WASHINGTON, US - INTERNET giant Yahoo on Wednesday rolled out an updated version of its web-based calendar, in its latest bid to stay ahead of rival Google.

A beta, or test, version of Yahoo Calendar that went online boasts an array of upgrades that include breaking down walls between rivals by making it compatible with free calendar services offered by Google, Apple, Mozilla and Microsoft.

The Sunnyvale, California-based firm said key features of the new calendar include an ability to zoom in or out on day, week and month views and a drag-and-drop function which allows appointments to be moved around without refreshing the web page.

Other features include colour-coding to keep track of activities, a 'To Do' list and an ability to set email, Instant Message (IM) or Short Message Service (SMS) reminders of important appointments.

Selected pictures from Yahoo-owned photo-sharing service Flickr can also be placed on the calendar, which is tightly integrated with the pioneering Internet firm's free web-based email service that claims 278 million users.

Mr John Kremer, vice-president of Yahoo Mail, described the updated calendar as a 'smart, yet simple online tool that helps people to keep track of their schedules, stay organised and be more productive'. He said the calendar will eventually allow users to track and display events such as sports team schedules or concert dates from other Yahoo sites such as upcoming.org.

Yahoo claims more than 500 million users worldwide but has been struggling to cash-in on its popularity.

Its calendar remains the most widely used in the United States but it has been facing increasing competition since Google unveiled its own calender two years ago.

In August, Yahoo Calendar had 3.7 million US unique visitors, up five per cent from a year ago, while Google Calendar had 2.4 million visitors, up 17 per cent from a year earlier, according to comScore, a firm which tracks web traffic.

The beta version of the calendar is available at switch.calendar.yahoo.com but it is restricted to users in Brazil, Britain, India, Taiwan and the United States for the moment. -- AFP