The look of Ask.com’s new search-results pages is more compelling than Google’s, writes Walt Mossberg. “Ask3D” is a bolder advance in unifying different kinds of results and presenting them in a more effective manner.
Yahoo Mail has emerged from testing as a polished, fairly powerful online email program. It beats Google’s Gmail both in terms of features and its ability to act like a computer program instead of a Web page, writes Walt Mossberg.
It’s time for Walt’s annual fall PC buyer’s guide and, surprisingly, 10 months after Microsoft’s Vista operating system emerged, Vista is still the biggest puzzle in consumers’ computer-buying decisions.
Hulu.com, a site that aims to be a legal, one-stop shop for streaming of TV shows and movies, is far better than the typical network or studio Web site. But the site’s offerings lack depth.
A free cellphone service called ChaCha lets you ask any question answerable via a Web search, by simply making a voice call. In most cases, it gave fast, accurate answers. But it has a few weaknesses.
Microsoft Live Labs’ Photosynth turns multiple photos of a site into a 3-D scene you can virtually “walk” through on the Web. The service is a dramatic new way to use your photos and to share them with others, writes Walter S. Mossberg.
Google’s new Chrome Web browser will make using the Internet faster and less frustrating, but this first version is rough around the edges and lacks some features, says Walt Mossberg in the first hands-on review.
Edited by Walt and written by Katie Boehret, this is a guide to gadgets, web services and other consumer technologies.
Ethics Statement
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.