E-Commerce Blog

Ask.com rolled out a new version of itself Monday. The revamped search engine includes a new user interface with three new technologies — DADs, DAFS and AnswerFarm — that offer users the ability to search the Web using commonly spoken language. The enhancements to Ask.com will help the site retain existing users and attract new, said Caroline Dangson, an IDC analyst. Ask.com’s new technologies differ from those used by competitors such as Google, Yahoo and MSN Search because they enable Web surfers to type real questions, instead of a series of keywords, according to Ask.

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Ask.com Taps Semantics for Smarter Search

Online discovery service StumbleUpon has changed the way its users can access the service. The company announced a new partner program Tuesday and also unveiled a new Web-based toolbar that no longer requires users to register or download the specific StumbleUpon Toolbar, a task that may have turned some would-be users away in the past. The changes are part of an effort by StumbleUpon to offer a new user experience, said Michael Buhr, general manager of StumbleUpon.

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StumbleUpon Waltzes In With New Toolbar

Google said Tuesday it will further cut the amount of time it stores data about users’ search requests, to meet European privacy demands. Peter Fleischer, Google’s global privacy adviser, said the company will reduce the time it stores search information from 18 months to nine. Google introduced an 18-month limit in 2007. The change, which applies to Google’s search Web sites worldwide, “is a significant improvement in privacy terms and it puts us ahead of the rest of the industry,” Fleischer told reporters in a conference call.

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EU Persuades Google to Forget You Sooner

Google said Tuesday it will further cut the amount of time it stores data about users’ search requests, to meet European privacy demands. Peter Fleischer, Google’s global privacy adviser, said the company will reduce the time it stores search information from 18 months to nine. Google introduced an 18-month limit in 2007. The change, which applies to Google’s search Web sites worldwide, “is a significant improvement in privacy terms and it puts us ahead of the rest of the industry,” Fleischer told reporters in a conference call.

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EU Persuades Google to Forget You Sooner

Google is amping up its corporate search tool by more than tripling its capacity compared to previous models. The newly launched Google Search Appliance boasts the ability to index up to 10 million documents with a single, bright yellow server. The development — Google’s fifth offering in the Search Appliance family — is also said to deliver results as much as five times faster than its predecessor. It offers a handful of other updated features for end users at corporate clients.

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New Google Appliance Stuffs 10 Million Docs Into Pizza Box