Google buys restaurant, hotel and shopping review site Zagat

Zagat Guides, orignally a publisher of printed pocket restaurant and hotel guides for over 100 cities worldwide, has been bought by Google.  The quality of the reviews and ratings on Zagat means Google will no longer have to scrape reviews from other sites such as Yelp. 

When the data is integrated into Google Local search, Google will be able to provide the best restaurant, hotel and shopping recommendations and reviews in the industry.

Marissa Mayer, vice president of Google Maps and Location services, praises Zagat on the Official Google Blog. "Zagat provides people with a democratized, authentic and comprehensive view of where to eat, drink, stay, shop and play worldwide based on millions of reviews and ratings.

"For all of these reasons, I'm incredibly excited to collaborate with Zagat to bring the power of Google search and Google Maps to their products and users, and to bring their innovation, trusted reputation and wealth of experience to our users."

Greenpeace fights VW on Facebook

Greenpeace started a campaign today to turn Volkswagen away from it's "dark lobbying practices" against climate change reform.

Facebook users are being encouraged to visit VW facebook pages from around the world and register their protest.