Search engine giant Google (www.google.com) announced on October 7 the beta release of Google SMS (www.google.com/sms), a new offering that enables people who are away from their computers to quickly and easily get instant, accurate answers to specialized queries through text messaging. The new mobile search system allows US subscribers to search using SMS sent to a short code.
ZDNet.co.uk (http://news.zdnet.co.uk) announced on October 8 that, speaking during the Web 2.0 conference, the Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang told Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page to relish their success. Although Yang's company and its archrival Google are in an escalating war to control the commercial search business, Yang still gave them kudos for making an impact on the Internet. Yang advised the Google founders to enjoy it while it lasts, and admitted that to see what they've done is truly amazing. Yang also told Brin and Page that he hopes they enjoy it because starting a company to this stage is a tribute to their vision and their leadership.
PRNewswire (www.prnewswire.com) announced on October 7 that a Metro, NY area entrepreneur has trademarked the restroom symbols for the Internet and has developed its use as a search engine. Entrepreneur Vito Collucci has managed to create one of the most recognizable symbols in the world for a search engine site, RestroomsOnline.com (www.RestroomsOnline.com). RestroomsOnline.com will be fun-filled, from travel and entertainment to education and music, and from kids’ corners to celebrity performers.
Gigablast (www.gigablast.com) announced on October 7 that it has grown its search engine index from 450 million to 650 million pages during the last few months. In addition to new partners and new indexed pages, Gigablast has also grown its staff and moved its headquarters to a larger complex in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
P2pnet.net (http://p2pnet.net) announced on October 7 that the big news at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair, a place for news centering on the international book business, is Google's statement that it's launched a search service designed to let users find book extracts together with normal searches. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were at the fair to announce the launch of Google Print (http://print.google.com), a service which sees the search engine enter a market currently dominated by Amazon (www.amazon.co.uk).
RegisterFly.com (www.RegisterFly.com), a global industry leader in domain name registration, web hosting and related services, announced on October 7 a strategic partnership with Jayde Online, Inc., an Internet-focused publisher of email newsletters and developer of niche and general search engines. The alliance incorporates the website paid inclusion program provided by Jayde's web search engine, ExactSeek.com (www.exactseek.com), into RegisterFly's service offerings.
Software giant Microsoft Corp. (www.microsoft.com), whose Internet division launched on October 4 the second preview of MSN's upcoming search engine (http://techpreview.search.msn.com) with a Web index about five times fatter and reworked relevancy algorithms, announced on October 5 its plans to expand it to a total of 29 markets in 12 languages by October 7. MSN also has improved a feature that corrects misspelled search queries. MSN officials put no timeline on how long the latest sneak peek would remain open to the public. It is also available through the MSN Sandbox site (http://sandbox.msn.com) that highlights research and development work.
Viewpoint Corporation (www.viewpoint.com) announced on October 6 an agreement with Avon Foundation (www.avonbreastcare.org) to create a custom search toolbar that promotes the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade and distribute it via the Avon website, http://searchingforacause.com.
The Idealab founder and man behind the search giant Overture Services, Bill Gross, revealed his new Web search venture Snap.com (www.Snap.com) on October 5. He claimed that Snap will revolutionize Internet navigation and search-related advertising by helping people find what they're looking for faster and knowing what marketers pay for their business. Gross said in an interview at the Web 2.0 conference on October 5 that Snap's going to be controversial, but that it's awesome, and that it’s trying to improve search productivity.
Servicewrap.net (www.servicewrap.net), which provides fast-track Google search engine submission, Yahoo site submission and top Yahoo rankings as standard, announced on October 6 that all new clients will begin to receive results on a faster time scale and with enhanced results. Free top Google rankings and top ten Yahoo ranking will be attained free of charge as part of the brand new solution, Business Best, only from www.servicewrap.net.
