Many users told us that they really enjoyed the game and were sad when it was removed after a brief period of time. That’s why we teamed up with Yahoo! Games and worked hard to create two games that are refreshed daily – Daily Crossword and Hollywood Jumble. Following the recent launch on www.yahoo.com for Internet Explorer, we are thrilled to announce that they are now live for Firefox and Safari.

So take a break and give yourself a brain boost with the puzzle games powered by Yahoo! Search.

Good luck and have fun.

Christina Lee
Yahoo! Search

As for who’s doing all the searching, we often run geographical heat maps to track the queries by state. The map below traces the past week’s searches for John McCain in each state in terms of queries per capita. As you can see, Washington, D.C. is intently following his progress, followed by Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina and Ohio.

Washington, D.C., Georgia, Florida, Virginia and North Carolina have been scrutinizing Barack Obama most closely.

Since the heat maps compare relative search volume among states for each candidates’ name, they can’t be compared to each other. So, here’s a look at how the candidates stack up against each other in a few key battleground states:

Whatever the outcome of the presidential race, perhaps the most encouraging news has been the surge in look-ups for information pertaining to voter registration. Patriotism may come with bureaucracy, but at least search can help with the paperwork.

Remember to exercise your right to vote on November 4th and share your “Road to the White House” search experiences in the comments below.

Vera Chan & Graham Mudd
Yahoo! Search

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

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

“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

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

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

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

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