by Claudine Zap Our top picks from the day's hottest searches. Glenn Beck (Searches increased by 1,054%). The conservative talk-show host is up to his antics again: This time removing stars from the American flag for states he believes don't respect states' rights . Oakland Housing Authority (+1,027%). An independent news story accuses Oakland of having a master plan to push poor African Americans out of its city. Green tea (+675%).

The Google Voice team last Friday promised to start offering 50,000 sets of free calling cards for the new invitees of its phone management service, which lets users receive calls to multiple phones via one Google Voice number. So many people are getting Voice numbers for the first time so the move, in conjunction with iPrint.com, will help users distribute their numbers to family, friends and colleagues.

Advertisers like to believe that Twitter allows and encourages people to talk about different products, creating demand in a viral fashion. But some fresh statistics indicate that Twitter may actually be an excellent conversation-stopper, instead. Over 2,000 American adults participated in a LinkedIn Research Network/Harris Poll in late June, and of these, "over two-thirds (69%) say they do not know enough about Twitter to have an opinion about it,

Online video company blip.tv has announced distribution partnerships with YouTube, Vimeo, NBC Local Media New York and Roku, makers of the Roku digital video player. The new partnership with YouTube allows shows creators to send content to YouTube. Blip.tv will also serve its own ads on shows syndicated on YouTube sharing revenue with creators after giving YouTube a slice of the ad profit. "The services we offer,

Today Yahoo announced that PC to mobile sync of the new Yahoo homepage is available on over 400 devices in 17 countries. This means if you set up your customized version of the new Yahoo homepage on your computer, you can easily set it up to be the same way on your phone. "As the leading Web brand on mobile in the U.S., Yahoo! reaches nearly 1 out of every 2 mobile Internet users in the country - more than 34MM unique users per month,

This week Microsoft announced a Bing API application, which is a Silverlight feature that gives users the ability to manipulate Bing results. The software developer kit (SDK), is what Microsoft says the real news is. "This framework is designed to provide support controls for the sample Bing component, but also to provide an additional reusable view control toolkit for implementing and using some of the advanced data metaphors shown in the Bing search component,

by Jonah Stein and Jonathan Hochman The FTC recently announced guidelines for bloggers that requires that they disclose financial interests, freebies and paid reviews.  This decision is seen as a shot across the bow of pay per post networks and bloggers who are monetizing through affiliate programs.    The FTC has decided that compensation is the reason bloggers choose to write about a particular topic and that readers deserve to be informed about the financial relationship.

Clix Marketing's David Szetela has interviewed our own Mel Carson on WebmasterRadio's PPC Rockstars . Some of the topics David and Mel discuss include: - The evolution of the Microsoft Advertising Community Team - reliving the old days... - Microsoft adCenter as the one-stop-shop for advertisers - Microsoft Media Network - Search and Display ROI Uplift Research - Microsoft Advertising Intelligence - Atlas Search - adCenter Desktop - adCenter ROI - SES San Jose (.

How much is a single tweet worth? Would you believe $50,000 ? That's the price a Chicago based realty company is trying to get in a defamation lawsuit. Back in May, Amanda Bonnen, did what any Twitter user does... tweeted a complaint. Below is the text from her tweet, via Chicago Bar-tender : "@JessB123 You should just come anyway. Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it's okay." Though her account has since been deleted ,

by Vera H-C Chan Could the feel-good story of a man who bought two winning lottery tickets in a row be too good to be true? According to The Herald News, Phillip Brunelle may have a checkered past of telling tales . A past acquaintance sent out an email warning to media alleging that Brunelle has pulled hoaxes before, the Massachusetts Lottery Commission still hasn't seen the winning Money Mania ticket,