Yahoo! Sharpens Its Tech Edge

Yahoo!(YHOO Quote), the portal and search site that lately has been languishing in Google's(GOOG Quote) shadow, is stepping out with new initiatives that will put it square on the leading edge of the Internet sector.

Yahoo! has been quietly aggressive about pushing into cutting-edge areas of technology -- vertical searches, blogs, social networks and a form of content distribution called RSS (really simple syndication) -- that are proving highly popular among early adopters of technology. Software developers and investors involved in emerging Internet technologies say they could represent the next wave of Web innovation to win over the masses.

Whether these fledgling areas will soon translate into monetized business operations remains unclear. But if they do, Yahoo! will be among the first to capitalize on them. More immediately, they are already helping to restore Yahoo!'s image among its core audience as a leader in technology innovation, not another also-ran tagging behind Google in the search race. ...