Social search--widely considered to be the push toward enhancing search tools by analyzing the data and behaviors of its users--"is the linchpin of Yahoo's strategy to compete with rival Google," says Reuters. The company is investing heavily in the research and development of a social search application. It has already committed to acquiring new startups that should help achieve its goal. Sites like Flickr, Del.icio.us, Yahoo Answers, Yahoo Groups and Yahoo Mail provide a "unique opportunity to integrate conventional search," says Raghu Ramakrishnan, Yahoo's new chief strategist of social search. The result will be a fusion of human-aided data mixed …

Google Maps for Mobile is a savior for disoriented late-night revelers. Today, the company tacks on a new mobile feature for rush-hour commuters. The Mountain View, Calif. media giant says Google Maps for Mobile now allows users to choose a destination within Google Maps and select "show traffic." The feature highlights road conditions on the map in three colors: red for heavy traffic, yellow for slowdowns, and green for smooth. It also calculates alternate routes to the location. Traffic data will be available in more than 30 major metro areas, and partial information will be provided in a few others. …

Rupert Murdoch can still be surprised. He told The Hollywood Reporter he was stunned by the rapid growth of MySpace since his media conglomerate News Corp. bought parent Intermix Media one year ago. MySpace has had no marketing money spent on it before or after the purchase, he notes. More than anything else, MySpace has proven to be a PR victory for Murdoch and News Corp. To be fair, the site has more than quadrupled its member-base since News Corp. took it over, but it still amounts to little more than a blip on the company's balance sheet. Murdoch, meanwhile, …

The Financial Times reports that MTV has officially made its first big move into social networking, the area dominated by News Corp.'s MySpace. Today, the Viacom company unveiled MTV Flux, a television channel devoted to user-generated content. The service borrows from ideas tested on Web sites in Japan and Italy; it will launch initially in the UK, but will be "monitored very closely" to determine whether it could be successful in other countries. Flux allows people to exchange messages and video clips by computer and mobile phone. It also shows content like music videos chosen by its audience, who display …

Two years after a very public debacle about going public, Google is finding its feet on Wall Street. During that time, its shares have performed exceptionally well. The company's capitalization now totals $118 billion. But ever since its bizarre Dutch-auction IPO, Google has been considered an outsider on the Street: a red-hot technology company with an obscure business model run by a troupe of aloof geniuses. Analysts note that the company once dismissed as being "arrogant" is now winning over the skeptics. "It is not as if [Google is] spilling the family secrets today. It's just that it doesn't feel, …

Microsoft is readying its answer to Apple's iPod, which will reportedly be called "Zune" and will contain the following features: Wi-Fi connectivity, video playback, Xbox integration, and a mobile community feature for enthusiasts to interact with each other. Songs will be offered at a variety of download and subscription prices, rather than the flat $1 fee Apple charges on iTunes. In its bid to overtake Apple at the top of the online music business, Microsoft has a few obstacles to overcome. First, millions of consumers own iPods, which means they're also iTunes members. Second, thousands are waiting to upgrade their …

Advertisers are creating and distributing videos on sites like YouTube and Google Video, hoping they'll be distributed by thousands of Web users, reports Business Week. For that powerful chain of events to take place, marketers have to create something compelling enough for a legion of anonymous users to want to share it with friends. "If you entertain your audience, they will get it, and the viral mechanism will make the audience come to watch you," says Ed Robinson, an ad executive and Web site owner who attracted more than 60,000 people in one week to his Web site with a …

Google's second-quarter results were excellent, but that apparently wasn't good enough for Wall Street, which has come to expect stellar returns from the Mountain View, Calif. search company, reports CNN Money. Shares fell 6 percent yesterday following its earnings report, on concerns about the company's valuation, the possibility of increased search competition, and the usual gripe: lack of revenue diversification. Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Sasa Zorovic says Google is probably the victim of "unreasonably lofty expectations," given that the company's wow-factor continues to decline after consistently beating analysts' forecasts. "My sense is they didn't beat by enough. It's a very …

ESPN should "throw in the towel" on its branded mobile phone service, according to Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen, who says its proved to be a failure, reports Mediaweek. During Super Bowl XL, Disney launched the mobile service with considerable fanfare, but several price cuts later, the sports outfit is still struggling to add paying subscribers. The original ESPN Sanyo handset, which launched at $399 (yikes), is now available free of charge--after a $29 mail-in rebate. The price of its Samsung model also dropped as low as $99 in April. Reif Cohen said in her research note, "the model …

The Cartoon Network is hiring South Korean company Grigon Entertainment to help it produce a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) in the vein of "World of Warcraft" and "Everquest," reports the Associated Press. In Asia, MMOGs have been a huge success, especially among teens and tweens. These games get massive usage and are often free to play, monetized by advertising and/or a game-based commerce system in which users pay to give their avatars, or user-controlled players, anything from power-ups to new homes to relics. The Cartoon Network game, which is yet to be named, will feature popular characters like Mac, …