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Peer-to-peer search engine to take on Google

Free software activists are set to take on the search heavyweights with their own peer-to-peer search engine . YaCy, – a free search engine – are hoping to usurp the likes of Bing, Google and Yahoo with a ‘new approach’ to search. Instead of using a central server like conventional search engines , YaCy gets results from a network of independent ‘peers’ – users who have downloaded YaCy software. The decentralisation idea behind the new search engine is that no single entity decides on the search results or the order in which results appear, but rather, results are generated from a network of private companies and contributing peer operators. “Most of what we do on the Internet involves search.

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Peer-to-peer search engine to take on Google

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Yahoo snaps up interclick

The search industry’s perennial underdog, Yahoo , has acquired advertising and tech software company interclick for $270 million (

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Yahoo! hustles display ad deal to fend off Facebook

Carol Bartz may have just left the building , but Yahoo!’s newest CEO Tim Morse is already attempting to boost the portal’s performance and fill the firm’s coffers by flash-selling display adverts. According to The Financial Times , Yahoo!’s top brass are hustling to secure a mutual ad-selling arrangement with Microsoft and AOL in a bid to ramp up ad revenues and stop Facebook from toppling Yahoo! in the US display-advertising market. All three firms have remained tight-lipped on the issue, but industry sources let slip that the trio seem close to finalising a deal after making successful pitches to New York ad buyers earlier this week. Details are still thin on the ground but it’s thought that each of the firm’s mad men sold premium ad space on their own pages to Manhattan buyers, as well as second-tier slots on partner sites. The move could make buying display ads across Yahoo! , Microsoft and AOL as quick and easy as buying search-related ads on Google . However, critics have been quick to note that each firm can only guarantee premium space on its own network

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Yahoo! hustles display ad deal to fend off Facebook

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Twitter sues Twittad for rights to ‘tweet’ trademark

Twitter is suing online advertising service Twittad in an attempt to win trademark registration for the word ‘tweet’. Twitter already owns trademarks ‘retweet’ and ‘cotweet’, yet were beat to it by third-party developers Twittad, which filed its application for the ‘tweet’ trademark back in 2008 as part of its strapline, “let your ad meet tweets”. The microblogging site, with over 100 million active users across the globe, has a view to reclaiming the trademark and the lawsuit marks commencement of a fierce battle over who is the rightful owner of the term. Outlining its reasons for legal action, Twitter said in its lawsuit file that Twittad’s use “unfairly exploits the widespread association by the consuming public of the mark TWEET with Twitter, and threatens to block Twitter from its registration and legitimate uses of its own mark.” Third-party developers have long been a thorn in the side of Twitter, not only in terms of trademark issues but also through the development of unique tools that use the site to aid their businesses. Take, for example, Tweetdeck and the Tweetie iPhone app. Both monetised on the microblogging phenomenon, but also found themselves acquired by Twitter, who continue to snap up other third parties. Guardian tech blogger Jemima Kiss suggested the lawsuit is about far more than simple terminology for Twitter. “What this trademark battle is about, though, is not terminology, but about asserting control over interaction with users that ultimately leads to revenue. Would Twitter be using a lawsuit to aggressively pursue a trademark if it was being used by anything other than an advertising company?” In a direct move, Twitter has suspended Twittad’s account for the time being

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Twitter sues Twittad for rights to ‘tweet’ trademark