Yesterday, Google announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire ITA, a Boston-based software company specializing in organizing airline data, including flight times, availability and prices. The purchase price for the travel search firm was $700 million in cash, subject to adjustments. Click to read the rest of this post.

The nice people at Wibiya have been working with us to create our toolbar, which you will see pops up at the bottom of the page. Wibiya offer a free web toolbar , which is essentially an app engine that can be fitted to your website. We decided to heavily customize the toolbar for readers of SEW to offer apps that fit in with routine search marketing tasks, so that you can follow up on concepts you are learning about and bounce ideas off other members of the community.

This morning when I checked out Google News it didn't look the way it did yesterday morning. That's because the Google News homepage has been revamped with several changes designed to highlight interesting stories I didn't know existed and to make it easier for me to share stories through social networks. Click to read the rest of this post.

While Google awaits to find out whether the Chinese government is giving it the green light for the renewal of its Internet content provider )ICP( licence, its local competitor, China's largest search engine Baidu is touting its intention to hire up to 30 engineers in July, directly from 'Google territory,' i.e. the Silicon Valley, to help it expand overseas. Click to read the rest of this post.

Google AdWords was found to abuse its dominant position on the French market and ordered to clarify both its rules and processes for advertisers, after a complaint by location data company Navx was filed with the French Competition Body, Autorité de la Concurrence. Albeit an interim decision, the ruling is the first such in Europe against the search giant. So if you thought this was a day without Google in the news, think again. Click to read the rest of this post.

The rumor launched by Kevin Rose about Google working on a social platform to be called Google Me is taking on a new twist as former Facebook CTO, Adam D'Angelo , steps into the dance by saying that it's "a real project." Click to read the rest of this post.

Released yesterday, there are already 511 news articles about the Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Official HD Trailer in Google News. And Part 1 of the movie won't be released in November 2010 and Part 2 won't arrive in theaters until July 2011. Click to read the rest of this post.

According to AdAge , marketers forked out between $1 to $10 million to have their campaigns carried on Apple's iAd platform but it looks like the slated July 1st delivery is unlikely to happen - mostly due to Apple's solo dealing of the technical issues. Click to read the rest of this post.

When it comes to social media, SES walks the walk as well as talks the talk. This morning, Incisive Media announced it's SES team has won the Best Use of Social Media award at the first Conference Awards 2010. Click to read the rest of this post.

Google announced it is making changes to its approach in China. At stake: its ability to apply for - and hopefully obtain - the renewal of its Internet Content Provider )ICP( licence with the Chinese authorities. The deadline is tomorrow. The clock's ticking. Click to read the rest of this post.

Search engines are a hot topic at the moment, especially for governments wanting to regulate them in one way or another. The most recent tension came from Pakistan's decision that it will monitor Google, Bing, Yahoo )and other sites( for blasphemous content. Now it is the EU's turn to try to impose checks on search engines through its controversial " Written Declaration 29 ." Click to read the rest of this post.

The publication of an online style guide and a site dedicated to helping publishers is another instance of Yahoo's concentration on content, and move away from search . This is a big commitment to the online publishing space and the style guide could become the AP stylebook for the web. Click to read the rest of this post.

Yahoo is seeing quite some movement in its top management. Brad Smith, Intuit President and CEO, as well as Patti Hart, CEO of International Game Technology )IGT(, joined the company's board. At the same time, although the moves are not necessarily related, Larry Cornett, Yahoo's VP of search consumer products quit. So what goes on? Is this a clear sign that the company's losing interest in its search business? Read on. Click to read the rest of this post.

Although it is denying foul play, Facebook is apparently stealth-testing its search capacities in a move clearly threatening Google's search engine supremacy... and NOW, in turn, Google is rumored to be on the verge of launching a "Google Me" service that would jeopardize Facebook's domination of the social scene? Who's killing who or is it the beginning of a genuinely more social-aggressive stance on the part of Google? Let the game begin but first,

In November 2009, I posted, " Murdoch to Google: Drop Dead ." It analyzed News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch's threat to block Google from being able to search its Web sites. I said "maybe Murdoch should think twice before pulling the plug on 25 percent of WSJ.com's traffic" and I concluded, "who knows, maybe the tables will be turned someday and we'll read a headline like: "Google to Murdoch: Go Ahead, Make My Day." Click to read the rest of this post.

Question: have you conducted a search recently on Facebook? And have you noticed that something different, something huge was happening? AllFacebook went as far as saying that the social site was "declaring war on Google." So what is it all about? I'd personally call it "stealth search", no less. Read on. Click to read the rest of this post.

ComScore report that for the three month period ending April 2010, that more smartphone users accessed maps via applications, than maps via mobile browser in a month. Click to read the rest of this post.

According to Heather Dougherty, Director of Research at Experian Hitwise, World Cup traffic increased 22 percent yesterday, June 23, 2010. The surge came on the heels of the USA victory over Algeria in the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament.‏ Click to read the rest of this post.

Okay, so this seems more like a continuing trend than breaking news. But the comScore Video Metrix service today reported that 183 million U.S. Internet users watched online video during May 2010. But the new news is that YouTube.com achieved record levels of viewing activity during the month with an all-time high of 14.6 billion videos viewed and surpassing the threshold of 100 videos per viewer for the first time. Click to read the rest of this post.

The first B2B Search Strategy Summit was held yesterday in San Francisco. It featured a morning keynote by Gord Hotchkiss of Enquiro and an afternoon keynote by Jay Middleton of Adobe. Click to read the rest of this post.