Yahoo is also responding to the challenges posed by search refinements being carried out by its competitors. So, it just introduced a refinement to its Image Search service by way of what it calls as travel image refiner . This sort of acts as a virtual navigator to travel spots if you search for them on Yahoo Image Search.

Jeremy Shoemaker aka Shoemoney has been involved with Search Engine Strategies conferences for the past five years - it is where he came to build a large part of his network. But it seems now he is writing about how the conference is no longer effective. Jeremy is now doing well and may no longer need to attend this conference - Elite Retreat and other smaller conferences are now more productive for him,

by Claudine Zap The plucky kid with the pod racer from " Star Wars: Episode I " is not a kid anymore. And Jake Lloyd wants you to know that having a major role in a George Lucas film really put a damper on things when he was growing up. OK, fine: The guy doesn't really deserve our pity, but think of it from his point of view. Ten years old, getting blamed for ruining the Star Wars series. (Well, that was mainly the fault of George Lucas, but the kid was there, wasn't he?

by Vera H-C Chan At last, the Soap Bubble Nebula has a name. Bubble nebulas aren't uncommon: The Hubbard telescope famously captured a stunning image of the Eagle Nebula . This particular celestial phenomenon, though, has entranced astronomers for its nearly spherical perfection. Last summer, three amateur stargazers spotted the remains of a dying star which, as Fox News noted, " shed its outer shell about 22,000 years ago .

In the past couple of days, a rumor has begun spreading that claims we have changed our policies for third-party advertisers and the use of your photos. These rumors are false, and we have made no such change in our advertising policies. If you see a Wall post or receive a message with the following language or something similar, it is this false rumor: FACEBOOK has agreed to let third party advertisers use your posted pictures WITHOUT your permission.

Google AdWords is introducing Location Extensions . The feature allows local businesses to connect their business address to their search ads. They can either connect it via Google's Local Business Center or add it manually in AdWords. AdWords will then include the address automatically. This feature is being rolled out, so if you don't have it right away, hang on, it's coming. With the new feature, local business ads in AdWords will no longer have a separate ad format.

News Corp. Chief Digital Officer of News Corp. Jonathan Miller sat down with Fox Business in a video interview from a tech conference, and talked about MySpaces future, among other things. The interview can be viewed here: Miller talks about how the company plans to shift the social network into more of an entertainment portal as Facebook has become quite a fierce competitor in terms of social communication on the web. Not that MySpace is abandoning that,

by Vera H-C Chan In the standoff between Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley , President Barack Obama is the first to issue the regrets. After a Cambridge police officer arrested a black man on his own porch on July 16, talk about a continued black-white racial divide erupted from coast to coast. On Wednesday, the president waded into the prickly mess during his primetime pitch for a health care revamp.

Late last year I interviewed several of Twitter's Twitterati  (Barry Schwartz - @rustybrick , Darren Rowse - @problogger , Justine Ezarik - @ijustine , Steve Rubel - @steverubel ) for an article in the Fall print edition of the Search Marketing Standard to get their impressions on microblogging. The feedback was, as you might imagine, excellent,

If you're searching for images of locations around the world, Yahoo! has a new feature to assist you in your effort. Now, when you search for locations, a sidebar will appear on the left that has narrowed-down categories. For example, if you're searching for images of Miami, FL, Yahoo! offers up options to refine your search by Port of Miami, the University of Miami, Miami Heat, etc.