Notable changes include the addition of related searches (called “Explorer pane” on the left side of search results), based on semantic technology from PowerSet, a search company Microsoft purchased in 2008, search suggestions as you type, and the ability to keep track of your search history.

Name origin

The word “bing” is onomatopoeic. It typically represents a sound of arrival or conclusion, such as the sound made when an elevator arrives. Microsoft indicated that the name Bing “was memorable, short, easy to spell, and that would function well as a URL around the world” and reminded people of the sound made during “the moment of discovery and decision making.” Steve Ballmer recently revealed in an interview with Wired magazine that his original inspiration for the name came from the character Chandler Bing from the popular US sitcom “Friends”.

Qi Lu, president of Microsoft Online Services, also announced that Bing’s official Chinese name is bì yìng (simplified Chinese: 必应; traditional Chinese: 必應), which literally means “very certain to respond” or “very certain to answer” in Chinese.

While being tested internally by Microsoft employees, Bing’s codename was Kumo, which came from the Japanese word for spider as well as cloud, referring to the manner in which search engines “spider” Internet resources to add them to their database, as well as cloud computing.

Originally, Yahoo! Search started as a web directory of other websites, organized in a hierarchy, as opposed to a searchable index of pages. In the late 1990s, Yahoo! evolved into a full-fledged portal with a search interface and, by 2007, a limited version of selection-based search.

Yahoo! Search, originally referred to as Yahoo! provided Search interface, would send queries to a searchable index of pages supplemented with its directory of sites. The results were presented to the user under the Yahoo! brand. Originally, none of the actual web crawling and storage/retrieval of data was done by Yahoo! itself. In 2001 the searchable index was powered by Inktomi and later was powered by Google until 2004, when Yahoo! Search became independent. Yahoo! Search major competitors are: Google Search, Live Search and Ask Search.

From Yahoo.com Website

Who We Are

• Founded in 1994 by Stanford Ph.D. students David Filo and Jerry Yang, Yahoo! began as a hobby and has evolved into a leading global brand that has changed the way people communicate with each other, conduct transactions and access, share, and create information. Today, Yahoo! Inc. has become the world’s largest global online network of integrated services with more than 500 million users worldwide. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with a presence in more than 20 markets and regions around the globe.

What We Do

• Yahoo! powers and delights our communities of users, advertisers, and publishers – all of us united in creating indispensable experiences, and fueled by trust.

How We Make a Difference

• Yahoo! is also committed to empowering its users and employees through programs, products, and services that inspire people to make a positive impact on their communities. Yahoo! for Good connects people with causes through our products and services, as well as through partnerships with nonprofits such as Global Green, Network for Good, and DonorsChoose. Yahoo! also channels the generosity of its employees through the Yahoo! Employee Foundation, a grassroots philanthropic organization that brings together the talents, time, and financial resources of Yahoo! employees. The foundation has given millions of dollars in grants to organizations around the world.

Other Information

• Type : Public (NASDAQ: YHOO)
• Founded : Santa Clara, California, (March 1, 1995)
• Headquarters : 701 First Avenue, Sunnyvale, California, USA
• Key people :  Carol Bartz, CEO,  Roy J. Bostock, Chairman, Jerry Yang, Co-founder,  David Filo, Co-founder
• Industry :  Internet, computer software

Beyond the original word-search capability, Google Search provides more than 22 special features, such as: weather forecasts, time zones, stock quotes, maps, earthquakes, movie showtimes, airports, home listings, sports scores, etc. There are special features for numbers: prices; money/unit conversions (“10.5 cm in inches”); calculations ( 3*4+sqrt(6)-pi/2 ); package tracking; patents; areas codes; plus rudimentary language translation of displayed pages.

A Google search-results page is ordered by a priority rank called “PageRank” which is kept secret to avoid spammers from forcing their pages to the top. Google Search provides many options for customized search, such as: exclusion (“-xx”), inclusion (“+xx”), alternatives (“xx OR yy”), and wildcard matching (“*”).

From the Website

Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

As a first step to fulfilling that mission, Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed a new approach to online search that took root in a Stanford University dorm room and quickly spread to information seekers around the globe. Google is now widely recognized as the world’s largest search engine — an easy-to-use free service that usually returns relevant results in a fraction of a second.

When you visit www.google.com or one of the dozens of other Google domains, you’ll be able to find information in many different languages; check stock quotes, maps, and news headlines; lookup phonebook listings for every city in the United States; search billions of images and peruse the world’s largest archive of Usenet messages — more than 1 billion posts dating back to 1981.

What’s a Google?

“Googol” is the mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros. The term was coined by Milton Sirotta, nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner, and was popularized in the book, “Mathematics and the Imagination” by Kasner and James Newman. Google’s play on the term reflects the company’s mission to organize the immense amount of information available on the web.

Other Information

• Type :  Public
• Founded : Menlo Park, California (September 4, 1998)
• Founder(s) : Sergey M. Brin, Lawrence E. Page,
• Headquarters : Googleplex, Mountain View, California, United States
• Area served : Worldwide
• Key people : Dr. Eric E. Schmidt, Ph.D. (Chairman) & (CEO) Sergey M. Brin (Technology President),  Lawrence E. Page (Products President)
• Industry : Internet, Computer software

Contact Information

• Google Inc.
  1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
  Mountain View, CA 94043
  Phone: +1 650-253-0000
  Fax: +1 650-253-0001