Engines churn out deals

The search rivals--such as Yahoo, Excite, and Lycos--have announced a slew of deals this week, many of which echo each other.

Discover to try online service Leaping into an increasingly crowded market, credit card firm Discover announces plans to launch a Web-based online service. Excite, AT&T do online service update AT&T and Excite jump on the Web-based online service bandwagon with a cobranded deal, on the heels of the telco teaming with Lycos for a similar service. Search chiefs "converge" The heads of six search engines agree that alliances are a growing part of their business but differ on how the deals should pan out. Inktomi to power Snap search update Software firm Inktomi partners with Web-based online service Snap to power the service's search function. AltaVista beefing up Search site AltaVista next week will add another new feature, part of Digital's ongoing effort to fatten it up to compete with other players. AltaVista takes on languages Digital says its engine supports Web searches in a variety of languages, among them Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Yahoo offers Chinese language version Yahoo launches Yahoo Chinese in hopes of becoming the preferred Internet guide for the world's Chinese speakers. Excite to power Netscape search Netscape Communications chooses Excite as the much-anticipated partner for its branded search engine. Lycos, AT&T in online deal update The search site announces a three-year agreement with AT&T to develop and offer Internet-based consumer communications services.