Just in time for the holidays, a financial expert has given a sort of present to Yahoo. Or, perhaps, given everybody else a way to spend whatever cash they receive. Regardless, Kaufman Bros. analyst Aaron Kessler has upgraded his rating on the search company from "hold" to "buy." Earlier this week, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz said at a conference that "things are looking up ." We also saw Nielsen report that time spent stats for the Yahoo homepage are on the rise.

In case you were thinking that Google hadn't made enough announcements this week, they have made a couple more. First, they are adding universal search results to Google Suggest, and second, they have released a new Chrome extension called Google Quick Scroll. Universal search in Google Suggest means that if you begin typing a query, not only will Google give you suggested text to help you complete your search,

Hey all,

If you are a Twitter user, you have probably experienced errors trying to use the service a time or two. In fact, Twitter being "over capacity" is so common on Twitter that the "Fail Whale", which is displayed in such instances has something of a cult following. People even wear T-shirts sporting the image. Despite said following, you have to wonder how long this is going to go on. Hasn't Twitter had ample time to correct the issue of frequent "fails" by now?

Just like holiday shopping strategies, some advertisers pride themselves on staying ahead of the game, diligently planning out their campaign strategies and preparing their uploads weeks in advance of expected seasonal spikes, while others prefer the.

Since the time I bought iPhone and started spending more time outside with my daughter, I have found that having an audio version of a blog post may actually be really, really useful ! Just think about that: users may be given an opportunity to listen to your content while on their way to the office, while jogging, while in an air plane, you name it! Thus I decided to find some way to create an audio version of my own blog.

Last week I spoke at Search Engine Room in Sydney and presented some of the trends we are seeing in how Australian's interactions with search Engines are changing. There has been a global trend that my international colleagues have been reporting on for some time â?" the lengthening of search terms.

The number of seniors actively using the Internet has increased by 55 percent to 17.5 million over the last five years, according to a new report from Nielsen. Among people 65+, the growth of women in the last five years has outpaced the growth of men by 6 percent. More seniors are also spending more time online. Time spent on the Internet by seniors increased 11 percent in the last five years, from 52 hours per month in November 2004 to just over 58 hours in 2009.

by Sage Lewis I have this theory that at every Search Engine Strategies conference there is a particular theme. I often times have a feeling for what I think the theme will be early in the week. I didn't really know what it was for much of the week. I think I finally figured it out. Watch to see what I think. Check out our small business news site.

Join the Microsoft Advertising Team at these events in 2010. More details to come as the events get closer! Search Engine Strategies (SES) London February 16-19, 2010 Search Marketing Expo (SMX) West - March 2-4, 2010 SXSW Interactive - March.