Search Engine Update - Who's Out There Shaking Things Up?

Bits and bobs to keep up with search engine product updates: YouTube, Wolfram|Alpha, Bing Maps and more.

YouTube has extended video upload limit on its site to 15 minutes from 10 minutes previously. Joshua Siegel, Product Manager, Upload and Video Management, said in a blog post that the decision came in response to users’ requests and was made possible by the use of Content ID. To buzz the upgrade, the company is calling on users to shoot their own “15 minutes of fame.”

Wolfram|Alpha, the computational knowledge engine, has launched a beta version of its new Widget Builder tool, allowing to create fully customizable interactive applications across the web… The best part? It doesn’t require to be a technically savvy person to do create your own. The company already has “hundreds” of such apps, all for free and totally customizable. The official launch is expected to take place during the holiday season this year.

Google Places API, announced at Google I/O in May this year, reported on the Google Geo Developers Blog that they have “begun reaching out to developers who have expressed an interest in building check-in applications using the API”. In the blog post, Google strongly recommend that any developers who have already applied to use this API review their application forms to ensure they have indicated an interest in using the Check-in service to increase their chances of being accepted.

Yippy, a cloud based ‘family friendly’ search engine and browser devoted to ‘safe search’ has made an interesting move into developing a “Yippy” branded search for the Nintendo Wii console. We spoke directly with Richard Granville, CEO, Yippy Inc, who discussed his aims to take off some of the burden on parents to make browsing the internet a safer place for children under the age of 16. Targeting the Wii platform was part of a wider move to bring their safe search product, which includes content blocking syphers, to family orientated devices.

“The family market is the most underserved market for online activities. There is nothing more important than protecting a child’s innocence from being robbed by the Internet’s easy access to morally reprehensible material. And unlike Google, Yippy’s browser and search programs do not track the user with respect to online activities. American families who demand a responsible, conservative and effective web surf/search environment are showing their support of Yippy as we continue to attract more and more users daily.”

Yippy and sister site, Clusty, attract 225 thousand unique visitors a month and is monetized via a partnership with Ask Jeeves. Starting from August 30th, and targeting parents with kids returning to school, Yippy will be featured on the Fox News Channel through a minimum 4-week nationally televised advertising campaign. The 30 second TV spots will air nationally on Fox News Channel’s Glenn Beck show and on the Cavuto show on the Fox Business Network and will also be supported by a rich media campaign on GlennBeck.com and FoxNews.com over the same period.

“The Fox News network’s championship of a conservative America mirrors Yippy’s values,” said Richard Granville, CEO, Yippy Inc. “Glenn Beck’s and Neil Cavuto’s viewership fits Yippy’s highly moral, conservative, family friendly values.”

Microsoft researchers demoed their new maps concept dubbed Streetslide, a spinoff concept of Bing Streetside, at SIGGRAPH 2010 in Los Angeles this week. The main aim of the service is to offer a panoramic view of a street, so that more can be seen at glance about a street, including traffic signs and brand logos for shops. You can check it out in the video below:

This post was co-written by Liva Judic (Youtube/Wolfram Alpha) & Jonathan Allen (Google Places/ Yippy/ Bing Streetslide)