Amazon.com sets up new search site Google partnership a sign of broader focus.Byline: Matthew Fordahl; The Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. SAN JOSE San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. , Calif. Online retailer Amazon.com quietly launched an Internet search service yesterday, jumping into a marketplace already crowded with tools and promised offerings from Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft. The service, in test mode for now, is operated by a Palo Alto Palo Alto, city, California Palo Alto (păl`ō ăl`tō), city (1990 pop. 55,900), Santa Clara co., W Calif.; inc. 1894. Although primarily residential, Palo Alto has aerospace, electronics, and advanced research industries. , Calif.-based subsidiary and branded separately from Amazon's retail business. Like its competitors, Amazon's A9.com offers both a Web site and an Internet Explorer Microsoft's Web browser, which comes with Windows starting with Windows 98. Commonly called "IE," versions for Mac and Unix are also available. Internet Explorer is the most widely used Web browser on the market. It has also been the browser engine in AOL's Internet access software. toolbar A row or column of on-screen buttons used to activate functions in the application. Many toolbars are customizable, letting you add and delete buttons as required. Toolbars may be fixed in position or may float, which means they can be dragged to a more convenient location in the from which users can enter search terms. Searches also can be limited to just Amazon.com products, as well as the text of books available at Amazon.com. Internet search tools an industry now dominated by Google will be a core component of any major Internet or operating-system player in the future, analysts say. Microsoft is expected to launch its own homegrown search technology later this year. A9's service currently relies heavily on a partnership with Google, which supplies many of the search results, and Amazon's Alexa subsidiary, which provides traffic, other sites of interest and additional information on specific Web sites. Search results also include text ads from Google's sponsored links program. Alison Diboll, an A9 spokeswoman, declined to say whether the company eventually plans to create its own search technology. She confirmed that Amazon plans to use the technology to serve both its online store and the rest of the Web. "Having this e-commerce search technology as a separate company is part of Amazon's continuing development from an online retailer to a technology-services company," she said. Google currently partners with more than 130 companies to supply search results, Google spokesman David Krane said. "A core component of our business ... has been providing access to Google from a number of entry points on the Web," he said. Some filtering does appear to be taking place. A search of the word "porn" on A9, for instance, returned links to articles on the war against pornography, documentaries and anti-porn groups. A Google search Google is owned by Google, Inc. whose mission statement is to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful". The largest search engine on the web, Google receives several hundred million queries each day through its various services. on the same term returns actual porn sites. Unlike other Internet search tools, users sign onto A9.com with a username and password from their regular Amazon.com account. A9 also offers an anonymous site that does not require a user name and password but lacks some features. A9's toolbar, which appears in Internet Explorer Web browsers The following is a list of web browsers. Historical Historically important browsers In order of release:
jot write - communicate or express by writing; "Please write to me every week" notes about a particular Web site. Once entered, the notes can be read from any computer, after the user has logged on. The service also stores the addresses of sites visited. A9 made a strong effort to word its privacy policy in plain English, DiBoll said. Beth Givens, director of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC) is a project of the Utility Consumers' Action Network (UCAN), an American 501(c)(3) non-profit consumer advocacy organization. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse is devoted to upholding the right to privacy and protecting consumers against identity in San Diego, agreed. "I will give them kudos for the privacy policy in terms of its format, its readability and the fact they're giving viewers examples (of how information will be used)," she said. She also said A9 appears to be less invasive than Google's proposed free Gmail e-mail service, which will electronically scan messages so it can distribute relevant ads alongside incoming messages. |
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