Yahoo! News Archives

Over the weekend, Microsoft finally backed off Yahoo and has decided to pull their offer to buy Yahoo and also decided they would not pursue a hostile takeover of the company. That sums it up basically. Now, if you want to read more, let me send you to Search Engine Land where we covered the news extensively.

• Microsoft Yanks Its Offer For Yahoo
• Leaving Las Yahoo: Microsoft's $5 Billion Mistake?
• Yahoo Next Steps: Google Deal, AOL Purchase & Pleasing Investors

Yes, this weekend's news is still dominating Techmeme's front page. So again, if you want to read Microsoft's letter to Yahoo or Yahoo's response or future thoughts, check out those links.

Many now believe Yahoo will begin outsourcing their search ads to Google. The advertisers want it based on the past test, it seems like Yahoo and Google both enjoyed it. So we should hear some news on that this week.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld, DigitalPoint Forums, and Search Engine Watch Forums.

According to a Yahoo News report, Yahoo will be outsourcing the Internet telephone functions of its instant messaging program to the startup Jajah.

Of course, this is great news for the startup -- but forum members wonder why Yahoo seems to be outsourcing a lot of its internal affairs. However, that may not necessarily be a bad thing, as another forum member says. The less important things are fine if outsourced; the more important things are when one needs to worry. As long as they focus on what they're good at and keep it internal (web, email, search), that's the way to go and avoids the distractions that can cause the company to go into turmoil.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

Yahoo News reports on Yahoo's Q1 earnings of $542.2 million, which is substantially higher than 2007's Q1 earnings of $142.4 million.

Forum members are hoping there can be insights into this financial gain. WebmasterWorld moderator martinibuster quotes Jerry Yang's comment: "Not only does Yahoo! have a unique franchise, it increasingly has industry-leading tools, technology and, most importantly, people."

He adds that Yahoo is shutting down their tools that aren't yielding results (e.g. Yahoo 360 and Yahoo Music Jukebox). It's interesting to note that Yang says that Yahoo has great people, though. Does he also mean the employees that were laid off in January?

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

Bigreds, an internet retailer has decided to sue Yahoo for $1 million over click fraud starting back in 2002. Yahoo offered Bigreds $17,000 back, but Bigreds wants more and they are suing for over $1 million in damages and penalties.

I wanted to pull out some of the best comments on this lawsuit, which you can read more about at InformationWeek, from a WebmasterWorld thread:

Look if you are going to build your billion dollar business around PAYPERCLICK then you should probably have systems, people, backups for the most obvious exploit.

It's the modern day equivalent of a bank without a safe.

Um, i'm looking at this site, and I really don't see how any traffic would convert, regardless of whether it's fradulent or not. Sorry Red, but I'm thinking that maybe the lawyers are the only ones that are going to come out ahead here.

I don't really see the problem with advertisers bringing suits against garbitrage because the advertiser foots the bill for the middle man market they create.

Decide for yourself...

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Microsoft's CEO, Ballmer, sent Yahoo's board members a public letter saying:

If we have not concluded an agreement within the next three weeks, we will be compelled to take our case directly to your shareholders, including the initiation of a proxy contest to elect an alternative slate of directors for the Yahoo! board.

Basically, if you do not accept our offer in three weeks, then we will acquire you another way.

The news flew through the blogosphere and news pipelines, you can see a piece of that articles and blog posts at Techmeme.

There is some discussion on this at the forums. If you want to read SEO and Webmaster reactions, check out WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

Personally, this just seems like corporate bullying done through the PR teams. I wonder how Yahoo's shareholders will see this and how this will impact any decision Yahoo makes. Thankfully, I am not in Yang or Decker's shoes right now.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

Then this morning, Yahoo responds that they have rejected their offer. Not because they are opposed to a deal with Microsoft, but because they feel the price under values what Yahoo is worth. In short, Microsoft, if you want us, give us more money.

If you try to conduct a title search in Yahoo news, you will fail. Both Yahoo and Google give you a method of searching for keywords that match in just the headline of the article. To do so, you can go to the Yahoo News Advanced Search page and select "in the headline of the article" as shown here:

An alternative method, if you are a speed searcher, is to use the intitle: operator. For example, to find all matching headlines for the keyword "google" in Yahoo News, search for intitle:google and it will return the same results.

The problem is, Yahoo News has a intitle operator bug that seems to be returning zero results for the command.

The operator works nicely at Google News.

Forum discussion at Digital Point Forums.

The Yahoo Widgets Blog announced yesterday that they are launching Widget Badges for the web.

You may have already noticed some improvements in the Yahoo! Widget Gallery with the release of Yahoo! Widgets 4. Instead of those plain old download links, each Widget now has what we call an in-page installer. There’s a button for each Widget that just works, no matter what components a given user require.

Here are some sample badges:

Kind of cool. DigitalPoint Forums members think so too.

Yesterday, word spread that Yahoo has brokered a deal with email service Zimbra and will be purchasing it for $350 million.

WebmasterWorld members wonder if Yahoo is really pressured to buy all companies. They're wondering if Yahoo is trying to do better. My guess is that yes, they are.

Bill Slawski sings a different tune on Cre8asite Forums. He's actually liking the combination of multiple Yahoo properties.

You know, between that and yesterday's Beta launch of Yahoo Mash, I think Yahoo is moving in the right direction. Now if Mash can replace 360, and incorporate Groups into it (and maybe some of those Zimbra) features, things could get interesting.

But Joe Dolson would love Yahoo to collapse the services and mesh every acquisition into one solid product.

And of course, some people are afraid of the Zimbra acqusition because they're not interested in sharing their email addresses with other companies. Then again, everyone has a Gmail or Yahoo Mail email address nowadays, so I'm not sure that's a tremendous concern.

Overall, the acquisition seems to have mixed reactions, not so much regarding Zimbra but because they're afraid that the Yahoo ship will sink. Like Bill, I'm going to hold my chin up and hope for the best.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld, Cre8asite Forums, and DigitalPoint Forums.

Yesterday, Yahoo announced that it had purchased BlueLithium, a behavioral-targeting ad network, for $300 million.

What is BlueLithium, you ask?

BlueLithium is a three-year-old company whose technology tracks consumer behavior as users move from site to site, allowing businesses to deliver more relevant ads. A consumer shopping for environmentally friendly products might see ads for hybrid cars a week later.

At WebmasterWorld, forum members discuss the acquisition and see that Yahoo is moving ahead of Google in the area of behavioral ad-targeting. In fact, Google is not enthusiastic about the idea at all.

Some thoughts as presented by forum members say that YPN will improve with this acquisition:

This is something that could help Yahoo in many ways. Not only will it help them better target their existing ads, but will help bring the ads worldwide and give them another dimension to both YPN and its advertising program.

Others feel that Yahoo! will come out with a much better analytics package:

It also sounds like Yahoo is interested in providing advertisers with the analytics side of the equation above and beyond simple conversion tracking (maybe kind of like Google Analytics on steroids?)

All in all, forum members agree that this is a great move for Yahoo and are excited to see how it will benefit the company. Congratulations, Yahoo, on the acquisition.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

A WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums thread mentions that the Google (GOOG) is performing very well in the stock market, with a net profit of 69%.

What is the secret to Google's financial success? Advertisements. From the DigitalPoint forums discussion:

yup, making profit on both advertisers and publishers. smart price the publishers and decrease the quality score of the advertisers, thus charging more and more for keywords. it's a no lose situation for them as long as they control both ends of the equation. no wonder they are making money hand over fist...

On Search Engine Land, Barry refers to additional articles related to Google's Q1 earnings, including the financial tables.

Meanwhile, Yahoo (YHOO) has performed dismally in Q1 with a 11% decrease in earnings, despite its release of Panama. A WebmasterWorld thread has more:

The drumbeat over Panama raised expectations

Barry weighs in on the financials of Yahoo as well in Search Engine Land. One of the articles he references is that Yahoo is evaluating whether Terry Semel, Yahoo's current CEO, is truly the man for the job.

Discussion about Google's earnings continues at DigitalPoint Forums and WebmasterWorld. Discussion about Yahoo's earnings continues at WebmasterWorld.

Search Engine Land reports that Yahoo has appointed Reggie Davis as "Vice President of Marketplace Quality" to address concerns regarding invalid and fraudulent clicks. Barry adds over at Search Engine Land that 12 to 15% of search ad clicks are discounted.

WebmasterWorld has forum discussion from the SEM community which overall is supportive of this move. The discussion is revolving around whether Reggie Davis is tech-savvy or if he is a great lawyer. Being both couldn't hurt either.

As one member states:

If I were an advertiser, I'd feel more comfortable if the click fraud czar was a top notch techie to protect my interests.

If I were a Yahoo! shareholder, I'd feel more comfortable if the click fraud czar was a top notch lawyer to protect my interests.

Another member has similar sentiment:

The real challenge is to detect a fraudulent click technically speaking.

But hey, if you're happy with a lawyer doing this job, good for you and good for Yahoo.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

There was a lot of buzz yesterday on IBM's co-announcement with Yahoo! on the release of a free enterprise search application named OmniFind. OmniFind is defined as a entry-level enterprise search software solution.

Features Include:

• It will index up to 500,000 documents
  
• Search internal documents as well as web documents
  
• Supports 200+ file types
  
• 30+ languages
  
• REST & XML
  
• Uses open source Apache Lucene
  

Yahoo! and IBM got some good feedback on this release. More details at http://omnifind.ibm.yahoo.net/productinfo.php.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums & WebmasterWorld.

Early this year, Yahoo! released their Top Search Terms of 2006. Here they are:

1 Britney Spears
2 WWE
3 Shakira
4 Jessica Simpson
5 Paris Hilton
6 American Idol
7 Beyonce Knowles
8 Chris Brown
9 Pamela Anderson
10 Lindsay Lohan

I'll keep my thoughts out of this and just quote the WebmasterWorld thread;

What a sad testament to society. Those top searches are just depressing. Doesn't anybody care about anything outside of entertainment anymore?

The stats just show how obsessed some people are with celebrities. Britney didn't even release a record this year.

But this quote was funny, related to AOL's mishap.

They should have given us the data in a zip file, sorted by userid ;)

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld & DigitalPoint Forums.

Last night, the news broke after many rumors about Yahoo!'s CEO possibly leaving, that COO, Rosenweig is resigning (not the CEO) and that Yahoo! is going to "reorganize." Danny posted the news at Search Engine Land with the press release, here is a snippet of that.

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Dec 05, 2006 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet company, today announced a reorganization of its structure and management to align its operations with its key customer segments -- audiences, advertisers and publishers -- and more effectively leverage Yahoo!'s significant strengths to capture future opportunities for growth.

I guess that internal memo about peanut butter was a hint to what is to come.

But where does search fit into "audiences, advertisers and publishers?" That is the question, Google's Matt Cutts is asking at his blog.

Dude, that was all one sentence. Sounds like Lloyd Braun and Dan Rosensweig will be leaving, and Yahoo will form three main groups: audience, advertiser/publisher, and technology. I’m not sure whether search would fall under the audience group or the technology group.

Of course Yahoo! can easily drop search into pretty much any or all of those buckets, "audiences, advertisers and publishers," if they wanted to. But I think this release and change at Yahoo! warrants a blog post over at the YSearchBlog, don't you? :)

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Monday, I reported at the Search Engine Watch Blog that Yahoo Strikes Deal With 176 Newspapers, a great deal for Yahoo! to promote the HotJob service and obviously for branding purposes.

The New York Times reports that Yahoo has struck a deal with 176 newspapers, consisting of a 7 newspaper chains to "share content, advertising and technology." The first part of the deal will promote Yahoo's HotJobs site, where newspapers will post the local jobs to HotJobs and use HotJobs's technology on their local newspaper site for classifieds listings. Then Yahoo wants to make these newspapers content more accessible within Yahoo's search index, local news and other search services.

This topic is currently being discussed at WebmasterWorld where members find this deal to be a good one for Yahoo!. Robert Charlton believes this deal is a "major development for Yahoo Local."

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

An internal memo reportedly from Yahoo!'s Senior VP, Brad Garlinghouse was posted at the WSJ and at Kedrosky that he thinks Yahoo! needs to cut back by 15 to 20%. In short, Yahoo! has invested in everything and anything and has too much of the same thing making it confusing, redundant and overly costly. They lack a focus, "clarity of ownership and accountability", "decisiveness," and "vision." The peanut butter thing has to do with, "Yahoo is spreading its resources too thinly, like peanut butter on a slice of bread."

Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.

Back in late April, the Yahoo! Publisher Network blog featured a site named TopSpeed.com as sporting the YPN ads on their site.

TopSpeed.com is to car crazies is what HoopsVibe.com is to basketball fans–a space where enthusiasts can read about racing, argue over cars, play driving games, examine auto specs, view videos of car crashes (may favorite page, I have to admit) and more, all in a media- and interaction-rich environment.

But now, if you visit TopSpeed.com you will notice that they have Google AdSense ads live currently. So they must of switched back from Google to Yahoo! and then back from Yahoo! to Google.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

I just posted at the SEW Blog that Yahoo Acquires AdInterax Rich Media Advertising Company;

Yahoo announced that they have purchased AdInterax, a company that specializes in management of video and animated online ads. AdInterax built tools to float animations, dynamically expandable banners and streaming video ads. Also, Yahoo bought Rich Media today, an online advertising company.

Both acquisitions seem to be to be an effort to expand the Yahoo! Search Marketing product to support video and rich media ads plus add more ad volume.

It appears from a WebmasterWorld thread that advertisers are upset with the investment saying;

Yahoo should invest in getting Project Panama ready. Heck, they can't even deliver text ads very well at the moment. Their matching algo is terrible, it really makes you realise how well Google performs.

Yahoo!'s stock is a bit down today again after the news.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Chris Sherman has the huge write up on Yahoo's settlement of the click fraud case. He describes;

The terms of the settlement include a cash payment of $4.95 million to plaintiffs' counsel and a provision that will allow advertisers to file a claim for Yahoo to investigate potentially fraudulent clicks back through January 2004. Yahoo will pay refunds to advertisers who file claims if it discovers evidence of fraudulent clicks.

Chris explains that the amount does not come close to the $90M Google Settlement but Yahoo is "offering cash refunds, and there is no ceiling on the amount it will refund if it finds evidence of click fraud," where Google offers advertiser credits.

Forum discussion on this settlement at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

Danny reports that Google and Adobe formed a deal that will "Adobe will distribute the Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer as part of Adobe Macromedia Shockwave Player downloads." Danny also notes that Yahoo! partnered with Adobe to provide a special version of the Yahoo Toolbar within Adobe Reader. Interesting...

Danny quotes a Reuters article on if Yahoo! and Adobe's deal.

Adobe previously included Yahoo Inc.'s toolbar as an option with the Shockwave Player, Adobe spokeswoman Katie Juran said. Adobe still offers the Yahoo toolbar as an option for its Flash Player and Adobe Reader products, she said.

Ok.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

I just posted over at SEW Blog that eBay & Yahoo Partner On Graphical Ads, Other Areas. This is what I wrote;

Everyone is talking about the eBay & Yahoo partnership, where Yahoo will be eBay's exclusive provider of graphical ads and Yahoo will promote eBay's PayPal to its merchants and publishers. Reports via the Washington Post, The Street and BusinessWeek.com stress how this poses a threat to Google and Microsoft. It is important to note that this partnership is primarily to provide graphical ads and click-to-call ads and on a lesser standpoint to provide some search ads. The limited search ads are probably because eBay does not want to detract visitors from the eBay products and auctions, which is logical.

Not really too much to add to it then that. Some folks in the forums show this is having an affect on Google's stock price right now. Long term, who knows.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld & DigitalPoint Forums.

Friday we reported that there were More Signs of Yahoo! Switching PPC Program to CTR Based Rankings but we are still unsure of this. Today, reuters and BBC News reports that Yahoo! is releasing the new ad system some time today.

Yahoo's new software system aims to let advertisers target potential customers more accurately based upon the words users type into the search box.

and...

The system is a software-based marketing console to help corporate advertisers and advertising agency buyers understand how to target relevant advertising to Web users based on the keyword search terms consumers use to find information on Web sites.

Advertisers can instantly calculate the cost of acquiring new customers using Yahoo's data and analytic system. Buyers can also test for the most effective ads and make rapid changes.

I should know more details, later this afternoon. I am continuously being told that the facts of my previous "rumor" post is wrong. So we will see.

Forum discussion on this specific topic at WebmasterWorld.

Danny has a detailed write up on the rumors spreading from Wall Stree Journal article and also at CNN.

Microsoft has been in talks with Yahoo! about potentially acquiring a major portion of the company, according to a report published Wednesday. Members of the company's top management are considering a deal despite Microsoft's history of winning over major technology markets - think Web browsers - on its own, The Wall Street Journal said.

What if? Could it be? What is Google thinking? No way! Or maybe?

Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums, WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums.

WebmasterWorld has a thread named Class Action Suit Filed Against YSM which discusses a Washington Post report that Yahoo is being sued for "syndication fraud." Syndication partners are those who place Yahoo! ads on their Web sites and products. Most of the law suit is based on Ben Edelman's uncovering of PPC Ads Found In Spyware With Auto Click Fraud.

A class-action lawsuit filed Monday against Yahoo! Inc. and group of unnamed third-parties accuses the company of engaging in "syndication fraud" against advertisers who pay Yahoo to display their ads on search results and on the Web pages of partner Web sites. The suit claims that Yahoo displayed these advertisers' online ads via spyware and adware products and on so-called "typosquatter" Web sites that capitalize on misspellings of popular trademarks or company names.

Potentially more explosive is the plaintiff's claim that Yahoo regularly uses its relationship with adware and typosquatting sites to gin up extra revenue around earnings time, alleging that the company is conspiring to boost revenue by partnering with some of the Internet's seamier characters. From the lawsuit:

The article also mentions typo-squatting issues where people go to a Web address, that is a typo of the Web address they really want to go to. They see ads on the site and click on them. This is a big business and has always rubbed people the wrong way. For some reason, Google's Domain Park, just now is getting a lot of attention. We wrote about it back in early January under the title DomainPark - AdSense for Domains Sparks Huge Forum Debate.

Bottom line with this law suit, probably like with Google, Yahoo! will settle out of court for a relatively small sum. Who will win here? The lawyers.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

YahooSarah posts at Search Engine Watch Forums that Yahoo! will be holding a small business event exclusively for small businesses in the New Orleans area. They are working with Bell South to offer "free training and up to $1,500 in free products and services to session attendees to help facilitate small businesses recovery in the Gulf Coast."

WHEN: Friday, April 7, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

WHERE: InterContinental Hotel, 444 St. Charles Ave. (at Poydras), New Orleans, LA

The event page with more information can be found at http://events.yahoo.com/backinbiz.

Yahoo! employees from around the country will be on hand to get your business set up online. You’ll be eligible for up to $1500 worth of free online services. We’ll help you create a web site, build e-commerce offerings, and launch search advertising programs to promote your products and services on the Web.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.

MercuryNews reports Yahoo accused in dissident's arrest.

Yahoo Hong Kong provided electronic records that led to the conviction of dissident Li Zhi, according to Reporters Without Borders, which advocates on behalf of journalists.

Yahoo spokeswoman Mary Osako said Yahoo Hong Kong would not have had access to Li's Chinese account and that it never releases information to the Chinese government. Osako said the company was looking into whether Yahoo China had released this information.

But this guy now got eight years! I spoke with one of my employees who is big into this Chinese government advocacy thing and he is confident that Yahoo! served up the data.

Anyway, we have forum discussion on this topic at DigitalPoint Forums.

Yesterday we wrote, Yahoo! Gives Up Search Race: Admits Defeat to Google which basically said that Yahoo! is ok with being number two in terms of the market share race, and doesn't expect to beat Google out any time soon.

The Yahoo! Search team replied to that at the Yahoo! Search Blog saying Are you kidding?!

This commitment to being the best should be crystal clear from our investments in talented people, research, innovation and new products. Believe it or not, we are still in the early days of search. As all of us at Yahoo! agree, we're in it for the long haul, and we're in it to win.

Qi Lu, VP Engineering, Search
Eckart Walther, VP Products, Search

So what is up with Yahoo!'s CFO?

Continued forum discussion at WebmasterWorld and Search Engine Watch Forums.

Brett Tabke at WebmasterWorld posted a thread named Yahoo Captitulates - Gives Up Goal of Being #1 in Search quoting an article from Seattle Pi.

"We don't think it's reasonable to assume we're going to gain a lot of share from Google," Chief Financial Officer Susan Decker said in an interview. "It's not our goal to be No. 1 in Internet search. We would be very happy to maintain our market share."

Wow! So what are the forum folks saying about this?

they don`t want to set expectations to high, that way they can`t fail! it is a win-win situation.

Yahoo going for the underdog approach?

I'm sure the shareholders will just eat that one up.

Then they need to ditch their search engine, or sell it, and concentrate on being a portal and/or something else.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Danny has the write up on Yahoo Go Puts Yahoo Services Into Cell Phones, TV & PCs. Yahoo! launched Yahoo! Go which "allows you to access the information and content that is important to you on whatever device you choose." You can easily click over to find out the specifics, but it is all leading back to that Yahoo! Life Engine I keep going back to which I wrote on April 09, 2004.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Brett Tabke posted a featured thread at WebmasterWorld named MSN and Yahoo In Talks? where he quotes an article named Microsoft eyeing deal to rival Google-AOL.

Microsoft may be cooking up a major internet partnership to rival Google's newly bolstered relationship with American Online (AOL), according to a blog posting by a Microsoft manager.

The blog entry that started all these rumors is named Whoa! A Major Player Looks To Take Google Down A Peg.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld. There is actually a thread at WebmasterWorld on this topic from December 23rd.

The folks over at WebmasterRadio.FM hooked up a monthly show starting Tim Mayer & Jeremy Zawodny from Yahoo! It airs Wednesday nights, at 8pm (EST) monthly (I believe). Last night was the first showing, and you have to check the archives, the show should be live soon. Show description;

Tim Mayer and Jeremy Zawodny, presented by Yahoo! Search, are your hosts for a power hour surging with an exciting look at some of the Valleys newest and hottest companies! Tap in to interviews and commentary from people working behind the scenes… plus, Tim and Jeremy will light it up with the latest happenings in the online world… and details on their ongoing quest for world domination! This show airs the last Wednesday of each month...make sure you tune in.

Also, check out the powerful intro to the show.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

I am still catching up on the hot news and seo tips from last week. Last Wednesday, Yahoo released Yahoo! answers, Gary has a part 1 and a part 2 on it at the SEW Blog. A neat product tour is up for your review.

The folks at DigtialPoint Forums and at WebmasterWorld are discussing it now.

Big search news today, Andrei Broder Joins Yahoo.

Andrei Broder, former vice president of research at AltaVista and until recently Distinguished Engineer & CTO, IBM Research, is joining Yahoo as research fellow and vice president of emerging search technology at Yahoo Research.

Bill Slawski at the Cre8asite thread, Andrei Broder Joins Yahoo! says that there "are a lot of search patents and white papers with Andrei Broder's name upon them. He has written papers and patents in collaboration with some search engineers presently working with Google and Yahoo!, including Monika Henzinger and Krishna Bharat of Google."

Forum discussion at Cre8asite Forums.

Yesterday, Yahoo! improved its Maps product. Matt Cutts, the face behind Google's spam fight discovered and posted an entry named More Yahoo strangeness, where he notes that if you type in Google headquarters address, up comes The Dude's Fish Store, weird - yes. Steve is the first to comment at Matt's blog saying, "Something fishy going on here!!" cute. :)

There is a DigitalPoint Forum thread on the topic.

News come way of the Yahoo! Search Blog that Yahoo! Maps addsdrag 'em, search 'em, hack 'em. So its more interactive, with drag and drop features (like Google Maps). Yahoo! also added multi-point driving directions, deeper Integrated Yahoo! Local, and a new usability component - new overview map. Plus a ton of new small features and enhanced developer support with APIs and Ajax support. Jeremy Zawodny has more on the developer side and Chris Sherman has a nice wrap up article on the release.

I started a complimentary thread at Search Engine Watch Forums.

Looking for smart, talented and creative people at all times. They just keep hiring and finding ways to find the best out there. A cre8asite forum thread named Yahoo! hunting employees discusses how Yahoo! "have increased their global head count by 40% this year." But don't forget the PPC ad for I am scary smart at Google, which coincides a NY Times ad.

Search Engine Watch has the ultimate coverage on this, both Danny, Chris and Gary all have blog entries on the way Yahoo! integrated blog results within the news search engine.

Chris Sherman writes Yahoo Integrates News, Blogs & Flickr Search Results

Danny Sullivan writes Thoughts On & Playing With Yahoo's Blog Search.

Gary Price writes Yahoo Should Let News Search Users Know What a Blog Is; Search Only Blogs From Yahoo News/Blog Integration.

Basically, if you do a news search, for example, on wedding via ask jeeves, on the right hand side, you will find "BLOGS BETA", with blog results followed by a link to More Blog results...

It looks a like the following, but Gary doesn't like the fact they name it blog, and leave it at that. Many news readers might not know what blog means.

View Large Image

Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums.