Oh, geez, is it Wednesday already? And, conversely, is the week over yet? In case you weren't sure, lying to Google is a bad idea , at least when it comes to reconsideration requests according to Matt Cutts. Ever wanted to build your own Reddit? Oh. Well, now you can anyway: Reddit goes open-source . Google Decides Books Have Consumer Intent and Puts Them Into Product Search . But are they just doing this because Microsoft did the opposite in killing its book search ?

Forget the fact that privacy watchdogs are all over Google threatening legal action for not linking prominently to their privacy policynow other search companies are out to steal their bacon. Ask.com is circulating news that they're now prominently linking to their privacy policy. From the email: At Ask, we take our commitment to user privacy and data protection very seriously. We've demonstrated this not just through words, but through deeds and actions.

Microsoft will give Google a run for its money in any arena they canand the latest effort looks to be focused on television advertising, with Microsoft's acquisition of Navic , a TV advertising company. Google's slow foray into television advertising began last March, with confirmation coming last April . By January of this year, they had only 200 advertisers .

Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are still getting plenty of attention, despite the apparent finality of recent decisions to end talks between Y&M and to start a search advertising deal with G&Y . Once again, we've herded together some of the best and most insightful stories to give you the big picture. Think of it as an extended Linky Goodness with editor's commentaryyou know, like a special feature on your daily DVD of marketing news. Moving right along. . . .

If the race between the Soviet Union and the United States to get the first man in space was coined "the Space Race," perhaps we should call Google and Microsoft's race to plaster the digital frontier with ads "the AdSpace Race." This week, Microsoft purchased YuMe , the largest provider of online video ads on the web. YuMe represents more than 500 million streams each month and reaches more than 68% of the total US online population )more than 120M uniques(.

I'm feeling moderately linky today, aren't you? Oh good. A fascinating interview of Matt Cutts by Eric Enge on Link Building has been making the rounds: if you haven't seen it yet, check it out! ) via (. The Detroit City Pension, who filed suit against Yahoo as disgruntled shareholders, amended the suit to look at the employee retention/severance plan that Icahn called a "poison pill," but the Delaware Chancery Court nixed an expedited trial on that matter.

Who knew? A study by OTX finds that on average teens )aged 13-17( spend 11.5 hours online a week )yep, not a day . . . no comment on how many hours I spend online a day. . . .(. Nearly a quarter of teens spend over 15 hours online per week, while 45% spent eight hours or less online. The study also looked at what teens did online.

Today is the day that Mozilla Foundation launches Firefox 3, and goes for a world record in the process! OK, so I guess you need the link to download Firefox 3 . Download it today )starting at 10am PT( and you can make the claim of being a Guinness World Record holder! Search analytics firm Enquisite has named Mark Hoffman as its new CEO . The company has also added two new VPs. Confirmed. Yahoo's Jeff Weiner has indeed resigned as reported last week .

It makes sense when you think about it. While Technorati is a great social media search engine, it doesn't exactly have a sound revenue model. Until today. TechCrunch is reporting a 9am PST launch of Technorati Media , a new CPM ad network for blogs of all sizes. The company has been testing the new sales product with a number of partners, including BlogTalkRadio, BlogCritics, BlogCatalog, BlogTV, Technabob, GPSMagazine, GeekAlerts and NerdApproved.

As popular as the place for online auctions once was, eBay has slowly but steadily fallen from favor, especially among tech bloggers and reporters in 2008. But today they've announced plans for something which they hope will reverse their failing fortunes: a developer platform. eBay already has internally-developed apps in use by its 700,000 merchants. The new platform would increase the functionality of the APIand make it more portable.

Nothing like a lunchtime flight to LAX to ensue you make the most of your morning. While I rush around like a headless chicken, you can enjoy the soothing words of today's Picks. Carl Icahn believes the Yahoo/Google deal " might have some merit. " Let's hope so, because if he pushes forward with his proxy battle, it might trip a "change of control provision" allowing Google to walk away from the deal.

If you happen to have a life outside of the internet, you likely missed the blogstorm this weekend over the Associated Press's attempts to force the Drudge Retort to stop quoting AP stories -it even sent a cease and desist letter to the blog. Well, how do you think the blogosphere reacted to that? Yep, you guessed it. Just about everyone, who's not AP, went on the attack,

By Frank Reed. In today's Wall Street Journal , Stephan Tornquist of MarketingSherpa , Inc. discusses the importance of small business and marketing during the current downturn. I don't like to use the word recession because it seems like every time the word is printed people believe more and more we are in doom and gloom times. Self fulfilling prophecies of this kind should be avoided. Sure,

Growing up in England, I always enjoyed watching the darts game show Bullseye . Host Jim Bowen took great delight in showing losing contestants the prize they just missed out on. "Look at what you could have won" was just one of his many catchphrases. Why am I telling you this? It was the first thing that came to mind after reading Microsoft's Kevin Johnson's email to employees highlighting the much better offer Yahoo turned down, in favor of Google.

There's no doubt that democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama knows how to use the web to improve his chances of being elected this November. His campaign has used the internet to raise millions in funds and our own research has proven that Obama's efforts have created a very positive online reputation . However, his smartest move to date could be the launch of the FightTheSmears.com web site. The site-actually it redirects to a page on the my.barackobama.

Yeah, it's still Friday the 13th, and our linky goodness roundup looks at people with bad luck: Google says they don't know how to make money from YouTube . Oh, Google, we know . ) via ( Telling your potential mobile customers to go to a .mobi address? The .mobi might just confusing them . And finally, an item that might actually be positive: suck at Google Analytics? Visit Boot Camp for Google Analytics . Now, good luck!

It's time for another edition of Good Idea/Bad Idea! Good idea : Making more money. Bad idea : Making more by admitting that you suck and your competition is so good at this that you'll let them make the money for you. Actually, other than the "admitting you suck and your competition is so good," that doesn't sound like an entirely bad idea, does it? I mean, using the competition to increase your profits could potentially be a good thing. Potentially.

It seems like MarketingSherpa churns out a new handbook every month. While I look forward to reading each of them, the one I've look forward to the most is the new 2008 B-to-B Lead Generation Handbook . It's a monster of a handbook-531 pages-but every page is packed with vital information for any marketer in the business-to-business space. Here's what's inside: Beginning with pre-campaign research and preparation,

There were a few presentations from Internet Retailer about video that peaked my interest. Dave Witzig from ShopNBC discussed the impact of video on their highly successful ecommerce site and made some very strong statements that should be of interest to everyone. 1( Product videos should be your focus. ShopNBC has 6,000 1-3 minute product videos )representing half of their total SKUs(. Focus on these videos primarily before going into other areas.

OK, be very careful when reading today's Picks. Today is Friday 13th, and I don't want anyone to accidentally poke their eye out, because they were careless. Even Google knows that in a recession you should keep on marketing. Hence, it's looking for a direct marketing agency for its UK marketing efforts. Friday 13th is not treating Yahoo well. Its stock is already down more than 5% . Google is getting fresh with you. Not that kind of fresh!