Search Monkey Released In Limited Beta

Yahoo is opening the doors for developers to create customized views of search results.

The company announced the limited beta release of its Search Monkey feature today. The program lets external sites build individualized applications using Yahoo search data. Product managers say the creation process can take as little as 10 minutes.

Yahoo is offering up thousands of dollars in prizes to developers who come up with the best applications. You can find the tool kit and more information about the contests at the Search Monkey site.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking for a decision on the future of Yahoo. A billionaire investor put out a call this morning for the company’s board of directors to be removed. The move follows failed takeover talks with Microsoft. In the midst of all this, just yesterday, new data reports were released showing Yahoo slipping in the ranks when it comes to web searches and overall hits.