The search engine company Ask Jeeves (www.ask.com) announced on February 9 the official purchase of Bloglines (www.bloglines.com) after days of speculation. Bloglines is a highly popular service, which allows users to share content with others. Incredibly, Bloglines is just two years old but has already indexed over 280 million articles and boasts many thousands of daily visitors.
The software giant Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) announced on February 4 that it has officially launched its new search engine http://search.msn.com several months after its test debut. The engine is set to replace the Yahoo technology that has been used on Microsoft's MSN Web site (www.msn.com). However, Yahoo will still be used for the paid listings that appear alongside search results.
Netimperative (www.netimperative.com) announced on February 7 that the mobile operator Vodafone (www.vodafone.com) has inked a deal with Fast Web Media, a UK-based operating company wholly owned by Total Sports Online ASA (www.totalsportsonline.com), to sponsor its football specific search site Megasoccer.com (http://megasoccer.com). The deal will see the Vodafone live! brand incorporated into a redesigned Megasoccer.com, with special promotions and offers displayed on every page of the site.
The search engine giant Google (www.google.com) announced on January 25 the launch of its video search engine Google Video (http://video.google.com). Google has indexed video and complete transcripts of thousands of TV shows, which users will be able to search using the service. A search for a phrase will return an excerpt of a matching program transcript and a still TV image of exactly when the phrase was spoken. Users will be able to search transcripts and view related TV images from content providers including the Public Broadcasting Service, the National Basketball Association, Fox News Networks, and C-SPAN.
The search engine giant Google (www.google.com) announced on January 18 the release of Picasa 2, a free photo management software that makes it simpler than ever for people to organize, edit and share their digital pictures. Google’s new version of Picasa offers photographers of all skill levels easy-to-use tools that automatically organize even the largest photo collections on a PC and turn average snapshots into great pictures. Picasa (www.picasa.com) was founded in October 2001. In May 2004, Picasa announced a technology partnership with Google’s Blogger service to make publishing digital photos with Blogger faster and easier. Google then acquired Picasa in July of 2004.
The search engine giant Google (www.google.com) announced on January 14 the release of Google Mini (www.google.com/enterprise/mini/), a search engine hardware device for the Web sites and internal networks of small businesses. The Google Mini is a smaller, cheaper version of the Google Search Appliance (www.google.com/enterprise/gsa/index.html) that has been sold to larger businesses who have massive internal networks and public Web pages to search.
The search engine giant Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) announced on January 6 an agreement with the software giant Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) to extend Yahoo! services to Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 (www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediacenter/default.mspx), Microsoft's version of the Windows operating system designed to provide all-in-one, digital entertainment experiences. Best of Yahoo!, including My Yahoo! and Yahoo! Premium Video, will be available to consumers through Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.
PRWeb (www.prweb.com) announced on January 4 that established to provide the simplest vehicle possible for people to generate funds for the Southeast Asian Earthquake/Tsunami relief effort, the pay-per-click search engine ReliefSearch.org (www.ReliefSearch.org) launched on January 4 with all proceeds going toward the cause. ReliefSearch.org earns revenues on a pay-per-click basis when users click on search results generated from the site. All click revenues generated from these searches will help fund the victims of the Earthquake/Tsunami disaster.
Pet-FriendlyTravel.Com (www.pet-friendlytravel.com) announced on December 27 the development of a search engine specifically for those traveling with a pet. Using the same massive database as the travel giant Travelocity (www.travelocity.com), the pet-friendly search filters out any amenity that does not accept pets. Travel browsers can search through suggested pet-friendly trips for ideas in addition to constructing their own travel arrangements.
The search engine giant Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) revealed on December 27 the most popular search terms of 2004. Based on results culled from millions of Yahoo! Search users, the top searches of 2004 give unique insight into this year’s consumer interests and trends. The number one spot in 2004 goes to American Idol, the reality show that crowned the soulful R&B singer Fantasia as its third champion in May. The show also topped Yahoo’s list of top TV reality show searches.
