Yahoo Makes Strides In Entertainment Search
March 12, 2010
If Yahoo has its way, it'll soon be the place to go for information about movies, TV shows, and the celebrities who star in them. Yahoo announced several upgrades to its search engine this morning, and they're all meant to make entertainment-related queries turn up much better results.
A Yahoo representative told WebProNews, "Today Yahoo! Search is unveiling new ways for people to explore information on their favorite celebs and TV shows by providing the most comprehensive and up to the moment entertainment news and content. With Yahoo! Search's celebrity shortcuts, people can see news, photos, movies and even the celebrity's official tweets right on the search results page."
What's more, "Yahoo! is also introducing a TV shortcut so people can search for their favorite TV shows and see videos, episode lists, schedules and ratings from Yahoo! TV." And "we are launching new celebrity-related suggestions on the left-side of the Yahoo! Search results page for entertainment queries, with links to results for related people, movies, etc."
You can see an example of how this all comes together below. The results page packs in a whole lot of information, but still manages to not look overly cluttered or messy.
Yahoo appears to have leapfrogged well ahead of Google and Bing with these upgrades.
Aardvark Already Part of Google, Answers will Show Up in Search
February 13, 2010
Yesterday, news broke that Google was acquiring social Q&A site Aardvark for about $50 million. Aardvark sent its users an email today saying:
Dear friends,
Aardvark has just been acquired by Google!
Aardvark will remain fully operational and completely free, providing quick, helpful answers to all of your questions. For more information about how the acquisition affects Aardvark users, check out the FAQ that we've put together....
"We want social search to reach hundreds of millions people around the world, and joining with Google lets us reach that scale — we’re also excited to work with the team at Google: our company has a culture that was inspired by Google in many ways, and we have a lot of respect for the folks who work there," the company says in a blog post.
Aardvark is already available in Google Labs. Users will keep the same Aardvark account. It will continue to work under Google.
The company says it will continue to keep introducing new features, fixing bugs, and improving speed and quality. They say the main thing that is going to change is that they will be able to move faster with the support of Google.
User questions and answers will show up in search results from Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search results if you choose to share them publicly.
Ask (formerly Ask Jeeves) thinks Google is coming after its business. Read the company's comments on that here.
Yahoo Search Launches On Arabic-Language Site
January 28, 2010
Maktoob may not be a site with which many American search experts are familiar, and similarly, Yahoo's name probably isn't something Arabic-speaking individuals are used to seeing on a daily basis. But an introduction of sorts has occurred, as Yahoo Search is now powering Maktoob, which is the largest online Arabic-language community.
Yahoo announced its interest in acquiring Maktoob in August of last year, and at the time, described the move as its biggest geographic expansion in quite a while. So this development, which more or less sees the matter through, is a big deal. Thanks to it, around 17 million people will lay eyes on the Yahoo logo on a regular basis.
What's more, it seems that Yahoo's planning to take additional steps in the Arabic-language arena.
Kaushal Kurapati, Head of Search for Emerging Markets at Yahoo, explained on the Yahoo Search Blog, "This is just the beginning of our long-term commitment to deliver relevant Arabic-language content and services to the region. Stay tuned for more news about our efforts in these emerging markets."
It should be interesting to see how things proceed. Reactions to the initial announcement about Yahoo acquiring Maktoob were positive, with an official blog post receiving roughly 20 comments.
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Microsoft Sells Fast Search & Transfer Businesses
December 3, 2009
Perhaps Yahoo has started a trend. Yesterday, we learned that the company will shut down part of a business it bought two and a half years ago. Today, there's word that Microsoft's sold some things it picked up while acquiring Fast Search & Transfer in early 2008.
It's important to note that this deal isn't going to cripple Bing or give birth to another Google competitor; Microsoft's not getting rid of any secret search ingredient. Instead, the Folio and NXT products and services, which "facilitate the management of online content," are what were sold.
This move does indeed seem reminiscent of Yahoo's newfound approach of cutting non-core offerings, then.
Whereas Yahoo's just sort of abandoning the Right Media Exchange, though, Microsoft's handed the Folio and NXT businesses off to Rocket Software for safekeeping. Rocket Software CEO Andy Youniss said in a statement, "We are pleased that Microsoft selected us to take over the development, service, and support for all Folio and NXT customers. This is a great fit for Rocket, and we look forward to working with the customers to provide the features and functions they need to be successful with their investment in the products."
Unfortunately, the terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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