Industry News

This week in search
Local search was a central focus of all the players at the annual Search Engine Strategies conference. [CNet]

Google removes 'beta' from desktop search
Google has made its desktop search widely available as it takes on rivals MSN and Yahoo in the race to help users find e-mail and files stored on computer hard drives. [Reuters UK]

Ya-Mobile!
Yahoo! is not necessarily an innovator these days. But it is usually good at catching up fast, especially with acquisitions. [Fool]

Yahoo is testing a Google Adsense competitor
SiliconValleyWatcher has confirmed that Yahoo, through its advertising network Overture, has started testing a competitor to Google Adsense-the hugely profitable advertising network. [SilconValleyWatcher]

Google adds weather forecasts
As a result of Google's 20% program, which allows its employees to devote one-fifth of their time to a project of their choosing, the search engine can now pull up instant weather forecasts. [Beta News]

Google sniffs around VoIP conference
A team of Google honchos met this week with several net telephone service providers, renewing speculation that the search giant may be exploring a move into the fast-growing market. [Silicon]

Hackers 'poison' search engine results
Security watchers have warned that online criminals may be subverting search engines, such as Google and Yahoo, in a bid to direct unwitting internet users to web pages containing malware. [VNUNet UK]

Google Suggest goes Japanese
Google has released a beta version of Google Suggest which uses Japanese characters. Google Suggest attempts to predict what the user is trying to search for even as the keywords are typed into the search engine.

Daum Eyes W500 Billion Sales in 2005
It has set the sales goal for the overseas new media division, which includes Lycos of the U.S. and Taon of Japan, at 65 billion won. [The Korea Times]

Lib Dems top online searches
The Liberal Democrats have become the most searched for political party in the UK, according to new data. [Net Imperative]