Microsoft Kumo Search Program Revealed

Microsoft is starting to leak out information on a new search engine they are working on to combat the web supremacy that Google and Yahoo have over it currently. The search project dubbed Kumo, which in Japanese means either spider or cloud is set to create something new in the world of how search is done in the first place.

The idea is to incorporate this new search feature into Microsoft's Live Search. This new search engine will be creating a new era of searching by using a visual approach and returning searches based on what it sees in just a wink of the image or a simple glance. Microsoft's Steve Ballmer is set to make an announcement today at the Microsoft MVP 09 Summit on this new project.

Currently, the beta testing for this project is being done internally only and not being released to the public. I caught wind of a possible url for the search engine: www.kumo.com.

But, when i went to the link, I got an Access Denied, You don't have permission to access "http://www.kumo.com/" on this server.Reference #18.675b1208.1236189015.8974c0d page popping up. The new search engine is set to be released in the new few years.

This project sounds like a great idea, but it is going to be an uphill battle for Microsoft to wage against search Kings Google and Yahoo that currently control the lead in search. Microsoft will need to create something new and different that works to sway the popular masses from the current Kings of search. If they can get this search engine to work the way its supposted to, that might be the key to becoming more popular then they were before.

This venture will require more then just simple relaunching or rebranding of Live Search.
Good Luck Microsoft you will need it.

Microsoft Quietly Working on Live Search Service (Daily Tech)
Does Microsoft's Kumo Herald an Era of Visual Search? (PCworld)
Has Microsoft found the answer to Google? Search Me (InfoWorld)

Google - Site Warnings mis-informed

(image found on zdnet)
Update: Google has fixed the issue that was giving people a mis-informed warning about sites they were searching for using the Google search engine.

"Google shows the problem this morning with the entire internet, with all sites. In the beginning I thought the problem may be local, but then I saw other news services reporting the problem from around the world.

Here is what they say.

Google Blows Up, Suggests the Internet is Harmful writes Aaron Brazell from Technosailor. "It appears some sort of bug has snuck into the Google secret sauce. A feature that was intended to warn users of potential phishing sites has jumped the shark declaring the internet harmful. That’s right, every single result is deemed by Google to be harmful."

Google search currently broken, warnings on every query writes Neowin from Netherlands. Digital Lifestyle says "Google Breaks." Google has broken in a major way. If you search for anything on Google search, the warning message “This Site May Harm Your Computer” appears underneath each of the results."

The problem seems to be widespread accross the world. It is noticed by itWire from Australia, ThaIndian from Thailand and from UK. Thaindian reported the news at roughly 9:40 pm on 31st Jan 2008 (Thai time GMT +7).

At this time no word from Google that we know of. Hopefully the engineers are working to solve this issue ASAP. It affects not only the search engine but the credibility of the websites. Expect some webmasters receiving emails where the visitors may complain about the risks of the websites.

Apparently something bad was happening in the search engine this morning that effected all the webmasters. However, it's good that it seems to be fixed now. At least I don't see those messages from North Carolina at 10:30AM EST."

As many of us get up in the morning to check out some of the sites on the web, many people were greeted with an assortment of website warnings from reputable sites on the Google search. It turns out that an update of an issue on Google evolved into a headache for all. Google has informed the public that it is on the issue and a fix is in the mix.

Google search suffers outage (zdnet)

Google Fixes Search Bug Affecting Internet Search (Huliq news)