I apologize for the lack of postage today.  Matt and I spent the better part of the day exploring local SEO training opportunities by sitting in to observe a class offered at the local community college.  We'll have more details on Monday.

  Ban on YouTube in Turkey is Lifted  (ABC News)

A couple of days ago we covered reports that Turkey had banned access to YouTube after several videos were posted to the site which made derogatory remarks about the country's founder.  After verifying that the videos had been removed, the same court that ordered the ban lifted it today.  Turk Telecom, the state-run Internet provider, said it immediately restored access as soon as word from the court arrived.

  The Cost of Google Checkout:  $58 Million  (InsideGoogle)

A while back we talked about how much money Google was probably loosing to peddle it's Checkout service.  Between paying people to use the service and offering to waive processing fees for merchants, we knew it'd be a lot.  InsideGoogle is reporting on news from MarketWatch that says Google did, in fact, loose money on Checkout - to the tune of $58 million.  And I could have said it any better than InsideGoogle:  "Google is pushing Checkout by buying its way into the market, not on any perceived merits of its product. If your product can’t at least perform reasonably well without you dropping $58 million to get it there, maybe it doesn’t deserve to exist at all."

  Patent:  Google Phone knows what you want before you search  (Mad4MobilePhones.com)

I knew it!  I knew that Google would eventually turn to black magic to read our minds!  Well.  Ok.  Maybe it's not black magic.  But the patent Google filed for a mobile application that uses your location, time, and previous call/search history to guess what you're looking for is pretty close.  Ok.  Maybe it's not even close to black magic.  But it could be one of those creepy/cool features that would sell the crud out of some phones.  We'll just have to see if anything ever comes of it.

  How to Solve Keyword Cannibalization  (SEOmoz)

By simply knowing what keyword cannibalization is, website owners should be able better avoid it.  And that's the best part of this post… the explanation of what happens inside a search engine that leads to cannibalization.  The graphics even include a sweet little Google robot!  Seriously.  They do.  Boiled down to its finer bits, the easiest way to avoid cannibalizing your own website is to make sure your keywords, titles, etc are as specific and diversified as possible… while still remaining true to the content of your site.

  Yahoo Partners with Microsoft for Mobile Service  (MarketingVOX)

Yahoo is really pushing it's Y!Go mobile service.  According to this report, Yahoo has signed an agreement with Microsoft that will allow the service to run on 75 more Windows Mobile devices.  Yahoo continues to lead this market (as far as the major search engines are concerned).  Deals like this, that keep the momentum behind its products going, are only going to help solidify that position.