Pandia Wishes You a Happy New Year!

(…and gives you a few of the recent search engine headlines from around the web):

• 5 (More) Search Tools You May Not Know … But Should

  How would you like to track hot news geographically? Or see where social conversations are happening on a map? (SE Land Dec 29 2008)

• Predictions 08: How Did I Do?

  Search engine expert John Battelle reviews his predictions (Dec 30 2008)

• 50 Most Memorable Moments in Search for 2008

  Search Engine Watch has the list (Dec 31 2008)

• Rumor: Marissa Mayer, Google’s 19th Employee, To Leave

  Marissa Mayer is one of the most public figures that Google has ever had. (SE Land Dec 31 2009)

• Last Toolbar PageRank update of 2008

  In case you didn’t see where I confirmed it on Twitter, Google recently did a toolbar PageRank update. (Matt Cutts of Google Dec 31 2008)

• Microsoft to Layoff 17% of Staff?

  Microsoft staff are said to have been informed already that the major layoff will actually happen (SE Journal Jan 1 2009)

• Happy New Years From Search Industry: Logos from Google, Yahoo, AOL, Live, Ask & Others

  Search Engine Roundtable has the screenshots (Jan 1 2009)

• Danny Sullivan’s Preview Of The SMX West 2009 Search Marketing Conference

  In about six weeks, our SMX West search marketing conference returns to Silicon Valley, in Santa Clara, California from Feb. 10-12, 2009. (SE Land Dec 29 2008)

• Google Tries to Lure Gmail Users Using IE to Switch Browser

  Google is reportedly trying to lure Gmail users who are still using Internet Explorer in switching to either Firefox or its very own Google Chrome browser. (SE Journal Dec 30 2008)

• The Right Search Tool

  A flurry of venture capital investment, product development, acquisitions, and other industry activity seems to mark the beginning of a new specialist era in search (Internet Evolution Dec 27 2008)

• An Open Letter to Steve Ballmer of Microsoft

  The Motley Fool to Microsoft: You have to do something Google hasn’t tried but everyone wants. You’ve got to master social search, and then embed it with every platform you own. (Dec 30 2008)

• Worio Search - the social search engine

  These results are based on what people have discovered; they are related to your keyword, but not restricted to the word itself. (Phil Bradley Dec 24 2008)

• Yahoo’s Four Issues

  On the surface, Yahooligans get along and love one another. In the day to day dealings, I have heard that the sweetness and light dissipates. (BeyondSearch Dec 25 2008)

• European Digital Library Back Online

  The Inquirer reported here that the digital library sponsored by the European Union is online again. (BeyondSearch Dec 26 2008)

• Marissa Mayer, the 21st Century’s Pointy-Haired Boss

  Mayer, a striking Midwestern blonde with a nerdy laugh, was employee No. 20 at Google, and she eagerly grabbed authority as she rose from engineer to director to vice president. (Gawker Dec 19 2008)

• Cruel to Cuil

  Now the avalanche is crashing down on new search engine Cuil. (BeyondSearch Dec 30 2008)

• Picollator search by faces

  Simply upload a photograph or point to a URL and Picollator will find other images that are a match. (Phil Bradley Dec 30 2008)

• Tough Love For Microsoft Search

  Danny Sullivan on why Microsoft has failed to make headway in search (Search Engine Land Dec 30 2008)