Yahoo: Sorry for strippers

Yahoo Inc., owner of the No. 2 U.S. search engine, has apologized for hiring lap dancers for a software developer event in Taiwan this month.

Yahoo, responding to public reaction to Internet pictures of the dancers, said the so-called Hack Girls did not reflect the purpose of the event, which was to showcase the company’s technology. The incident was regrettable and won’t happen again, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said.

Yahoo holds events called Hack Days, which encourage outside developers to build applications for Yahoo’s services.