Published by rwatstein October 12th, 2008
in search and Ask.
When search engine Ask.com first launched, the site touted itself as a place where people searching for information on the Web could ask natural-language questions and get relevant answers back as results. Now Ask is doubling down on that mission, launching a new version of its site on Monday that includes some of the first hints of natural-language processing technology, among other new features. The new site represents the third major overhaul for Ask since 2005, when the site was bought by IAC/Interactive and soon after dropped its Jeeves character. An improved relevance engine figures in several new search technologies to filter and organize results, including one that integrates structured data provided by partners, another that specifically queries tens of thousands of user-generated content sites, a semantic search technology that aims to give users direct answers to questions they ask, and links to related searches. The site will continue to weave news, video, and image results in with regular search results.
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Published by rwatstein August 31st, 2008
in children, search and Ask.
With school back in session and families gearing up for the nightly homework grind, Ask.com announces the upgrade and expansion of its popular children’s and tweens’ search engine, Ask Kids ( http://www.askkids.com). Built with Ask.com’s proprietary search technology, Ask Kids delivers a search experience unlike anything for kids on the Internet today — including more relevant, kid-friendly search results presented in the most graphically vivid display of any major search engine. The Ask Kids launch advances Ask.com’s strategy of using its core search technology to fuel vertical search properties such as RushmoreDrive.com, the search engine for the Black community, launched in April 2008.
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Published by rwatstein July 12th, 2008
in Ask.
Ask.com, the fourth-ranked search engine, has completed its acquisition of Lexico Publishing Group, which owns Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, and Reference.com. Ask.com, a wholly owned subsidiary of InterActiveCorp, had announced the all-cash deal in mid-May. Financial terms of the deal, which closed Thursday, were not released. Lexico, a privately held company based in Long Beach, Calif., debuted in 1995 with Dictionary.com. Altogether, Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, and Reference.com had more than 28 million unique visitors in March, according to Lexico.
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Published by rwatstein March 29th, 2008
in search and Ask.
Just how much does Ask.com own the word “Ask?” Enough to have a problem with a question-and-answer site called “Askpedia,” apparently. Representatives from the start-up Askpedia.com told CNET News.com that the search engine’s parent company, InterActiveCorp, sent a cease-and-desist letter earlier this month, citing intellectual property violations in the name “Askpedia.” “(This) is likely to cause consumer confusion, particularly inasmuch as Askpedia purports to provide online informational services that are substantially similar to those provided by Ask,” the letter dated March 13 reads. “In using and incorporating Ask’s intellectual property in this manner, Askpedia is falsely suggesting a connection between Ask and Askpedia, and thereby misappropriating the substantial good will associated with Ask’s trademarks.”
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Published by rwatstein December 29th, 2007
in search, Google, Yahoo, AOL and Ask.
Looks like Google is out to dominate the search engine battle this year. It has consistently topped search engine rankings from various web analytics reports for the past couple of months, and in what seems to be the final ranking for this year, it once again shown the search engine industry its supremacy in terms of search usage. Based on the latest comScore report, Google again lead the pack with 58.6% (up by 0.2%) of all the core searches for November. Following Google is Yahoo with 22.4% (down by 0.4%) and Microsoft which is steady at 9.8%. Ask Network and Time Warner’s AOL got 4.6% and 4.5% respectively. Time Warner is the biggest gainer of all the search engines with a 0.3% increased in search ranking as compare to October.
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Published by rwatstein December 16th, 2007
in search, privacy and Ask.
Ask.com is betting it will. The fourth-largest search engine company recently began begin a service today called AskEraser, which allows users to make their searches more private. Ask.com and other major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft typically keep track of search terms typed by users and link them to a computer’s Internet address, and sometimes to the user. However, when AskEraser is turned on, Ask.com discards all that information, the company said.
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