As head of engineering at TravelMuse, I have been rather quiet until now, being quite busy with the June launch of our Beta site. As we gear up for our next release (code name: "Kuala Lumpur"), I thought I should take this opportunity to give you some insights into the technology we're using to provide you with new travel content on a regular basis as well as handy trip planning tools.

At TravelMuse, we're here for the long haul to serve your needs, and we invested in a modern Enterprise Java platform based on open standards, which allows us to assemble best of breed technologies to deliver great next-generation Web applications. The 21st century brought us the open source revolution, and it happens that nowadays “best of breed” often means community-based software. That's why many of our site’s key technologies are open source projects from the community such as GlassFish Application Server (more details in a Sun stories blog), MySQL Database Server and Alfresco Web CMS (Content Management System).

The latter is worth mentioning as it is a key enabler for our small team to be able to reliably publish destination information and a dozen new articles to the site on a weekly basis. Once the structure of each type of document is defined in the CMS and rendering templates are developed by the engineering team, our editorial team can then independently produce content into the CMS through Web forms, preview it for quality assurance and then deploy to production with minimal engineering involvement (freeing up our time to build new nifty features for you!).

Over the next few months, you will see tremendous investments made in our trip planning functionality to address all aspects of the process and improve its usability. I'm very excited about bringing all those state of the art planning tools online and we look forward to your feedback on how you use TravelMuse and what your favorite features are!

TravelMuse launched its TravelMuse Beta on Monday June 9th—alongside another minor (Apple!) announcement—call us crazy or foolhardy! Anyhow, it’s not every day that you can say you contributed to bringing down the TechCrunch site. We are delighted with all the positive coverage we’ve received to date, and a big thanks to everyone who wrote about us—we appreciate it!

CNET’s Rafe Needleman over at WebWare broke the news at 9 p.m. PDT on Sunday and wrote about the Inspiration Finder, saying “The idea could be a very positive contributor to domestic harmony” and “…it could become a very robust vacation planning tool."

TechCrunch followed with the headline, “TravelMuse May Be the Undecided Traveler’s Dream Come True!” Jason Kincaid went on to say, “At this point TravelMuse seems like a good place to start when you’re beginning to plan a trip … and as a hybrid travel magazine/suggestion site, TravelMuse may well find a place in the crowded travel space."

Greg Sterling at Search Engine Land said, “…the Inspiration Finder … does something unique and interesting in combining the directional power of search with the serendipity of discovery."

I’ve not yet seen one that considers the multiple dimensions that TravelMuse looks at, including budget, travelers’ ages, maximum hours in flying time, and preferred vacation activities,” wrote Diane Clarkson of Jupiter Research. “Definitely worth checking out."

"Already I love the travel magazine feel of the website versus the webby social networking feel of most other new travel sites and the fact that a lot of its editorial content (written by 50 freelancers) is fresh,” commented Jen Leo at the LA Times.

Although most of you probably have a pretty good idea of where you like to go on vacation, you may occasionally run out of ideas … fortunately, if you're in that boat, a new website can help” said Ed Perkins of Smarter Travel “I'd say that TravelMuse is off to a decent start … it's an innovative approach to travel planning."

Elisabeth Osmeloski at Search Engine Watch concluded “Is this the new face of online travel planning? Maybe too soon to tell, but I like the way it's looking! Keep making it easier for travelers to engage online and this mature industry will find a way to keep growing."

We had articles as far afield as Italy and France with great posts from Geekissimo, FredCavazza and Blogit—how’s your French or Italian?

Mashable had my favorite article of the week where Paul Glazowski got straight to the point “It’s a Beta, and I have to say I like it.” … “You can take TravelMuse just for its reviews, its trip planner, or its ‘Book Travel’ annex. Any single segment seems able to stand on its own. Taken all together, it is even more impressive."

For the full news roundup, visit the TravelMuse Press and Media page. Thanks for your support and stay tuned—we’ve got lots more great stuff to tell you about soon. But for now … we’re catching our breath, drinking a beer (or scotch) and enjoying some social time at a team BBQ over at Eric’s place!

It’s nearly June, and the beach is calling. But before you pack up your sunscreen, cooler and floaties, take a look at this week’s issue on Beach Getaways. TravelMuse staff and writers came up with a round-up of favorite beaches to add to your family-friendly beach list. Some may even be in your own backyard!

This week, we’ve also listed the recent fee changes for a number of airlines. As time goes on, more airlines are bound to add their two cents (or more like $20), so check out our tips to minimize airline fees.

Read more about and link to our additional coverage in my Editor's Take, or just check out the TravelMuse home page.

Enjoy!