Google buys Sparkbuy, a search engine for consumer electronics

Dan Shapiro (Randy Stewart photo)

Well, that sure was quick. Sparkbuy, the Seattle upstart led by entrepreneur Dan Shapiro, announced today that it has been acquired by Google in a deal of undisclosed size. The news comes just a little more than a month after Shapiro unveiled Sparkbuy, an online service that allows users to compare the prices and features of various… Read More…

Microsoft Bing gets a little more help from our Facebook friends

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Microsoft Bing is rolling out a new wave of Facebook integration across its search results starting today, tapping data from the widely used social network to show searchers which sites, news stories, movies, products and other items their friends have liked. The feature shows up as an annotation on individual search results. For example, searching… Read More…

Microsoft’s next big partnership: China’s Baidu search engine?

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A report out of China suggests that Microsoft is in talks with the country’s leading search engine, Baidu, for a partnership intended to strengthen the Redmond company’s position in the world’s most populous nation. Business Insider spotted the rumor based on a tweet. The precise nature of the potential partnership is open to interpretation based… Read More…

Data: Bing, Yahoo gain as Google declines in U.S. search market

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Google is still the undisputed king of the U.S. search market, but the latest numbers from comScore Networks show the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo closing the gap by 0.7 percentage points last month. Bing and Yahoo each rose 0.2 percent, to 14.1 percent and 15.9 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, Google slipped 0.3 percent, to 65.4… Read More…

InfoSpace boosts profits, names Bill Ruckelshaus CEO

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InfoSpace has had more lives than a cat. But the Bellevue Internet search company appears to be reinventing itself pretty well. The company today posted net income of $2.1 million, or six cents per share, on relatively flat revenue of $61.6 million. It also elevated interim CEO Bill Ruckelshaus to the top executive post at… Read More…

Yahoo delays Microsoft ad rollout, says adCenter ‘limitations’ hurting revenue

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Microsoft’s partnership with Yahoo in Internet search and advertising has hit a bump, with Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz saying on the company’s earnings call yesterday afternoon that “technical limitations” Microsoft’s adCenter are resulting in fewer clicks than expected on ads next to search results, and impacting Yahoo’s revenue. In the meantime, she said, Yahoo is… Read More…

Data: Bing, Yahoo gain on Google

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Microsoft Bing and Yahoo both posted gains in the U.S. search market in March, lifting their combined market share to more than 30 percent, according to the latest numbers from the Experian Hitwise market research firm. Meanwhile, Google slipped 3 percentage points, to less than 65 percent of the market, according to the firm’s data…. Read More…

Ignition Partners’ Steve Hooper joins board of InfoSpace

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Steve Hooper, one of the founding members of Ignition Partners and the former CEO of AT&T Wireless, has joined the board of InfoSpace. It is a little unusual to see a venture capitalist take a board seat at a publicly-traded company, especially with one with as much history at InfoSpace. But the Bellevue company is… Read More…

Microsoft filing antitrust complaint vs. Google in Europe

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Microsoft is back in the middle of an antitrust case in Europe, but this time it’s the one with the complaint. The Redmond company says it’s filing an antitrust complaint against Google with the European Commission — alleging that the search giant has unfairly kept Microsoft Bing and Windows Phone from working properly with YouTube;… Read More…

Facebook web search could be boon for Bing, if it happens

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[Update: Facebook: Mystery web search box was the result of someone 'targeting the browser'] A report this afternoon says Facebook is testing a web search box next to its existing site search. The story on the unofficial All Facebook blog — complete with a screenshot — is causing a stir in the Internet search world… Read More…

Bing, Yahoo chip away at Google

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Some encouraging news for Microsoft today in its uphill climb against Google. The combination of Microsoft Bing and the Bing-powered Yahoo search engine rose to 28.48 percent market share in the U.S. in February, up from 27.44 percent in January, according to the Experian Hitwise research firm. Google, meanwhile, experienced some rare slippage, dropping from… Read More…

Ignition backs Topsy, a real-time search engine

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Ignition Partners, the Bellevue venture capital firm, continues to plow cash into Bay Area startup companies. The latest to benefit is Topsy, a San Francisco real time search engine that today announced a $15 million investment. Ignition’s return backing of Topsy follows investments in San Fran consumer Web services, including SocialEyes and Hipmunk. Other investors… Read More…

How Microsoft is using Angry Birds to boost Bing

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Is this the ultimate product placement? Microsoft is expanding its relationship with Rovio, the developers of the hit mobile game “Angry Birds,” to boost its Bing search engine. Under the partnership, users of the iPhone and Android versions of the game who fail a level three times will be prompted from inside the game to… Read More…