http://www.searchengineworld.com/microsoft/ en-us http://www.searchengineworld.com/gfx/wmwbutton.gif http://www.searchengineworld.com 109 33 /microsoft/3458182.htm Microsoft has changed the look of its Internet search engine Live Search, adding a background photograph that contains several clickable areas in an effort aimed at attracting more people to the third most used search engine in the United States. /microsoft/3458014.htm Microsoft has purchased San Francisco-based Powerset, an Internet search engine startup founded in October 2005 that specializes in so-called semantic search techniques. /microsoft/3457882.htm Microsoft has struck an online video advertisement deal with Redwood City, California-based startup ad network YuMe that will that will see the Redmond, Washington-based software giant use YuMe as a backup to serve online ads for its unsold inventory. /microsoft/3457762.htm Microsoft has struck an exclusive search distribution deal that will add a custom toolbar featuring its Live Search on all new consumer computers made by the world's biggest PC manufacturer Hewlett-Packard beginning in January 2009. /microsoft/3457714.htm Microsoft has abandoned its efforts to scan books and academic journals and will shut down Live Search Books and Live Search Academic as part of a shift towards focusing on areas of Internet search that have "high commercial intent." /microsoft/3457681.htm Microsoft has added online travel comparison and shopping services to its Live Search Web search engine, and introduced a rebate program that pays United States users money for purchases made using the new Live Search Cashback shopping service. /microsoft/3457567.htm In the wake of its unsuccessful takeover bid for Web pioneer Yahoo, Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft will focus on the pursuit of "independent paths," according to co-founder and chairman Bill Gates speaking in Tokyo Tuesday. /microsoft/3457543.htm On Saturday, following more than three months of unproductive negotiations, Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft withdrew its offer to purchase Sunnyvale, California-based Web pioneer Yahoo and was left to consider other measures to help combat the increasingly large role Google plays in the current Internet business. /microsoft/3457411.htm Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft confirmed Thursday that it had acquired Seattle-based Internet travel fare prediction firm Farecast, in a previously unannounced deal that closed on April 9. /microsoft/3457390.htm Microsoft has quietly launched a news aggregator Web site that incorporates both top national and international news stories along with local news in a format that also prominently features video news clips, with a new service called Live Search News.