How might the Microsoft/Yahoo search ad pact affect Yahoo's newspaper partners? It's a question I asked aloud Wednesday morning when the deal was officially announced. I contacted consortium watcher and all-around sector analyst/critic, Ken Doctor, to see what he thought. Well, turns out he posted his insights on his Content Bridges site. He's got some good stuff to think about, and overall seems to believe the pair-up will benefit the paper partners.

Yahoo just released the above photo, in which Ballmer wields a huge purple pen to sign today's landmark 10-year search deal. Read ClickZ's coverage here.

What ClickZ's editors are reading: Google Sells Its AOL Stake Back to Time Warner )WSJ( The $283 million transaction was processed earlier this month, consolidating full ownership of AOL under time Time Warner in preparation for a spin-off later this year.

Conventional wisdom says the imminent deal between Microsoft and Yahoo will be structured as a search syndication partnership. Yahoo will begin carrying Bing search technology, and Microsoft will sell the bulk of ads against those results. Yahoo would confine its ad sales efforts mainly to display, and would receive payments )and user data( from Microsoft for search activity on its domain. However other scenarios are still being floated internally at Microsoft.

The U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy put out a request for comments Friday on proposed changes to its Web tracking policy for government sites. "The goal of this review is to develop a new policy that allows the Federal Government to continue to protect the privacy of people who visit Federal websites while, at the same time, making these websites more user-friendly, providing better customer service, and allowing for enhanced web analytics,

What ClickZ's editors are reading: Internet GRP Notion Gains Momentum )comScore( IAC,

How many followers did you lose? That question was being chirped this morning by scores of people using Twitter after the social network said it's "correcting follower and following counts." "In particular, those with large followings may see significant changes as we correct for spam accounts and data inconsistencies," according to a post on Twitter's "Status" blog. People using Twitter reported losing 100 or more followers.

When Yahoo unveiled a new local ad sales relationship with AT&T earlier this week , it made no mention of Apt, even though the display ad platform will be the backbone for the relationship. Why, when it was at the heart of Yahoo's plans for the future less than one year ago? Remember Yahoo's Advertising Week launch party featuring Mad Men star Jon Hamm? During the company's Q2 earnings call,

I couldn't resist making note of Google's comic book hero-themed logo today, presumably in honor of the annual Comic-Con fest starting in San Diego today. )I'm painfully aware since my better - and nerdier - half traveled all the way from Jersey City to be there this year.( The logo links to Google's new page introducing Comics themes for Google . They're pretty cool - especially the one featuring Kim Deitch's always wonderful, fantastical illustrations .

Amazon's just-announced deal acquire all of Zappos.com stock in a transaction worth more than $800 million will fuse two enormous Internet companies. But even more fascinating than the deal's size is the huge difference between the companies' cultures and brands. On the one hand, Amazon is the undisputed leader in online retail sales and a major technology innovator )See: Kindle, cloud services(. However, speaking as a journalist,

What ClickZ's editors are reading today: Has Google's New Trademark Policy Caused A Spike In Use? )Search Engine Land( Yahoo to Acquire Social E-Mail Firm )BoomTown( Moving Beyond a Shallow Definition of "Social Media" )Made by Many( Options Media To Acquire M-Commerce Firm )Direct( Burger King Relaunches BK.

Ok, this may be a bit of a cheap shot, but take a look at the above litany of complaints posted to Facebook's latest status update directed to its advertisers. While certainly not representative of the collective opinion marketers hold about its ad products, the negativity and disorientation in evidence here does indicate the company has - at the very least - a significant communication breakdown with its advertisers.

The Murphy-Goode Winery social media manager's job - officially known as a wine country lifestyle correspondent - goes to Hardy Wallace of Atlanta, GA. So what does a Southern guy know about wine? He's a Sommelier Guild level I and II and founder of the Dirty South Wine blog , according to the winery. And, more than 2,000 people applied for the six-month position that pays $10,000 a month and is based in Sonoma County, CA.

Think ESPN focuses too much on big market teams now? Well, in keeping with its Chicago-centric site , the firm now plans to launch sites dedicated to sports in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas - you know, those places where fans already have umpteen choices of media outlets covering their hometown teams. Dallas comes first, this fall, just in time for Dallas Cowboys football )be prepared for the Jessica Simpson photo hunt game(.

What ClickZ's editors are reading: ESPN's Local Vision for Web,

Tuesday, July 21 marks #FreePastryDay @Starbucks . A coupon , which can be printed out, reads: "Not valid if photocopied, altered, or reproduced." Really?

It looks like the Republican National Committee didn't exactly do its homework on one of its latest efforts to peg the Obama administration as big spenders. By way of TechPresident )by way of Politico and leftie political site AmericaBlog (, the RNC launched an online contest aimed at young Republicans earlier this week, but the committee - amazingly - forgot that there are a whole lotta detractors out there ready to pounce.

It ain't rabbit season or duck season but it's always a political season, at least when it comes to fundraising. So, who wants your money? The soon-to-be former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, for one. Then there's the much lesser known Jesse Kelly . The U.S. Marine is running for Arizona's 8th Congressional District on a "fiscal sanity" platform. )Doesn't he know that's an oxymoron in government?( Anyway, SarahPAC , Palin's Political Action Committee,

What ClickZ editors are reading: Yahoo, Microsoft Once Again Close to a Deal "Unless there is some major glitch" the two may announce a search and ads partnership within one week, Kara Swisher says.