Yahoo, Google rejigger search for Olympics
The Olympics are a media feeding frenzy, as everyone tries to capitalize on the huge audience for the global sporting event, and now Yahoo is trying to get in the action.
Medal results are one customized result that Yahoo now shows with Olympics-related searches. (Click to enlarge.)
(Credit: Yahoo)The Internet pioneer said on its Search blog on Tuesday that it's launched a number of shortcuts to present Olympics-related information through Yahoo's search engine. The shortcuts package up information such as the overall medal count, a country's specific medal count, and information for individual athletes.
The customized results present content including video on the search results, blurring the lines between an Internet portal and a search engine. The results also include a link that can take users to various related Yahoo Sports Olympics coverage pages, which at least at present feature a lot of advertisements by Visa.
Google also is getting business out of the Olympics because NBC Universal is using its DoubleClick ad delivery technology for online video of the Olympics. Microsoft, too, has a stake: its Silverlight technology could get a big boost in adoption because NBC's video player is built using the software.
Update 4:17 p.m.: Search Engine Land found Google is doing the same thing as Yahoo with specialized Olympics search results.
Click here for more stories on tech and the Beijing Olympics.
Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software, and science. E-mail Stephen, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stshank. 
