Tech Quickie . Who’s buying who?

Catching you up on all the latest plans and rumors circulating about the Big Cheeses in the Bay, and how they plan to get even bigger:

Yahoo! to use Google search ads… in advanced talks
Yahoo! to merge with AOL… still in talks
Microsoft to purchase Yahoo!… over Y!’s dead body, sadly
Google to [...]

Google’s version of Yahoo’s Search Assist

You knew it was coming, you might have even seen or used the private tests, you might even argue that it was on G Labs/toolbar prior to Y! launch, but anyways, Google’s public test version of Yahoo’s Search Assist drop-down has finally launched today.
As to be expected, the big G’s autocomplete suggestion drop-down is [...]

Yahoo! News . New Yahoo! news video

I know that post title is ridiculous, but I’m too sleepy to care.
Here’s a video clip that ran on the local CBS channel proclaiming our cool little launch. My boss, Larry Cornett (VP of Search UED) is featured uncharacteristically buttoned-down and pressed. Aww, so cute~!
Also featured is my neighbor in [...]

Yahoo! News . New Yahoo!

Do you Yahoo? You may want to see what we’ve launched last night (click on the image below to try it out yourself). It’s come a long way since the first-ish pass.
I love that a search for “dreamlogic” brings up “wife+chris” on the first Search Assist drop-down panel. The subsequent panel (shown [...]

Calvin Klein and his “logical stuffed transparent box of models”

A couple of days ago, there was some promo for Yahoo! oneSearch linked to Fashion Week 2007. Obviously, I don’t follow fashion, so I immediately thought they meant São Paulo Fashion Week (don’t ask me why I knew that one over the one in New York).
I decided to do a quick search [...]

Yahoo! News . Customers happier with Yahoo! over Google

The Search Engine world is fickle with customer quality assurance and innovation at its pinnacle. Nothing beats being smack in the heart of innovation valley.. you can just feel the creative energy and smell the brains brewing! This proves that the world needs designers!
Is Google Inc. losing its edge?
The search engine [...]

Yahoo! News . You Tube and Stock Quotes get bloated with Y! Expando

Now you can watch a full-sized You Tube video in the SRP (Search Results). Just click on the image in the search results and behold the magic of Expando:

EXPANDO YOU TUBE

EXPANDO STOCK QUOTE (awful timing now that the DOW plummeted.. again)

Yahoo! News . Yahoo SRP goes on a No Numbers Diet

This is the quickest and smallest “big cheese” search page on the web. On previous tests, I worked with the webdevs on a main sprite image (reducing image calls) and the team found a way to further reduce page weight by over 60%~!
I am very excited because we can hopefully achieve lightning [...]

Yahoo! News . Pièce de Assistance

Some new better browsing ideas that launched last night:

Travel Assist Module

Music Artist Assist Module

Search Assistance Layer

Optimism boost: Tom Kelley visited Yahoo! on Monday and I’m still stoked!

If you’ve never heard of IDEO, you’re about to. IDEO is a company which makes other companies perform better. They analyze and restructure strategies and product designs for big name johns like Proctor & Gamble, Microsoft, Apple to design more effective products and/or concepts. For example, their fat squishy toothbrush handle for [...]

Yahoo! News . Search Suggestions

Woohoo~! Yahoo! makes searching that much easier. In case you can’t see it yet, take a gander at this screenshot. It was implemented long ago on Yahoo!’s Alltheweb.com and on the Yahoo! toolbar in March and is now making its debut at Yahoooo~! Search.

Yahoo! News . OMG! Yahoo! OMG!

Like totally like oh mah gaaaawwd.  It’s like Yahoo’s like latest entertainment site.  Dude it’s so key.  Check it out.  If you check it out, I’ll be your BFF 4ev.  If you don’t you’ll be like so lame I won’t even text you.
omg.yahoo.com

Yahoo! News . Be Better, Go Green, Win Cabs and Bulbs

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if zero emission vehicles were the norm? Well at least hybrids are gaining popularity, even though some owners are cited as “holier than thou” snobs.

Vancouver Canada’s Andrew Grant was the world’s first hybrid taxi driver back in 2000. Two ex-City lawyers recently started London-based Green Tomato Cars replete with [...]

Google News . New SRP on the rise

Not everyone will be able to see this new Google SRP (or Search Results Page aka: SERP/Search Engine Results Page), so I’ll just post it up here. It’s actually pretty fresh and I’m happy to see they’re venturing out of the “quicker is better” mentality and exploring a bit more, even though coworkers insist [...]

Yahoo! News . Kiss “the sky”, not “this guy”

According to wikipedia, a “mondegreen is the mishearing (usually accidental) of a phrase in such a way that it acquires a new meaning”, you know like “’scuse me while I kiss this guy” in lieu of “’scuse me while I kiss the sky” in Jimi Hendrix’s famous Purple Haze. There are abundant mondegreens at [...]

MUNCHIES [CA] . Dot’s Café at Yahoo!

Okay, so we don’t have free gourmet roasted quail like Google does, but we do have a cute little cafeteria with lots of curves and multi-color polka dots. So there, ha! The chefs are cool and the food is okay; when I do eat in I usually opt for the Indian/Thai stuff or [...]

Yahoo! News . Don’t bet on Auctions

Next month, Yahoo! Auctions will join Yahoo! Photos in the site cemetery. Buried by the successful eBay, Auctions really didn’t have much of a chance at being a major player because at this point in time, no one does. eBay secures more than 94% of total online auctions with Amazon’s auctions at approximately [...]

Yahoo! News . Yahoo! Travel Summer makeover

Yahoo! Travel just publicly launched their very helpful javascript-loaded redesign — just in time for Summer Vacation plans.. well, for slacker last-minuter bookers! There are all kinds of nifty gadget modules and personalized Trip Recommendations and Reviews galore. There’s a cool new section entitled “Today’s Picks for You” which is just that — [...]