Hasta La Gadget!

Before there were the Google, Bing, and Yahoo search engines, there was AltaVista. Launching in 1995, the search engine became wildly popular, but as Google launched and other big companies followed suit with their own search engines, AltaVista quickly fell behind. However, Yahoo (who owns AltaVista) will be shutting down the classic search engine on July 8.

Yahoo says that they’re shutting down AltaVista in effort to “sharpen” their focus on newer products, and the company is asking AltaVista users (if they still exist) to begin using Yahoo Search for now on, and the AltaVista URL will automatically redirect to Yahoo Search for now on.

AltaVista was acquired by Yahoo in 2003 after being the exclusive provider of search results for Yahoo starting in 1996, and it was a search engine that was far ahead of its competition in the mid-90s when it launched because it was able to index over 20 million websites, thanks to its innovative web “crawler” technology. Of course, it’s not so revolutionary anymore, as most big search engines have that type of technology.

The AltaVista shutdown is just one instance of a range of shutdowns that Yahoo recently announced. The other Yahoo services that are being axed may not be as well-known as AltaVista, but some niche users may be disappointed by some other shutdowns occurring at the company. FoxyTunes and Yahoo RSS Alerts were shut down yesterday, and the Neighbors Beta, as well as the Downloads Beta and Local API will shutting down later this month.

SOURCE: Yahoo

AltaVista search engine shutting down next week is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This month is Pride month here in the United States, a time when Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered folks across the nation celebrate their existence in parties, parades, and events galore. Google has once again come forth with a little gem of an easter egg for the masses with a rainbow-flavored search bar surrounding all

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Google faces good news and bad in Europe this week, with potential vindication over what personal data it can index but vocal rejection of its proposed concessions around equality in search. The search giant has been facing attacks from multiple directions in recent months, with the EC investigating whether it contravened privacy laws or acted

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With Google‘s dominance in the search engine realm, it’s hard to compete, but Yahoo‘s trying their best and they think a redesign will do the trick. The company outed a new look for their search page in the US, claiming that it “puts your results front and center,” getting rid of a bit of clutter

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We knew it would end up getting criticism from the start, but Kim Dotcom’s recently-launched Mega website is getting the stink-eye from movie studios in Hollywood. While Dotcom claims that his new service is completely legal, studios like NBC Universal and Warner Bros. think the contrary, and have asked Google to take down the website from search results.

Both movie studios have sent DMCA takedown notices to Google, saying that their copyrighted content is hosted on Mega and they want it taken down. Of course, Google receives takedown notices all the time, so this kind of thing is nothing new, but the fact that Mega’s founder is confident of the service’s legality has him up in arms with movie studios.

NBC Universal and Warner Bros. have asked Google to de-list the Mega.co.nz homepage from Google, but the homepage itself actually doesn’t include any links to files, making it a bit of a strange request. However, this could simply mean that the studios want the homepage, as well as all subdirectories to be removed.

Dotcom is aware of the takedown notices sent from these two movie studios, and he doesn’t agree with them one bit, saying that “the constant abuse of takedown rules and the ignorance of DMCA obligations by the content industry are based on the confidence that the current US administration is protecting this kind of behavior.” He also says that a takedown notice for Mega would be “the ultimate takedown by the content industry.”

Of course, this isn’t the first time that Dotcom has been put through this kind of abuse. Before he launched Mega, he ran Megaupload, which was eventually shut down due to the service hosting copyrighted content. He even had his house raided by police and federal officials, before he eventually was able to get back on his feet and launch Mega, which many anti-piracy advocates suggest is just exactly like Megaupload with a different name.

VIA: TorrentFreak

SOURCE: Chilling Effects (1), (2)

Mega under Hollywood fire: Google tapped to block search results is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.