Fun Blog Posts

The holiday season is chock full of characters, stories and traditions - all of which see their fair share of search activity. In fact, we hear there's a bit of competition among Santa's cast and crew for the top billing in search. To relieve a bit of pressure (December is a stressful time of year for these guys), Santa Claus returned to the frozen stage this month to oversee some one-on-one action in the Search Smackdown. He got out his list and set up some Yuletide matches in the Buzz Arena...and man, will the reindeer fur fly.

Based on this season's search data, we've got the Search odds right here, and a few highlights from their past matches. All we gotta say is, when Jack "The Cannibal" Frost comes nipping at your nose, you better not cry, you better watch out.

Smack Down	Red Corner	Green Corner	And the Buzz Goes To...	Odds
Vengeance	Rudolph "Red-Nosed" Reindeer	Dasher and Dancer et al	Vengeance is sweet. The reject reindeer outshined the tag team by way more than a nose, although that was too bad about Grandma getting in the way.	2:1 Rudolph
Snowblind	Jack "The Cannibal" Frost	Frosty the Snowman	Frosty proved too slippery for the nimble Jack, although he better watch his addiction to that corn-cob pipe.	9:1 Frosty
Extreme Fighting	Blister the Heat Miser	Snow Miser aka Mr. Icicle	Mr. Icicle may have the cooler ragtime routine, but his hotheaded half-brother burns him in Buzz by nine-fold. Now we know the reason behind global warming.	11:1 Heat Miser
Buzz Office Rumble	"Home Alone"	"A Christmas Story"	The McAllister kid can lay a mean booby trap, but all the blow torches in the basement can't match a Red Ryder -- plus that underhanded tongue-on-flagpole trick should freeze any loner in his tracks.	6:1 Christmas Story
The Unforgiven	Grinch	Scrooge	A face-off for the ages: the cave-dweller with the super-shrunken heart against that squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner. Ah, but that Broadway endorsement clinched the Buzz for the Grinch.	6:1 Grinch

I'm not one of those natural-born puzzle solvers that can complete the Sunday New York Times Crossword in under three minutes. Quite frankly, I have enough trouble completing the Monday Crossword.

Over the past few weeks, we've been working with the gurus at the New York Times on an experiment to help people like me. What would happen if we combined the puzzle-writing genius of the New York Times with some of the recently-launched Search Assist features of Yahoo! Search? You'd get this.

We've learned a great deal from Will Shortz and his crew of cruciverbalists (including the meaning of that 15-letter word). For example, I never stopped to consider the fact that crossword developers generally abide by a rigid set of rules guiding construction, including:

1. Diagonal symmetry: The pattern of black squares should look the same when rotated 180 degrees.

2. All-over interlock: The black squares do not cut up the puzzle into separate, distinct sections.

3. No two-letter words.

4. No unchecked letters: Every square appears in two words, across and down.

5. No more than 16 percent of the grid can be black squares.

As far as I know, there's really no complementary set of rules for puzzle solvers. As a result, we thought it might be fun to connect one of Will's infamous puzzles to hints from the recently re-launched Yahoo! Search. This puzzle is made for those of us who didn't come into this world with the natural "crossword gene." And to up the ante a bit, if you complete it by October 26th, you'll be in the running to win one of five trips to Hawaii.

Give it a try and let us know what you think. Extra credit if you solve it in under three minutes...

Chris Thun
Yahoo! Search

Gas relief comes not from a bottle, but from the pumps. As summer draws to an end, the meter has dropped a few pennies -- enough to tempt perhaps one more asphalt adventure. And, with Labor Day weekend upon us, what better way to spend your time than the open roads?

"Road trips" buzz usually peaks in April, dips in June and starts to rise again in July through September. Searches for the American tradition of mobile trekking showed a steady decline in the past two years and online interest has dropped off 11% compared to last summer. Still, there are those who can't resist the appeal of the "family road trip" or "college road trip."

So, if you're packing up your car for a Labor Day Asphalt adventure to the sunny beaches of California in Santa Barbara or maybe San Diego, for example, check out the routes the Yahoo! Buzz caravan has been searching before you go:

1. "Road Trip Planners." A good trip requires planning. Even if you're last minute on your trip-planning adventures, look for "tips" and "maps."

2. "Road Trip Games." A DVD player just doesn't compare to a rousing car game. Smart parents look for "printable road trip games." An impolitic few either seek to entertain passengers or prepare for the worst with "mother-in-law" traveling tales. That oughtta make a short trip seem long, especially if said relative is in the car.

3. "Road Trip Songs." Playing radio tower roulette can be serendipitous, but long bouts of static don't encourage grooving. Instead, travelers trick out the car into a mobile karaoke station with a music mix, from movies or simply the best songs for the road.

4. "Road Trip Ideas." Unlike spring or summer, the need for inspiration isn't so keen. People know their general routes, such as California, Texas, the United Kingdom, or Norway. Not surprisingly, the vehicle can determine the type of trip, whether it be a motorcycle, an RV or a Honda Element.

5. "Packing Food for a Road Trip." Homemade snacks save travelers from impulse buys at the convenience mart. Then again, some people plan their entire venture around food. What better than a BBQ road trip for Labor Day?

However you plan to spend your weekend away, have fun, relax and happy travels!

Vera Chan
Senior Buzz Team Editor
Yahoo! Search

After two and half years, the Yahoo! Search Blog team thought it was time for a little pick-me-up, so we went under the html knife and added a couple of new features to help you navigate through the site better. Okay, so it's not exactly a traditional facelift, but it's a refresh and we hope you like it. A couple new things we added include:  MyBlogLog, one-click links to save a post to Yahoo! Bookmarks, del.icio.us and digg, a new archive dropdown to quickly get to past posts and category search.

We'd love to know what you think, both about the design and how we can improve the blog to be more interesting, more informative, and more useful to you.

Raj Gossain
Yahoo! Search

It wasn't our intention Rand, but we appreciate the humor (and awkwardness) of your situation. So please accept our apology and our peace offering - an olive branch:

But in all seriousness, given the recent, well publicized changes to Yahoo! Search and our search advertising platform, we appreciate that many of you are sharing your stories. We are listening and your feedback continues to influence our product development efforts.

Now Rand, about this photo...

Raj Gossain
Yahoo! Search

Some may argue that the �mockumentary� Best in Show did little to portray competitive dog showing in a positive light, but it can also be argued that the movie did a great deal to help bring the sport to mainstream America.

Well, welcome to the real thing. Westminster Kennel Club�s annual competition is next week, February 13-14. To help celebrate the show�s 130th year, Yahoo! Video Search has teamed up with WKC and USA Networks to bring you the action via featured competition video segments from on the Yahoo! Video Search front page.

The dog show action follows on the last weekend�s Super Bowl XL ad special. We�ll post links to videos of the competition shortly after they take place, so you can play them to your heart�s content, or share them with your dog and human friends. My personal favorite is the herding breed competition � such as this Belgian Malinois.

And of course, you can also use Yahoo! Video Search to find other dog videos to watch alongside the WKC show action. That�s it � we hope this special event gives the dog lover in you a little more to chew on (couldn�t resist that one).

Ethan Fassett
Yahoo! Video Search

Ah, Super Bowl. For some, it�s a time-honored tradition, for others, just an opportunity to brush up on Roman numerals. This annual gridiron classic, now four decades deep, certainly attracts a diverse crowd of sports fans and not-so-sports fans who co-exist on the same couch, watch the game together, and bond over seven layer dip and cold beer.

For those with an appetite for The Big Game�s commercials, viewing them once during the show is hardly enough. And in our 2.0 world of online media you now have access to all these ads and can replay them long after the field has emptied. Enter Yahoo! Video and iFilm. Through our partnership we�ll be posting ads to the video home page shortly after they air on TV. So, you and your buddies can get an instant replay of the 2004 Budweiser Super Bowl commercial featuring a donkey who wants to be a Clydesdale.

On Sunday, we�ll post the commercials as fast as they air (ok, as fast as we can) so you can replay to your heart�s content, analyze them with your friends, and provide some distraction for those who may be more interested in Roman numerals than nickel defenses. The true sports fan might also use Yahoo! Video to find interesting clips of Super Bowl news and sportscasts, as well as exclusive content from Yahoo! Sports. It�s the armchair quarterback 2.0, Yahoo! style.

May your team win, your dip stay fresh, and your beer stay cold. Enjoy the game, and enjoy Yahoo! Video.

Regards,

Ethan Fassett
Yahoo! Video