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Google has launched Google Now, a new search interface which improves the search results based on the time and location of the search. It is available as part of Android Jelly Bean, the latest iteration of its mobile OS, and works by using the time, search history and location data to provide better search results.

Pitting Google search against Siri using a monster 1600-question test shows how useful Siri really is: not at all. Google answered correctly 86 percent of the time. Siri achieved just 68 percent accuracy. At that point, it's not much better than a crystal ball.

U.S. authorities are leading the charge as governments around the world pepper Google with more demands to remove online content and turn over information about people using its Internet search engine, YouTube video site and other services.

Yelp is feeding its online reviews of restaurants and other local merchants to Microsoft's Bing search engine in a move to compete against Zagat ratings on Google.

Google has reached a deal with a publishing group to allow the scanning and publishing of books online - ending a six-year legal battle. A court ruled in 2009 that the search company was in breach of copyright infringement after it digitised a number of French books.

Yahoo has seen a lot of turmoil and restructuring in the past couple of months, but it may finally be getting back on track with new product launches. It launched Yahoo Axis, a new search oriented add-on for web browsers last month... By leveraging Yahoo's 700 million user base, Axis could attract a significant number of users in the coming months.

Here’s some news you probably didn’t expect to read: Yahoo just released its own Web browser. Well, sorta. The new software, dubbed Yahoo Axis, is being called a "search browser." Its main trick is the ability to bypass the standard list of links and instead send users directly to websites and pages via thumbnails.

Google said on Saturday that Chinese authorities have approved its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility Holdings, the last regulatory hurdle to a deal that would allow the world's No. 1 Internet search engine to develop its own line of smart phones.

Google said it is rolling out an extensive update to its dominant search engine by using troves of data to refine the answers it provides to user queries on specific topics. The technology known as "Knowledge Graph" is being rolled out by Google within its search service over the coming weeks, the company said Wednesday. It uses a database of about 500 million people, places and things compiled by the company to figure out what users are looking for, and present them with additional, related information.

Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson reportedly will step down Sunday amid controversy over mentions on his resume and in regulatory filings of a computer science degree he never received.