Microsoft expands local search into U.K.
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Microsoft Corp. is expanding its local, photo-based search service into the United Kingdom, and adding traffic information for the U.S. service.
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To fend off Microsoft and other foes, the search giant is bulking up on partnerships
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft has enhanced its Windows Live Search Maps with a 3D map of New York, the first of several cities in the U.S., U.K., and Canada that will be featured in 3D through the service. Throughout the day Tuesday, Microsoft also plans to release 3D cityscapes of U.S. cities Austin, Texas; Cape Coral, Florida; Cincinnati; Indianapolis; Savannah, Georgia; and Tampa, Florida. Northampton, England, and Ottawa, Canada, also will be featured as 3D cityscapes through the service. The free online map of New York provides a photorealistic view of New York, including landmarks like Times Square, Central Park, Wall Street, and Rockefeller Plaza. As with other locations mapped through Windows Live Search Maps, users can get Yellow Pages listing, locations of businesses and other landmarks as well as contact information; driving directions, and reviews for New York businesses, restaurants and the like. In addition, users can get real-time traffic incident information integrated with driving directions in the city and can share and access custom maps and lists of notable places in New York that other users have created. Users also can create their own lists of favorite maps and locations in New York. Users can access the new 3D maps on the Live Search Maps Web site. Windows Live Search Maps is one of the new Web-based services Microsoft has been rolling out over the past year and a half to drive its online advertising business, a segment it is hoping will become a significant source of revenue for the company. Links to businesses or locations found through Windows Live Search Maps include paid-search advertising links, one area where Microsoft is hoping to gain round on Google. In the meantime, the company recently said it would purchase digital marketing services company aQuantive Â to boost its advertising strategy. The purchase will differentiate Microsoft from Google by the acquisition of Avenue A/Razorfish, a full-service design and advertising agency owned by aQuantive.
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Microsoft announced the release of its MSN Desktop Toolbar Suite beta yesterday, including a new desktop search capability aimed at making it faster and easier for Windows computer users to find the information on their local systems.
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Microsoft has launched a beta version of an MSN search engine designed to compete directly with Google. MSN Search lets users search through more than 5 billion documents, Microsoft says.
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(InfoWorld) - AOL opened up for testing a new local search service, finally adding a component to its search engine that many competitors have had for years. Those interested in giving the new service a test-drive will find a Local tab in the search box of AOL's main portal page. When clicked, that tab takes the user to the local search interface on AOL Search. AOL Local, for now a beta service, lets users find business listings from a specific area, such as a street address, city, state, or ZIP code. The service will return a list of businesses, along with a map indicating where each one is located. Users can also obtain driving directions, AOL said Tuesday. Currently, AOL Local works with the Windows versions of Internet Explorer 6.0 and higher and Firefox 1.5 and higher. For Mac OS users, AOL Local "partially" supports the Safari and Firefox browsers, meaning that some functionality may be limited and not fully tested. More information about AOL Local can be found on the service's help page. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Ask.com have local search services. In addition to maps, business listings, and driving directions, local search engines often provide real-time traffic data andÂ information about local eventsÂ such asÂ movie times, as well as customer reviews of restaurants, shops, and other commercial establishments. While lacking a local search engine, AOL has provided many of these features, albeit in different services,Â such asÂ its MapQuest mapping site, Yellow Pages business directory, and City Guide network of local entertainment guides. AOL Local has a "powered by MapQuest" tag in its logo, indicating the maps come from this sister AOL property. However, it's not clear whether AOL Local is tapping other related servicesÂ such asÂ Yellow Pages and City Guide. The service seems to be limited for now to the United States. AOL didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Having a local search engine is considered a must for Internet search service providers, as the popularity of these sites increases among users and advertisers. Kelsey Group, a market researcher, forecasts that companies globally willÂ increase their spending on local search enginesÂ and online business listing directories an average of 22.3 percent per year through 2011. Advertisers spent $4.1 billion on these sites last year and are expected to spend $11.1 billion in 2011, according to Kelsey Group. Conversely, ad growth in print Yellow Pages phone directories will be almost flat through 2011, increasing an annual average of 0.9 percent, with $27.8 billion expected to be spent in 2011, according to Kelsey Group. AOL announced the beta launch of its local search engine at beta.aol.com.
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The Microsoft Download Centre has been updated with some graphical improvements on both the search, listings and item pages. Crucially in the new look download centre many application downloads are now being
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Microsoft Corp. is formally launching its new Internet search engine, several months after it debuted in test form.
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Trying to catch up with Google, Microsoft says it will change the way computer users search.
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Microsoft on Monday released its promised desktop search application, focusing on adding local e-mail and file search into MSN&#39;s browser toolbar, Outlook and the Windows operating system.
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Microsoft Corp., the world's largest software maker, has expanded its flagship MSN Hotmail internet email service to include European and Japanese domain names, it said on Friday.
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Google&#39;s shopping-specific search site, Froogle, has seen its first release outside US shores. The UK is the first European country to get Google&#39;s shopping search and comparison service.
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Microsoft's Live search engine enjoyed a recent jump in queries, although Google still reigns.
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Google said it was expanding its staff of engineers in Europe to improve its products in local markets outside the United States.
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Microsoft has released a preliminary version of its search tool for finding documents, e-mail messages and other files stored on personal computer hard drives.
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Google &#038; Yahoo Driving Local Search Growth Last night comScore released a new analysis of the size and growth of the local search market in the United States. comScore defines local search as &#8216;searches conducted by consumers on the local or directory (Yellow Pages) sections of leading search sites, and other searches identified as having local [...]
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What is the most popular search engine in the UK? In Europe? In the world?