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Saturday, July 5, 2008

 

Ask.com closes Dictionary.com deal

Ask.com, the fourth-ranked search engine, has completed its acquisition of Lexico Publishing Group, which owns Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, and Reference.com.

Ask.com, a wholly owned subsidiary of InterActiveCorp, had announced the all-cash deal in mid-May. Financial terms of the deal, which closed Thursday, were not released. Lexico, a privately held company based in Long Beach, Calif., debuted in 1995 with Dictionary.com.

Altogether, Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, and Reference.com had more than 28 million unique visitors in March, according to Lexico.

In May, Ask.com said the acquisition would increase its unique monthly users by 11 percent to 145 million.

According to statistics-tracker Hitwise, Ask.com had 4.23 percent of the U.S. search market in May. Microsoft had 5.89 percent, Yahoo had 19.95 percent, and Google overwhelmed them all with 68.29 percent.

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posted by Ashwin Sinha  # 12:16 PM 0 Comments
 
 

Xbox 360 hack lets owners play Netflix movies

People aren't waiting for Microsoft to announce a deal with Netflix.

Someone has already figured out how to hack the Xbox 360 video game console and enable it to play Netflix streaming movies.

At Lifehacker.com, Adam Pash writes that all anyone needs is an Xbox 360, a Windows Vista PC, a Netflix account, and a free Windows Media Center plug-in called vmcNetflix.

Here is some of what Pash says an Xbox 360 owner can do following the hack: stream Watch Now movies directly to the Media Center player; download Watch Now movies to a "Watch Later" gallery; search for movies by keyword; browse DVDs; Watch Now movies by genre; and add, remove, and move movies in your queue.

Of course, this is more functionality than the $100 Netflix Box offers. Roku has received favorable reviews for streaming movies from the Web to television sets without long delays and at a reasonable price.

Soon, a hack may be unnecessary. Rumors are that Microsoft will announce this year that it has cut a deal to deliver Netlix's Watch Now service on the Xbox.

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posted by Ashwin Sinha  # 12:14 PM 0 Comments
 

Friday, June 27, 2008

 

Google Earth Map of Disney World Goes Online
Tourists overwhelmed by the mind-boggling size of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, will now be able to plan their tour with the help of a 3D Google Earth map created by The Walt Disney Co.
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Most visitors to Walt Disney World plan their vacations online, the company says.

The map of the four theme parks and 22 hotels at Disney World shows souvenir shacks, merry-go-round horses and even benches for resting.

Google Earth, an interactive 3D mapping program, allows users to create travelogues by embedding photos, videos and commentary about locations they highlight.

Disney called its entry the largest corporate initiative on Google Earth.

About 100,000 shots from eight photographers went into 1,500 three-dimensional images of a variety of structures at Disney World, the company said Thursday.

Disney's Google Earth entry also contains links to blogs and YouTube videos and information on everything from the minimum rider height for certain attractions to menus at different restaurants.

Nearly nine in 10 park guests plan their vacations online, Disney said.

"Guests and travel planners can now explore our world with just a few clicks of a mouse, and they can book vacations while being immersed in what the destination has to offer," resorts Chairman Jay Rasulo said in a statement.

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posted by Ashwin Sinha  # 12:02 AM 0 Comments