Search Engine
DuckDuckGo, a new search engine
DuckDuckGo is a new search engine launched, similar to Google having a better visual appeal. 
They claim to be unique in keeping users privacy as they don’t track and record your search results. They also guess relevant result for your keyword and highlight the same inside a red box which will be usually drawn from Wikipedia and Wolfram Alpha. DuckDuckGo also ban spam sites (loaded with ads). Additionally they own some interesting features such as “Bang’,where you have the option to get results from specific sites alone, for Eg if you want to get information about Osama Bin Laden from Wikipedia alone, you have to type “!wikipedia Osama Bin Laden” to get all the results about the person from Wikipedia. There is a long list of bangs which you could utilize to get relevant results.
An array of Search Engines in diverse segments unveiled
A free search engine Mocavo.com exclusively for Genealogy search was launched. It enables the search of more than 50 billion words including names, dates and places, within a fraction of seconds. They claim to be the provider of the first large scale, free search engine for family history search.
Online People Search Engine Waatp.com was launched and will help you to locate people and possess latest features such as additional information and improved programming interface. The website was in the public testing mode for the past three months and received over 2 million visits a day.
Another search engine “ibod” originates and claims to be a potential rival for Google. South Bank-based “ibod – short for’ intelligent business on demand’ – provides free business search engines, social networking and advertising for charities and SMEs. It has already created eight jobs and a further 20 positions are expected to be available within a year. Designed to help organizations boost their profile through internet marketing, ibod will generate revenues through advertising and turnover is expected to hit £12m in four years. Kevin Robinson, an entrepreneur and a marketing specialist is the brain behind this venture.
Another one, quite different from all the above, The First Semantic Image Search Engine NachoFoto was unveiled, and provides real time images based on the meaning of the user’s query. Image is the second most popular search on Google, resulting in 1 billion page views each day. So this new venture is likely to get more hits in the coming days. In their press release they say that Nachfoto is comprised of three distinct features such as ‘related searches’, Image results, and Timeline to ensure delivery of the freshest image results.
Google updated Google docs with new features
Google has expanded Mobile editing in 44 languages and more page sizes in Google documents. This was apart the one they have launched earlier which was only in English. With this feature in effect, you can edit your documents in 45 languages on Android with Froyo (version 2.2) and on iOS devices (version 3.0+) including the iPad.
Also they have increased the print sizes, now there are eight more print sizes in Google spreadsheets, including tabloid, statement, executive, folio and A3, A5, B4 and B5.
Bings’ “New natural language capabilities” makes shopping easier and interesting!!!
The main criteria what you see for shopping is your budget and when you find lots of things within your reach, you will surely be overwhelmed. And Bing helps you to meet your expectation and get your things quickly. For eg, If you want to get jeans under a particular price range then you could just type “Levis jeans under $ 100″ and Bing will do the rest, delivering you refined results. Bing says that they received help from Microsoft Research, to handle price queries to deliver automated results as per your budget. This feature is really helpful to get specific results without much searching. 
Bing introduces a new feature “Autosuggest Flight Prices
Bing introduces a new feature “Autosuggest Flight Prices”. It will display the flight prices and the Price Predictor for key markets in the search box which helps you to get the cheapest airfares. This feature gives you a prediction on what you are searching for. For eg, With the Autosuggest Flight price natural language capabilities, you can simply type “Fly to Chicago” or “Chicago Flights” and Bing will immediately recognize where you are, and instantaneously display the Price Predictor based on your location. Also you don’t have to bother about entering the formal city name or airport, it could also comprehend short-forms and colloquial terms.This new feature provides you an option to decide on rather than searching.
Bing follows Google’s path making search results more Social
After the partnership with Facebook, Bing introduced ‘Liked Results’ in their search results.
I could find some similarity to Google’s updated social search algorithm in which Google produces not only links but also ‘shared’ results of the friends in social circle, such as in Twitter (retweet), Blog, Flicker, YouTube etc (“Facebook Likes’ an exception). And here comes Bing with their new social search partnering with FB, they claim that, this is the first time in human history that people are leaving social traces that machines can read and learn from, and present enhanced online experiences based on the traces.” In other words, Bing produces search results considering the shared links in ones’ social circle too and especially “Facebook Likes”. If your friends had shared or liked something publicly, it will be shown in your search results (once you are logged in)
They have cited an example, It says that “If you are planning a trip to somewhere (For Eg, Washington and wants to find about the stay, a traditional search results shows a long list of weblinks and captions, which would take more time to see them individually to take a decision. But with Bings’ tie up with FB makes your search results more social, For Eg, If your friends who had been to that place and had “liked” that particular place or a hotel, then those results will top in your search which will make it easier for you to refine your search and decide on where you should stay. And Bing says that you may not find “Liked Results” on every query but then if you find then it would be a good experience. They even added on their blog that they continue to work with Facebook to make search more social and relevant.
Who is the ‘cheater’ and the ‘fraud’
The debate on the ‘copying’ issue must be known to everyone. Google blames Microsoft for copying the search results of the former, and Microsoft firmly denied giving some justifications. The growth of Bing over the past 8-9 months was beyond expectation and Google has reached to a point where it realized that BING is a good competitor and is afraid of losing the first rank. After this realization they are constantly observing the growth of Bing and the reasons that led to the same. Some terms they have used in this fiery debate is notable. Google started off saying that Bing has done ‘a cheap imitation’ and as a response Bing accused Google of trying a “spy-novelesque stunt”.
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Mehdi, Microsoft’s Senior VP of Online Services, published a strongly-worded denial of Google’s claims on the Bing Search blog which again would keep heating up the debate; It says – Google engaged in a “honeypot” attack to trick Bing. In simple terms, Google’s “experiment” was rigged to manipulate Bing search results through a type of attack also known as “click fraud.”
We could definitely wait for an apt response from Google for this 🙂
The Performances of Google, Yahoo and MSN in 2010
The world of search engine technologies has been altering at an extraordinarily fast rate. Even from one year to the next, one can view major trends in how the search engines are faring.
Based on the report release by Hitwise, 2009 witnessed Google in the top spot, Yahoo Mail in second spot, the core Yahoo search in the fourth spot, Microsoft’s Live Mail in the sixth spot, the Yahoo search page in eighth spot, and MSN in ninth spot. This signifies that 6 of the top 10 sites belonged to one of the search engine giants.
Presently, in 2010, Facebook has reached the number one slot. The Yahoo properties remain chiefly unaffected; Yahoo Mail is now in third , the core Yahoo page is in fourth, and the Yahoo search page is in ninth. For the time being, Microsoft seems to be creeping up. MSN grabbed the number 6 slot, and while Live Mail dropped to position eight, Bing crept into the tenth slot.
Though it may look like Yahoo and MSN are closing the gap on Google, it should be noted that there’s a major gap between the second and third slots for 2010. While Google’s third place ranking is from having around seven percent of all online traffic, Yahoo Mail’s third place position depicts only about three percent.
The above study is based on pages that obtain visits most recurrently, and is based far more on repeat visits than it is on exclusive visitors.
Google Instant-A Dramatic Break From The Conventional Google Search Experience
Google displays its role as the leader of search engines by relentlessly pushing technology to its limits, with the launch of Google ‘Instant’.The new feature ‘Google Instant’ that was launched yesterday, is a huge enhancement to its search platform as it displays result as the user types ,without even clicking on the search button.
Within the next couple days, Google will be launching a new enhancement to its search platform with its newest addition of Google Instant. Google Instant is a new feature that shows results to the user as the user types, without even touching the search button. Infact every letter the user inputs, updates the search results in view of that. It was really exciting to watch this major transformation today created by Google.
Google has always been an supporter of simplicity, Google estimates the latest improvement can save around 2-5 seconds for every search. The new system also enhanced on the prediction feature that’s been utilized by Google and many of the other search engines like Yahoo, MSN, and Bing. The smarter prediction will help guide users through their searches, making it simple even if you’re not precisely sure what your searching for.
The following corresponding output was obtained while typing in each of the letters a s m in the search:
Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president of Search Products stated that the user benefits of Google Instant are numerous but the primary one is time saved. Mayer announced the novel feature at the company’s launch event in San Francisco yesterday.
Google Instant is presently only available for desktop searches, but the company announced that it is at this time also working on the mobile version, which will be released soon.
Partnership Deal between Yahoo and MSN
With Google being the present leader in the search engine kingdom, other competitors confront a massive mountain to climb if they need to emerge as the winner. Research firm comScore reported that in July, Google claimed an enormous 66 percent of the total search traffic within the United States. Much behind were Yahoo with 17 percent and Microsoft’s Bing with 11 percent .Rather than uniting with Google or being absorbed by them, Bing and Yahoo decided to be united in their quest for preeminence in the search engine market.Within the last couple months, Bing and Yahoo announced that they would become partners in order to unite their efforts to take up the number two spot in search engine market share and take direct aim at Google’s top spot.
The amalgamation is a great move for Yahoo, for whom the market share dropped over the last year. For the moment, Bing, which began in 2009, has seen its share steadily climb. While Yahoo brings abundant search engine experience to the table, Bing can bring can launch a fresh start to the partnership.
Presently, Bing is powering Yahoo’s search results in English within the United States as well as Canada. People who visit Yahoo’s search will notice “Powered by Bing™” at the bottom of each page to officially indicate the partnership between the two services.
In future, other languages are expected to be added for more of an global flair. In addition to the standard search engine services, Bing and Yahoo will also merge their advertising services. Yahoo and MSN are working on a total shift over to Microsoft’s adCenter, which is the company’s advertising service that provides pay-per-click advertisements to those involved. They hope to complete the shift this fall, appropriate for the holiday season. Bing and Yahoo will divide advertising revenue once everything is finished.
It would be interesting to notice how search engine technologies develop as competition increases, and what type of response Google will have in this search engine race.