Hasta La Gadget!

Google has been taking advantage of its sheer domination of search to act as a custodian for human culture, whether it’s famous artwork or wonders of the world. The most direct example of this archival impulse may have arrived today through the launch of historical exhibitions at the (virtual-only) Google Cultural Institute. Starting with 42 exhibitions, the project delves into major historical events with both a guided, mixed-media tour as well as the kind of free-form exploration you’d expect from Google, such as hunting down a specific person, place or time range. The focus helps Google tell both textbook-level history as well as private stories. Though small at present, the collection is taking further submissions that could lead to a much broader internet resource for learning — an expansion that we can’t help but embrace.

Continue reading Google offers historical exhibitions, wields its search powers to tell untold stories (video)

Filed under: Internet, Alt, Google

Google offers historical exhibitions, wields its search powers to tell untold stories (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Oct 2012 01:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Anyone who’s been holding on to Yahoo shares through thick and thin is about to reap the rewards of that patience. As the company promised, it’s starting to sell back half its stake in Alibaba, closing the first stage of the deal with the equivalent of $7.6 billion in pure revenue. The struggling search and content firm ‘only’ pockets a net $4.3 billion after taxes and other overhead costs, but it won’t even see that much in its bank account: it’s purposefully sending $3.65 billion of that money to shareholders, both to inspire new confidence and (unofficially) to head off activist investors like Dan Loeb that might otherwise want a coup d’état. If share owners plan on using the second stage of the sale to fund a vacation to Maui, though, they’ll need to wait. Yahoo’s deal prevents it from selling half of its remaining 23 percent stake unless Alibaba files for an initial public offering, and there’s no guarantee that investors will see another dime of the proceeds.

Continue reading Yahoo starts selling half of its Alibaba stake as promised, sends $3.65 billion to giddy shareholders

Filed under: Internet

Yahoo starts selling half of its Alibaba stake as promised, sends $3.65 billion to giddy shareholders originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 10:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If Google’s angle is that it actually works really well, Bing’s is that it’s a “social search engine.” And the latter’s new Friend Tagging feature lives up to that promise, tapping the social network you actually use to aide your search results. More »