Tech Shout!

Search engine giant Yahoo! has been testing a new Ajax-based searching service that goes by the name of Yahoo! Alpha. This service, which is publicly accessible, is being hosted on Yahoo’s Australian domain. As of now Yahoo! Alpha is yet in the beta stage.

Yahoo! Alpha is providing search services in the default layout from third party services including Google’s YouTube and Wikipedia. Using Yahoo! Alpha, users will be able to perform Wikipedia, Flickr, YouTube, and of course Yahoo! search queries simultaneously.

Users of Yahoo! Alpha will be able to customize this search engine service by adding, removing and rearranging components. The default layout enables the user to display results from three Yahoo! search engines: Flickr photo service, the Answers question-and-answer service and Yahoo! News.

Users also have the option to check out relevant advertisements from the Yahoo! online ad network. They can also log into the Yahoo! service and further customize the service by changing the layout and by adding other search engine services.

Here is what a Yahoo! spokesperson had to say about Yahoo! Alpha, “This is a very early prototype and we are always testing new products and service to get feedback from our users on improving the user experience.”

The entire beta version of Yahoo! Alpha has been developed by Yahoo! Australian engineering department. It has not yet been decided when or if Yahoo! Alpha will move out of beta stage and into a final project.

Looks like Google had better watch out, because its search engine rival is getting closer than it ever imagined.