SixApart.com & Yahoo goin hands to Provide Blogging

SixApart.com, a provider of weblog software, yesterday announced that Yahoo! Web Hosting is now offering its Movable Type blogging software, bringing easy installation, speedy performance and full customization to businesses and independent professionals seeking to maintain high-traffic blogs on a scalable and reliable platform.

Under the agreement, Yahoo! will offer its customers the ability to create weblogs hosted by Yahoo! and built using Six Apart's Movable Type software. The latest version of blogging software can be installed on Yahoo! Web Hosting in seconds. As with all Yahoo! Web Hosting services, this professional blogging solution includes a free domain, blog/web site hosting, and business-class email. Other features include - scalability, reliability, ease-of-use, customer support, BusinesMail, security from spam and speed. The web hosting package starts at $11.95 per month.

Free Web Hosting from GoDaddy.com

GoDaddy.com announced that it will offer free, ad-supported hosting with every new domain registration, renewal or transfer.

Ad-supported web sites contain relevant online advertising on a small portion of the site, but do not include obtrusive pop-up ads. According to the company, customers who avail of this offer would have a complete online presence without requiring any additional products or extensive knowledge in web site building. The package includes 50mb hosting, a 5-page web site builder, the ability to add photos and graphics to professionally designed templates and password-protected pages which are all included at no extra charge

Mozilla Releases Firefox 1.5

Mozilla Corp., recently released Firefox 1.5, the latest version of its open source web browser, now available as a free download.

Firefox 1.5 builds upon the success of its predecessor to deliver an improved browser with significant performance and usability upgrades, security and privacy enhancements, best-in-class support for web standards, and greater customization options.

"With dozens of enhancements, Firefox 1.5 will draw many new users to the improved Web experience it affords," said Mitchell Baker, CEO of Mozilla Corporation. "Firefox is proof of our passion for promoting choice and innovation on the Web and making the Internet accessible and productive. Firefox 1.5 is the easiest browser to install, use, customize, and keep up-to-date and secure."

VeriSign to start Internet Infrastructure in Australia

VeriSign, Inc. (verisign.com), a provider of intelligent infrastructure services for the Internet and telecommunications networks, recently announced that it has enhanced its global constellation of 18 geographically-dispersed Internet server clusters by installing and operating a new regional server cluster for .com and .net in Sydney.

VeriSign says that the site began live operations on December 3, 2005 and provides Australia's 13.9 million Internet users, with enhanced performance, enhanced connection speeds and greater stability. The company operates a constellation of 18 Internet server clusters around the world that monitor and mirror the world's Internet traffic for .com and .net. VeriSign announced plans earlier in 2005 to install 14 regional Internet server clusters around the world by the end of 2006. To date, VeriSign has installed additional sites in Korea and China. A site is also planned for installment in Brazil later this year. In 2006, additional sites will be added in 12 locations including Thailand and India.

"As Internet use in Australia continues to grow rapidly for both commerce and communications, we will continue to invest in our infrastructure and services in the region to support this strong growth," said Gregg Rowley, Vice President, Asia Pacific for VeriSign. "The close proximity of an Internet server cluster in Sydney for .com and .net will improve the Internet experience for the growing numbers of Australian Internet users and contribute to economic growth in Australia."

VeriSign, Inc., through its subsidiary in Australia, first established its Australian operations in 1999 to provide Internet trust services to Australian government, business, web sites and individuals. VeriSign's services in Australia include managed security services, domain name infrastructure services, authentication, as well as wireless and validation services.

Answers.com Acquires Brainboost

Answers Corporation, creators of Answers.com, the answer-based search engine, recently announced the acquisition of Brainboost Technology, LLC (brainboost.com) for $4 million in cash and 439,000 shares of restricted stock, including certain price protection rights.

The company plans to integrate the Brainboost answer extraction engine into its own product line. Mr. Assaf Rozenblatt, developer of the proprietary technology, has joined the Answers.com team as Director of Natural Language Research.