Rival search providers slam Google

Google is arousing the anger of rival search providers who argue that the company is intentionally and unfairly ranking content from its own specialised search services above their own, says Computing.co.uk.

The complaint centres on searches for specialised or local content, such as travel services, health sites, and reviews of local restaurants and businesses. In the past, users searching on Google for such content were typically directed to specialised search providers, companies like TripAdvisor.com, WebMD.com, and Citysearch.com.

But as Google has increasingly ramped up its own specialised search services, these companies believe the search giant is stacking the deck by purposely ranking its own content above theirs.

WikiLeaks' former second-in-command is gearing up to unveil an alternative to the high-profile Web site, notes the BBC.

Daniel Domscheit-Berg, who left the site after disagreements with its founder, plans to commence Openleaks in the coming months. The technology, which can be embedded in any organisation's sites, will allow whistle-blowers to anonymously leak data to publishers of their choice.

Its founders say it will address problems they had with Wikileaks. "We felt that Wikileaks was developing in the wrong direction," Domscheit-Berg told BBC News. "There's too much concentration of power in one organisation; too much responsibility; too many bottlenecks; too many resource constraints."

Yahoo is preparing to lay off between 600 and 700 workers in the latest shake-up triggered by the Internet company's lacklustre growth, reveals Associated Press.

Employees could be notified of the job cuts as early as this week, according to a person familiar with Yahoo's plans. The person asked for anonymity because Yahoo hadn't made a formal statement.

The planned cutbacks represent about 5% of Yahoo's work force of 14 100 employees. It will mark Yahoo's fourth mass layoff in the past three years.

There will be up to 115 million LTE subscribers across the world by 2014, but several major hurdles will slow the uptake of the technology, according to research firm In-Stat, writes V3.co.uk.

In a report entitled: “The State of the LTE Market: Capex, Deployments, Subscribers, and Services”, analyst Chris Kissel outlined a number of these hurdles. Chief among them are issues regarding the regulation and allocation of spectrum. Some nations such as the UK are far behind others.

LTE is expected to hit these shores at the earliest by 2012 in the UK, compared to Germany, where it is already being deployed.