Articles by Search News Desk

Advertising on Google.com Requires No Personally Identifiable Information (PII), States Executive

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 10:30:00 EDT

"Advertising on Google.com is contextual, requires no personally identifiable information, is not provided by a third-party, and does not collect any information in addition to the basic information collected to provide search results," asserts Google's Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs, Alan Davidson.

Is Google To Follow Intel and Motorola by Launching Venture Capital Investment Arm?

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:15:00 EDT

Is Google’s senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer David Drummond, about to become the head of a dedicated Venture Capital division of Google? The Wall Street Journal seems to think so - adding that Google has hired William Maris, a former Web hosting entrepreneur, to help set up the unit.

120 Billion Web Pages Indexed by Cuil

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:30:00 EDT

'Our significant breakthroughs in search technology have enabled us to index much more of the Internet, placing nearly the entire Web at the fingertips of every user,' said Tom Costello, CEO and co-founder of Cuil, a new search offering that claims to have indexed 120 billion Web pages, three times more than any other search engine.

Icahn Snags Three Yahoo Board Seats, But Yang Remains

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:45:00 EDT

Shareholder activist Carl Icahn has joined the Board of Directors of Yahoo! Inc. Jerry Yang remains in place as CEO. Two further seats will be filled by two people from a list of nine candidates recommended by Icahn.

IBM & Google Go Cloud Chasing

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:45:00 EDT

That anti-Microsoft pair, IBM and Google, are kicking in $20 million-$25 million apiece for hardware, software and services to spread the gospel of 'cloud computing' in the academe. They want budding computer scientists to learn how to write Internet-scale programs that process trillions of secure transactions a day and master massively parallel computing skills.

Yahoo Strives To Disrupt the Search Market, Opens Up Its APIs

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 06:15:00 EDT

'BOSS opens up the playing field for developers and companies to disrupt the search market, become principals in search and build new Web search experiences that offer more choice for users,' said Prabhakar Raghavan, chief strategist for Yahoo! Search, as Yahoo! Inc. yesterday introduced a new open Web services platform called BOSS (for Build Your Own Search Service) - aimed at giving third parties an unprecedented level of access to Yahoo! Search Technology, including the ability to re-rank and control the presentation of Web search results.

Microsoft Snags Powerset, Aims to Take Search to the Next Level

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 07:45:00 EDT

'We're excited to announce that we've reached an agreement to acquire Powerset, a San Francisco-based search and natural language company,' Microsoft's Satya Nadella, Senior Vice President, Search, Portal, and Advertising announced last week, adding that Powerset would join Microsoft's core Search Relevance team, remaining intact in San Francisco.

Enterprise Search Frustrates and Disappoints Users

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:30:00 EDT

In a new study on Findability to be released by AIIM, 49% of survey respondents 'agreed' or 'strongly agreed' that it is a difficult and time consuming process to find the information they need to do their job. The new survey of over 500 businesses conducted in May 2008, suspects that a prime culprit for the failings of Findability in the enterprise is the admission that 69% of respondents believe that only 50% or less of their organization's information is searchable online. Given the ready access that users are supposed to have in this 'Age of Google' - how is this possible?

Yahoo, Microsoft, Google - The Love-Hate Triangle

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 04:15:00 EDT

Although Yahoo announced on April 9 that it was conducting a test with Google to rely on Google to sell its search ads, the company's executives - according to a Reuters report this morning - previously dismissed a search-advertising deal with Google 'due to antitrust concerns.' That was the standpoint anyway - Reuters reports - during an internal meeting on January 30, the day before Microsoft made its merger offer.

DAY 3 - The Planet EV1servers Customers Still Have No Websites After Saturday's Explosion

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:30:00 EDT

SYS-CON Media Website (www.sys-con.com) and email servers were affected from Saturday's explosion at The Planet hosting facility together with 9,000 servers which belonged to more than 7,500 customers. SYS-CON has been hosting its image server and email servers at the facility. At the time of this report on Monday, June 2, 2008, www.sys-con.com has been rendering pages with no images. There is no word from EV1servers when their service will resume normally, after two full days which affected SYS-CON Website.

DAY 3 - The Planet EV1servers Customers Still Have No Websites After Saturday's Explosion

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:30:00 EDT

Yahoo, Microsoft, Google - The Great i-Technology Love Triangle

Fri, 23 May 2008 05:00:00 EDT

In an effort to buy itself time to head off corporate raider Carl Icahn's mission to nominate a slate of completely new directors for the search giant, Yahoo has made an SEC filing saying that its July 3 AGM is postponed till the end of July. One of its current ten directors, Edward Kozel, also resigned from the board and will not be replaced.

Powerset Seeks to Change the Way Users Search and Consume Web Content

Mon, 12 May 2008 05:15:00 EDT

'Wikipedia is a great way for us to showcase Powerset's functionality while giving people a faster time to satisfaction,' said Barney Pell, co-founder and CTO of Powerset, as his company today unveiled a publicly available beta product that according to Pell reinvents how users search and discover information from Wikipedia.

Yahoo That Demanded $37 From Microsoft, Sinks to $22.30

Tue, 06 May 2008 14:00:00 EDT

Monday morning before the markets open Bloomberg reported 'Yahoo, that spent three months fighting a takeover by Microsoft, tumbled $6.37 to $22.30. The software maker said this weekend it walked away when Yahoo demanded $37 a share. Microsoft had increased its $44.6 billion bid by about $5 billion to $33 a share. Microsoft shares added $1.27 to $30.51. '

Microsoft-Yahoo! - Microsoft Fails To Make Up Its Mind What To Do Next

Thu, 01 May 2008 06:45:00 EDT

Despite meeting yesterday, the Microsoft Board of Directors - according to the Wall St. Journal - has not decided whether its $31 a share offer for Yahoo!, which has fallen in value to $29 a share in line with a fall in Microsoft's own stock value, should be hoisted to $33 a share in an attempt to keep alive Redmond's two-year pursuit of the Silicon Valley based search giant.

Yahoo! Bets on AMP! To Counter Google and Microsoft

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 04:45:00 EDT

Just a month after Google closed its $3.4BN acquisition of ad sales management firm DoubleClick, Yahoo! has taken the wraps off its 'Apex' project and said that it will be called AMP! - described as 'a faster, easier, and more automated and integrated way to create, buy, and sell advertising and do so across a transparent global marketplace.'

Microsoft's Weekend Bombshell to Yahoo! BoD: Off Come the Gloves!

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 04:00:00 EDT

'It is unfortunate that by choosing not to enter into substantive negotiations with us, you have failed to give due consideration to a transaction that has tremendous benefits for Yahoo!'s shareholders and employees,' thundered Microsoft's Steve Ballmer yesterday in a letter to the Board of Directors of Yahoo! after a two-month lull in which Yahoo! has done nothing whatsoever to encourage Microsoft's $44.6BN uninvited takeover bid for it...and quite a bit to frustrate it.

Is Microsoft Re-evaluating Its $44.6BN Yahoo! Offer?

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 06:15:00 EDT

The $31 a share offer for Yahoo! that Microsoft made on Jan. 31 was 62% higher than Yahoo!'s closing price the day before the offer was disclosed. So with the Fed Chairman saying the U.S. may be in a recession after losses tied to the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, it would hardly be surprising if the world's largest software company didn't revisit the offer terms and begin to wonder whether $31 a share is too much. And now Bloomberg.com is reporting that this is exactly what's happening.

New National Rental Search Engine Launched in Beta

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:15:00 EDT

'While at Google, we learned to develop products that were simple to use, free for users, and clean of annoying advertising,' says Dan Daugherty, President and CEO of rentBits, a new nationwide search engine for rentals. 'rentBits has all of these qualities and this beta release is just the beginning. We will continue to innovate so we can provide the best rental search experience for our users,' Daugherty added.

Google Swallows DoubleClick

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:15:00 EDT

Google closed on its $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick this morning a couple of hours after the European Commission, as expected, waved the hackles-raising merger through. US authorities blessed the merger in December. The EC said the merger was 'unlikely' to harm consumers either in ad serving or the intermediation of online advertising markets and so wasn't anticompetitive.

Google-DoubleClick Acquisition Approved; Job Cuts To Come!

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:15:00 EDT

The final hurdle in the completion of its deal to buy Doubleclick has now been overcome by Google: European regulators have today cleared its $3.1BN bid. Eric Schmidt, writing in the Official Google Blog, admitted 'As with most mergers, there may be reductions in headcount' - and Google's stock rose nearly 5% as a result, up from near its 52-week low of $413 per share on Monday.

Google Takes Out After SharePoint with Google Sites!

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:15:00 EST

Google has blown a new cloud over Redmond's way to rain on Microsoft's SharePoint collaboration server - even if it has a ways to go before being recognized as a thunderhead. The cloud is called Google Sites. It's a googlized version of the JotSpot start-up's wiki widgetry that Google bought 16 months ago on undisclosed terms.

Google Becomes the Default Search Engine in Opera Mini

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 05:45:00 EST

'Google and Opera have established a valuable relationship over the years and we look forward to continued collaboration on mobile products,' said Jon von Tetzchner, CEO of Opera, as Opera today made Google the default search engine in its mobile Web browsers. 'We're excited to extend this productive relationship and we hope that the nearly 100 million people using our mobile products will agree,' he added.

Google vs Microsoft: Sergey Brin Implies Microsoft OS Dominance Is "Unnerving"

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:15:00 EST

'When you start to have companies that control the operating system, control the browsers, they really tie up the top Web sites, and can be used to manipulate stuff in various ways. I think that's unnerving.' That, according to Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin, is what might face the Internet, which has evolved from open standards, having a diversity of companies, if Microsoft is allowed to acquire Yahoo!

Gates: Yahoo! "Should Take a Hard Look" at the Microsoft Offer

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 07:00:00 EST

'We sent them a letter and said we think that's a fair offer,' Bill Gates has been telling an Associated Press reporter, referring of course to the February 1 proposal Microsoft made to the Yahoo! board of directors to acquire the company for $44.6BN. Gates made the comments during a conference call to announce free access to Microsoft developer tools for students.

Is Yahoo! Too Large a Company to Force into Microsoft's Ways?

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 07:00:00 EST

Is Yahoo! too large a company to force into Microsoft's ways? That's the question asked this morning by The New York Times, whose correspondents John Markoff and Matt Richtel report a Silicon Valley executive as declaring that, when it comes to overall technology mindsets, Microsoft and Yahoo! 'are completely at odds with one another.'

A Thousand Yahoo!s Gone

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:45:00 EST

Whistling past the graveyard, Yahoo! went ahead Tuesday with its thin, pre-Microsoft plans of canning a thousand non-core people worldwide in an attempt to get the firm growing in the right direction. The number actually turned out to be more like 1,100 but far from what it would take to puncture its 14,300-man bloat.

Might It Now Be "Yahoo!Space" Instead of "Microhoo!"...?

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 08:45:00 EST

On Monday Rupert Murdoch was reported as assuring the financial press that News Corporation would not be making a counter-bid for Yahoo! but yesterday came new reports that discussions are taking place about integrating Yahoo! with News Corp's Internet assets. The idea, according to TechCrunch, would be to fold Fox Interactive Media, which includes MySpace, into Yahoo! along with a cash investment by News Corp. and a private equity fund, to create an entity with nearly 150 billion monthly page views.

Yahoo! Edges Out Google With Major Mobile Search Win in Europe

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 07:00:00 EST

T-Mobile has announced that it is likely to make Yahoo! oneSearch the exclusive search engine in all eleven of its European markets. The company is the twenty-sixth mobile carrier to sign a major deal with Yahoo! and displaces arch-rival Google as T-Mobile's preferred search engine.

Yahoo! Still Undecided

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:00:00 EST

Tuesday, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang sent out his second company-wide e-mail since Microsoft made its unsolicited $44.5 billion bid for Yahoo, a message that made it into an SEC filing Wednesday. He said the same thing he said before: 'No decisions have been made about Microsoft's proposal.' 'The board, he said, 'is focused on maximizing the value of Yahoo!'s tremendous assets for our shareholders. And it is going to take the time it needs to do it right.' Clinging to the pre-tsunami past of a few days ago, he said, 'We won't let it distract us from pursuing our transformation strategy.' Right.

Yahoo Board Reportedly Set To Meet & Decide

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 11:45:00 EST

The Yahoo Board is supposed to convene today to thrash out whether or not to accept Microsoft?s $44.6 billion acquisition offer, try to get Microsoft to sweeten the pot, or resist and hammer out an outsourcing deal with Google, according to TechCrunch.

Dynamic Software's Portal Promoter

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:30:00 EST

Portal Promoter is a completed search engine submission, optimization and search engine marketing platform will guarantee your success online it is truly a Dynamic SEO solution. Portal Promoter web interface combines all the powerful search engine optimization and submission tools in one system to help you promote your business online without hire and search engine optimization professional. With this award winning web site optimization and search engine marketing tool, Portal Promoter provides an All-In-One solution to help you to understand, manage and improve your web site online, it is a secret weapon for your search engine success.

Yahoo! Hits the Wall; 1000 Jobs To Go!

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 16:00:00 EST

Weaker-than-expected ad spending in the financial, travel and retail areas led to a 23% decline in fourth-quarter net income for Yahoo! to $205.7 million, or 15 cents a share, from $268.7 million, or 19 cents, a year earlier, the company said yesterday. It announced its first layoffs since 2001: 7% of its workforce will need to go!

AJAX World 2008 East Keynote: Can We Fix The Web?

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 09:45:00 EST

The Web needs fixing. The standards and recommendations that define the Web were last revised in 1999. Since then, the Web has grown from a document retrieval system into an application delivery system. We have made significant progress since then, due to the cleverness of the Web development community and the surprising expressive power of JavaScript, but we are at the limits. The Web is no longer a driver of innovation. It is now a serious impediment. The Web is overly complex. It is visually underpowered. It is hopelessly insecure. It is now under competitive assault by new proprietary platforms that hope to capture the next generation of applications. Can a system as large and as open as the Web heal and adapt itself to the challenges of the 21st Century?

Yahoo Planning Big Job Cuts

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 20:45:00 EST

Yahoo is planning to lay off hundreds of workers in an effort to cut costs and revive the company's core business, according to reports in several media outlets Tuesday. The Wall Street Journal, New York Times reported Tuesday that the company is preparing to lay off workers in an effort to re-focus its business.

Wikimedia Foundation to Support Cape Town Education Declaration

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 12:45:00 EST

A coalition of educators, foundations, and internet pioneers today urged governments and publishers to make publicly-funded educational materials available freely over the internet.

Omniture and Google Analytics Over-Hyped

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 10:00:00 EST

CMS Watch rejected the snowball of hype suggesting that Google Analytics and Omniture are the only remaining solid choices for Web Analytics. For mid-sized and larger enterprises in particular, and buyers in the UK and Europe, there are many established vendors who can provide advanced analytics functionality.

Happy Birthday Wikipedia!

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 10:00:00 EST

Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia anyone can edit, celebrates its seventh birthday. Founded on January 15, 2001, Wikipedia has become of the world's ten most visited websites, and the fastest growing, most current, and largest encyclopedia ever created. Currently, the website has nine million articles in over two hundred and fifty languages. It is collaboratively written by volunteers from around the world.

Yahoo!'s Eric Miraglia Introduces the YUI Library

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 07:15:00 EST

Yahoo! released the Yahoo User Interface Library (YUI) as a free, open-source JavaScript and CSS library eighteen months ago along with a commitment to the developer community: We'll share with you our best frontend tools, engage with you about how they're built and why, and we'll document them fully. In that short time, YUI has become one of the best-regarded frontend libraries and has been adopted by individuals on their blogs, startups who are going all-in with YUI as the foundation of their frontend architecture, and Fortune 500 companies using YUI as a trusted, tested, long-view toolkit for creating great user-experiences on the Web.

Did Wikia Search Go Live Far Too Early?

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 04:45:00 EST

The release yesterday of an Alpha version of Jimmy Wales's new Wikia Search project underwhelmed critics. Michael Arrington of TechCrunch called it a 'complete letdown' and even BusinessWeek.com noted that 'Preliminary testing of the site...produced disappointing results consistent with the widespread grumbles.'