It is summer in the Northern Hemisphere and the search engine industry catches its breath. No big news this week, but we did found some interesting articles all the same:

• Ask Maps Now Using Virtual Earth

  Ask switches to Microsoft’s Mapping service, abandoning its own (Liveside July 2 2008)

• Google Street View could meet Privacy Road Block in UK

  The privacy related problems just pile up for Google as the first Street View vans are spotted in the United Kingdom and European Data Protection laws are rolled out to greet them. (IT Wire July 6 2008)

• Google and Yahoo’s Flash indexing is revealing… too much?

  Adobe’s announcement that Google and Yahoo! will be indexing Flash content at a much deeper level was met with all sorts of reactions last week, ranging from praise from the Flash and Flex communities to utter shock and horror from some HTML fundamentalists. (Aral Balkan July 6 2008)

• Hitwise: Yahoo Properties Get More Traffic From Google Than Yahoo Search

  In a way it should come as no surprise that most of Yahoo’s own properties get more traffic from Google than from Yahoo Search. (SE Land July 3 2008)

• Google Uses 613 Words About Adding 1 — Privacy — To Its Home Page

  Google’s finally added a privacy link to its home page, explaining in 613 words why the company apparently can’t have more than 28 words on its home page. (Danny Sullivan July 4 2008)

• How to Get Past Google 1,000 Page Roadblock!

  One of the hurdles that is faced by every SEO firm working on big websites is that Google only allows you to view a small part of the search index (Page Traffic July 3 2008)

• Stop Wasting Your ALT Attributes and Make them Work for You

  While the search engines can’t read actual images, they can read what we say about the image. (SE Guide July 3 2008)

• Requesting reconsideration using Google Webmaster Tools

  “If your site does not appear in Google Search results, you might be understandably worried. Here, we’ve put together some information to help you determine when and how to submit a reconsideration request for your site.” (Google Webmaster Central Blog July 2 2008)

• New Online Phenomenon: The Review Farm

  Now, word’s out that Yelp management won’t take such schemes lying down when it comes to local business owners banding together to write positive reviews in order to boost each others’ reputations and rankings in category listings. (Traffick July 4 2008)

• SEO Plagiarism

  “Over the past few weeks, I’ve had a few run-ins with plagiarism in various forms and thought I’d take the opportunity to have a little rant about it.” (Jill Whalen July 2 2008)

• What’s Better : Long Copy Versus Several Related Short Copies?

  Is it worth focusing efforts on one huge brilliant copy or is it wiser to split it into several related copies? (SE Journal July 4 2008)

• SEO Conferences: Good Deal or No Deal?

  I may never go to another conference because the prices are just too freaking high. (SEO Chicks July 4 2008)

• Google Faces an Attack of Infinite Legal Eagles

  Usage data is a crown jewel at Google. Few people know what Google captures. Even fewer have seen the fragments of information about the data model into which the usage data are inserted. (Beyond Search July 3 2008)

• Top 10 Book Search Engines

  Whether you’re looking for a rare book, a used book, an audio book, or a comic book, chances are you can find it on the Web using one of these excellent book search engines. (About July 5 2008)

• Google Bashing: Now Googzilla Is Playing Catch Up

  Elise Ackerman’s essay “Google Finds Itself Playing Catch Up� is another installment in the continuing saga of Google’s losing its youthfulness. (Beyond Search July 5 2008)

• On Day Care, Google Makes a Rare Fumble

  Two months ago, Google held a series of secret focus groups with employees who have children in Google’s day care facilities. The purpose was to gauge their reaction to the company’s plan to raise the amount it charged for in-house day care by 75% (NYT July 5 2008)