Newsbot, Blogbot and Answerbot: Microsoft Gears Up For RSS, News Search and Blogs

Expanding its push into the Internet search space, Microsoft says it plans to launch Internet search services for news and Web logs later this year. The new services, called MSN Newsbot and MSN Blogbot, up the ante in the battle for Internet search market share. Microsoft said also that it is working on a natural language search engine, dubbed MSN Answerbot. This service will take questions from users and find answers on the Internet, rivaling a similar service from Ask Jeeves.MSN Newsbot will gather news from more than 4000 sources worldwide. Microsoft is claiming a first with MSN Blogbot, a service that will let users search Web logs, or "blogs," personal-journal type Web pages that have become increasingly popular. Many consumers even use blogs as a news source, according to Microsoft. MSN Blogbot will aggregate content from hundreds of thousands of Web logs and index that content based on which Web logs are most popular and credible.