network brings you Katy’s unique perspective of her musical experiences and ambitions.

What was it like to be on tour with Beyoncé?
It was incredible. It was a very surreal year. Before the tour, the only shows I had really done were at school and it wasn’t like I had been gigging for 2 years, so all of a sudden I got thrown into the huge ‘Arena’ world. I learnt so much from watching her every evening after I performed. She is one of the best performers of our day and it’s not only her work ethic, but its everything about her and it was a life changing experience.

Who do you want to collaborate with in the future?
Obviously it would be her (Beyoncé) because of our collaboration. Probably Alicia Keys too, because she is someone I look up to. Stevie Wonder would be up there. Prince would be incredible, and Amie Winehouse as well.

How did you find the experience of being at MIDEM? What were the highlights of your trip?
Definitely the performance and meeting all the musicians that I performed with as lot has come out of it and we all got on really well. I am writing with the Yeah Yous who were performing and Newton Faulkner. We have got a writing session in April. A lot of it came out musically, and also getting my name out there was a big buzz for me. Coming off the stage and having people wanting my autograph straight away was a high. Also coming to France, as I had never been before and being my first trip it was incredible and it made me want to come out here even more.

Do you prefer the UK or US music scene?
I think both in different ways. The music that comes out of the UK is incredible and when I played a lot of gigs at these music and Jazz nights it made me realize how much talent there is over in the UK.

In America it is different because the market I am approaching is bigger. When I was on tour, it was not a different reaction, but the Soul/RnB market is bigger, so they take it really well. In the UK it is only just starting to come out. You have the Amie Winehouses and Adeles but the UK market is very much built on trend, which is good, but id love to be part of both.

Where do you go when traveling to the US?
I work with Jack Knight based in Brooklyn, and I have been traveling there recently. I am going to LA in March to showcase all my new material, but in general I am going between LA and New York.

Check out Katy Shotter’s music at: www.katyshotteronline.com