WWDC 2012: Apple online store is down, updates likely

WWDC 2012: Apple online store is down, updates likely

Apple hits and misses: Apple is known for having many successful product launches. But it had some unsuccessful ones too.

The Apple online store is down for updates, which always indicates that new products are on the way. Well, almost always.

iOS 6 to dump support for original iPad, 3rd-generation iPod Touch?

iOS 6 to dump support for original iPad, 3rd-generation iPod Touch?

It's not unusual for Apple to drop iOS support for hardware a couple of generations old, and that is the rumored fate of the original iPad or third-generation iPod Touch.

Bing signs Encyclopaedia Britannica for search results

Bing signs Encyclopaedia Britannica for search results

Microsoft has signed a deal with Encyclopaedia Britannica to add entries from the reference work to Bing.

The tie-up means summaries of topics using data from the Encyclopaedia will be added to some search results.

The deal builds on Britannica's decision in March to stop producing a print edition.

It is also seen as a response to Google's "knowledge graph" that consolidates search information about specific subjects.

Microsoft announced the deal via a blogpost and said when information from Britannica was relevant to a search, Bing users would see a small box summarising salient facts about a topic or subject.

At the same time it would also provide links to other sources of reference information such as Wikipedia, Qwiki and Freebase.

In a test drive of Bing with added Britannica, Search Engine Land blogger Matt McGee said the encyclopaedia results were not popping up on every search.

Instead, he said, a Britannica summary box turned up only when a link to the encyclopaedia would ordinarily appear in a list of results.

By contrast, he said, Google was adding information gathered by its knowledge graph project to many more results.

Announced in mid-May, the knowledge graph is work Google has done behind-the-scenes on its vast index of web data to cluster together relevant information about a topic or subject.

The most visible result of the work is a summary box that sits alongside lists of results and gives basic information plus suggestions of places to find out more in-depth data.