The search engine giant Google (www.google.com) announced on June 3 that it has launched a new webmaster-focused free service called Google Sitemaps (www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps). The service allows webmasters to automatically submit their Web pages to Google. To use Google Sitemaps, a webmaster needs to sign up for the scheme online. After this step, they generate and submit an XML-formatted site list using Google's own free open source Sitemap Generator. Webmasters don't require a Google account to generate and submit sitemaps. If they do create a Google account they then check the status of their maps and view diagnostic information for their submissions.
P2PReactor.com (www.p2preactor.com) announced on May 31 that the search engine giant Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) is being sued by Cecilia Barnes, a 48-year-old woman, who claims that her ex-boyfriend published naked pictures of her in Yahoo! Profiles.
The search engine company Ask Jeeves Inc. (www.ask.com) announced on May 26 that it is launching a new feature designed to provide speedier answers to inquiries entered into its search engine. Ask Jeeves will display a "Web Answer" to many of the requests that its search engine processes. For instance, if someone enters "world's largest lake" into Ask.com's search box, the top result will include a snippet listing the Caspian Sea, including its size and location.
The search engine giant Google (www.google.com) announced on May 23 that it has launched a new service referred to as “personalized webpage”. The core of the service is an easy-to-use interface permitting various Google components and third party information to be mixed and matched to suit the needs of the user. The modules that are currently available for use are: Gmail, Google News, Stock Market, New York Times, BBC News, Weather, Wired News, Slashdot, Movies, Driving Directions, Quote of the Day, and Word of the Day. An example of a “personalized webpage” created by Google for demonstration purposes can be seen at www.google.com/ig.
America Online Inc. (www.aol.com) announced on May 19 the launch of its Netscape 8.0 browser (www.netscape.com), which uses Google (www.google.com) as the default search engine.
The Santa Monica, California-based startup Koders.com (www.koders.com) announced on May 18 that it has launched a new search engine, targeted at the open source development market. The search engine indexes thousands of open source development projects and allows developers to search via keyword, language and open source license.
Reuters (www.reuters.com) announced on May 16 that a 10 million dollar lawsuit has been filed by the parents of a minor against the search engine giant Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) and a man who founded a Yahoo! Group for the purposes of trading child pornography. The lawsuit claims that Yahoo neglected its responsibilities by providing the defendant Mark Bates and others with a forum to share and distribute child pornography on a Yahoo! Groups (http://groups.yahoo.com) site called "Candyman." The site operated for two months and garnered thousands of visitors before Yahoo shut it down in February 2001.
The search engine technology company FyberSearch LLC (www.fybersearch.com) announced on May 16 that it has developed and released a new search tool that helps users find tutorials and lessons on the Web at http://tutorial.fybersearch.com. The FyberSearch Web crawler FyberSpider is busy finding, cataloging and searching as many tutorials as possible. People who know of any good online tutorials or lessons are encouraged to suggest them to FyberSearch at www.fybersearch.com/add-url.php.
The software giant Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) announced on May 16 that it has released the finalized version of its desktop search tool. The MSN Search Toolbar (http://toolbar.msn.com), which was introduced on a trial basis five months ago, provides a way to search for e-mail, documents and other data stored on hard drives much more quickly and efficiently than the “Find” function found in Windows.
The search engine giant Google Inc. (www.google.com) announced on May 12 that it has taken its latest toolbar (http://toolbar.google.com) out of beta. This version, the third, is best known for the AutoLink feature, which changes third-party text to links.
