In November 2011 Google sites made up for 65.4% in comScore’s ‘Explicit Core Search Share Report’, followed by Yahoo! sites with 15.1% and Microsoft sites with 15%, one month later and Google sites made up for 65.9% of the explicit core search share followed by Microsoft sites with 15.1% and Yahoo! sites with 14.5%. As you can see Yahoo! sites lost out on -0.6% in just one month, this was eaten up mainly by Google, but Microsoft gained 0.1% of Yahoo!’s share.

There are a lot of factors which aren’t taken into account in these figures, but no-matter how you look at the current search share it shows that Bing is a huge step in the right direction when compared to Live Search, Windows Live Search, and MSN Search. It will be interesting to see if Bing can build upon this and perhaps become a serious competitor to Google search, we doubt it, but two search engines competing against eachother is great for the consumers who use them as both Google and Microsoft will work hard to make their search engines better than the rivals.

Having used Google on a daily basis for years now I find it hard to remember to use Bing, however it has to be said that at times Bing results are on a par with, or better than Google’s results. We can’t really see Google ever being overtaken by Bing, but if Google search was taken offline we could rest assured in knowing that Bing is a great alternative.

Did you switch from Google search to Bing? If so, why?

AOL’s CEO Tim Armstrong is trying scare tactics to get the deal to go through, and has even told shareholders that if they do not go ahead with a deal with Yahoo, then they will have to go it alone in a market that is now much tougher. Talks between the two started back in 2010, we are now in 2011 and things have progressed at a very slow pace, but there are loads of factors that need to be taken into consideration.

Some of these factors include the worth of AOL assets, how they would shape the company in the future and how they can get the most value for the company.

According to sources, the deal is worth anywhere from $1 to $1.5 billion in savings, which is a pretty big difference. The way in which these savings could be made is simple really, as they will then share data centers, and also news, entertainment and sports websites.

Armstrong has the best intentions for Yahoo, who left Google back in 2009. However, the hopes that he would bring them back to their former glory has not gone how they had hoped. We have to ask ourselves if this is a last ditch effort to save the AOL?

The new mobile app is called Yahoo! AppSpot. The service will also be available via the web browser at Yahoo App Search for those that do not wish to download the app to their mobile device. As well as finding apps the Yahoo! AppSpot app also recommends apps to users.

The way in which this app is unique to similar ones on the market according to Yahoo is instead of just providing a list of ‘Top Apps’ which would tend to be the same every day; it also would suggest apps that are personal to users’ taste so the list would differ every day.

It is able to do this as it searches your library and from the apps already purchased or downloaded can filter what you would be interested in. according to the article at PCMag, it will only search the library with your permission.

What do you think of this new app from Yahoo? Will you be using it?

You can find out fully detailed information regarding this map via iTunes, the app is 21MB in size so shouldn’t take too long to install, however you must be running iOS 4.0 or later.

According to the app’s official description when you compare this app version (2.1) to previous releases you will notice an iPad-optimized layout, improved spam management and lots of bug fixes, one of which caused unexpected sign-out issues. If you run Yahoo! Messenger 2.1 on your iPad 2 you will be able to make voice and video calls to compliant devices.

Other functionality is the same as before, you will still be able to easily share photos and videos, send free SMS messages and make low-cost international calls. If you have never used any versions of the app before you will be glad to hear that Yahoo! Messenger runs in the background and you receive notifications when an instant message arrives.

If you own an iPad or iPad 2 give the app a try and come back to tell us whether it is up to much, share your thoughts in the comments section below. What other changes and improvements would you like to see?

There are four new app versions to install, if you are accessing this article from your BlackBerry simple click on the download links to install the apps over-the-air. You can download AIM v2.5.78 here, GTalk v2.5.81 here, Yahoo! v2.5.81 here and Windows Live Messenger v2.5.81 here.

We have checked the CrackBerry forums and most people seem to be able to install these app versions without any issues as long as they are running OS 6.0. Don’t be too surprised if certain versions of OS 6 experience difficulties with some of the new apps as there are lots of builds out there, therefore it wouldn’t be a surprise if there were some compatibility issues for some.

Sadly we cannot find a changelog for these app versions, therefore the only way to see what’s new is to install them yourself. Give them a try and let us know which app you like the most and what significant changes you have noticed.

According to a recent article over on the mobiltor.com website (via the official Flickr blog), the Flickr for WP7 app has been updated several times since it was released onto the Marketplace a week or so ago. Version 1.1 enables users to view photos on high-resolution displays.

If users tap on a specific photo, the Flickr application – which is now available to download through the Windows Phone Marketplace – automatically changes it to a full-screen lightbox view enabling them to zoom in and enlarge the image for a closer look.

The photo app also includes a geo-location functionality, which will display your photos on an interactive, full-screen map. This feature also enables users to view nearby geo-tagged photos from the Flickr community. Sharing photos via email, Twitter and Facebook has also been made easy with the Flickr app.

Do you own a Windows Phone 7 handset? If so, have you already downloaded or will you be downloading the Flickr photo sharing app?

There are a number of reasons why they have gone ahead with the merger, the first is to cut costs, and the second is to try and put a stop to the Google domination. It is no secret that Google has been top dog in the search engine market – well when was the last time you heard someone say they will Yahoo it?

According to an article on WSJ by John Letzing, this is just the first phase of the merger; tests are still ongoing for the transition with advertisers for both Yahoo and Microsoft. Bing is now considered to be a first-rate search engine, but now it is time to get the right kind of marketing – only then will the two companies threaten Google.

The idea is simple really; two companies joining forces will be able to draw more users going for the same keywords, something that would have been watered down when they were two separate entities. For a detailed look at Yahoo and Microsoft’s futures continue reading the WSJ article.

Reports suggest that the website is now back up and running, but just hours ago DownRightNow.com, and various tweets over the internet were indicating that the website was unavailable around 2:45PM ET, and was down for around an hour.

Many Yahoo! Account users took to Twitter to report that it was Yahoo’s first ever downtime in their entire internet history, and come to think of it, I can not remember a time when I could not visit the website. Saying that, I don’t frequent there very often.

Was Yahoo down for you? Can you access it now?

Source: Huffington Post

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Brian Womack at businessweek.com is reporting in an article that the partnership will boost Yahoo’s home listings up from 3 million to 4 million. “There is a lot of demand to be on Yahoo! Real Estate, but we’re effectively not serving that hyperlocal advertising need,” Schultz says. “This partnership changes that.” Said head of Yahoo’s real estate service Steve Schultz.

Yahoo is currently 3rd in the online real estate market with 6.14 million users, behind Zillow.com with 7.05 million, and Move Inc who have more than 12 million users.

This partnership will allow the companies to make more of a challenge to Move Inc, the most popular real estate site. So far the financial terms of the deal have not been announced, and the two companies hope to have their services fully integrated by the end of the year.

Associated Content, one of the largest article, photo, audio and video based content portal on the Internet currently has over 16 million monthly users and Yahoo! say that they hope to bring the content which is collected by some 380,000 contributors to their 600 million plus users, as well as thousands of advertisers.

Yahoo! also mention that they want to expand the Associated Content label, which is focused more in the US, to the rest of the world, adding more contributors and consumers to the project.

Once one of the most powerful media and search portals, it seems as though Yahoo! are trying to regain what they have lost in the past, and with a new slideshow feature bringing them back up in the running, plus the Associated Content acquisition, it seems like they will do just that.

Source: eWeek