Report: Google-Apple Safari Search Deal Expiring, Yahoo & Bing Want In

According to The Information Google’s default Safari search deal with Apple is up in 2015. Microsoft and Yahoo are reportedly separately competing for the Safari business across devices. The Information says that both companies are pitching to Apple’s Eddie Cue and that his decision…

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Apple Maps Using New Partners For Multiple-Location Map Submissions

In October Apple launched Apple Maps Connect, intended to allow individual business owners to edit or add local business listings directly into Apple’s database. Apple told me at the time that it wasn’t intended for webmasters or outside agencies to manage multiple locations or listings…

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Apple Webcrawler: More Potential Evidence Of Search Ambitions

Apple Insider reports on the discovery of a web-crawling bot originating from Apple’s servers. It was first “outed” by developer Jan Moesen. This is what Moesen saw: Moesen reports that the bot is only crawling HTML, “not the CSS, JavaScript or image files.” Then he…

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Apple Launches “Maps Connect,” Self-Service Local Listings Portal

This afternoon Apple notified us of a new self-service portal to add or edit local business listings: Apple Maps Connect. It’s intended for small business owners or their authorized representatives (though not agencies) to be able to quickly and easily add content directly into Apple Maps….

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Apple Capturing Spotlight Search Query Data, Sharing With Bing

An improved Spotlight Search is a central feature of Apple’s new Yosemite operating system for the Mac. As reported when Yosemite was announced in June, Spotlight searches your desktop but also provides web search suggestions from Bing. There are a number of structured data sources such as…

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With Apple’s Help, Google Search Gets Special Info Boxes For iPhone 6 & Apple Watch

Who says rivals can’t work together? If you search on Google for “iPhone 6″ or “Apple Watch,” you’ll discover new information boxes about each product that Google created with the help of Apple. Here’s how it looks for search on iPhone 6: And for the iPhone…

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Apple Maps To Offer Choice Of Google, Others For Directions

According to Cult of Mac Apple is doing something very interesting with iOS 8 Maps. It’s giving people a choice of apps to use for directions. A GIF in the article shows that once a destination is located users will be able to choose directions from, presumably, any mapping-related app…

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Report: Apple Accelerating Crowdsourced Maps Improvements

According to a couple of reports (Reddit and MacRumors) Apple has stepped up the pace of map-data corrections and improvements. The MacRumors report, from a couple of weeks ago, says that changes are being implemented weekly. The Reddit thread says they’re happening nightly — at 3 am…

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Virtual 3D “City Tours” Coming To Apple Maps In iOS 8

One of the features in the forthcoming iOS 8 is apparently called City Tours. These are animated flyovers of various cities in Apple Maps. Mostly a novelty, they’ll take users on a 3D tour of key buildings and landmarks in a city. Google Maps/Earth have allowed developers to create animated…

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Mac “Spotlight” Search Drops Google For Bing; Becomes More Siri-Like In OS X “Yosemite”

It looks like Bing has gained another win with Apple, becoming integrated into a new version of Spotlight in Apple’s forthcoming Mac OS X “Yosemite” operating system. Spotlight will also tap into a wide-range of search resources similar to how Siri works on iOS. During…

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Why Yahoo’s Not Going To Steal The Search Default For iPhone Away From Google

Apparently Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer wants to be the default search for Apple’s Safari browser on iPhone and iPad and has been preparing to make a solid pitch. Well, we all want things we can’t have, and I’d be incredibly surprised if Yahoo got its wish here. Kara Swisher over at…

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Better Data, Public Transit Coming To Apple Maps In iOS 8

According to unnamed sources cited by 9to5mac, Apple’s forthcoming iOS 8 will see a number of improvements to its mapping product across platforms. The site says the next Apple mobile OS will offer: Better and more complete points of interest and business data Public transit information and…

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Apple Buys Ads On Google & Bing To Celebrate The Mac’s 30th Birthday

Leaving nothing to chance, Apple’s ensured that anyone searching for “Mac” on Google or Bing today, the 30th birthday of the Mac, will know about the anniversary. The company has purchased ads that lead to a special Mac birthday area of the Apple site. Above is an example of what…

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Analyst Gives Both Google Now And Siri A “C+”

Piper Jaffray financial analyst Gene Munster performed his now annual comparison of Google Voice Search/Google Now and Siri to determine which one performed better. Using 800 queries under a variety of “controlled” and “uncontrolled” conditions, Munster and his team tested…

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Apple’s App Store Search Engine Now Considers Misspellings & Typos

Sarah Perez at TechCrunch reports Apple has updated their App Store search engine to help with misspellings, typos and other “fat-fingered” searching mistakes. Sarah said she has “sources” that have confirmed these “App Store search engine changes went into effect a…

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