Google has announced their replacement of outgoing CFO George Reyes. Former Bell Canada CFO Patrick Pichette has been offered the position along with an employment package as good as many first round draft picks in sports. As the San Jose Mercury News details , Pichette will get a $500,000 signing bonus and the rest of the package makes his first year's pay in the millions. Welcome to the team Patrick.

Visual search engine Searchme has announced the addition of two new features. The first is Media Search, which allows users to search for videos and images from YouTube and Flickr . The second is "Stacks," a visual bookmarking and sharing features that enables users to share what they find on blogs, social media profiles, email and web sites. "These visual search applications enhance our core search engine by allowing people to use Searchme in fresh,

The State of Missouri has launched a collaborative search portal, enabling citizens of the Show-Me state to explore millions of historical documents. The search, dubbed Missouri Digital Heritage , is powered by Deep Web Technologies' Explorit Research Accelerator. Included in the searchable material are nearly 20 "Collections" such as Transportation, Sports, Women, and Agriculture. "This is a unique project because of the queries this site is designed to handle,

The hottest Google search of the blockbuster movie summer is "Wesley Gibson." The film "Wanted" features a Matrix-like opening with star James McAvoy playing a working stiff unaware of his super powers )as an assasssin( just as Keanu Reeves was clueless as Neo at the start of The Matrix. According to Wikipedia, Wesley Gibson, was a pathetic, cubicle-dwelling hypochondriac. His boss frequently chewed him out and his girlfriend regularly cheated on him with his best friend.

By 2012, 1.8 billion people will be using the internet, according to JupiterResearch. That will be a 44% increase from 2007. China, India, Russia and Brazil will see the highest growth rates. China will overtake the U.S. in internet use by 2011. "Even though the emerging economies will have lower online penetration rates compared to the developed countries,

Apartment Guide has launched a mobile search application allowing users to find apartments via GPS . They've partnered with Mobile Accord to provide the location-based listings, available through participating carriers. "Apartment Guide makes finding apartments easier through mobile GPS," said Arlene Mayfield, president of Apartment Guide. "Powered by Qualcomm's BREW® Platform,

Was the more seasoned Hillary Clinton presidential campaign out-Googled by the more search savvy Barack Obama 2008 campaign? According to Kate Kay, senior editor of ClickZ, our sister site , Clinton Spent Far Less Online Than Obama . And there are lessons here that every search engine marketer is going to want learn regardless of his or her political stripes. BNN )Business Network News( recently interviewed Kate Kay,

Guess the wagon circling has begun over at Yahoo in preparation of the stockholders' meeting August 1. They sent out a letter to stockholders outlining the various events of the past few months and promoted voted for the existing board of directors. The letter attacks Carl Icahn. "It is time for Yahoo! to turn its undivided attention to implementing its key strategies, and we therefore urge you to reject Mr. Icahn's slate and his ill-defined agenda,

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told the Washington Post today that trees will have no fears from newspaper publishers as all media will be eletronic. Funny to see someone with such influence on our lives be so far off the track. Guess it is a long time since he used public transportation, Unless Microsoft is working on some method of running cars using paper and give the world electronic readers to stop them from wanting newspapers.

CNN/crime nailed one Google search crime story but missed the other. CNN caught the man who murdered his wife and daughter but missed the sex offender practicing medicine in Florida. Neil Entwistle, the British husband and father who did a Google search on " how to kill with a knife " four days before the slayings of his wife and daughter, was convicted today. The jury found him guilty of two first-degree murder charges, possession of a firearm and possession of ammunition.

Search engine marketers in the US tend to look West when trying to spot new SEM trends. As Frederick Jackson Turner first observed back in 1893, the frontier has always had a significant influence on American perceptions. But, if you stare into the sunset too long, you might not see the other "new frontier" North of the Canada-United States border that's also shaping search engine marketing trends. While Search Engine Strategies Toronto ended last week,

Like a politician making campaign promises, Google has announced its involvement in the launch of the "Internet for Everyone" campaign. Unlike politicians, we actually know what the campaign is all about from the title and there's a higher chance of Google carrying out this platform than politicians keeping their promises. The "Internet for Everyone" campaign is based on four principles: Access, Choice, Openness, and Innovation. Yup, that sounds like Google.

It's no secret that Twitter has been struggling lately. At any given moment, the social chat platform can go down, preventing a plethora of Tweets from being broadcast to the socially adept. But that hasn't kept the company from getting another round of funding, and help from friends in high places. Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos is investing in the social network using his personal venture investment company, Bezos Expeditions. Meanwhile,

IDC has released new projections for global internet ad spending. This year, they expect internet advertising to reach $65.2 billion, which accounts for roughly 10% of all ad spending. And despite current economic woes, spending will continue to increase. By 2011, the worldwide spend is expected to exceed $106 billion. Earlier this month, IDC released data showing that online advertising was up 23.9% in the first quarter of 2008 over the same period in 2007 .

Today, Publicis announced the launch of their new digital advertising initiative, VivaKi. And Yahoo wasted no time sending out a press release regarding the new partnership with Publicis, perhaps in an attempt to compete with the news of Google's Ad Planner . But with Google already having its own agreement with Publicis , Yahoo is really just playing catch-up. Yahoo's partnership is a dizzying array of product integrations between the two. Let's dive in: First up,

Yesterday, TechCrunch reported that Microsoft and Yahoo were talking again. I was immediately skeptical. Recently, All Things Digital had called out TechCrunch as conducting piggyback reporting instead of doing their own heavy-lifting. While I thought that was a bit harsh )All Things Digital is a project of the Wall Street Journal, and quite frankly - who has their connections?(, it came as no surprise that TechCrunch would attempt to break a big story. Still,

How many maps would a mapmaker make if a mapmaker could make maps online? Google will soon have the answer. Today Google launched Google Map Maker, a new product that enables users to contribute and edit Maps data for regions around the world. Building a map is a complex process that's made easier by a worldwide geo-wiki. Google Map Maker promises to be an easy-to-use tool to build high quality maps of neighborhoods, cities and countries. Map Maker allows people to add,

SpyFu, a site that allows you to see what the competition is up to online , has announced the expansion of its search engine analytics services to the UK. SpyFu says it's the first service to offer comprehensive data to the UK. Here's the data that will be available through SpyFu UK : Natural search competitors Paid search competitors Competitors' Keywords Competitors' Cost per click Rankings SpyFu launched in May 2007 and says it already sees 1 million visitors per month.

Earlier today, we brought you news of Google's new media measurement tool . The official announcement has been published on the Inside Adwords blog. The new tool will be called Ad Planner )yes, there is a space between the two words(, and is in a private, invitation-only beta. You can request an invitation , if you're interested. Ad Planner was developed for media planners in the hopes of creating a better connection between advertisers and publishers.

Search engines are the preferred method of researching a product they're considering purchasing, according to data released by Opinion Research Corporation. 63% of those surveyed say they consult online news, blogs, and consumer feedback before making a purchase. And if you've been tempted to abandon organic based on the "SEO is dead" debate , you may want to think again: 70% go online to find information on brands, especially for travel, leisure,