Yahoo Inc. has acquired Pixoria Inc., a small company that makes software that allows computers to check traffic or weather information via the Internet, independent of an Internet browser. Yahoo claims this has the potential to permit users to have customized information streamed to their computers, without having to use a browser to find the desired information. Pixoria, based in Palo Alto, Calif., has three employees who will become Yahoo employees now.

"We think this is where the Web is headed in its next generation," said Toni Schneider, vice president of Yahoo Developer Networks. "For us, it's great – we can reach beyond the browser, beyond what we can do in a one-size-fits-all Web site."