Google Maps has launched a collaborative map-making feature that lets you invite people to contribute to a map you have created.

Map makers can ask friends or family to contribute, or click the “Allow anyone to edit this map” to make it open to anyone. The new feature makes it easier for multiple people to plan events on Google Maps.

Read more: webuser.co.uk 

Labels: feature, Maps, share

Yahoo isn't giving up on search. It is, however, giving up on trying to catch Google by offering users just another set of "ten blue links," Vish Makhijani, general manager of Yahoo! Search told InternetNews.com.

To that end, Yahoo today re-launched its search, replete with special features designed to improve the experience and better enable rapid, accurate searching. Chiefly, that will be due to the new Yahoo Search Assist feature and efforts to integrate audio, video and photos into general Web search results.

Makhijani characterized Search Assist as a "step beyond" pre-filled search queries; It's a drop-down menu that allows searchers to narrow and broaden their queries by topic and concepts, delivered via an AJAX interface. There's also a new feature called Yahoo! Search Shortcuts, which integrates ratings, reviews, photos, and official websites into a box at the top of a search results page.

The new features are supposed to differentiate Yahoo from crowd of search engines that are starting to look all the same.

Full article: internetnews.com 

Labels: Ajax, feature, photo, search, Web, Yahoo

The Google Reader Blog announced several new features for Google Reader. The big feature is search. You can now search your subscriptions, including subscriptions to shared items.

Google Reader also enhanced the unread count numbers to show up to 1,000, as opposed to up to 100 unread subscriptions. Plus, you can now hide the left hand pane and use your back and forward browser buttons.

Read more: searchengineland.com 

Labels: feature, reader, search, subscriptions

Some time last week, Google expanded Google Earth with Google Sky. As fascinating as Google Sky is, that's not the focus of this post. Along with the latest update comes a hidden feature of which I cannot seem to find any other information about. It's not in the release notes and a search on Google produces no results. Seems Google have done one of their unpublicised updates they're becoming well-known for.

What I'm talking about is a flight simulator embedded within GE. Sounds awesome, doesn't it? If the thought amazes you as much as it did me, then might have run off and tried it for yourself. But there's a problem. Remember what I said above - it's a hidden feature!

Read more: marco-za.blogspot.com 

Labels: Earth, feature, Flight, simulator