Hi Folks,

You've not heard much from the Alpha team lately, as we've been working on some very neat stuff for Yahoo!7 Search.

Some of them include the local launches of SearchMonkey, SearchScan and Maps!

However, in the background we've been making major upgrades to Alpha's back end to help other sites add a federated search experience using Alpha's core technology.

Today, our News team launched a brand new site for news lovers, featuring the best of Australian news providers.

As part of this launch, Yahoo!7 News also became the first site to use the Alpha "Combo Search" features, allowing you to get more searching done, all in one search.

For example, today's news is all about Amy Winehouse allegedly punching one of the fans attending her concert, and also reported to be making an appearance at the famous Madam Tussaud's wax museum in London.

Searching the news now gives you a broader view of the concept in an open and clean presentation format.

This new method of distributing federations is (of course) in beta, but we will continue to work hard to bring Alpha results to a search near you.

Cheers
Brett
Yahoo!7 Search Team

Yep, that's right. Alpha is now accessible from the Yahoo!7 home page!

Just click the "Try Alpha Search" link above the standard search button, and you'll see the very stylish (some say sexy) blue Alpha search box.

You'll also notice that the tabs disappear from above the search box, since we put multiple search types in the one view. Also gone is the Australian results checkbox, as now you get Australian results along side global ones. (Bewdy!) And of course the TriggerWord and Goto features work just as they do from any other Alpha search box.

So give it a try, and as always, don't be shy to let us know what you think. We really appreciate all the great feedback we've had so far and rest assured we're working on bringing you some cool new features very soon.

Cheers,

Justin

Just a quick update to let you all know about the new advertising feature that we're giving you a sneak peak at on Alpha. It's called Yahoo! Send2Mobile and it, well, sends advertiser details to your mobile.



And before you can say "now where did I put that pencil?", it can send either a standard SMS or a WAP link to more information. SMS is completely free to users, WAP link will cost your standard carrier-dependant intarweb data charges.

The advertiser can select either SMS or WAP when setting up a send to mobile ad, a decision that is effectively an information/accessibility trade off. That is, where a WAP link requires mobile internet access, almost everyone can receive an SMS. The added benefit of the WAP option is of course that customers will receive not only address and phone number, but other optional information, such as a maps and discount vouchers in a nice rich media format.



However, if for some reason you can't access the mobile internet, have no fear. A standard SMS is sent to your phone if you're unable to access the WAP page within 5 minutes. Nifty huh? Here’s an example of what the WAP pages might look like.



This is an Australian first for online advertising and has been developed jointly by the clever cookies at Yahoo! Search Marketing and mNet. Keep your eyes peeled for more industry firsts finding their way onto Alpha soon!

The curious can give this new feature a test drive here. As always, we'd love to hear what you think of it.

Cheers for now,

Justin