Yahoo unveils Axis for improved iPad, iPhone and web search

Yahoo have unveiled a new search tool that its claims will offer users a better way to search the internet on their iPhone or iPad or on a desktop browser.

Yahoo Axis displays search results without users having to leave their current web page, and provides a preview of the pages that results link to in an effort to overhaul the modern method of search.

“By supercharging the browser with a visually rich search experience and seamlessly connecting that experience across all of your devices, we are delivering an experience that will change the game,” wrote Ethan Batraski, a director of product management at Yahoo.

Batraski said that changing user behaviour, such as the widespread adoption of mobile devices to browse the internet, meant the time had come to rethink what users needed from a search tool.

Axis allows users to search from the browser's address bar, opening up a box which displays results and preview pages as the user types.

Axis is currently available as an app for Apple's iOS-powered smartphones and tablets or as an extension for browsers including Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Yahoo clearly hopes that Axis will give it more clout in the search market. But Axis has already got off to a bad start.

Within hours of its release, security researcher Nik Cubrilovic warned that the Chrome extension of Axis contained a major vulnerability, which could allow attackers to capture a users web traffic, including passwords and session cookies.

Batraski responded on Cubrilovic's blog, promising a new version of the extension would be available “in 30 minutes”.

That should mean that the new version is now available – although it was not immediately clear which version was available to download from Yahoo's Axis web page.