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"In April of this year,\u00A0we reported\u00A0on\u00A0Oyster.com, a commerce meets editorial travel site much like\u00A0Jetsetter\u00A0and the lesser known, but locally rich\u00A0Jauntsetter. Oyster is full of curated information to provide inspiration for wanderlust travelers, along with planning help that will put the traditional travel agent out of business.\r\n\r\nThe Travel Channel invested $7.5 million into Oyster.com and promotes Oyster on television and online in exchange for revenue share on trips booked on the site. And like many brands are trying to do online, the station is positioning itself as a lifestyle brand. The deal provides The Travel Channel with a new revenue stream in addition to advertising and cable subscription fees.\r\n\r\nWe caught up with the travel experts at Oyster just before the holidays to ask them where they thought we should go for New Year\u2019s Eve. Now, we're tapping their expertise to uncover the most tech savvy cities across the United States and the most hooked up hotels to stay in. If you're planning to travel or would like to travel to one of these cities soon, check out the list below.\r\nMountain View\r\nThough Mountain View has a quaint downtown area and an outdoorsy vibe, don\u2019t be fooled -- it is one of the most tech-savvy cities in the world. In 1956, the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory moved to Mountain View -- contributing to the area\u2019s \u201CSilicon Valley\u201D name (the laboratory was the first company in the area to produce silicon) -- and ever since, Mountain View has been home to innovative, high-tech companies. Home to Intel, Google, Apple, Yahoo, Evernote and Hewlett-Packard, Mountain View is the first city in the US to be covered by free Wi-Fi in all areas of the city.\u00A0So don't forget to bring your laptop! And, the city\u2019s largest museum is, not surprisingly, the Computer History Museum.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWhere to Stay: Domain Hotel, a Joie de Vivre Hotel\r\n\r\nLess than a 10-minute drive from Mountain View, the Avatar Hotel in Sunnyvale caters to high-tech geeks visiting Silicon Valley on business (the hotel even provides a free shuttle on weekdays to companies within 10 miles). The hotel may be a converted motel, but the property has been significantly spruced up \u2013 colorful rooms (you have your choice of \u201Cawakening\u201D or \u201Ctranquility\u201D-inspired d\u00E9cor) feature iPod docks, flat-screen TVs, and free Wi-Fi, and the stylish Bytes bar is a popular spot for happy hour. Unfortunately this hotel can't completely escape its structure, with some rooms that only have windows overlooking the lobby and others that are subject to street noise, but overall, it\u2019s a good value.\r\nNew York City\r\nWhile there's quite a lot of debate as to which city is more &amp;quot;tech savvy&amp;quot;, until Mayor Bloomberg gives us city-wide free WiFi, NYC is coming in 2nd. But\u00A0New York City's tech scene is thriving. &amp;quot;Silicon Alley&amp;quot;, pioneered by successful 90s\u2019 start-ups, is now home to hundreds of tech-focused entrepreneurs with notable startups such as Gilt, Foursquare, Oyster (of course!), which are fast becoming household names, and driving tons of capital to the city that never sleeps. Bloomberg also encourages the entrance of startups to the city, hoping to draw in more tech companies to counter-balance the plethora of media and finance companies.\r\n\r\nWhere to Stay: Mondrian Soho\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nOpened in February 2011, this stylish 270-room hotel is located right on the southern border of chic SoHo. It has small, beautiful rooms with white-and-blue decor, high-tech amenities -- like large flat-screen TVs and iPads -- and floor-to-ceiling windows, many with jaw-dropping views. The trendy Imperial No. 9 restaurant, by Chef Sam Talbot, serves sustainable seafood, and has a lovely garden room with cool glass decor and a greenhouse-inspired feel. The fitness center, though small and in the basement, has state-of-the-art machines with personal screens and headphones.\r\nWashington, D.C.\r\nD.C.\u2019s most recent score on the technology scene was LivingSocial\u2019s choice to make the capital home to its headquarters. But Washington has been a tech-savvy city for decades and has always been a top contender in tech employment ratings. Not surprisingly, many of these jobs are provided by the government \u2013 which could be disconcerting as the government has tightened spending \u2013 but more and more jobs arise as the city rides the social media wave. The counties in the D.C. area have the highest percentage of college-educated residents in the country, and more and more post-grads flock to the city every year. So despite ups and downs, Washington, D.C. will be a tech-savvy city for many more decades to come (and it doesn\u2019t hurt that its location is home to numerous top research institutions and airports, and more importantly, grants it great political significance).\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWhere to Stay: The Jefferson, Washington DC\r\n\r\nAfter a massive renovation in 2009, this boutique reopened, and regained its place among DC\u2019s elite hotels. It's not as famous as the Hay-Adams, but its blend of technology (TVs are embedded in bathroom mirrors; all rooms are equipped with electronic housekeeping buttons, free Wi-Fi, iPod docks, flat-screen TVs, and DVD players ) and colonial charms (intimate library, working dumbwaiter) are second to none. All that's missing is T.J. himself...(although he is commemorated by a bust in the lobby).\r\nSeattle\r\nWhen you walk by a Starbucks in Seattle (and you\u2019ll walk by many), you\u2019ll probably see dozens of people hunched over their laptops, connecting to the free Wi-Fi. Not only has the city consistently been ranked by Forbes as one of the most wired cities in the US, but Forbes also ranked Seattle #1 for the city with the highest \u2013 and best sustained \u2013 tech growth over the last decade. Bill Gates started the influx of tech companies in 1986, when he moved Microsoft to Redmond, right outside of the city. But Nintendo has been headquartered there even longer, and now there are over 700 tech companies in this rainy town. Facebook has just announced that their offices in the city will be doubling, creating even more tech jobs for the Seattle area.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWhere to Stay: Hotel 1000\r\n\r\nThis upscale hotel is located smack-dab in the heart of Downtown Seattle, within walking distance of businesses and major attractions like the Pike Place Market and the waterfront. It has gorgeous amenities that make it stand apart from most other hotels in the area, including a virtual golf system, a full-service spa with a wonderful (and expensive) menu of personalized treatments, and an acclaimed, locally-popular restaurant on-site. The glass-enclosed bathrooms with tubs that fill from the ceiling and separate walk-in showers are arguably the highlight of the high-tech and modern (though somewhat dark) rooms. Overall, it's certainly luxurious, but the feel is that of a glossed-up Westin or Kimpton -- it lacks the nuances of a truly high-end brand, such as Rosewood.\r\nAustin\r\nNicknamed \u201CSilicon Hills,\u201D Austin\u2019s \u201Chills\u201D are dotted by tons of high-tech companies; Dell, Google, Facebook -- just to name a few. And Austin takes pride in the fact that it\u2019s the cool younger sibling in the tech-savvy city family: not only is it a great city for video game creators (as home to EA, which is in the process of expansion), but it has also been ranked as the #1 market for bloggers and blog readers by Scarborough Research. Like D.C., in recent years its number of post-grads has skyrocketed and it is well-known among the young, tech-savvy crowd as the home of South by Southwest. Though also a hugely popular music festival, SXSW is heavily involved in the startup tech world in its work through the \u201CInteractive Startup Village.\u201D At this showcase (which more than 20,000 people attended in 2011), startups, inventors, entrepreneurs, engineers, and investors meet and mingle, discussing innovative advances in technology and \u2013 at times \u2013 creating new tech companies.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWhere to Stay: Barton Creek Resort &amp;amp;amp; Spa\r\n\r\nThe 312-room Barton Creek Resort is sprawled across lovely grounds centered within three golf courses in the hills west of downtown Austin. You\u2019ll find plenty to do on-site, including golf, tennis, a spa, indoor and outdoor pools, a large fitness center, great shopping, and even family-friendly scavenger hunts -- but Austin\u2019s downtown attractions are just a 30-minute drive away. Rooms are spacious and thoughtfully decorated with at-home touches, and each one comes complete with fabulous views of the surrounding areas, as well as large flat-screen TVs equipped with satellite cable channels and a gaming system -- though unfortunately there's a daily fee for Wi-Fi.\r\n\r\nDo you live in a tech-savvy city? Let us know why your city should be on this list in the comments below!"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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