AskJeeves fires its butler, speeds up Web search

Anonymous Patron writes AskJeeves fires its butler: AskJeeves.com said on Monday that it has retired Jeeves, its mascot servant, and will now answer the door simply as Ask.com, adopting a self-service approach for users looking for a focused way to search the Web beyond guessing keywords.

The new Ask.com features a slick, do-it-yourself toolbox that helps users refine more types of searches with the first click of their computer mouse for maps, images, dictionaries, weather, local info or documents stored on their computers.”