Yahoo! Alpha Released in Beta

Yahoo! has released its Ajax based search engine, Yahoo! Alpha, in its Australian domain, to enable users to perform Wikipedia, Flickr, YouTube, and Yahoo! search queries simultaneously.

The stand alone search engine, still in beta, is similar to Google's Co-op and aims to makes it possible to search all search engines from a single page. The site uses Yahoo's regular web search function, but, in addition to this, can display results from Wikipedia, Yahoo! Answers, Flickr and YouTube.

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

A Yahoo! spokesperson has reported to have stated that Yahoo! Alpha is a very early prototype and that the company does not confirm whether it will move out of beta stage into a final project.

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