Archive for July, 2009

by Claudine Zap

Our top picks from the day's hottest searches.

1. John Travolta (Searches increased by 1,242%). The star confirmed his belief in Scientology, despite rumors that the death of his son had shaken his faith.
2. Madonna's arms (+156%). Photos of the sinewy star are causing some shocked searches. Theories abound as to why her biceps are so muscualr and veiny, including deydration and malnourishment.
3. Tanning beds (+128%). Sorry, tanorexics: A review of 20 studies finds tanning beds a definitive cause of cancer.
4. Arugula (+103%). The bitter green goes great in summer salads.
5. Obama birth certificate (+103%). Yes, Obama has one. It's in Hawaii. And it's real. Case closed.

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By now you have probably seen the exciting news about our agreement with Yahoo!. We are totally fired up to be partnering with such a great set of folks, and look forward to seeing what we can achieve for customers by working together to bring a strong #2 into the search space.  This is great news for Bing and is a great accelerator to the work we are already doing.  The scale Bing will get through this agreement will enable us to learn, experiment and innovate faster for consumers and advertisers.

The result will be more relevant search results and advertising, which is great for everyone. Working with Yahoo! we will be able to do so much to advance the search experience, and we cannot wait to see the partnership come to life.

For more info you can check out Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz’s blog post, visit our joint website or check out this twitpic of some of the festivities today.

Adam Sohn, Director, Bing

Yahoo! and Microsoft today announced an agreement that will improve the Web search experience for users and advertisers, and deliver sustained innovation to the industry.  For more information, check out Carol Bartz, our CEO’s post on Yodel here.

The Yahoo! Search Team

by Michele Meyer

Trash-talk, a long-standing tradition among athletes and professional wrestlers, has found a new medium: Twitter.

On Monday, 2009 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador used a good old-fashioned press conference to reveal his personal feelings for teammate Lance Armstrong, stating: "My relationship with Lance Armstrong is zero...On a personal level, I have never admired him and never will." (Ouch!) To respond, Armstrong decided to go high-tech and let his Twitter account do the talking. Referring to an earlier comment that Contador was inexperienced, Armstrong tweeted: "Hey pistolero, there is no 'I' in 'team'. what did I say in March? Lots to learn."

Them's fightin' words, to be sure. But what really got the Web going was Armstrong's further recommendation to Contador: "If I were him I'd drop this drivel and start thanking his team." Those intent on increasing their word power immediately began looking up "drivel" and learned that Armstrong wants Contador to either 1) stop drooling or 2) quit talking nonsense (depending on which definition you go with).

Armstrong and Contador's recent war of words is the culmination of a month-long rivalry, which began when Armstrong decided to come out of his four-year retirement from the Tour de France to compete on Contador's team, Astana. During the race, the two jockeyed for position as team leader, and twice Armstrong publicly criticized Contador for ignoring team orders.

After conquering Armstrong in the Alps and securing his first-place finish, Contador began talking publicly about tensions within the team, revealing to Spanish TV broadcasters, "I have run two races: one on the bike and one at the team hotel." Placing third, Armstrong conceded that Contador's performance would have beaten his own in 2001, 2004, and 2005.

But despite Armstrong's praise, their recent exchanges seem to confirm Contador's assessment of their relationship: "We are totally incompatible and Armstrong will go one way and I will go the other." Contador is said to be leaving the Astana team at the end of the year. Destination? Unknown. As for Armstrong, he already has plans to start his own U.S.-based team, sponsored by RadioShack. (And maybe Twitter?)

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by Claudine Zap

It may be the one list that colleges work hard not to make: Princeton Review's Top Party Schools. This year, Penn State snatched the title away from University of Florida to claim the top spot. We're sure they'll know how to celebrate.

Of course, university officials did their best to back away from the dubious honor: The blame lies with a bunch of jokers on Facebook who urged classmates to vote their school to the top spot. Assured a university spokesperson, "It's not connected to reality."

Of course not. And parents, if your offspring are attending any of these schools, put your mind at ease. Even the author of the survey noted that all the schools on the list have "great academics." Did we mention that Penn State also won in the category of "lots of beer?"

But back to academics. It's about where students will feel happiest. If you like beer, like football, and like frat parties, then perhaps Penn State is for you. For those more content to stay holed up in the library to study, well, buyer beware.

See the complete list.

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AT&T has just launched a site site designed by and for small business owners and we have to say, it looks pretty good: expert advice on everything from technology to marketing, case studies, consulting help, you name it. To celebrate, the company is giving away Small Biz Tech Makeover -- more than $5,000 of stuff.

They want to know what you think about the new site features, advice and solutions. If you like it, or if you don't, and you want to write a review, please be sure to tag your post with AT&TInSite so it appears on the Technorati tag page.

You can also give your readers the chance to enter the AT&T Small Biz Tech Makeover online contest (you can enter too!). Expert advice and one year of free AT&T products and services will be awarded to the small business owner who can best explain his or her need for a technology makeover.

All you and your readers need to do to participate is complete an online form and send us a short video with your story. You can enter here.

Disclaimer: AT&T is a Technorati client.

by Vera H-C Chan

The Cash for Clunkers swap is underway, making auto recyclers "leery" and aggravating some clunker would-be buyers. At least dealers should be happy.

The federal program began with the greenest of intentions. Critics, including the original senators who proposed the idea, have decried the stripped-down version that got approved. Scrap dealers, for their part, don't find much sense in the requirement to destroy perfectly good engines. (That's to prevent scammers from returning clunkers to the road.)

And, in a classic case of the left hand slapping down the right hand, the Environmental Protection Agency's last-minute changes of vehicles' fuel economy got the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's project off to a clunky July 24 start. People have been tracking the fine print ("cash for clunkers details”) to see if their ol’ jalopy qualifies, but those ready to dump their formerly eligible cars are experiencing some roadster rage.

Overall, however, consumers have hankered after this program since March (when "cash for clunker" searches started taking off on Yahoo!). Not surprisingly, searches for many types of models are up.

With only a billion to spare for this program, which automakers will clear their lots first? This Search ranking from the past 7 days might give some clues:

1. Chrysler Cash for Clunkers
2. Ford Cash for Clunkers
3. GM Cash for Clunkers
4. Dodge Cash for Clunkers
5. Toyota Cash for Clunkers

True, the above queries could mean, for instance, that people want to unload their Chryslers, but drivers may also be warming to the manufacturer's double incentive (additional $3500-$4500 rebates or zero percent financing on top of the federal moneys). Savvy consumers know about the “double cash for clunkers.”

Incidentally, Ford’s second-place status could be recognition for its independent nature: A Rasmussen poll said buyers respect Ford for abstaining from any bailout money, and 46% claimed they’d shop there over GM and Chrysler.

As for what cars might be on the roads in the next few weeks, some models zooming through the Search box:

Most Searched Model: Honda Civic
A Few of the Fastest Moving Models: 2009 Ford Focus, Chrysler Jeep, 2010 Dodge Charger, 2010 Honda Insight
Leading Hybrids: Ford Escape Hybrid, Ford Fusion Hybrid, Honda Civic Hybrid

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by Mike Krumboltz

Sarah Palin's recent departure speech left some snickering at its seemingly unfocused delivery. Others felt it was a heartfelt and honest farewell and a legitimate precursor to the 2012 primary. But only one dude was inspired enough to turn the performance into a hipster beat poem. That man was William Shatner.

The actor, writer, singer, and all-around Renaissance man visited the set of "The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien" on Monday where he delivered his own interpretation of Palin's farewell. Shatner took the stage and sat on his stool. The lights dimmed, and then he recited Palin's speech verbatim while bongo drums echoed from behind. It was a scene, man.

Naturally, Shatner's poem quickly became a Web phenomenon. Searches on "sarah palin speech," already high from Sunday, soared an additional 89%. Additionally, look-ups on "william shatner poem" and "william shatner does palin" both jumped from nothing into breakout status. We even noticed a few searches on one of Mr. Shatner's other famous poems -- his epic 1978 interpretation of Elton John's "Rocket Man."

Still, even though Ms. Palin's speech on "Cheechakos" and "merciless rivers" was mocked by many, some political insiders framed it as a first step toward Palin reinventing herself. You can watch Shatner's interpretation below. Not quite the Beatles on "Ed Sullivan," but definitely a moment to remember.

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Internet Explorer is releasing an out-of-band update available via Windows Update. Alternatively, you can receive this and all other Microsoft updates via the new Microsoft Update. I encourage you to upgrade to Microsoft Update if you haven’t already to ensure that you receive the latest updates for all Microsoft products.

This update addresses three privately reported vulnerabilities which could allow remote code execution. The security update addresses the vulnerability by modifying the way Internet Explorer handles objects in memory and table operations.

In addition, the update includes two defense-in-depth protections against known techniques that are able to bypass ActiveX Security Policy when ActiveX controls have been created using certain Active Template Library (ATL) methods in specific configurations.  The first defense-in-depth  is enabled by default and modifies how ATL-based controls read persisted data.  The second defense-in-depth is disabled by default and offers the ability to regulate usage of the IPersistStream* and IPersistStorage interface implementations within individual controls. 

For detailed information on the contents of this update, please see the following documentation:

• Microsoft Security Bulletin MS09-034
• Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 972260

This security update is rated Critical for all released versions of Internet Explorer except Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 7, and Internet Explorer 8 running on supported editions of Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008. 

I encourage everybody to download this security update and other non-IE security updates via Windows Update or Microsoft Update. Windows users are also strongly encouraged to configure their systems for automatic updates to keep their systems current with the latest updates from Microsoft.

Terry McCoy
Program Manager
Internet Explorer Security

Update 5:41pm: removing * from IPersistStorage

by Claudine Zap

Our top picks from the day's hottest searches.

1. Glenn Beck (Searches increased by 1,054%). The conservative talk-show host is up to his antics again: This time removing stars from the American flag for states he believes don't respect states' rights.
2. Oakland Housing Authority (+1,027%). An independent news story accuses Oakland of having a master plan to push poor African Americans out of its city.
3. Green tea (+675%). A look at past studies points to no clear evidence that the beverage helps prevent cancer.
4. Birthers (+327%). The debunked movement that claims President Obama is not a U.S. citizen has gotten some mainstream attention lately—even causing the White House to respond.
5. "Iron Man 2" (+279%). Comic-Con buzz turned to Scarlett Johansson, who dons a lycra suit for her role as Black Widow in the "Iron Man" sequel.

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