Google announced that it acquired Applied Semantics. Applied Semantics’ products and engineering team will strengthen Google’s search and advertising programs, including its content-targeted advertising offering. Applied Semantics’ products are based on its CIRCA technology, which understands, organizes, and extracts knowledge from websites and information repositories in a way that mimics human thought and enables more effective information retrieval. A key application of the CIRCA technology is Applied Semantics AdSense product that enables web publishers to understand the key themes on web pages in order to deliver highly relevant and targeted advertisements. The Applied Semantics team will remain in Santa Monica where Google will establish its Southern California product development center. www.google.com, www.appliedsemantics.com

Enfish Corporation announced an alliance partnership with Salesforce.com. The Enfish 6.0 Professional: salesforce.com edition, available immediately from Enfish integrates sales, marketing and customer data from salesforce.com’s on-demand CRM service with users working information stored outside of the salesforce.com application. With Enfish 6.0 Professional: salesforce.com edition, users do not have to update and upload working data housed outside of salesforce.com into the application. Instead Enfish automatically indexes and cross-references the users’ contacts, documents, e-mails and attachments. With a single mouse click, users can immediately retrieve all related information in context for any sales target regardless of where it is located. A free, 30-day evaluation of Enfish 6.0 Professional: salesforce.com edition is available. Enfish also offers subscription pricing, aligning its sales efforts with those of Salesforce.com. www.enfish.com

Equilibrium announced the availability of Equilibrium MediaRich Merchandiser to enable Web designers and developers to add pre-built dynamic image production templates to their Web sites to automate image zooms, pans and modifications. Based on the Equilibrium MediaRich Image Server for the enterprise, Merchandiser delivers the most requested features for retailers and catalogers. The automated imaging templates enable designers to resize and optimize images for just-in-time product updates, and generate detailed zoom and pan imaging derivatives from the original hi-res source files. Equilibrium MediaRich Merchandiser is now available worldwide. In North America, the product sells at the standard retail price of $4,999 per server. Companies may download a 15-day evaluation of Equilibrium Merchandiser online at www.equilibrium.com

Kontiki announced enhancements to its grid technology. Grid Streaming, which enables video or audio to be streamed and optionally saved for later use, adds additional flexibility for content providers and users. Grid Multicasting, which enables a single piece of content to be relayed to many users on a local network automatically, minimizing use and congestion on WAN links. Cost Optimized Routing enables customers to cut bandwidth costs by relying on the Kontiki Delivery Grid’s ability to distinguish between more and less expensive network links and route digital media at the lowest overall cost. User-Based Class of Service Controls allow enterprise IT to define service levels for every user and group. Kontiki also announced integrated support for a number Microsoft products, including Microsoft’s Content Management Server, Windows Media Rights Manager, Microsoft Producer, and Windows Media 9. www.kontiki.com

Macromedia, Inc. announced the Macromedia Flash MX Data Connection Kit, which provides pre-built connections to a range of data sources to jumpstart development of data-aware rich Internet applications. The kit includes Macromedia Firefly Components acquired from CyberSage Software, as well as a developer edition of Macromedia Flash Remoting MX. Macromedia Firefly Components provide a framework for accessing, displaying, and updating data within Macromedia Flash applications. For rapid data access, the Firefly component architecture includes specialized connectors and resolvers that integrate with multiple data sources including XML, Microsoft SQL Server, and Macromedia Flash Remoting. For consistent data display, the components include common visual building blocks that separate presentation from application logic. For simplified data updates, shadowing technology used by the components enables efficient saving of information to original data sources. The developer edition of Macromedia Flash Remoting MX can be used with Macromedia Firefly Components to access ColdFusion, Microsoft .NET, Java, and SOAP-based web services. The Macromedia Flash MX Data Connection Kit is priced at $299 for commercial users and $199 for the education channel. The kit will be available for purchase next week from the Macromedia Online Store. Macromedia DevNet Professional members will be able to download the kit next week as part of their subscription. www.macromedia.com/go/dck/

Captiva Software Corp. announced an alliance agreement with Open Text Corp. Open Text will resell InputAccel, Captiva’s document capture software, and select modules of FormWare, Captiva’s forms capture software, to offer its Livelink customers a complete input management solution on a single platform. These document and forms capture capabilities will create new business opportunities for OpenText within its customer base. InputAccel transforms mission-critical data from paper and faxes into business-ready content. FormWare manages business-critical information from forms, documents and electronic data streams into enterprise systems. www.captivasoftware.com, www.opentext.com

Documentum announced several training options that provide the benefits of classroom training without requiring students to travel. Documentum’s “Training Without Travel” program offers a full range of courses for developers, system and web administrators, project managers and end users, through self-paced Web-based courseware, e-learning classes, and instructor-led classroom training at the customer site. Recent offerings include courses on records management, eRoom collaboration and Documentum 5. www.documentum.com/education/index.html

SavvyBox announces a new release of their new Content Management System Author.CMS v3.3. The system’s usability-tested user interface simplifies most common tasks related to information publishing. Author.CMS is specifically geared to small to medium size sites. Author.CMS embeds a variety of intuitive site management tools that save content publishing time and give full control over the website. The main system features are: usability-tested administration interface, WYSIWYG editor and intuitive site management tools, special installer that easily installs the system on a server, high-level functions that save template creation time. The new version of Author.CMS has a new directory structure to improve system adaptability for servers with different settings. www.author-cms.com