Ask has re-launched its home page, dropping Jeeves and adopting what it calls a "new sleek design." After ten years, the Jeeves butler character has been removed from the site, as the company updated not only its look, but its approach to search.

Ask.com's new features include the homepage redeisign, to be cleaner and more straight forward; an Ask.com "toolbox," which offers shortcuts to more than 20 search tools (images, weather, maps, etc.); Ask.com maps, featuring an AJAX-based interface; Encyclopedia search that includes content fromWikipedia, Houghton Mifflin, and Columbia; and shaded sponsor listings.

(www.ask.com)