[TV] Community: Season 6

It came as no surprise to anyone that NBC eventually cancelled Community. Despite critical acclaim, the show just never quite got up there in the ratings market And so it seemed the show was at an end and various online petitions were launched in the hopes of changing the minds of the folks at NBC.

But then a most surprising announcement came along that Yahoo of all companies decided to save the show. We've gotten used to pay-TV providers like DIRECTV picking up shows and more recently streaming services like Netflix breathing new life into various shows up for network television cancellation.

It was part of some effort to promote Yahoo Screen, which is a product that I had never heard of before and probably won't remember much despite Community's sixth season appearing on the online service. And while it was nice to see it continue on, it clearly suffered from changes in the cast and the writers seemingly not 100% certain where they want to go with these characters. The end result was a season with good laughs in general but not that much overall impact at the end of things.

[Games] Diner Dash 2015 (Android)

Once upon a time before smart phones and the rise of mobile games, Yahoo Games was actually a thing. Yes, one of the best things about having a Yahoo account was being able to play all these different casual games via the Yahoo portal. It was through this gaming portal that I first discovered like Collapse! and Zuma.

Oh wow - Yahoo Games is still alive? How weird.

One of the games that ate up a lot of my free time was Diner Dash - there was something about the frenetic management of the different process steps in being Flo the waitress was just so compelling to me. And this year saw the release of the first free-to-play version for the franchise. And sadly, the brilliance of the core game concept has gotten a little lost behind all the things that make freemium games so horrible.

[Yahoo] Still Googling? Emails

I don't use my Yahoo! Mail account much other than to access Yahoo! Messenger at work, so I don't deal with the Yahoo promotions.

A co-worker of mine showed me this email he received and I was surprised by its nature - talk about trying to take Google head-on. Do they really think emails like this are going to work?

[Web] Flickr Users Against Microsoft

Flickr users are some of the most vocal ones on the planet. I suppose it's because of all the creativity involved with the people, I suppose so they have been known to resist change, especially change associated with bigger companies. Thus in the same way that they protested the forced migration of all Flickr users to Yahoo! accounts for logging in, now they're protesting Microsoft's unsolicited bid for Yahoo.

Yeah, I bet nobody saw this coming. =P

[Web] Microsoft's Yahoo Bid

Yahoo Microsoft Messengers Make Nice by Photo-Mojo.

How far back do you have to go to start talking about this story? Should you be content with talking about former CEO Terry Semel completely leaving the board last Thursday? Should we go a bit further back to the announcement of 1,000 jobs being cut at Yahoo starting next month in an effort to deal with improving their bottom line without announcing a strategy for the future?

We can keep digging back into Yahoo's colorful history as much as we'd like to but the fact of the matter is that on February 1, 2008, Microsoft forwarded an "unsolicited" $44.6 billion bid for Yahoo, thus providing them with an entirely different strategy moving into the future. Here's Microsoft's letter to Yahoo in case you're interested.

Of course the news raged against the blogosphere like wildfire. High profile tech sites like CNET already have a dedicated section following the story and of course everyone is throwing in their two cents' worth.

Initial blog reactions were more centered around humor with jokes along the lines of how merging a second tier search engine with a second tier website won't result in an online presence strong enough to unseat Google from internet supremacy just yet. Others have written how it there would be some sense of poetic justice served if the resulting takeover would give Yahoo users the same dreadful experience that all those other companies that Yahoo has bought out over the years had to go through. Then, of course, things began to get more and more in-depth.

Valleywag has moved from comparing Yahoo's existence to that of a child actor in a downward spiral in recent years to trying to figure out who won't get the axe at Yahoo should the Microsoft deal push through. Let's face it, it is a takeover and nor a merger after all. Oh, and of course they also had to remind us that this bid wasn't totally unexpected, for as long as you've been paying attention.

The folks over a WebWare took a more serious bent and considered the cultural differences between Microsoft and Yahoo considering the takeover and how another icon of the internet age is bound to be lost to the Microsoft juggernaut. Google-watcher Ionut, the genius behind the Google Operating System blog ran a pretty comprehensive review of two companies have previously tried to block Google's acquisition of Doubleclick. Talk about irony.

That brings us to Sunday when Google finally broke their silence with official statement and what will theoretically be their last word on the matter as well. Naturally Microsoft was very quick to respond in their own fashion.

This struggle has scarcely begun given the negotiations that will need to take place between Microsoft and Yahoo (their stock price has already climbed up to the $28 range over the weekend from Thursday's $15 stock neighborhood) and the inevitable FCC approval hearings and accusations of this leading to monopolistic practices, where do we factor in all this? Do we want to see Yahoo acquired by Microsoft?

Just think about the brilliance that was the Passport system and how many headaches that created - do we want those same monkeys handling the many services that link to every Yahoo account? Flickr is bad enough under Yahoo's control, but what more under Microsoft? No matter how much Microsoft "respects" the Yahoo! brand, do you seriously think that it's going to survive Microsoft's higher priorities of boosting their own Windows Live line of services? Depending on whether or not Yahoo tries to resist this takeover attempt will ultimately determine if Google is justified in calling this a "hostile" takeover just yet.

Let's get realistic here - will the joining of these two companies really given them the ability to challenge Google from where it stands as king of internet search and online advertising? Perhaps not, given their success is not about the size of the workforce or the number of subscribers but their ability to dynamically innovate new technology and cater to the needs of the users. What this buy out is only going to accomplish is the murder of one of the web's most iconic brands and a greater need to migrate to Google's services in order to escape the clutches of Microsoft. Go figure.

Now all we can do and wait to see how this story will unfold.

[Geeky Guide] New Comment Rules

This is a Tri-Blog entry that will appear on all three of my blogs: The Geeky Guide to Nearly Everything, Beyond Dinobot Island and Moonbase 8.

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In line with my own efforts to support further development of the OpenID initiative, I am modifying commenting permissions for both The Geeky Guide to Nearly Everything (hosted on Blogger) and Beyond Dinobot Island (hosted on LiveJournal) to no longer allow anonymous comments.

Instead, comments can only be left by (1) registered users of the respective blogging platforms and (2) OpenID users. Since OpenID is being further supported these days by more and more groups, I think it only makes sense to try and support that initiative in my own small way.

You might already be using OpenID through another site, so it shouldn't be too much of an issue. By January 30, 2008, Yahoo IDs will become recognized by OpenID-supporting sites so this should further expand the possibilities.

If you have your own thoughts and ideas about this change, feel free to leave a comment on this blog or you can get in touch with my directly - you know I always appreciate feedback.

[Web] OpenID's New Friends

OpenID logo by ShadowKris.

Recently, it seems more and more groups are getting involved in terms of supporting the OpenID initiative, which basically is an attempt to move away from proprietary logins hosted by a single company by using the credentials of one site to log into multiple sites. You might be most familiar with OpenID if you've been using sites like LiveJournal, which have been supporting the project for a while now to make it easier for non-LiveJournal users to leave comments and such. At the moment, a lot of the OpenID adopters seem to be in the blogging business for the most part, but that's slowly changing as of late.

Things started when Google first started testing OpenID commenting in their Blogger in Draft platform in November and finally moved this into full production by December. This opened up Blogger blogs to non-anonymous comments by Open ID users.

Now Yahoo has announced that it will be supporting OpenID 2.0 in public beta by January 30, 2008. This means that you can use your Yahoo credentials to log into OpenID-supported sites (like leaving comments on Blogger) although at this time it's not a two-way street; you can't log into Yahoo sites using OpenID credentials.

Quick on the heels of that announcement, Blogger in Draft is now allowing users to test using Blogger as an OpenID provider, which means that if you didn't have an OpenID before, now you can use your Blog*Spot site in that manner. The feature is only available in the Drafts version of Blogger, but I'm sure we'll be seeing it go live in the main environment pretty soon.

With these recent announcements related to rather big-name OpenID support, perhaps the initiative is no longer as idealistic as it used to be. Let's hope that more groups get involved in supporting the initiative and we can stop worrying about remembering so many logins.

[Web] MyBlogLog Yahoo ID Integration

Despite the fact that the actual purchase of blog-centric social network MyBlogLog by Yahoo feels like ages ago, it's only this week that the site started accepting Yahoo IDs for logging into the site. Similar to how Flickr was previously integrated into the Yahoo network some time back, the process appears to be allowing folks to associate their existing MyBlogLog details with their Yahoo profiles.

Thus far the process seems largely seamless and I was able to get things merged without issue, although some have reported occasional complications and irritations like having your Yahoo Avatar as your default avatar in MyBlogLog. I think it depends on how you manage their integration wizard, which gives you the option to re-submit data such as your location or to just pull your existing data from your previous MyBlogLog account - this will require you to sign in one last time with your old credentials.

While it's nice to have one less password to remember, it's somewhat sad to see our garishly green friend become yet another Yahoo service among many. I doubt most users will mind the change, but of course there will be those independents who will chafe against this integration and call for the previous state of semi-autonomy from the Yahoo network.

[Security] Possible Zero-Day Problem for YM (UPDATED)

Heads up for Yahoo! Messenger users. McAfee Avert Labs Blog reports about a potential zero-day vulnerability for your favorite instant messenger. While no exploit is known or is in the wild, it always pays to be extra careful.

No details are available as of this time.

(Yes, I know, it is hard to be careful against something you do not know. There are ways in keeping yourself safe. Try using Web-based YM in the meantime. Or don't click on links being sent via YM.)

UPDATE:

McAfee Avert Labs Blog has posted an update and has confirmed the existence of the vulnerability, which involves YM Web cam. They have posted the following mitigating measures:

1. Don't accept Web cam invites from untrusted sources until a patch for this is released.
2. It's advisable to block outgoing traffic on TCP port 5100 until the vendor patches this vulnerability. (If unsure about port blocking, just follow number 1, above.)

[Security] Yahoo! Messenger Security Update: Live Show-ers Beware

Users of the popular/ubiquitous/bane of corporate IT people Yahoo! Messenger are advised to update to the latest version (8.1.0.401) of the said instant messaging application due to the existence of two ActiveX vulnerabilities.

The said vulnerabilities are ActiveX buffer overflows that can lead to remote code execution. These ActiveX controls are related to YM's Web cam capabilities (so you live show-ers are mostly affected).

Related to this topic, Trend Micro has detected a new malware that specifically exploits these YM vulnerabilities. Dubbed as JS_DLOADER.NSP, which exploits the YM vulnerabilities to download another malware.

By this time, YM should have prompted you to download the update, unless you're the type to ignore updates. I suggest you do so, now. Your live show will have to wait.

(Crossposted from here.)

[Web] K-Fed to Drive Google, Yahoo Out of Business

Google and Yahoo, beware. K-Fed is out to put you out of (the search) business.

With tight integration with FireFox and IE via plugins, this tool will do search and presents

* results with K-Fed's comments (as if you want to know)
* results being delivered by K-Fed - in rap (prepare to mute your headphones/desktop speakers)
* results with relevant products that K-Fed endorses (if any)
* results with pictures of Britney Spears (bald or with hair)

You have been warned. Get it here. As if you're interested. And hey, if you want to party with K-Fed on his birthday, better get it fast.

[Web Search] An End to 'Keywordese' ?

A lot of buzz is beginning to circulate about Powerset, purported to be a natural language search engine that will draw upon AI technologies to make the searches more intuitive.

I doubt this is going to be all that big, even if PARC is who's behind this particular search engine. The success of search engines like Google is not just based on the accuracy of its results but on the speed as well. having to type entire sentences in order to meet the natural language criteria will only add delays to the search process. Plus, how long will it actually take to refine the system to provide accurate results?

Powerset seems more a toy rather than a practical search engine that might challenge the big boys like Google and Yahoo. It'll probably help develop leaps and bounds for AI research since essentially they need to master how to teach language to a computer system. However everyone else will still stick to what they know.

We're already conditioned to keywords when it comes to searching online. The search engine technology behind Google has capitalized on this by creating a system that supports "keywordese" and improves accuracy as more queries are submitted. While it's not a smart search enging like Powerset wants to become, it's an effcient one that meets the current behaviors of the millions of people online right now. Sure, we could learn to use Powerset in time, but if the process becomes longer rather than shorter or if the results don't seem all that different, why will people venture off into something new?

I guess at the end of the day, we still need to wait and see how this thing will actually perform. Perhaps we're all getting our hopes up all for nothing.

Related Links:

• CNET News.com: Can Powerset knock out Google
  
• CNET News.com: Spying an intelligent search engine

[The Web] Wired on Yahoo

Call me a late bloomer, but I just came across this particular Wired News article taking an in-depth look at how Yahoo! wasted a prime opportunity to beat Google before they even began. It's pretty lengthy, so you'll need some free time put aside before reading it here:

• Wired News: How Yahoo Blew It

You can also Digg the article here if you're into that, too.

Of course Yahoo responded to the article in their own fashion, but does anyone really care? The author, Fred Vogelstein, did a tremendous job of painting a detailed picture of the many missteps made by Yahoo CEO Terry Semel in the years before Google made its radical rise to the top of the search advertising industry of sorts.

I highly recommend that everyone read this article. It seems like the best time to do so, just after GooglePress confirmed Google will be announce their fourth quarter results at the end of this month, a press conference that is sure to send ripples throughout the tech and financial communities depending on how well or how badly they did.

[The Web] The New Yahoo?

This week, the news broke that online content provider Yahoo! was reorganizing their structure, a change that included a number of fairly major changes in their executive ranks.

Among the major changes included CFO Susan Decker now poised to be next in line for the position of CEO Terry Semel and the departure of COO Daniel Rosensweig from the company. The change, which many consider to be long overdue, has been done primarily to revitalize the company's focus in light of declining revenue due to other, perhaps more dynamic, online competitors such as Google and even social networking site MySpace and video sharing site YouTube, to name a few.

On my side, I've always found Yahoo! to be a bit too diverse for its own good. There are just so many things going on over there that none of them really stand out on their own. Their best products, among them photo hosting site Flickr and social bookmarking service del.icio.us, have all been external acquisitions but the company really hasn't made any serious innovations.

Their homepage is overwhelming with the number of services being offered that one can't blame people for going elsewhere for more focused products. I've always felt that Yahoo! has become the proverbial Jack-of-all-trades while mastering none of them, something that can be deadly in these highly competitive times.

The reorganization has Yahoo! divided into three primary divisions: Audiences, which includes most of their consumer content, Advertises and Publishers, which of course covers their advertising revenue unit, and lastly Technology, which just may be what the company needs to push greater innovation amongst its products.

This is definitely going to help Yahoo! remain viable in 2007 although I doubt this is the only change they'll be making in order to reclaim the top spot in the online community, if ever they are able to attain even this.

[Yahoo] Mail Code to be Released

CNet News.com reports that Yahoo officials announced on Friday that they'll be releasing the code behind Yahoo! Mail, which remains one of the most popular web-based email services today with over 257 million reported subscribers.

Personally, I'm glad for the move. It's not that I'm an avid Yahoo! user or anything - you won't be able to convince me to give up Google's GMail anytime soon. What has me happy is that this is definitely a step in the right direction for other Web 2.0 companies out there. The secret to advancing the level of interaction and dynamism on the internet is definitely going to be through Open Source initiatives and sharing between developers.

The internet is supposed to be all about the users and not about the integrity of the companies who generate content. If you really want to ensure user loyalty, give them the power to become involved in the process, in the development of the services they currently enjoy today.

[Google] Birthday Messages

First of all, let's give Google a big and hearty

Happy Birthday!!!

This is Google's eighth year and it seems hard to imagine life without them anymore. Just look at the effects of the current outage in the US being experienced by some ComCast users and this gives you the significant importance Google plays in our modern lives.

Interestingly enough, Google released an interesting statement on the Official Google Blog regarding the nature of their business philosophy. As I've also discussed in previous entries, Google focuses on helping users find content relevant to them as opposed to being an independent content provider similar to companies like Yahoo.

Of course the statement is related to their recent troubles in Belgium, but it also comes across as a very strong statement to other competitors in the search field. Google remains dedicated to search and has no immediate plans of moving into the content arena, and personally I don't think they should.

They're already the best at what they do, and their continued developments only work to help ensure they remain on top.

[The Web] Badflickr

Another CNet blog posting a few weeks ago brought to light the growing dissent regarding account deletions over at Flickr.

For those unfamiliar with the service, Flickr is one of the more popular photo sharing communities on the web, having won the 2005 Webby Breakout of the Year Award and this year's Webbys for Best Practices and Best Navigation / Structure.

Personally, I'm a big fan of Flickr given it's given a lot to the Web 2.0 community in terms of what are now common internet practices like tagging. It changed the way we thought about photo sharing and I've long been considering getting myself a paid account just to be able to fully utilize the service. However when I read this article, I did become rather concerned.

The article talks about the plight of Appy, former Flickr user and now the owner of the Badflickr website. It seems that his account was deleted one day for violating the sacred Yahoo! Flickr Terms of Service (TOS) somehow, although it's not clear how exactly he violated it. The main issue is not just the deletion in itself but how Yahoo! Flickr has appears to have decided on the deletion quickly without warning or consulting the user in question - definitely not a nice way to do business with people.

A lot of the user forums question the authenticity of the story and I have to agree that we're not seeing everything here. However, given the dedication of this one person, I have to admit that I think for the most part he is telling the truth.

Moral of the story - be careful what you post. Big brother Yahoo! may be watching.

[The Web] And Now the News...

Similar to what was done in the Geeky Guide entry Battle of the Search Engines, I thought it might be good to look at the various news services of each the major Web 2.0 providers out there. This won't be in the "contest" format used previously, but more of a run-down of what each has to offer.

First up, of course, is Google News, given it is my personal favorite at the moment. The layout of the page is clean and efficient, which remains in line with Google's philosophies around speed in terms of its products. While Google News does not offer original content, it does what Google does best - help you search the web for what is being discussed out there. What makes Google News most unique are the links to related articles it provides so you have the option to read about the event through different perspectives rather than just subscribing to one service. It doesn't necessarily provide favorites and you'll see random news sources every time you visit the page.

While it may not seem to be all that great to read about the same news item over and over again, it does allow one to get a more wholistic view of the story in question and ensuring you don't just limit yourself to one news source. There's another service out there called Newsmap that creates a visual representation of Google News based on the number of articles so you can easily see what appears to be the biggest news item (literally) based on the relative size of the article link on the map. Another good thing about it is the option to customize the layout of the news page if you have a Google Account and recently they've provided the option to search news archives from many years back. On a whim I tried searching for [People Power] using the archive search and it did in fact bring me to articles that go back to 1986, the time of the first People Power revolution. Unfortunately, most if not all of the archive results require payment in order for you to view the full article. At least they help you find it, eh?

Next up is Yahoo! News, perhaps one of the more popular services given its ties to Yahoo!, what remains to be one of the biggest content providers on the web today. Yahoo! News is immediately viewable from the Yahoo! home page, something which is convenient for some while a nuisance to others since it adds to load time just to get to the default search engine. While Google News only attempts to help you find news articles on the web, Yahoo! tries to provide original content, to a degree, while branding the rest of the items under the Yahoo! name. Yahoo! is great since it provides you up-to-the-minute updates from a wide variety of news sources although it does not provide you with alternative sources the same way Google does. Instead of sorting the news by topic or event, they're sorted by content provider.

Customization options for the news page are limited given you need to accept how Yahoo! News presents the information to you. Normally, this means that artciles from the AP are top billed, so to speak. Other benefits of Yahoo! remain focused within the original content arena since it also provides links to top photos, comics and other mixed media.

Windows Live has yet to officially launch its own news service and still relies on its MSN family of services to provide you with content in this area. Like Yahoo!, news items can be viewed from the MSN home page which again slows down load time to an extent.

In terms of actual news, MSN relies on it's tie-up with MSNBC in terms of branding its news content which provides you with more limited resources compared to Google and Yahoo! news services. The only side benefit is probably the links to Newsweek articles, since it too is part of the family of services on the MSNBC side of the house. Because of these tie-ups, MSNBC does provide the most original content, if that's what you're looking for.

Last but not least is Ask.com News Search, which appears to somewhat follow the spartan philosophies of Google in terms of page design while borrowing a page from Yahoo! News in terms of news sources and presentation methods. Again it does not provide links to related articles and follows the "most recent" pattern of updating articles much like Yahoo! News does. Customizations are limited as well and Ask.com also does not necessarily provide original content.

I suppose the question of which news service to use is really up to you. If I may, allow me to throw in my own summary of what each service has to offer. If you want associated results presented quickly, go with Google News. If you want real-time results quickly, go with Ask.com. If you want more original content and have suffucient bandwidth to support additional formatting add-ons, go with Yahoo! News. And if you want predominantly original content similar to what some people may have gotten used to with services like AOL, then go with MSNBC.

[The Web] The Battle of the Search Engines

This week Microsoft announced that Windows Live Search is now out of beta, which more or less means that the search engine is now truly "live" and is a more-or-less finished product. In light of a recent CNET article asking people to reconsider using Google considering the other players in the market, I thought it might be interesting to run a few tests too.

One of the biggest benefits of Google, for me, is how truly relevant the content is, especially since I am a non-US resident. Before Google, searching for content relevant to me and my country especially during my student days was significantly difficult since I had to constantly filter the results until I managed to find what I needed. Google doesn't seem to have that same difficulty and tends to surprise me with maintaining relevancy despite my using obscure local search terms. So for the purposes of this short experiment, let's try a few searches that mean something in my country but can be interpreted in many other ways as well.

First, let's meet our contestants:

1. Google - the current reigning champ with majority market share in the search market
   
2. Yahoo! - a crowd favorite because of its customized content and extra bells and whistles
   
3. Windows Live Search - a newer player in the field from the guys at Microsoft
   
4. Ask.com - the site that used to be known as Ask Jeeves, now a more streamlined search engine known for pretty comprehensive results

Round 1 - Acronyms

On a whim, I thought it might be interesting to see what some local acronyms might result in. I started with [MMDA], a local government agency that manages most of the traffic control in our capital city along with other city beautification projects.

Google brought me the official MMDA website at the top of their results on the first try while Yahoo! only had it as one of the top five results and Live Search didn't even have it on the first page. I was surprised that Ask.com also had the official website at the top of their list. Not bad.

Next up is [PUP], a local university. Google managed to get it right the first time once again by locating the webpage of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines right off the bat. Yahoo! and Ask found the page within its first five results although got a little lost in articles about dogs. Windows Live didn't find it just yet. I can't blame them, they're new at this yet.

Looks like Google has 2 points, Ask has 1 and both Yahoo! and Live Search are at 0 in terms of accuracy although Yahoo! is still pretty close, for the most part.

Round 2 - Names

Continuing the game, I decided to be just plain silly and attempt searching for local personalities with as little information as possible. I started this round with just the search keyword [Piolo], in reference to the local actor Piolo Pascual.

Surprisingly, all four engines got this pretty spot on, leading me to links specifically about the Filipino actor may they be Wikipedia articles or independent fansites. I guess his name is more specific than I thought it would be. Points for everyone!

To continue the annoying thread, I next tried to search for [Jolina], since Jolina Magdangal annoys me beyond belief. This time around, no one got it right on the first try leading me to furniture stores and Tex Mex places. I looked at the next highet results and Google had a link to her official GMA profile, where this is the station that is currently supporting her for now. Everyone else caught up by the third search result, leading us to a variety of fansites for the supposed pop icon.

Everyone has 1 point for this round. I was weighing assigning partial points for the second search term but then that might skew things.

Round 3 - Local Institutions

This round might be similar to the first one, but it's worth a shot. I now wanted to see if they'd lead me to the website of certain local groups or businesses based on my search terms.

I started with something safe and popular - [Ayala] and all search engines except Yahoo! brought me to a relevant page. Google and Live Search brought me to the company's corporate page while Ask brought me to their malls' webpage. Yahoo! goofed since they brought me to a Wikipedia article about some Argentinian soccer player.

The next test was for a more generic name so I opted to add a little to the search by looking for [Sy family]. Points for everyone for bringing us to a Time Magazine article about them and other major asian families except for Live Search which led us to German family or other.

This round has Google and Ask with 2 points, and Live and Yahoo! with 1 point each.

The Verdict:

I know this is not very comprehensive, but I think it's a fair show of where the search engines stand given some samples of more localized content searches. This was just something I wanted to try off the top of my head and should we ever want to revisit this concept in the future, I'm more than open to suggestions on how this experiment should go.

Let's look at the final scores:

1. Google - 5 points
2. Ask.com - 4 points
3. Yahoo! - 2 points
4. Windows Live Search - 2 points

And the winner is Google, with Ask.com coming in a close second. Yahoo! still performed decently although the engine was constantly asking for addtional search terms to narrow the search down. Live Search is clearly showing it's raw nature at this point and the engine definitely needs more time before it starts filtering the results better.

This just goes to support my initial statement about how Google is great for non-US residents looking for relevant data. Even with minimal search terms, it still brought me pretty close to localized content most relevant to my queries even while general. Yahoo! is trying to keep up but relies on localized search terms like philippines for it to identify the need to look for local content. My kudos to Ask.com - they've come a long way from the old Jeeves days when they were only good for looking for academic resources, really. It's fair to say that it's not too bad to use Ask, although I wish they had more supporting services like Google and Yahoo! do today. Perhaps they will in time, eh?

In the future we can try other contests to compare image search results or something of that nature, who knows? I'm pretty sure this is far from over.

What do you think?