Yahoo! Refreshes Search Engine

Yahoo Inc unveiled a revamped Internet search service on Wednesday that showcases information from movie listings to weather forecasts as users type in a query.

Executives said the new service, dubbed Search Direct, will speed up the time it takes users to find information on the Web.

"People are looking for answers; they're not looking for links," Yahoo executive Shashi Seth told reporters in San Francisco while demonstrating the new service.

Yahoo said that Search Direct will be available in the United States on Thursday on its main search Web page, and will gradually expand to the other parts of Yahoo, including the home page.

The service displays information in a pop-up box that appears and then changes in real-time as a user types in a search query, as in Google Inc's service.