Yahoo is Trying to Become a Part of Social Web

Yahoo participated in the fray of integrating social networking with search results. Due to the alliance of Bing and Yahoo, Bing is responsible for all of the back-end work of actually crawling and indexing the Web, while Yahoo handles a unique front-end. The company does not plan to convolve the tent as well as be inferior online search to Google and Bing in the near future.

The company is going to overtake its competitors such as Google and Bing in the race for incorporating real-time search results brought from social networking.

One should say that Google search results as well as the integration of Twitter real-time updates showed the values of social networking for online search. Still the standard catalog of Web sites indexed for online search hold its position, although social networking supplements an immediacy element that is necessary for the society in order to make instant updates on breaking news.

Yahoo has made an approach concerning integration of Twitter in its search results. The company offers only two tweets and also adds two YouTube links that are taken from Twitter updates. It helps cut down on the information overload but unfortunately it cuts too far.

It should be mention that Yahoo is the party, but still the company is lucky because the party is in the process of development.

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Bing to oust Google as default iPhone search?

Apple and Microsoft may be in talks to expel Google as the iPhone’s default search engine, in favor of Bing, according to BusinessWeek. The Apple-Google battle for the mobile throne is getting heated.

This is all coming from “two people familiar with the matter,” so, you know, eat a bowl of salt or whatever, but it sort of makes sense in a Machiavellian kind of way. Windows Mobile 7 notwithstanding, Apple’s competition in the mobile arena isn’t Microsoft, but Google, and so it’s not really that outlandish, especially considering that Bing isn’t necessarily a worse search engine than Google. Apple avoids throwing unnecessary support to Google (although the iPhone will still feature Google Maps, YouTube, and Gmail) while Microsoft gains a huge market for Bing. Everybody wins, except Google, which only mostly wins.

If Bing were the default search engine on your phone, would you go through the necessary steps to change it to Google? I have a feeling a lot of people just might not care. (Via BusinessWeek).

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Google turns 11 with an eye on Microsoft

Eleven years ago, Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google Inc. with a search engine and a plan. Now their company has grown into an online behemoth battling head-to-head with industry giant Microsoft Corp. while the term Google is a verb that means Internet search.

Obviously, a lot has changed for the company and its founders since Sept. 27, 1998.

Google celebrated its anniversary this year quietly, doing little more than changing the famed doodle on its search page from the usual Google to Goog11e .

But whether it celebrates its birthday or not, Google is one of the great Internet success stories to date. The company not only owns the search market with a share of more than 64%, it has branched out over the years with its hosted Google Apps applications like Gmail along with Google Maps , Google Earth and other products.

More recently, Google has moved to take on Microsoft and its widely-used Internet Explorer in the browser business, and even disclosed plans this summer to develop an alternative to the Windows operating system. Just yesterday, Google announced plans to release an early version of its Google Wave collaboration tool to 100,000 users and developers for testing.

“I would say Google is the most influential Web company out there,” said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research Inc. “It’s rare to have a company grow like that, but we’ve seen others. It’s just that the others either flamed out, were acquired or haven’t yet reached a sustainable state. Look at Netscape, MySpace, Twitter, Youtube and Facebook.”

Caroline Dangson, an analyst with IDC, noted that in a survey undertaken by the research firm last year, Google was easily the top consumer brand.

“We have found that with consumer surveys, [Google] is the number one consumer brand,” she added. “We conducted a survey including Yahoo, MSN, eBay, Amazon … different consumer Web properties. Google was number one for all of our questions, from ‘How much do you like the brand?’ to ‘How much do you use the brand?’ to ‘How much do you trust the brand?’ There are few companies that are able to grow and dominate in this way.”

Google has grown to the point where it’s become a threat to Microsoft , which has had a long and storied history of high-tech industry dominance. There was a time not so long ago when few believed that any company could rattle Microsoft, let alone a Web company like Google .

But Google’s vice-like grip on the lucrative search market forced Microsoft to spend massive amounts of money to overhaul its old and unexciting Live Search engine to create Bing , which was unveiled this summer. Microsoft went a step further by signing an agreement that calls for Internet pioneer Yahoo Inc. to use Bing as the primary search engine on its various sites.

At the same time, Google was developing its Chrome browser to take on IE, and was looking to develop an operating system to compete with Windows.

The Chrome browser , unveiled about a year ago, hasn’t hurt Microsoft yet, but the company isn’t giving up. Last week, for example, Google released a plug-in called Chrome Frame that lets users embed the Chrome browser into IE. The plug in, which is said to boost IE’s browser’s notoriously slow JavaScript speed, drew a quick response from Microsoft , which warned that it could cause security problems for users.

Google in July announced plans to take on Windows with an open-source operating system, also called Chrome, that could run Internet-centric computers like netbooks as early as the second half of next year. Many other companies have tried and failed to take on Microsoft in the operating systems business, but analysts say that Google has the financial muscle, the engineering might and the industry clout to actually put up a realistic fight for market share.

Google also moved this summer to make its hosted applications suite more attractive to large government users by announcing plans to tailor its cloud computing services for various federal agencies.

“In Microsoft’s mind, Google is probably the biggest threat to their bread-and-butter operating system and desktop application businesses,” said Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group. “Google’s dominance of the search business is also Microsoft’s biggest opportunity in terms of new revenue and revenue growth. So to a large extent, the two companies are going to do battle on several fronts, which is good for consumers as it keeps innovation high and prices low, and it’s also fun to observe.”

Google, with a focus on its core business along with an ingrained innovative track, is also influencing a whole lot of up-and-coming Web 2.0 businesses, according to Olds.

“The Google model of developing a killer application, optimizing it to provide high user value and gain user loyalty, and then monetizing it has been the model of choice for social networking companies. Take a look at Twitter,” he said. “Google has gone from zero to industry giant in a record amount of time, starting with just a bunch of guys with a search engine to a company with a $156 billion capitalization in just over a decade. It’s a company worth emulating.”

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As Net turns 40, barriers threaten open growth

Goofy videos weren’t on the minds of Len Kleinrock and his team at UCLA when they began tests 40 years ago on what would become the INTERNET. Neither was social networking, for that matter.

Instead the researchers sought to create an open network for exchanging information, an openness that spurred the innovation that would spawn YouTube, Facebook and the World Wide Web.

Yet that openness may be eroding. While the Internet is more available and faster than ever, artificial barriers threaten its growth.

A variety of factors are to blame. Spam and hacking attacks force network operators to erect firewalls. Authoritarian regimes block access. And commercial concerns spur policies that can thwart rivals.

Back on Sept. 2, 1969, about 20 people gathered in Kleinrock’s lab at UCLA to watch as two computers passed test data through a 15-foot gray cable.

That was the beginning of the fledgling Arpanet network.

The Internet didn’t become a household word until the ’90s, though, after a British physicist, Tim Berners-Lee, invented the Web, a subset of the Internet that makes it easier to link resources across disparate locations.

When Berners-Lee, working at a European physics lab, invented the Web in 1990, he could release it without having to contend with firewalls that today treat unknown types of Internet traffic as suspect.

“Allow that open access, and a thousand flowers bloom,” said Kleinrock, a UCLA professor since 1963.

That idealism is eroding. On desktop computers, some Internet access providers have erected barriers to curb bandwidth-gobbling file-sharing services. Comcast Corp. was rebuked last year for blocking or delaying some forms of file-sharing; Comcast ultimately agreed to stop.

Even if service providers don’t actively interfere with traffic, they can discourage consumers’ unfettered use of the Internet with caps on monthly data usage.

Already, there is evidence of workplaces and service providers slowing file-sharing and collaboration tools. Likewise, startups may never get a chance to reach users if mobile gatekeepers won’t allow them.

If barriers keep innovations from consumers, we may never know what else we’re missing.

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Microsoft’s Bing Lands into Worlds Top 20 Websites

How long does it take to introduce a news website service and bring it into the coveted “World Most Visited” popular websites list? That is not a problem if it’s a website is a Search Engine. Not only that, more importantly, if the search engine is from the world renowned Microsoft. Well actually, it is not yet the most visited popular website till now. But, to break into the top 20 search engines was almost a cakewalk for Bing. From its launch date, Bing has managed to achieve this feat in just two months.

So, its official now, ladies and gentlemen, Microsoft’s Bing, which was launched in sontime June, has now officially made its entry into Alexa’s top 20 List. It is still way behind the likes of Facebook, Twitter, etc. However still, Alexa’s top 20 list shows the Bing’s erstwhile Avatar, Windows Live Search at the number five spot. Windows Live has been dead and gone for all practical purposes. Going to live.com, you are now redirected to Microsoft’s Bing Search Engine.

However, even if Bing has managed to enter into the top 20 list. It is still way apart from reaching Google status currently. “Google” continue to held its number one position in Search Engines. “Yahoo” is placed at the second spot follwed very closely by YouTube, another one of Google’s property and then “Facebook”. Almost two months since the launch of Bing Search Engine, it is definitely a good sign for Microsoft about Bing’s growth in the current market. It still has a long way to go before it can compete head-to-head with Google and get into Search Engine Wars with them. But. Its growth, at least in terms of numbers, is quiet good, however, the overall usage, in comparison to Google, pales.

However, it still has a long way to go before it can ruffle the feathers of folks over at Google in the Search Engine wars. As for Bing, its growth, in sheer numbers has been good, however, the overall usage pales in comparison to Google.

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