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Hitwise's latest data also confirms that Google's market share in the search business is continuing to grow at a steady clip (9% year-over-year). Year-over-year, all of Google's larger competitors lost ground, though at least between December and January, both Yahoo and Ask.com saw a very minor increase in their market share.

A new radio system developed in Australia is transforming the vehicles on the street into nodes on a network. The technology, designed by scientists at the University of Southern Australia's Institute for Telecommunications Research, is an application called "Dedicated Short Range Communications" (DSRC). Using a combination of GPS and Wi-Fi, cars can communicate their location data to a central office, but it also enables them to communicate with each other.

How will the semantic web be monetized? How about in the form of monthly reports tracking restaurant reviews on Yelp, CitySearch and hundreds of other websites, for sale to restaurateurs for just $25 per month? That's what semweb startup BooRah is betting on with its new product, the BooRah Restaurant Reputation Report.

When we say that semantic technology has a whole lot of awesome potential, this is a fun example of what we're talking about. If it can be done for restaurants, we expect similar analysis of online sentiment can be sold for all kinds of different real-world sectors.

Cell phone providers hold a wealth of information about your real-world social network in their records that you can theoretically access through their cumbersome web interfaces. None of the cell phone companies we are aware of do a good job at presenting this information in a meaningful way, however. This is where Skydeck comes in. Skydeck, which released a major update to its service this morning, can access your provider's call data, as well as your text messages and voicemail. For a fee, Skydeck will also transcribe your voicemails and allow you to make calls directly from Skydeck's web interface.

On Tuesday millions of people will flock to Washington DC to see President-elect Barack Obama sworn in as our 44th President. But what if you can't get there? Well, turns out in this digital age it's not a problem; as Obama recently pointed out "you don't have to brave the crowds and commotion in order to participate in this celebration."

While various news outlets will be streaming the event, we've compiled this list of online resources to make it easier for those of you who wish to navigate the inauguration virtually. Included are Inaugural Week events, where to watch the Inauguration online, how to stay up-to-date with news, what to do if you're heading to DC, and links to interesting and [we hope] fun sites.

Noesis is a new semantic web search engine that helps scientists studying the environment access and retrieve the research data they need. Developed at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, the new engine has the potential to enable scientists and researchers everywhere to perform more productive and focused searches thanks to the semantic technology Noesis uses.

A couple of entrepreneurs out of Kerala, India, are re-envisioning the way that banking is done. Anish Achuthan (26) and Rameena Rabeedin (28), have developed a branchless network consisting of low-cost ATMs, Smart Teller Machines, E-POS terminals, and a mobile banking gateway that lets you perform transactions using your cell phone. The end result of their efforts brings modern banking technologies to semi-urban and rural markets where traditional banks are unwilling or unable to set up ATMs.

Microsoft today released Microsoft Tag, its own barcode technology for mobile phones. For this, Microsoft developed its own High Capacity Color Barcodes which can store a lot more information than the QRCode or Datamatrix barcodes we have become familiar with. Microsoft is specifically targeting mobile users with these tags and has released scanning applications for most types of mobile phones, including the iPhone (iTunes link), as well as Windows Mobile phones, Blackberries, and Symbian S60 phones.

European researchers working on the MOBVIS project have developed a new system that will allow camera phone users to hyperlink the real world. After taking a picture of a streetscape in an urban area, the MOBVIS technology identifies objects like buildings, infrastructure, monuments, cars, and even logos and banners. It then renders relevant information on the screen using icons that deliver text-based details about the object when clicked.

MeasuredUp is a review service that allows customers to share their positive and negative experiences about local or online businesses, but until now, these businesses did not really have a chance to reach out to these customers through the service and rectify potential customer service issues. Now, MeasuredUp has introduced a new featured, Direct Connect, which allows companies to claim their identity on the service and reach out to their customers.