Why Airbnb hosts are thrilled about giving tours

LOS ANGELES - Airbnb hosts - the folks who rent out their rooms and homes to travelers for extra money, gave Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky a standing ovation this week.

He had just announced the company's plans to expand into more of a full-service travel app at the Airbnb Open, a three-day festival for over 7,500 Airbnb hosts, basically showing them more ways they can increase their businesses. So when he told them they could add personal, local tours to overnight stays, at rates that start at $200, they were really, really happy.

And why not? This means more money for the roomshare economy.

We explore the Airbnb Open and what the new moves mean for the company on the extended, weekend edition of the #TalkingTech podcast.

Plus we go over the week's top tech headlines, with commentary from comedian John Caparulo, and talk mobile music and gaming with Jeff Smith, the co-founder of Smule, and Josh Yguado, the co-founder of Jam City (formerly SGN) home to such games as Cookie Jam and Panda Pop.

As SGN, the company had several top grossing mobile games and $400 million in annual revenue. So why would a successful company change their name amidst all these hits? Yguado explains.

We first met Smule in 2009, when a Stanford music professor and his student decided to form a company for non-musicians to make music on their smartphones. Some 16 million songs are performed daily on Smule’s apps, including Magic Piano and AutoRap. But the company hasn't released a new app in 4 years. Why not? Tune in to hear Smith explain why.

Finally, when Caparulo arrived to the USA TODAY offices here to record the podcast, he brought along his 18-month-old, ultra-cute baby Madden. So naturally, we asked him to pose with Madden. And so did the rest of the panel. (We've since learned that Madden often makes cameos on Caparulo's web series, Caplets. Check it out.

Listen to #TalkingTech every day on Stitcher and iTunes and don't forget to subscribe, rate and comment on the show. You can find me on Twitter, @jeffersongraham.