The Hindu Business Line : Yahoo working on making Web simple, more useful

Yahoo's researchers are tackling sciences to make the Internet easier to use. From semantic search, where information extracted would be more useful to the user than `correct', to preloading intent when a search is done from a mobile, Yahoo is working on various ways to make the Internet a basic utility.

The company is working on various spheres of sciences, such as computing systems, middleware for community systems, human computer interaction and micro-economics for keyword advertising. These will mould the World Wide Web into a pervasive medium, a utility that will connect people to people. "This is the challenge that we face - how to simplify it so that people will interact with each other better," said Mr Prabhakar Raghavan, Head, Yahoo Research.

The Web was previously just a large virtual playground, where users explored and "wandered around". Now, people want to do more with it - some even run their lives on the Net. "Web search has to go beyond typing two keywords. It should revert with an appropriate answer that would address a higher level need of the user. The search in the future will automatically spawn sub-queries. Task-centric searches will soon become the norm," he added.

In India, Yahoo, along with partners such as mobile manufacturers, is working on bringing location-based information, Bluetooth (so you would be notified if your friends are nearby), more languages and speech-to-text to mobile search. The mobile usage patterns of youth in India are also being observed by researchers at the Bangalore centre, informed Mr George Zacharias, Managing Director, Yahoo India.

Yahoo's Panama project will be rolled out by end of the first quarter of 2007. The project is "significant" and will help Yahoo monetise better, said Mr Raghavan.

Yahoo India Research and Development will host a series of lectures called the Big Thinkers India series, on science, technology and the Internet starting January in the country. The lectures will target academia, scientists, the corporate world and the media. Topics such as community systems, Web search, pricing and Web mining and the `wisdom of the crowds' will be discussed.