Yahoo adds personalized homepage to its Scout AI search engine
Yahoo introduced MyScout, a personalized homepage for its Scout AI answer engine. It turns Yahoo’s AI search into a daily dashboard.
Topic: Web portal
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Google My Business Portal Gets A Facelift & Design Update
Google streamlines the Google My Business dashboard making it easier for businesses to get the answers they need.
Ingress: Is Google’s AR Game A Stealth Local Data Effort?
I recently got a new Android phone and found a little card in the box advertising Ingress, the “massively multi-player location-based alternate reality game from Niantic Labs at Google.” Ingress had slipped past my notice despite Greg Sterling’s mention of it nearly a year ago. Yet, here it was, already preloaded as an app in […]
Google News Adds Sports Scores & Weather To Homepage, Gives Business & Tech Sections Editors Picks
Google News has rolled out three updates, giving users quick access to sports scores and weather forecast from the News homepage, while adding Editors’ Picks content to the Business and Technology sections. The newly added ‘Sports Scores’ content highlights recent sporting event scores on the homepage, and can be customized by sport. For now, this […]
Google Starts Shutting Down Its City Pages, Shifts To Google+ Local
Google is in the process of shutting down its collection of city pages — a change that follows the shift from Google Places to Google+ Local, and a change that may be reflective of a larger shift in direction for Google’s local efforts. Mike Blumenthal noticed yesterday that the Portland city page had gone missing. […]
Search Engine Satisfaction Dips Slightly; Google & Bing Effectively Tied
Look out, Google. In the annual American Customer Satisfaction Index for search engines, Bing has practically matched the search leader’s consumer satisfaction score for the second year in a row, with Ask.com not that far behind. Bing Barely Behind Google The scores look like this: Google: 82 points Bing: 81 points Ask.com: 80 points Yahoo: 78 points […]
Hurricane Irene Swirling Around the Web
The sheer number of people potentially affected by the approaching Hurricane Irene means that the web is experiencing an incredible amount of traffic from those seeking information. Hitwise reports that searches for Hurricane Irene have increased more than 2300% since August 21. Thankfully, there are plenty of resources online where people along the heavily-populated East Coast […]
Google New: Find Google’s Latest Releases At One Web Page
Google announced a new portal named Google New. Google New is the one stop shop to find all the latest Google product and services. Google New seems to aggregate all the Google blogs and shows the latest posts from them on this site. It provides a search box to search for Google products. It also […]
Google’s New Philosophy: We’re A Portal
After years of refusing the “portal” label, it seems that Google has finally had a change of mind. Google’s new attitude is evident on its Our Philosophy – Ten things we know to be true page. As Eric Goldman points out, that page has changed: On June 3, 2004 (per archive.org), the page said “Google […]
With Deeper Facebook Integration, Is This Yahoo’s ‘Tom Jones Moment’?
First the news, which has already been widely reported: Yahoo is more deeply integrating Facebook on its homepage and across many of its properties. It has also changed the name of “Yahoo Profiles” to “Yahoo Pulse” (currently not working) and made the property more of a social media dashboard that manages sharing with third party […]
Google, Yahoo & Portals Are Top Online News Sources: Study
Major news portals — like Yahoo News, Google News, AOL, and Topix — are the most commonly used online news sources, beating out the web sites of major news outlets like CNN, CBS, and the New York Times. That’s according to the the State of the Media report issued tonight by the Pew Research Center’s […]
New MSN Out Of Beta, Driving Nearly 50 Percent Of Bing Queries
Microsoft is formally launching its much improved MSN portal today. I wrote about the preview version and the wide range of improvements when it first came out in November. There are lots of interesting elements to the site, including the “local edition,” which is basically a collection of persistent Bing search queries presented in a […]
The Microhoo Bunch
The recently approved Microsoft-Yahoo search deal, set to a song of my youth… Here’s the story, of a lovely lady Her name is Carol Bartz, and she runs Yahoo It’s a search engine, and a portal And it’s getting hard to run the two Here’s the story, of a man named Ballmer Who was bringing […]
MSN: Bing’s Not-So-Secret Weapon
The recently redesigned MSN is now in preview. We wrote about it when the redesign was announced in early November. The portal has a massive global audience of more than 600 million according to Microsoft. Different countries will have somewhat different looking MSNs, which it turns out is the source of roughly 45% of Bing’s […]
What’s In A Brand? AOL Becomes “Aol.”
One wonders how much the branding consultancy Wolff Olins was paid to help create America Online’s new “brand identity.” Over the weekend the about-to-be-independent company revealed its new brand and brand philosophy. The major change (so far) is the move from uppercase to lowercase letters: from “AOL” to “Aol.” Here’s how the release describes that […]
“TV Guide For The Internet” Clicker Comes Out Of Beta
The label, “TV Guide for the internet,” doesn’t fully capture the intent or the extent of Clicker. We first wrote about the site when it appeared at the TechCrunch50 event. It was then in a closed beta. However today, a mere 58 days later, the site launches to the public with a number of new […]
Build Your Own Google News Home Page With Custom Sections
Google News has made it easier to customize its home page with the creation of a Custom Sections Directory that includes material created both by Google and by Google News users.
MSN Introduces Dramatically Improved Redesign, Portal Drives Nearly 50% Of Bing Queries
Billed as the first major redesign in a decade, Microsoft has introduced a dramatic new look and feel for the MSN portal. The redesign simplifies and cleans up most elements on the site. Among other things, it makes video more central, incorporates Facebook and Twitter, creates a dedicated new local area and emphasizes search. MSN, […]
Yahoo’s “It’s You” Ad Campaign Begins Today
After giving a preview of its new “It’s You” marketing campaign last week, Yahoo formally begins the global push today. Yahoo says the campaign will cover “online, television, radio, print, and outdoor” advertising, all focused on selling the company’s focus on its users. If you’re watching TV today, you may see this new “Anthem” ad: […]
Yahoo’s New Ad Campaign: It’s You!
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the new consumer-facing Yahoo branding campaign is starting to appear in New York, with a personalization theme: It’s You!. According to the article: Yahoo is planning to reintroduce its battered brand to the public Tuesday with a massive global marketing campaign, according to people familiar with the effort. […]
9/11, Google & The Internet
As everyone knows, today is the 8th year anniversary of the terrible 9/11 attacks. Many people, companies and organizations are doing things to remember the day. A lot of people are asking why there is no logo from Google for today. The quick answer is that Google does not do Google Doodles (aka logos) for […]
Yahoo’s New Search Clothes — But Will It Help? (Probably Not)
Less than a month after seeming to pull out of the search game by announcing a search outsourcing deal with Microsoft, Yahoo seems to be doing a push to prove it still has search chops. The latest are new user interface changes to search results that are now being tested. Proof that Yahoo can win […]
Live Blogging Yahoo’s Product Call
I will be living blogging Yahoo’s product call, so please check back here for frequent updates. 2:00pm: Title of the introductory slide is “Connecting You To What Matters Most”. 2:04pm: Still waiting to begin, not sure what the delay is. 2:06pm: The conference room manager said she is still trying to find the presenter, if […]
The Microsoft-Yahoo Search Deal, In Simple Terms
What a day! Still trying to digest all the news about the Yahoo Microsoft search deal? So are we. While answers are still coming in, here’s what we know so far. NOTE: The deal has now been approved. See Yahoo & Microsoft Receive Go Ahead To Implement Search Deal. In a nutshell, what just happened? […]
Yahoo’s New Homepage Gets Personal, Tests Search Filters
When I heard about the call with Yahoo yesterday, which was to feature “a significant announcement,” I thought: “Bing, here it is.” When it turned out the call was about a formal announcement of the new Yahoo homepage I was disappointed; it seemed anti-climactic. The existence of a forthcoming Yahoo homepage redesign has been known […]
AOL CEO Tim Armstrong: “The Model Is Disney”
It’s been roughly 100 days since Tim Armstrong was named CEO of AOL in anticipation of a spin-off/IPO of the company from corporate parent TimeWarner later this year. There are a slew of interviews out this morning in which Armstrong assesses his first 100 days, the state of the business and gives some indications of […]
Yahoo Dominates The Web, Just Not In Search
Gigaom writes that although Yahoo is number two at search, they are still number one at so many other things. That is exactly what Carol Bartz, Yahoo’s CEO, wants to communicate with the world, that Yahoo is not just a search company and does great things also outside of search. Gigaom reached out to comScore […]
Google News No Longer Wants Newsmaker’s Comments
In August 2007, Google News released a feature to allow newsmakers to add comments to stories found in Google News. That feature has gone away very quietly. When Google News launched the feature, not only did we find it “weird,” but we felt that Google didn’t “know what they’re getting into.” Google told the AP […]
Bartz Continues Torpedoing Yahoo Search
Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz has been talking a lot over the past two weeks about Yahoo and how it competes against Google and Microsoft. Each time she does, I feel like she’s digging the hole even deeper for Yahoo’s prospects in search. Rather than communicate a clear search strategy — which you’d better have if […]
Yahoo Gives A Sneak-Peek At Its New Home Page
Yahoo continues to develop a new home page, and today has shared a sneak-peek at the latest design that’s being tested internally. The “My Favorites” column on the left side of the page seems to be where the big changes are happening. Yahoo currently lists more than a dozen of its own properties in this […]
Yahoo Continues New Home Page Test, Adds More Apps & Lightens Colors
The Yahoo corporate blog announced that phase one of the Yahoo home page test is about done now. Yahoo has taken in a lot of feedback since launching a limited test of the new home page back in September 2008 and has decided to try some new things. Yahoo has decided to add more third-party […]
Election Results From The Search Engines & Beyond
Today, the United States is electing a new president, voting on one-third of the seats in the U.S. Senate, and voting on all 435 seats in the House of Representatives. An important election? To say the least! And interest in the election results is higher than many of us “experienced” voters can ever remember. Tonight, […]
iGoogle Now Supports Full Canvas Views
The new iGoogle theme just launched, which adds “full canvas views for gadget and support for full feed reading.” In short, the new view places the tabs that you typically see at the top, under the search box, now on the left hand side. It then allows you to add gadgets that support canvas view, […]
Yahoo Tests New Home Page
Yahoo has announced they are testing a new home page in the US, UK, France and India. The new homepage contains information from both Yahoo and non-Yahoo properties, such as AOL Mail and Gmail data. They will also keep the “Featured” section more up to date with “timely content from across the Web” and adding […]
Test The New iGoogle, Google’s Personalized Home Page
Google Operating System reported that Google said they are launching the new iGoogle design, named “canvas view,” to a limited set of users. What is new in this version and design?
Microsoft & Facebook Do Mating Dance As Microsoft Seeks Alternatives To Yahoo; Google Now Uncertain On Yahoo?
At one point or another, most of the big online media companies have talked about buying Facebook. Yahoo is rumored to have made an early offer of almost $1 billion for the company, which was (obviously) turned down. But as the MicroHoo discussions appeared to be deteriorating, Microsoft apparently made some formal inquiries about Facebook’s […]
MSFT + YHOO: What Would Microsoft Yahoo Look Like?
The conference call has happened, and despite saying it has a plan to digest Yahoo, Microsoft didn’t share that with the world. Indeed, at one point it was said any plan depended on what Yahoo’s leadership would suggest. That means it’s time for What If. Some thoughts below from me and contributing editor Greg Sterling. […]
Yahoo’s Yang Outlines Vision For An Integrated, Open Yahoo 2.0
Yahoo’s Jerry Yang took the stage at CES yesterday to offer a vision for the company’s future as a more integrated, open platform and “starting point” for consumers on the internet. Much of the news surrounding Yahoo yesterday was about the new mobile application Go 3.0 and related widget platform for third-party developers and advertisers. […]
Inbox 2.0: Vision And Perhaps Confusion At Google And Yahoo
A much discussed blog posting this morning comes from Saul Hansell at the New York Times, who spoke to both Google and Yahoo about their plans to turn their email products into social networks, in a manner of speaking: “Inbox 2.0.” The plans discussed in the post suggest some clever and creative thinking about how […]