Yahoo! continues to be in trouble and sacks some of it’s employees. The Google Chrome browser is out of beta. The Indian government believes terrorists made use of Google Earth satellite imagery. Google Book Search includes scanned magazines. These are just a few of this week’s selected search engine news articles from around the web-

• A lot of Brits don’t understand search engines

  Most Britons either have no idea or an inaccurate view of how online search results are determined, according to the Online Search Matters Survey (Guardian Dec 12 2008)

• Use SearchWiki To Rank Your Web Site Higher in Google

  If thousands of people remove a page using SearchWiki, Google may respond in kind by removing the offending result. (SE Roundtable Dec 10 2008)

• Google Zeitgeist 2008 Live; Lycos Announces Top Searches of 2008

  What people has been searching for in 2008 (SE Land Dec 10 2008)

• Jerry Yang’s Entire Memo to the Yahoo Troops About Layoffs (Except Not the Part About Maybe More to Come)

  BoomTown has the full text (Dec 10 2008)

• Indian Government Wants Google Earth Censored

  On the heels of the tragic terrorist attacks in Mumbai last month, legal advocates in India are asking the country’s High Court to demand that Google blur sensitive locations (SE Land Dec 11 2008)

• Baidu Continues Downward Spiral

  Despite the launch of a new search product, earnings estimates for Chinese search engine Baidu continue to plummet. (MarketingPilgrim Dec 11 2008)

• 10 Top Stories and Videos from SES Chicago 2008

  The Search Engine Strategies conference in Chicago presented by SE Journal (Dec 11 2008)

• Why Google Chrome Left Beta and Gmail Hasn’t

  When you get to software–the stuff that runs on your desktop–keeping it in beta means that OEMs (such as Dell, Lenovo, etc) won’t touch it. (MarketingPilgrim Dec 12 2008)

• Google Chrome browser out of beta

  Now, that was quick! (Google Blog Dec 11 2008)

• Ex-Yahoos Weigh in on Their Choices for New Yahoo CEO

  Should Yahoo go for The Media Mogul, The Insider or The Microsoftie or Googler? (BoomTown Dec 13 2008)

• Google Testing Enhanced Listings, Pagelinks and Auto-Spelling Correction

  Enhanced Listings allows selected publishers to flag data on their web pages that can be extracted and shown within the page’s description in search results. (SE Land Dec 12 2008)

• Google Testing More New Features: Enhanced Listings, Pagelinks, and Spelling Corrections

  Yep that’s right, it appears that Google is once again planning on changing the way it displays search results. (MarketingPilgrim Dec 13 2008)

• Yahoo Jumping Ahead of Google

  Yahoo’s lab in India is developing technology that will summarize information about web search results rather than simply offer links (BeyondSearch Dec 7 2008)

• Search and find magazines on Google Book Search

  Google is partnering with publishers to begin digitizing millions of articles from titles as diverse as New York Magazine, Popular Mechanics, and Ebony. (Google Blog Dec 12 2008)

• Recession? What Recession?

  Charles Knight points out that there seem to be no lack of capital for search engine start-ups (AltSearchEngines Dec 10 2008)

• New President of Online Services Group Sees Chance to Make Impact at Microsoft

  Qi Lu (formerly Yahoo) discusses what attracted him to Microsoft and how he plans to boost the company’s efforts in online search and advertising. (Microsoft PressPass Dec 10 2008)

• Social Search Engine Qitera Launched

  Qitera helps users simplify their online lives by building their own search indexes and sharing them within trusted circles. (AltSearchEngines Dec 11 2008)

• Your New Agreement With Google, Chrome Users

  Now that Chrome has made a surprise early exit from Beta status this week, that transition brought more changes to the contract (ReadWriteWeb Dec 12 2008)

• Microsoft Architect Heads to Amazon

  James Hamilton, a key data center architect, will leave Microsoft and head to Amazon. (BeyondSeach Dec 13 2008)

• The Top Ten Sites for Free Full Length Movies

  From Wendy Boswell over at About.com (Dec 13 2008)