Search engine studies are rife, just two days ahead of Google's second-quarter earnings announcement on Thursday. All agree that the online advertising market has experienced an uptick during the period, and after all, eMarketer did say mid-June that search would be the biggest single winner of U.S. online ad spend this year. Google, notably,

Here's a shortcut to interesting news that you might have missed this weekend: Google App Inventor, Google China, Facebook closing down its gift store, Yahoo and Zillow and more... Click to read the rest of this post.

Reports have it that Google has invested between $100 million and $200 million in social gaming platform Zynga. Beyond the actual size of the spend, the real question is whether this move will finally give the Mountain View-based giant the leverage it desperately needs to launch its own full-blown social platform, i.e. the rumored ' Google Me .' Click to read the rest of this post.

Here's a helpful tip: Wear your cross training shoes when you head to Connected Marketing Week , which is being held at The Moscone Center in San Francisco from August 16 to 20, 2010. Click to read the rest of this post.

In the long list of legal issues Google is facing at the moment, here's another one to add to the record: Consumer Watchdog suspects the Mountain View-based company to have picked up unprotected payload data )i.e. Wi-Fi( from the home network of a member of the Department of Homeland Security as well as from houses of members of Congress. Ironically enough, person who has most likely been snooped upon is Rep. Jane Harman, D-CA,

The EU is taking anti-competitive allegations regarding the search industry with great attention but Google said it is "confident" is has a "good case" after EU competition commissioner Joaquim Almunia stated that he is "looking at the allegations very seriously." Click to read the rest of this post.

Twitter is slowly but surely imposing itself as a player to be taken seriously in the search business, with the number of queries conducted on Twitter Search now reaching 800 million a day. At the same time, figures were released regarding fellow social site Facebook, showing that the latter had recorded much slower growth in the U.S. in June, although data indicates that overall growth was driven by India and Indonesia. Click to read the rest of this post.

On Tuesday, The Official YouTube Blog announced the launch of " Life in a Day ," a cinematic experiment that will attempt to document July 24, 2010. I emailed my daughter, who attends the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, because she documents all kinds of interesting things with her Flip Video Camcorder. But, then I wondered if any video marketers would capture a snapshot of their life on camera. Click to read the rest of this post.

OpenTable, a popular restaurant bookings engine, used to run its own reviews on its website via its own platform. However, as its business expanded, reviews became less core to the business and consequently a liability to effectively manage and develop. Toward the end of 2009, it became clear for OpenTable that it was "not our business to understand the UGC." Click to read the rest of this post.

Confirming the trends put forward by comScore in April, a study by Kantar Media's Compete brings further evidence that local search on smartphones has become a prime lead generation contributor for businesses. Click to read the rest of this post.

Call it layers or context or whatever you want. The bottom line is that Foursquare is launching a new content service with the Independent Film Channel )IFC( to give users targeted, geo-localized information for their check ins. Likewise, the Huffington Post has also entered a deal with Foursquare to push local news info context to its users. Click to read the rest of this post.

Okay, so I was a little grumpy when I posted Google News Redesign Offers "News for You" last Thursday morning. But I hadn't had my second cup of coffee that morning. Then on Saturday, I asked, " Is the Google News Redesign a Repeat of the New Coke Disaster? " So, I admit that I, too, questioned whether revamping the Google News homepage was a good idea. Click to read the rest of this post.

As it transitions to becoming a content provider from a pure search approach, Yahoo is innovating and moving boldly into unchartered territory as it launches today its UpShot blog that will carry search-driven news content. Yes. That's news content that will be produced on the basis of search results. Read on. Click to read the rest of this post.

Twitter is coming up with a new revenue-generating stream by way of its @Earlybird account, it seems. If you're a deal seeker, this might be for you. Click to read the rest of this post.

Facebook is currently testing a new feature for pictures that allows automatic recognition of faces and subsequent faster tagging of photos, thanks to newly-acquired technology company Divvyshot . The company says it's only the first of other new features for Facebook photo, including browsing and uploading. Let's see the potential implications. Click to read the rest of this post.

Skype, the chat, voice and video calling platform has plans to extend its reach to consumer electronics and mobile devices and the first step will be to move its offices in Stanford, next to Facebook's headquarters. The move will take place by October. Hires should follow. Click to read the rest of this post.

If you look at Google News, there a "new" way to view News for you: Sections! Yes, that's actually the "old" way that the Google News homepage sorted top stories. So, it appears that Google has been listening to those of us who have asked, " Is the Google News Redesign a Repeat of the New Coke Disaster? " Click to read the rest of this post.

MyWebGrocer report that hamburger sales increase a whopping 105% as Americans prepare to celebrate the birth of the USA. MyWebGrocer collected the data through their grocery ad platform which works with over 100 US retailers )representing over 5000 stores(. Click to read the rest of this post.

The Official Google Blog announced that the company was "revamping the Google News homepage" on Wednesday. It's only Saturday, but I already think the Google News redesign is a repeat of The Coca-Cola Company's New Coke disaster in 1985. Click to read the rest of this post.

SES San Francisco has a new track. It's a track hosted by SearchEngineWatch and it's call the SEW labs. If you have been to a Search Engine Strategies Conference before, then you are probably well versed in what happens in a 'site clinic'. Basically attendees to the site clinic turn up and thrust their businesses cards into the moderators hand, for review by our expert panelists. The panel then performs an open case study, 'live',