Here are some of the search engine news stories we found interesting this week:

• New Face Recognition Search Engine Luxand

  A unique facial-mapping engine that enables a website to find people by faces (Alt Search Engines Nov 7 2008)

• The Post Google, Post Microsoft Yahoo

  Get new hitters. Simple enough. And a new technology management. (Beyond Search Nov 7 2008)

• 5 Ways to Power Up Your Google Reader Efficiency

  Here are some strategies you can use in Google Reader to help you separate the proverbial blog-corn from the chaff (Google Tutor Nov 5 2008)

• Google CEO on Obama tech czar job: No thanks

  Google Inc Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said Friday he would not serve as technology czar in Barack Obama’s administration (Reuters Nov 7 2008)

• AOL Launches Local Search Engine When.com

  A new hyper-local online event guide that enables users to search and browse for a wide range of events in their local area (AltSearchEngines Nov 3 2008)

• Microsoft-Yahoo soap opera continues

  Microsoft is looking for some kind of search partnership (Todd Bishop Nov 7 2008)

• Some Lyrics Websites Experienced Ranking Drops

  Is Google punishing lyrics sites? (Google Blogoscoped Nov 5 2008)

• How To Get Discovered Through Video Search

  People aren’t going to discover your product through video search if you can’t create a compelling video. (SE Land Nov 6 2008)

• Google November SERP Changes… Reverted!

  Changes in rankings caused by Google bug (PageTraffic Nov 4 2008)

• Facebook Ad Rates Fall: When 32% Growth Is Not Enough

  Facebook is growing, but not enough in the US (Marketing Pilgrim Nov 7 2008)

• Microsoft Tries to Steal Verizon Deal From Google

  Microsoft Corp., capitalizing on Google Inc.’s regulatory snarl, is working to steal a deal with Verizon Wireless away from its rival. (WSJ Nov 7 2008)

• Google Help Forums Being Converted to New System

  Includes improved search results, including posts from current and new forums (SE Watch Nov 7 2008)

• MSFT CEO Ballmer to Yahoo: No New Bid

  “We are not interested in going back and re-looking at an acquisition,” Ballmer says. (SE Land Nov 7 2008)

• Jeeves Returns To Ask Jeeves; Ask.com Still Shuns Him

  Go to askjeeves.com, notice how it redirects you to ask.com and then shows you the old Jeeves character. (SE Land Nov 4 2008)

• Google Slowly Dropping PageRank From The Toolbar?

  Google seems to not be promoting the PageRank indicator on the latest version of their toolbar. (SE Roundtable Nov 4 2008)

• The art of the field study

  Dan Russell, a member of the Google Search Quality team doing user experience research tells an interesting story over at the Google Blog (Nov 11 2008)