I had about 20 minutes with Yahoo's Shashi Seth after the press conference to discuss a range of things related to the Search Direct announcement. First, he confirmed that Search Direct entirely replaces Yahoo's Search Assist. Indeed one way to look at it is as Search Assist Plus. The Answer Is Out There Seth said to me that for about 50 percent of the top queries on the web there is a "definite answer" and that Yahoo will strive to provide that within Search Direct. In other contexts it will provide a range of choices to users. Seth predicted  that "in a couple of years we may walk comp [...]

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Yahoo previewed a new search experience that's coming this fall during its Yahoo Product Runway event this morning. The event focused on several Yahoo products, and included a sneak peek at what Yahoo calls "rich, immersive" search results in the news and entertainment niches. The Yahoo Search Blog gives a hint at what's to come, using the search query "lady gaga" as an example. The new search experience includes a content box above the organic results with vertical content tabs for news, events, albums, images, video, and Twitter. There also appears to be a list of related entertainers ato [...]

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The Yahoo Search Blog announced that Yahoo Search Assist, the as you type search suggestion feature, now shows real time information as you type your query. The example given was searching for [netherlands vs] and as you type, you will see it show [netherland vs brazil], which is today's match. Here is a screen capture: But when I test it with the New York Mets, who play Washington today, it gets it wrong: Either way, this type of query suggestion is useful and handy. [...]

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The biggest sporting event in the world is underway and, if you're unable to follow along on TV, there's plenty of coverage of it online -- including all of the major search engines and Twitter. Here's a look at what you'll find on the web if you're looking for a football/soccer fix. Google Google seems to have been the last to rollout its World Cup information. Earlier today, I wasn't seeing anything special for searches like world cup schedule, but Google is now showing a list of upcoming matches. Still, Google is offering far less than Yahoo and Bing (see below) when it comes t [...]

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The biggest sporting event on Earth is a month away, and Yahoo is out of the gates first to announce special shortcuts focused on the 2010 World Cup. Already in place is a general World Cup shortcut, and once the matches begin, Yahoo will have specific shortcuts for countries, groups, and individual matches, like these examples from Yahoo's announcement: These shortcuts will be available on 27 Yahoo sites around the world. Yahoo is also adding World Cup flavor to its toolbar. In addition to tournament coverage, toolbar users can customize the Yahoo toolbar in the colors of their favo [...]

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