Let's add up a few things shall we? Phone companies want a piece of Google . + Google's bought plenty of dark fiber in the past . + Google and broadband providers are duking it out over net neutrality . + Jim Cramer has predicted Google will launch its own phone service in the future. + Google today named Patrick Pichette , president of operations at Bell Canada, as its new chief financial officer, replacing CFO George Reyes after a nearly year-long search.

It's all quiet on the Pilgrim front. Until more news comes along, please ration these Picks: The Kelsey Group predicts online local video ad revenue will grow by 168% through 2012, reaching $1.5 billion . Does this mean local car dealerships will annoy us on the web too? Louis Gray reminds us not to believe everything we read on the web- especially Twitter rumors about Subway's Jared kicking the bucket .

No Linky Withdrawal here, pleasewe're back and better than decent as ever! Not terribly surprisingly, Google is launching the "Internet for Everyone" campaign . Because that's a basic right. Really. I used to teach the Constitution; it's in the 82nd Amendment*. What the rest of us with Internet want to know: will this bring our monthly bill down? )And as marketers: what is this new audience interested in researching/purchasing online?( ) via (.

Once upon a time, a bunch of Googlers were sitting around during meal time or 20% time or something, just thinking. And you know what happens when Googlers think in groups, right? "You know," says one, "I sure wish we could bring Google Maps to the islands of the world." "Yeah, that would be awesome. I claim Tahiti!" "No, I'm serious," says the first. "But, obviously, travel costs would be prohibitively high." "I still get Tahiti," mutters the second.

So met with a friend for coffee this morning and we discussed coaching/consulting. I plucked an analogy from the air, that he really liked, but I couldn't think where to write it down-so I don't forget it. So, I'll share it here, so anyone can use it. A consultant is a tugboat at a busy harbor. The ship )client( could eventually find its own way to the dock, and may even manage to pull into a slip. However,

It looks like privacy concerns have put Charter Communications ad targeting plans on hold. As we reported last month , ISPs are sitting on a wealth of personalized data, but lawmakers have expressed concerns over the methods used to tap into that data-especially "deep packet inspection." The pressure has obviously become too much for Charter which, conveniently, spins the suspension of its ad plans into a mere pause, while it listens to customers.

Two weeks ago, Andy brought you the B2B Lead Generation handbook . Without further ado, we now bring you B2C. Search Engine Optimization )SEO( and Email marketing are the two best bets for your marketing dollar, according to a new report from UK Based eConsultancy in conjunction with Clash-Media . " Viral marketing " landed on the other end of the spectrum based on the feedback of 600 companies.

Just in case anyone out there was having a crisis of faith, the Opinion Research Corporation has good news for you: search engines are still the preferred method for conducting product/service research. In a survey of 736 adults released yesterday )PDF(, ORC found that not only do most people prefer to use search engines for product research, they also read "online customer feedback" heavily. That THAT , totally skewed Pew findings !

Since launching my own online reputation monitoring service, Trackur has seen more than 2700 registered users. Those that sign-up range from small mom-and-pop shops to some very well known Fortune 500 companies. Those that seem to really get the most out of Trackur are marketing agencies and PR firms. Even if they're not offering reputation monitoring services to their clients, just knowing what's going on with a client's brand, can be invaluable.

By Vinny Lingham Other than the weather in Seattle, my trip to SMX Advanced was fantastic.  Danny Sullivan & co have done an amazing job by creating a conference circuit that even the most advanced Search Marketers found stimulating.  My key takeaway from the conference was that there is a fine line between so called "White Hat" & "Black Hat" SEO â€" and most people don't know where one begins and the other ends.

Remember when I wrote about little known search engine, Searchme , earlier this month? They had just announced another round of funding and in my post I waxed a bit poetic about the "The Beauty of the UI". Some of the naysayers commented â€" "Nice, but not practical". Two things you should know about investors. First â€" they typically don't throw a boatload of cash at zippo. Second â€" they play to win. So,

No funny videos for today's Picks. Just good, wholesome internet marketing news. In fact, did you know that consuming one serving of Pilgrim's Picks daily will make you, well, you know'more regular? Google News languishes in the #8 spot of most visited online news sites. Still, Marissa Mayer suggests the company still gets a lot of value from the service . The revamped Yoono enters public beta today.

I wonder how many people in the interactive advertising industry are feeling suckered by Google this morning. For the past few years, Google has continually downplayed its threat to ad agencies and marketing technology companies. "We're not a threat, we just want to help," tends to be the main theme. Meanwhile, Google continues to gradually creep forward with its encroachment. Like the rising seas, its advancement is often unnoticed until, all of a sudden,

Yesterday's news that Nokia acquired location based social network Plazes, was worthy only of making our Pilgrim's Picks. Today's news that Nokia has acquired mobile platform Symbian -and plans to make it open source-is definitely worthy of its own post. Nokia already owned 48% of Symbian , but is willing to pay around $410 million in cash to acquire the remaining 52%. So, what's Nokia's plan for Symbian?

If LimitNone LLC wins the lawsuit it just filed against Google, it could send a warning signal to other start-ups: don't show Google your wares, because it will steal your technology out from under you. That's effectively what LimitNone is saying, with its lawsuit alleging Google stole its system for migrating Microsoft Outlook customers to Gmail.

Either I'm really running high on the productivity scale or it's a really slow news day. Knowing me, it ain't my productivity. So here are the select few stories that weren't quite worth a post, but are worth a look: Revaluing Social Networks : TechCrunch looks at another way to assign valuations to social networks. He's calculated the average Internet ad spend per user in each country,

Some Monday's just seem to go like this: For the rest of us, we take it in our stride and read today's Picks: Before the "Google Trends kills [insert web intelligence firm here]" discussions get out of hand, it's worth noting that the new web site traffic data from Google is pretty inaccurate . There's an influx of SEO advice from dear old Google. Some of it basic )but good( and some of it needing some additional translation from Rand Fishkin .

If the above headline were true, Google would have found itself at the bottom of the annual Harris Interactive Reputation Quotient poll, along with all of the major airlines. Fortunately, for us and them, Google doesn't charge for its search engine and, when it comes to taking care of its employees, leads corporate America . Largely for its reputation for treating workers well, Google claimed the No. 1 spot from Microsoft Corp, which fell to 10th place.

The WSJ is reporting Google's Android-aka Gphone-is likely to miss its target launch date and instead will not be ready until the fourth quarter. It's tough enough developing an entirely new mobile platform, but when you rely on others to actually build the thing, you have one big headache on your hands. 'some cellular carriers and makers of programs that work with Android are struggling to meet that schedule, people familiar with the situation say.

'and the PPC and banner ad crowd goes wild! The IAB has announced that Internet Advertising Revenues are up over 18% year over year, or $5.8 Billion smackaroos for the first quarter of 2008. That's just off the pace of the $5.9 Billion record set in Q4 '07. Source: )excluding Borat( PwC/IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report ) www.iab.net ( The really good news for internet marketers? Growth is expected to continue. Just listen to what Randall Rothenberg,