Yahoo Unveils New Mobile Bookmaking Tool

Yahoo

OnePlace, to be launched in the second quarter of this year, allows users to mark links, news feeds or search results that lead them to fresh information on favorite topics when clicked.

Bookmarking tools are anything but new — Yahoo’s own del.icio.us is one — but Yahoo says mobile phones, with their small screens, require a different approach and far greater emphasis on sharing.

Yahoo is driving to outmaneuver Google’s clear lead in computer search and advertising by custom-building elegant services for cell phone users and forming alliances with telecoms carriers.

Customers would be able to access the service either through telecoms carriers who have deals with Yahoo such as Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica or Vodafone or directly download it from Yahoo, Boerries told Reuters.

“It’s not Web links you can click on but it’s smart bookmarks that are alive and will give you current information,” he said in a telephone interview.

“There are 52 content types that OnePlace understands,” he added, naming videos, cities, musicians, albums or stock prices as examples of categories. “For all of those types, we have implemented algorithms for what’s most relevant for that type.”

Users can also choose to automatically direct content they mark in social bookmarks manager del.icio.us, post on Facebook or star in Google newsreader to OnePlace, he said.

They can also sort their bookmarks by local relevance or popularity with friends and contacts.

source:pcworld