Two days and two cool Google logos. That was the bouncing balls yesterday and today the logo begins in gray and ends in color. Well, the color actually fills in as you type what you are looking for in the search box. Looks like Google is prepping something in regards to a live search announcement. more »

Microsoft is still trying it’s hardest to compete with Google and Yahoo! for your internet searching. It’s still trying to buy companies to do so, though it succeeded in the acquisition this time. To help with search results, Microsoft has bought Greenfield Online, the company responsible for ciao.com. Ciao.com is a European price comparison search more »

Google Maps is experimenting with speech recognition technology for its mobile users. The lucky guinea pigs are owners of the Blackberry Pearl 8110, 8120, and 8130 in the US. This is the same voice search technology that they use in their free directory service, GOOG-411.

This service proves to be very useful for many mobile users who lack the time or patience to type the long names of the places they want to go to. It will hopefully also add a level if safety as it could help to keep peoples hands and eyes off their phones and on the road, because even knowing the danger people still insist on using a mobile phone while driving. Here are the simple steps:

Worth about $20 billion, the search engine industry no doubt belongs to online giant Google. According to the market research firm comScore, Google currently holds 61.6% of the search engine market, while Microsoft only holds 9.1%. After failing to buyout Yahoo, it appears Microsoft is shifting its game plan. In an effort to gain market share from Google, Microsoft has now launched a cashback program to users of its Live Search, the company’s online search engine. The program works by offering visitors rebates on products they buy through using the search engine. Microsoft says that 700 merchants offering over 10 million products are participating in the program. Merchants include: Barnes & Noble, Circuit City, eBay, Foot Locker, Sears, OfficeMax, Home Depot, and Hewlett-Packard, to name a few. The participating merchants have agreed to pay Microsoft a fee for each purchased product generated through Live Search. Microsoft will then forward the fee to the user (buyer) in the form of a rebate (up to 30% of the purchase price).

Microsoft is going to add new features to the Live Search found on BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices, according to a keynote speech made by Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division, at CTIA wireless 2008. One of the changes in the Live Search feature for BlackBerry devices is the addition of voice-enabled more »