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Follow the latest news, insight, analysis, blogs and product reviews of search engines and search related topics like Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), the top search engines, search engine submission, enterprise search, information management, search servers and enterprise search tools.
Top Search Engines News
Google makes its most aggressive move against Facebook and Twitter yet, launching Google Buzz to let users post status updates and share Picasa photos, YouTube videos, links and other content inside Gmail. Google Buzz will automatically push updates to Gmail users from fellow users with whom they exchange e-mail and engage in chat sessions. Responses to Buzz posts appear in real time, making the feature more relevant now that users have become accustomed to instant feedback on Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed and other messaging and collaboration sites.
New Slideshow
Facebook turned 6 years old Feb. 4. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg proudly told the world that the leading social network now has more than 400 million users. To celebrate the birthday, Facebook also began rolling out changes to the homepage. Though currently visible to only 80 million of the site's users worldwide, the changes are significant signs that the company is looking to improve the site's search and overall usability. See some of the changes, which will be rolling out to all users over the coming weeks, in this eWEEK slideshow.
News
Facebook will no longer be serving banner ads from Microsoft, but this isn't a sign that relations between the companies have grown cold. A Facebook spokesperson said ad formats that feature social actions, or social ads, perform better and can be targeted to the site's 400 million users based on the info they provide about themselves on the site. Altimeter Group analyst Charlene Li wondered if and when Microsoft and Facebook will partner to let Facebook offer social ads, via the Facebook Connect application to extend the social network to third parties, to partner publishers that want to serve social ads on their sites.
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The amended Google Book Search agreement to scan millions of books online and sell them to readers remains in limbo in the wake of the Department of Justice's statement that the deal stands to make Google a monopoly in the digital book market. Not only did the DOJ conclude that the deal would make Google a monopoly power in the nascent e-book space, but it questioned whether the lower court even has the authority to preside over the case. Google, authors and publishers may find themselves back at the bargaining table later this month.
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Siri's application that lets users ask their phones to complete e-commerce transactions and other tasks is now available for the Apple iPhone 3GS smartphone. Siri's technology recalls speech recognition technologies Google uses for its search by voice feature, or speech input technologies for smartphones based on Android. Dig a little deeper and it's clear there is more to Siri than basic speech recognition and search. Siri takes into account users' locations, pointing them to local services. Moreover, once users set up their accounts, the app picks up info and stores it for context.
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Google this: Microsoft and Facebook are broadening their search pact to let Bing power Facebook's Web search return universal features such as images, maps and other information. Facebook will also regain total control over selling its display ads, signaling that the world's leading social network is ready to strike on its own in the competitive display ad market versus Google, Yahoo and, yes, even Microsoft. Jon Tinter, general manager for Microsoft, said in a blog post Feb. 5 that Microsoft will in 2010 provide "full access to great Bing features beyond a set of links, including richer answers combined with tools that help customers make faster, smarter decisions."
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Facebook, which turned six Feb. 4 and has more than 400 million users, improved its search engine and made several navigational changes to its homepage. The search bar, currently to the right for the majority of the site's users, is being moved to the center of the page, sitting above the News Feed in the top menu. Users will see their newest notifications, requests and messages in the top menu. The changes, designed to improve the social network's usability, will roll out gradually to all users and could spark an outcry from people who have gotten comfortable since the company's last major homepage change in October 2009.
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The Department of Justice Feb. 4 urged a New York District Court not to bless Google's amended Google Book Search deal with authors and publishers, citing copyright and antitrust issues that render the deal anticompetitive. The DOJ said the deal would let Google be the only competitor in the digital marketplace with the rights to distribute many works in multiple formats. The DOJ further agreed to work with Google, authors and publishers on a viable, fair solution. District Court Judge Denny Chin will hold a hearing on the amended settlement agreement Feb. 18.
News
News Analysis: Facebook, now a 6-year-old company with about 400 million users, is a major player in the way people consume news all around the world, according to ReadWriteWeb and research company Hitwise. Hitwise found that Facebook was the No. 4 source of visits to news and media sites the week of Jan. 25, after Google (17.3 percent), Yahoo (7.9 percent) and MSN (4.4 percent). Looking forward, Facebook could become a supreme recommendation engine, with users going to the Web 2.0 site to socialize, share and discuss news, and recommend products to buy.
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A unanimous vote condemns recent cyber-attacks on Google.cn and other tech companies in China and calls on the Chinese government to provide a full and transparent explanation.
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Google is reported to be finalizing a deal to partner with the National Security Agency to analyze the cyber-attack that hit the company in December so Google can prevent future attacks.
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Google Feb. 2 said it is adding a multitouch mechanism and a software fix to improve 3G connectivity on its Nexus One smartphone. Users may now pinch-to-zoom on the smartphone's core browser, gallery and Google Maps applications. Also, Google Maps will be updated to version 3.4, which includes starred items synchronized with the desktop version of Google Maps; personalized search suggestions; and night mode in Google Maps Navigation. Finally, the Google Goggles visual search application will now be available directly on the device by launching it from the Nexus One All Apps menu.
New Slideshow
Microsoft has focused on making a number of Bing features more robust over the past few months, offering more information and charts in specific categories such as nutrition. By incorporating data from computational engine Wolfram Alpha, Bing now offers detailed nutritional information on a wide variety of foods; in addition, the search engine now offers a “Recipes” tab that gives the ingredients, directions and nutrition for dozens of consumables.
Microsoft evidently hopes that features such as increased nutritional information will help distinguish Bing from Google, its primary competition and the current search-engine market dominator. Bing-related nutrition and recipes also help augment Microsoft’s forays into health care IT. The following images show just what Bing has to offer with regard to what’s on your plate.
News
Google is expected to boost its existing applications store by letting third-party developers sell software that hooks into its collaboration applications, the Wall Street Journal reported Feb. 2. The store could be an extension of Google's Solutions Marketplace for third-party programs, allowing programmers to write enhanced security features or import contacts for Google Apps and sell them to customers. Google's goal is to foster more adoption of Google Apps. While the suite has more than 2 million businesses using it, Microsoft and IBM have come to the cloud computing club with hosted versions of their collaboration applications.
News
Apple stands ready to challenge Google in the cloud computing wars with the new iPad, Gartner analysts say. The iPad is geared to provide the most compelling mobile Internet experience users have seen to date, but Google later in 2010 is expected to bring its own vision for mobile Web consumption in the form of netbooks based on its Chrome Operating System.
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Conventional wisdom has it that the combo of Microsoft's Bing search engine and Yahoo's market share will loosen Google's stranglehold on the search market. But there is something worse than a monopoly when it comes to stifling creativity and competition, and, with the Microsoft-Yahoo partnership, we're heading straight for it.
No longer a beta, Google's Chrome Web browser is an able challenger to Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Chrome offers strong new features, such as integration with Google Gears, a hybrid search address bar and solid security offerings. However, the search company's browser lacks some basic features found in IE, Firefox and Opera, and limits users who want to define settings and customize their browser. Despite its shortcomings, browser users should give Google Chrome a try.
Search giant Google in its new Chrome browser has souped up JavaScript, calling it V8. Although Google Chrome's V8 sports neither fuel injection nor dual-overhead cams, it does have full compilation even for dynamic languages and new garbage collection features, resulting in much faster Web 2.0 applications.
Google's new Chrome browser has a lot to offer in terms of new technology. Google has recognized that something needed to be done to enable browser technology to catch up to the current state of Web application development. Jeff Cogswell looks under the hood to see what makes it tick.
Review: Microsoft closes the gap between its browser and rivals
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