Last week, a couple screen caps of an apparently upcoming Google Maps redesign leaked. While the authenticity of these was questioned, it seemed likely that they were real. Now, it’s pretty much certain than they were, as another leak has sprung ahead of Google I/O.

DroidLife reported on a sign-up page for the new Google Maps leaking last night, and has shared screenshots of that. Luckily for those interested, this includes descriptions of all the new features, so we don’t have to wait for Google’s keynote today to learn about what it does (assuming this is where they are planning on unveiling it, which seems highly likely).

There are a lot of new features. Here is Google’s run down from the leak:

The most comprehensive map, now built for you: The new Google Maps draws you a tailored map for every search and click you make. So whatever you’re trying to find or wherever you’re trying to go, you’ll always have a map highlighting the things that matter most.

A map that gets better with use: As you search the map, star places you like and leave reviews, the map starts to adapt and can suggest things like restaurants you might enjoy or the quickest way home. In other words, the more you use the new Google Maps, the more helpful it becomes.

It’s a pretty big overhaul, and one that seems like it will only make Google’s hugely popular maps service all the more useful, though we’ll have to wait until people can start using it to truly now how good the revamp is.

It will be interesting to see if any complaints come out from competitors. Don’t forget the FairSearch Coalition was formed because of Google’s Flight Search feature, and it looks like they’re making that a much more prominent part of the Google experience.

And with that, Airbnb announces a move that is likely to ruffle the feathers of some users, while engendering a more serious trust in the service in others. Today, the online service that connects travelers with location renters all across the world is unveiling a heightened verification process which they call Airbnb Verified ID. It will force users to match their online IDs (via Airbnb accounts, Facebook, or LinkedIn) with their offline identities, verifiable with a government-issued ID or some sort of official questionnaire.

“Verified ID provides a connection between the online and offline spaces. Airbnb users can earn a “Verified ID” badge on their profile by providing their online identity (via existing Airbnb reviews, LinkedIn, or Facebook) and matching it to offline ID documentation, such as confirming personal information or scanning a photo ID. The name provided by both channels must match for verification to succeed,” says Wagle.

Airbnb is dipping its toes into the new verification, only requiring a random 25% of users to get verified. Users who wish to make last-minute bookings will also be asked to verify their identities. That percentage is likely to increase quickly, as Airbnb says that their end goal is to make all users have a verified ID.

Of course, you may be forced into verifying your account if you want to book certain locations. Hosts can now require that guests are verified.

At Airbnb, hosts can set reservation requirements that they feel comfortable with. Some may choose to only invite guests into their homes who have verified their IDs. If you would like to book with a host who requires their guests to verify their IDs, we’ll prompt you to do so in order to complete the booking process. Any host who requests their guests to verify their ID must also get verified.

If you want to verify your account, you can start the process here. Or, you can simply wait for Airbnb to require it. If Airbnb asks you to do so during a booking, you’ll have 12 hours to complete the process.

Airbnb has to know that this is a bold move. For some users, this will be a deal breaker. That’s unavoidable from Airbnb’s perspective. But there are few online services other the Airbnb where this sort of thing makes sense. I mean, people are hosting and booking homes and apartments with strangers. For a company that has had its share of negative press regarding poor user experiences, this is definitely a strong move to show that they’re all about trust and legitimacy.

The AP reports that 83-year-old Arthur Frommer has reacquired the rights to his famed travel guidebooks from Google, and he plans to keep them alive in both print and ebook format.

“It’s a very happy time for me,” says Frommer. “We will be publishing the Frommer travel guides in ebook and print formats and will also be operating the travel site Frommers.com.”

Google bought Frommer’s back in August of 2012 from publisher John Wiley & Sons. The price of that deal was undisclosed, but reports indicate that it was somewhere around $22 million.

Just a couple of weeks ago, reportes emerged that Google was killing the print line of the guidebooks – the last one having bee published in December of 2012.

When Google bought the Frommer’s brand, they made it clear that they would incorporate its content into Zagat, and spread it among various Google services. The status of the print versions was always up in the air, and it appears that Google did exactly what they intended to do – grab the content and kill the rest.

But Arthur Frommer obviously didn’t want to see that part of the brand die.

Google confirmed that Frommer had reacquired the Frommer’s brand, and noted that the content had already been incorporated into many Google services, including Google+.

According to a report from travel news site Skift, Google has quietly killed Frommer’s print travel guidebooks.

News that Google acquired Frommer’s came out back in August. Google would be buying the brand from John Wiley & Sons. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but according to All Things D, the deal wasn’t “a huge one”. Frommer’s would be incorporated into Zagat.

Google said at the time, “The Frommer’s team and the quality and scope of their content will be a great addition to the Zagat team. We can’t wait to start working with them on our goal to provide a review for every relevant place in the world.”

As TechCrunch’s Sarah Perez noted, “No definitive decision has been made on the Frommer’s printed guides, but the deal is supposed to enable users discover reviews across Google, which means online.”

Skift’s Jason Clampet reports today:

The last two Frommer’s books to roll off the presses were guides in the all-color Day-by-Day series devoted to Napa and Sonoma and Banff and the Rockies, and went on sale in early February. The last book in the traditional complete guide series was Frommer’s Florida in late December.

Starting with Frommer’s New York City With Kids, which can still be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and in other bookstore inventories and was supposed to publish on February 19, the entire future list of Frommer’s titles will not see the light of day. Many of the authors attached to these 29 titles told Skift that they were informed by editors now working at Google that the books would not publish. Some authors were told that the books would merely be delayed before new contracts were signed. None of the authors contacted reported that their titles would appear in print.

Greg Sterling speculates that Google will ultimately kill the Frommer’s brand, suggesting that it can’t survive without the print guidebooks, though the Frommer’s site is so far still alive and well.

We’ve reached out to Google for comment, and will update if we hear back.

It was about a year ago when Flight Search first went international, adding flights from the U.S. to destinations around the world. The feature itself launched in Canada last summer, and now the expansion appears to be picking up.

“Starting today, you can use Flight Search to quickly find, compare and book flights originating from each of these countries to any airport in the world,” says Google product manager Noam Ben Haim. “You’ll also be able to search for flights from airports in these countries and see prices in your local currency. Additionally, you can conduct searches in 8 languages: English, French, Italian, Spanish, Basque, Catalan, Galician and Dutch — and see prices in your local currency.”

“Let’s say you’ve decided the Greek Isles are your vacation destination of choice, but you’re not sure which airport offers the most affordable fares. By typing ‘Greece’ as your destination, you’ll be able to quickly compare the cost of the different options, viewing live prices on the map,” he adds. “Likewise, if you’re looking to take the family to New York City but are unsure of the best time to go, you can click on our ‘Lowest fares’ icon to see which dates will get you the lowest fare.”

Google recently updated the Flight Search tool to let users search for regions – places in addition to airports.

“Free travel blogs are the perfect way for you to seamlessly capture all of your memories from your journeys and share your adventures with friends and family,” says MapQuest’s Anke Corbin. “It’s easy to set-up and add photos, stories and more, making it possible for everyone to create their very own travel blog!”

The offering, of course, includes features to let you share your stuff on social networks or with automatic email updates. The iOS app features offline access.

Additionally, you can read journals from other people, which might be just as helpful while you’re traveling as keeping your own. There are privacy settings that allow you to share with only who you want to.

“Travel Blogs is not just a tool to help users document their recent day trip up the coast or two week cross-country excursion,” says AOL’s Brian McMahon. “As part of our library of over 24,000 blogs from Everlater, now part of the MapQuest family, our goal is to help give people valuable and authentic stories that inspire them to set out on their own adventure.”

No word on a possible Android launch.

Naturally, it has a very Wikipedia-like look and feel:

While it is a new project for Wikipedia, Wikivoyage has actually been around for about seven years. As the foundation explains, it has been active in German and Italian, supported by the German non-profit Wikivoyage Association, but the contributors wanted to migrate the content, and offer the brand to the Wikimedia project. The site moved to Wikimedia’s servers in November. It has been in beta since then, but it’s out now.

“There’s a huge global demand for travel information, but very few sources are both comprehensive and non-commercial. That’s about to change,” said Sue Gardner, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation. “Wikivoyage is a great, useful service for travelers, and I’m expecting that with the support of the Wikimedia Foundation and the global Wikimedia editing community, it’s going to get even bigger and better.”

“As contributors to Wikivoyage, we work hard to create high-quality content, written by travelers, for travelers, in their own language,” said Peter Fitzgerald, an administrator on Wikivoyage. “We’re very excited to be part of the Wikimedia community, and we invite travelers to join us in creating an independent, non-commercial, online travel guide for the world. We are confident that it will become the number one travel resource on the web.”

Wikivoyage is currently available in nine languages, including: Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish. It already contains about 50,000 articles, edited by about 200 volunteer editors.

The Federal Trade Commission reportedly said that it has granted its approval of the deal. Reuters reports that the deal was one of several on a list of approved transactions that the FTC announced.

Priceline CEO said when the deal was announced, “Kayak has built a strong brand in online travel research and their track record of profitable growth is demonstrative of their popularity with consumers and value to advertisers. Kayak also has world class technology and a tradition of innovation in building great user interfaces across multiple platforms and devices. We believe we can be helpful with Kayak’s plans to build a global online travel brand.”

Kayak CEO Steve Hafner added, “Paul English and I started Kayak eight years ago to create the best place to plan and book travel. We’re excited to join the world’s premier online travel company. The Priceline Group’s global reach and expertise will accelerate our growth and help us further develop as a company.”

Both boards approved the transaction. Priceline had indicated in November that it expected the deal to close by late first quarter 2013.

Kayak will remain a separate entity under Priceline, and will keep its current management staff. Kayak processes over 100 million user queries per month.

It remains to be see whether Kayak will remain part of the FairSearch coalition, as Priceline is not a member. When asked about this initially, FairSearch would not comment on the matter.

Today, Google has formally announced the service, along with a handful of other new Flight Search features.

“Google aims to help people turn their intents into actions, lightning fast,” says Jeremy Wertheimer, Google’s Vice President of Travel. “For travelers, this means we’re helping to take the complexity out of planning a trip by making it fast and easy for users to find the information they need to plan their next journey. Whether you’re looking for information about flights, hotels, activities or destinations, we have tools to help you — and they are easily accessible for people on the go.”

“This year, we’ve made some changes to the user interface of Flight Search, and added features that offer more information about amenities and fees; we did this to help users feel well-informed, and to help them quickly choose the best itinerary,” he adds.

One of the features is Flight Explorer.

Google is also now showing baggage fees displayed next to flight options, indicating which flights have Wi-Fi, and offering business class/first class/coach comparisons. There’s also a new interface:

Additionally, Google’s Hotel Finder tool is now showing the price and availability for choice of room types.

It’s called Airbnb Neighborhoods, and they claim it’s the “the definitive guide to neighborhood experiences around the world.”

“Airbnb Neighborhoods combine stunning photography, local editorial perspective, and practical information to let you discover the neighborhood for you,” says the company in a blog post.

At launch, Airbnb Neighborhoods is available for locations in Rio de Janeiro, New York City, San francisco, London, Berlin, Paris, and Washington D.C.

One you select one of those cities, the neighborhood guide lets you narrow your search down to what type of area you’re looking to stay in. For instance, in New York you have to option to select “Peace & Quiet” or the exact opposite, “Nightlife.” Let’s say you want to go with “Dining.”

From there, you can select specific neighborhoods that match that tag. Each neighborhood has its own photo-rich page complete with a map, transit times, and information on local attractions. Did I mention that it was photo-rich? Each neighborhood page features dozens upon dozens of great photos from local photographers.

If that area looks right, you can then shoot over to a listing of all available locations.

Airbnb doesn’t say when we can expect more neighborhoods to become available on their new travel guide, but you’d have to expect that more are forthcoming. With Neighborhoods, Airbnb emphasizes exactly why a traveler would want to stay in a quirky apartment in the East Village as opposed to a hotel outside the city.