27 February 2006

The search engine Ask has sacked Jeeves the butler in an effort to revamp its site and offer more advanced search facilities.

Jeeves, the iconic face of Ask.com for the last six years in the UK, has been dropped as it was felt he distracted visitors from the site's varied features, encouraging users to still view it as just a question and answer service.

The revamped site now clearly features new tools such as a dictionary function, weather reports, maps, a blog and Encyclopedia search as well as a currency conversion tool.

"The new Ask.com is the culmination of years of innovation, combining the most advanced core search technology with one-of-a-kind tools that make search better," explained Steve Berkowitz, the chief executive of the Ask.com.

He added that the Ask search engine can now offer users the fastest and most useful Internet tools available to help them make the most the web, rather than just displaying "a bunch of links on a page".

Jim Lanzone, general manager at the US-based Ask.com further emphasised that the updated search engine will offer the "best search" possible to web browsers.

"We've put unique search tools in the right place, at the right time, freeing people from wading through endless links so they can get to the good stuff faster."

© Adfero Ltd

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