Microsoft unveils the Microsoft Live Labs

Software giants Microsoft continues to unveil more of their efforts to get back into the limelight when it comes to web based services. The company has now expanded their existing research groups by adding a new division called Microsoft Live Labs. This has been formed with a partnership between its MSN portal and its Microsoft Research arm.

This research department of the company is aimed at improving Microsoft and MSN technologies to compete better with competition provided by search engine and advertisement giants like Google and Yahoo! These two are some of the hottest industries on the web and Microsoft wants to become a major player in it.

Microsoft also announced the appointment of former Yahoo researcher, Dr. Gary William Flake as the head of this new unit. They are also aiming to get in support from the best talent available in the country and have offered a total of $500,000 in grants to encourage research in areas such as data mining, discovery, and analysis.

They are also planning to hire 70 more people to work in this new lab in addition to existing 30 members who were originally part of their Microsoft Research division. Dr. Flake said in a statement on this new initiative from the company: “This is a very exciting opportunity for researchers and technologists to have an immediate impact on the next evolution of Microsoft’s Internet products and services and will help unify our customers’ digital world so they can easily find information, pursue their interests, and enrich their lives”.