Ask Jeeves unveils improved Teoma

Teoma, a Web search service owned by question-and-answer site Ask Jeeves, launched a new version of its technology Monday, with improvements aimed at taking on the industry's No. 1 contender, Google. The Emeryville, Calif.-based company introduced Teoma 2.0, which boasts improved relevance, more in-depth mastery of Web communities, and an expanded index of more than 500 million Web addresses. Other improvements, which are a part of the Ask.com site too, include a spell-check technology that identifies query misspellings and will correct them. The search engine also helps Web surfers refine their queries to look closely at communities on the Web surrounding a given topic.

Teoma?s reaches about 25 percent of Internet surfers in North America, according to Nielsen/NetRatings, ranking third behind Inktomi and Google. It licenses its search technology to Ask Jeeves, Excite.com and HotBot.