Happy Thanksgiving & Programming Note

Happy Thanksgiving Search Engine Land readers! Today, in observance of the holiday, we hope to not write here today. So make sure to tune in tomorrow for today’s search news and tomorrows.

To give you something fun to look at, I’ll post what I did at the Search Engine Roundtable, a collection of special Thanksgiving logos from across the search industry.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Google’s Logo:


Live.com’s theme:


Ask.com’s theme:


DogPile’s logo:


AOL’s logo (which is also animated):


FriendFeed’s Logo:


Search Engine Roundtable’s theme:


Cre8asite Forums Logo:

Live Search Launches Instant Cashback For eBay Purchases

Microsoft just announced Live Search instant cashback rewards. This instant reward currently only applies to items purchased at eBay. If you make a purchase at eBay, using Live Search Cashback, you should see the rewards instantly in your PayPal account. Yes, you won’t have to wait 60 days to see the money.

Clearly, having instant cashback rewards with all their partners is something we would love to see. But for now, having eBay give you instant cash back is really nice to have.

What about all the past rewards pending 60 day approval via eBay? Well, I checked one of my orders and I currently do not see my cash back reward in my PayPal account. So I assume this won’t impact past orders.

This is one way to get users to trust the Microsoft Live Search Cashback program is to offer the rewards instantly. This is not exactly their response to the major distrust they earned over Black Friday, but it does help.

Microsoft in talks to acquire Yahoo’s online search business for $20 billion?

Microsoft is in talks to acquire Yahoo’s online search business for $20 billion, reports The Sunday Times. But this report has been described as “total fiction” by Ross Levinsohn, one of the two key players who were to play a major role in the reported Microsoft-Yahoo deal, according to BoomTown . BoomTown says it has also spoken to top sources at Yahoo and Microsoft and all scoff at such a deal now taking place or that either side has been in any such discussions of late.

Under the talk proposal as reported by The Times, Microsoft would support a new management team -- led by Jonathan Miller, ex-chairman and CEO of AOL, and Ross Levinsohn, a former president of Fox Interactive Media -- to take control of Yahoo. Under the proposal, Microsoft would also provide a $5 billion facility to Miller and Levinsohn who would raise an additional $5 billion from external investors to buy over 30 per cent of Yahoo shares.

The talks with Yahoo involve Microsoft obtaining a 10-year operating agreement to manage the search business. It would also receive a two-year call option to buy the search business for $20 billion. That would leave Yahoo to run its own email, messaging, and content services. It is expected that the operating agreement would boost Yahoo’s income by as much as $2 billion per annum, informs The Times.