Portals & Search Engines

Google Cries Wolf as Outage Disrupts China Operations (NewsFactor)
NewsFactor - After assuming the worst with its China operations, Google on Thursday evening backed off accusations of censorship in the communist nation. Google said earlier Thursday that the Chinese government was blocking its search engine, Google Mobile, and Google Ad products. Google also said its news and image services were being "partially blocked."
Microsoft Will Try to Block Google-Yahoo Japan Deal (PC World)
PC World - A legal battle is brewing between Microsoft and Google for control of Japan's lucrative search market.
Google says China services back up (AFP)

The Google logo is reflected in the windows of the firm's China offices in Beijing. Google said Friday its services appeared to be back up and running normally in China, after the US web giant reported that access to its search engine and other products were being blocked.(AFP/File/Li Xin)AFP - Google said Friday its services appeared to be back up and running normally in China, after the US web giant reported that access to its search engine and other products were being blocked.


False alarm: Google search still working in China (AP)

A Chinese flag flies next to the Google company logo outside the Google China headquarters in Beijing on March 2010. Google does not know if the Chinese authorities were behind a disruption in the company's services on Thursday, chief executive Eric Schmidt said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.(AFP/File/Liu Jin)AP - Google Inc. triggered a false alarm Thursday by posting a notice that its search engine and several other services had been cut off from mainland China - a key market where the company has been locked in a high-profile battle over online censorship.


Google Reports Brief Search Outage in China (PC World)
PC World - Google's search engine in China appeared to have been partially blocked overnight Thursday, but a Google spokeswoman said the service was up and running again by Friday morning local time.
Google says China search block may be tech glitch (Reuters)
Reuters - Google Inc said its earlier report that Internet search services in China were being fully blocked could have been the result of a technical glitch that overstated the problem.
Analysts' View: Google says search service blocked in China (Reuters)
Reuters - Google Inc said its Web search and mobile services in China were blocked on Thursday, weeks after Beijing agree to extend the company's Chinese webpage license.
Sleazy Marketers Game Google's Sponsored Ads (PC World)
PC World - Companies that deal in shady free gift card offers have managed to game Google's sponsored search results so they can pass themselves off as representing the official sites of such huge brands as Walmart, Best Buy, McDonald's and Hooters, among others, PCWorld has found.
Watchdog sees no problem with Yahoo! Japan-Google deal (AFP)

Masahiro Inoue, president of Yahoo Japan, 40 percent of which is owned by Masayoshi Son's Softbank, speaks at the Tokyo Stock Exchange on July 27. Japan's fair trade watchdog said Wednesday it saw no monopoly problem with a search alliance between top Internet portal Yahoo! Japan and Google, Kyodo News reported.(AFP/File/Yoshikazu Tsuno)AFP - Japan's fair trade watchdog said Wednesday it saw no monopoly problem with a search alliance between top Internet portal Yahoo! Japan and Google, Kyodo News reported.


Can Ask.com's New Search Strategy Work? (PC World)
PC World - Ask.com hopes it's found the answer to increasing its market share -- and no, the plan doesn't involve a butler named Jeeves.
Microsoft condemns Yahoo! Japan-Google alliance (AFP)

Attendees try an interactive display at the Microsoft booth at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, in January 2010. Microsoft on Tuesday denounced Yahoo! Japan's Internet search alliance with Google, saying it would give Google near-total control over the third-largest market for search queries in the world.(AFP/File/Robyn Beck)AFP - Microsoft on Tuesday denounced Yahoo! Japan's Internet search alliance with Google, saying it would give Google near-total control over the third-largest market for search queries in the world.


Yahoo Japan Spurns Bing in Favor of Google Search (PC World)
PC World - Google has secured a deal to provide search results and related advertising to Yahoo Japan, Japan's most popular Web site, the two companies said Tuesday.
Microsoft Cries Foul Over Google Tie-up With Yahoo Japan (PC World)
PC World - Yahoo Japan's decision to replace Microsoft with Google as its main search partner has been met with protest from Microsoft, which called the deal "anticompetitive."
Summary Box: Yahoo Japan to use Google search (AP)
AP - THE REPLACEMENT: Yahoo Japan Corp. will use Google technology rather than Yahoo Inc.'s to run its search engine and search ad delivery system.
Yahoo Japan to use Google search tech, not Yahoo's (AP)
AP - Yahoo Japan Corp. will use Google technology to run its search engine and search ad delivery system, after a similar deal in the U.S. was derailed by regulators concerned about a monopoly.
Yahoo Japan to switch to Google's search engine (Reuters)
Reuters - Yahoo Japan, Japan's largest Internet portal operator, will adopt Google's search engine, refusing to follow Yahoo Inc in choosing Microsoft as a partner.
Yahoo Japan Inks Search Deal with Google, Microsoft Balks (PC Magazine)
PC Magazine - Yahoo Japan on Tuesday announced that is has signed a deal to use Google for its search engine and search ad delivery system. Microsoft quickly criticized the deal.
Ask.com to ask users to help answer queries (AFP)

Internet search engine Ask.com is planning to go beyond algorithms and ask real human beings to help answer questions. In a blog post, Ask, previously known as Ask Jeeves, said questions submitted to the search engine can be routed to other Ask users to answer AFP - Internet search engine Ask.com is planning to go beyond algorithms and ask real human beings to help answer questions.


Ask.com Reverts To Origins and Answers Questions (NewsFactor)
NewsFactor - Asking Ask.com may now result in answers, not just links. On Tuesday, the search engine launched a new version that it described as "the first step in a multi-pronged strategy" to provide answers to users' questions, either from content on the web or from "previously unpublished knowledge shared by any of the millions of Ask.com users."
Ask.com wants users to ask each other, not Jeeves (AP)
AP - You won't be able to ask Jeeves, the butler that made the search engine now known as Ask.com famous in the late '90s. But in a bid to engage more users, Ask is returning to its question-and-answer roots by tapping its users and the Web.