Roundup: First signs of a credit thaw, Google’s search share down, Jive Software layoffs and more
Here’s the latest action:
Credit beginning to thaw? — Bank borrowing costs fell slightly on Tuesday, a possible first sign that credit is beginning to flow between institutions again. Analysis at Calculated Risk.
Google’s search market share dips — The latest ComScore numbers show that Google gained more users in September, but lost percentage market share to Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask. AOL was the only other of the top five search engines to see its market share drop.
Jive Software… Continue Reading
Kid portal KidZui gets redesign, adds social networking
KidZui is launching a series of social networking features for its kid-safe internet browsing software. Designed for kids ages three to 12, KidZui is a web portal for kids that is trying to draw an audience by adopting the same kind of features that have made Facebook popular.
Kidzui online services include links to more than 1.5 million parent- and teacher-approved web sites, games, pictures and videos. And now, when kids log in, they can see… Continue Reading
Hakia and Ask release search redesigns in fresh bid against Google
A pair of new redesigns being rolled out this morning for the mass-market search engine Ask, as well as semantic search company Hakia, aim to notch up their challenge to Google’s statistic-based search results.
Oddly, the change Ask is making harkens back to its origins as Ask Jeeves, a comic butler that tried (and usually failed) to give sensible answers to search queries posed as questions. While, thankfully, it’s leaving Jeeves to rest in peace, Ask… Continue Reading
Google pushes towards 70 percent of all U.S. searches; Yahoo, Microsoft push towards zero percent
The ascent continues. Google accounted for a ridiculous 69.17 percent of all U.S. search in June, according to new data from Hitwise. What’s even more ridiculous is that the search engine is still adding market share. One year ago it accounted for 63.92 percent. Just last month it was at 68.29 percent.
For Google to keep gaining market share, someone else has to lose it. In this case it is once again Yahoo Search and MSN… Continue Reading
IAC, conglomerate of web properties, launching new “content venture”
update: rumors are beginning to spill out; Alley Insider suggests the venture is a collaboration between IAC’s Ask and Digg.com, and will launch “very soon.”
With the bid by Microsoft to purchase Yahoo potentially reducing the number of major Web companies, other conglomerates may also come under pressure to sell or break up. IAC, the owner of sites such as Evite.com, Ask, Match.com, Citysearch and Excite, has seen its stock go nowhere despite several years of… Continue Reading
Roundup: Nextag, ThisNext, Amp’d, Lala, Ask3D and much more
(Updated) Here’s the latest action, catching up for the past two days:
Boring shopping Web sites attract interest — There are so many shopping search engines, we’ve given up trying to count. And yet investors remain interested. Santa Monica, Calif.’s ThisNext, a social shopping Web site, has raised a round of venture debt Western Technology. It lets people share and recommend products with friends. This comes after rumors that private equity firm Providence Equity Partners is buying… Continue Reading
Get mobile local info from ULocate, Ask and others
ULocate, a Framington, Mass. start-up focused on giving you mobile information based on your location, has raised $11 million more in a second round of financing.
ULocate offers more than a dozen widgets that you can drag and drop onto your mobile phone — giving you things such as directions, ski reports, brewery finders, and even neighboring Twitter posts — and joins a host of competitors racing to give you similar services.
Ask yesteday unveiled something very… Continue Reading