Portals and Search Engines

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Google Labs on Tuesday brought more focus to finding pictures online, adding a "Swirl" tool that automatically groups similar images into categories presented on results pages. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Microsoft's new Internet search engine Bing increased its share of the US search market in October, edging up half-a-point to nearly 10 percent, online tracking firm comScore said Tuesday. Full Story »

Google on Tuesday unveiled a revamped Translate service, giving a new look and feel to the automatic text and Web page translation tool. Google Translate now offers 51 language options and instant translations. Full Story »

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Sina Corp , China's largest Web portal, posted a decline in quarterly sales and profit but beat Wall Street estimates as a recovering economy boosted consumer spending and advertising sentiment. Full Story »

The Google Books settlement is back. On Friday, Google and the author and publisher groups that originally sued over the search engine's massive scanning operations offered a revised version of the settlement. Full Story »

Four colored balls now tell parents their children are protected against adult content while searching on Google, the search giant said last week. The balls appear at the top right of the screen when "strict" SafeSearch in enabled. Full Story »

Right up against a deadline to submit a revised settlement agreement to a judge overseeing a lawsuit filed against Google by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, the parties filed their second take near midnight on Friday. Full Story »

SAN FRANCISCO - Internet search leader Google will ease its control over millions of copyright-protected books earmarked for its digital library if a court approves a revised lawsuit settlement that addresses objections of antitrust regulators. Full Story »

Wolfram Alpha is a smart, computational take on the search engine, but its new partnership with Microsoft and its Bing search engine is even smarter. Full Story »

If you haven't noticed, Bing and Google are engaged in a tit-for-tat over which search engine has the best features. Full Story »

Google added an additional security layer to its search functionality Wednesday, allowing users to lock-in SafeSearch on their accounts so questionable material will not pop up. Full Story »

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Microsoft's new search engine Bing, which is seeking to chip away at Google's dominance in Internet search, is teaming up with WolframAlpha, another rival for the Google crown. Full Story »

Given undistinguished history of Microsoft's late and unlamented Live Search engine, the predecessor to Bing, it's easy to dismiss Redmond as a hapless also-ran in the search market. But given the vast sums of money and resources that Microsoft is investing in its fledging Google challenger, this could change in a hurry. Full Story »

When it comes to the Web, Microsoft's Job One is to get its Bing search engine a chunk of the market share long controlled by Google. In the short term, at least, Microsoft's strategy is to load up Bing with new features and integrated results, as evidenced by a flurry of new announcements. Full Story »

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Google is adding World Bank figures to Internet results in a bid to make hard facts about countries worldwide easier to find. Full Story »

SEATTLE - Microsoft's Bing search service will pull more information and tools from other Web sites as the company tries to distinguish itself as part of its challenge to market leader Google. Full Story »

Microsoft is rolling out some enhancements to its Bing search engine, including some that rely on computational information delivered by Wolfram Alpha. Full Story »

Google announced the latest in a barrage of free Wi-Fi promotions from the three online search engine giants--Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo. This promotion provides free Wi-Fi at 47 airports around the country for weary travelers. The Wi-Fi altruism from Google and others is much appreciated, but it shouldn't be necessary. The Wi-Fi should be free to begin with. Full Story »