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Google service will soon run out of answers

By TIMES WIRES
Published November 30, 2006

Google Inc., operator of the most-used Internet search engine, is ending a service that lets users pose questions on its Web site and get answers for a fee. Google Answers, conceived by co-founder Larry Page, will stop accepting new questions later this week, Google said Wednesday. The service, described by Google as an experiment developed by a team of four, lets users post questions online and specify a price they're willing to pay for an answer from researchers. Yahoo! Inc. a year ago began a competing service that lets people pose questions and get responses from other Yahoo users for free.

San Diego council slays retail giant

San Diego's City Council voted to ban certain giant retail stores, dealing a blow to Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s potential to expand in the nation's eighth-largest city. The measure prohibits stores of more than 90,000 square feet that use 10 percent of space to sell groceries and other merchandise that is not subject to sales tax. It takes aim at Wal-Mart Supercenter stores, which average 185,000 square feet and sell groceries. The move irritated Mayor Jerry Sanders, who promises to veto the ban if it is reaffirmed on a second vote, said mayoral spokesman Fred Sainz. The council, however, can override a veto with five votes. "What the council did tonight was social engineering, not good public policy," Sainz said.

Tennis greats take net loss on house

It took almost four years, but retired tennis stars Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf finally have found a buyer for their Tiburon estate for $20-million, or about $3-million less than what they paid for it in 2001. The deal is expected to close in January, according to Bill Bullock, who represents Agassi and Graf. The 31/2-acre site - with a 10,500-square-foot main house, a 2,500-square-foot staff quarters, two swimming pools, a stream and, of course, a tennis court - boasts views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco skyline. Stuart Peterson, president of the San Francisco hedge fund Artis Capital Management, is the buyer, according to Bullock.

Tribune's review to last a little longer

Tribune Co. extended its deadline to complete a strategic review, which may include a company sale, and analysts said Wednesday that the media company could be struggling to attract high-premium bids. William Osborn, the Tribune's lead director and chairman of a special board committee tapped to consider alternatives, expects a final recommendation to the full board during the first quarter of 2007. The Tribune had said it planned to complete its review by the end of 2006.

[Last modified November 30, 2006, 01:42:08]