Subscriptions:
Are usually not worth it...even if they are free.

Snitch Squad:
Google to hire remote quality raters. A while ago I was naive enough to think that spam reporting was generally worthwhile, but usually it has no effect and if it does then you are working for another company free of charge.

Google stands behind the branding / marketing angle of letting the democratic nature of the web determine relevancy, but just like all other engines they hand edit at least some search results. At least 9 time out of 10 people reporting spam would be far better off focusing thier time on making their own sites better instead of worrying about competitors.

Make content, socially interact, buy / rent / trade links...there are lots of things you can do to make progress. Even if you tell on someone today odds are that another site will replace them tommorow. Just make a kick ass site and get the links required for a search engine to understand that your site kicks ass.

Scaling Out PPC:
Is Search Sustainable? NFFC plays devils advocate with the PPC gurus.

What Links are Important?
Everyday someone has a "the sky is falling" post about how smart search algorithms are and how some links do not count at all. Recently WebmasterWorld hosted one about BlueFind. SearchEngineWatch hosted another thread where the author was determined to speak his own outcome when he started the thread. My good buddy Lots0 shot him down in post 25:

I just watched a page climb to page one for a VERY VERY competitive keyword, using ONLY guest book links with keywords in the anchor text... And No I am not going to give you the URL in a public forum, unless you want to send me about $25,000 first (expected first quarter earnings for this page). ...
I don�t know why some people want to give google more credit than they are due. I have seen many many people come on a forum like this and make all these statements about what google does or does not do, usually most all of these statement are FALSE.

My own opinion, I think some people want google to be some super all knowing, all powerful search engine and that this super search engine should be able to do all, even if at this time most of the things that some of these people think google does are technically impossible.

Also this idea that everyone that works at google is smarter than the rest of us, I find insulting. I have been pitting my wits against the �google super search engine� and their �super brained� employees for years... and winning (as have most of the folks around here).

Hi-jacked domains:
Google is having a few problems.

Linking Tools:
WebmasterWorld has a good thread about building a linking tool. Also I recently got to try out Total Optimizer Pro, but left for Vegas and have been playing vacation too much. I will hopefully have more time to review it soon, but I am starting to think that much of the best link building software will probably be custom developed software.

Refresh:
Not sure if anyone posted this anywhere, but I think Yahoo! reps reported how they treat meta refreshes at the WMW search conference. I think they stated:

• Meta refreshes of less than a second are to be treated by Yahoo! Search as a 302 redirect.

• Meta refreshes of greater than a second are to be treated by Yahoo! Search as a 301 redirect.

Google Local:
goes global

Froogle Wishlist:
make your wishlist today...

Message Management:
Amazon Simple Queue Service

Cost Per Click:
Graphs and article showing where the best reported return is based on CPC. Generally low cost ads provide the best return at #1 and as the cost gets more expensive it may make a bit more sense to rank at #2 or #3.

Track Stuff:
Google News to RSS (found on Blogoscope)
PubSub

Quote Stuff:
Lyrics are expensive :(

Write the News:
Gaming Google News is really really easy (many people were doing it before the election too).

You can broadcast any message you like...fast and cheap. Many people will probably make bank releasing holiday shopping news press releases.

Watch What You Write Though:
Internet Archive pages are admissable into evidence

Inspiring:
I read tons of information about the web and perhaps spend too much time on it. Right now I am kinda sorta on vacation, and yet at 5am I can't help but want to read and learn about the web. Adam Bosworth has an amazing post which explains exactly why I like the web so much and why I want to learn so much more about it.

My general take on his artilce is: software, languages, systems, communities, personalities and business models which are flexible, honest, accept feedback, are grounded in humanity, and are easy to use will spread faster and be more successful than those which do not have those traits.

From his article:

The value is in the information and its ability to be effortlessly aggregated, evaluated, filtered, and enhanced. ... The currency of reputation and judgment is the answer to the tragedy of the commons and it will find a way. ... I find this deeply satisfying. It says that in the end the value is in our humanity, our diversity, our complexity, and our ability to learn to collaborate. It says that it is the human side, the flexible side, the organic side of the Web that is going to be important and not the dry and analytic and taxonomical side, not the systematized and rigid and stratified side that will matter.

If you only ever read a few articles about the web and its underlying technologies this should be one of them.

Also if you have not yet took a peak at The Tradgedy of the Commons you can by following that link :) I have glanced at it a few times, but hope to fully read it today.

Economic Problems?
The goodness of the web may not be enough to avoid extreme economic problems. The fall of the dollar could hurt bad. Only time will tell if / how we will evolve. Meanwhile, we shall enjoy the tax breaks.

The Ruling Class:
NFFC is the David Beckham of SEO?

Auctions Expert...
knows how to make bank from click fraud, says Google.

While We are Selling...
google founders selling stock

Give it away, give it away, give it away now
Perfect 10 is in a sea of distress,
unimpressed by Googles information access.
porn is free
porn for me
say hell yes :)

Google Scholar:
New Google Scholar Search. Andrew Goodman has an interesting post about Google Scholar.

Toolbar
for your site. free and customizable.

Deskbar:
Google Deskbar API

The Best SEO Secrets:
are kept secret...says Nick W

MSN + Overture:
Partner up for another year.

Link Building Info:
Andy Hagans has a new site offering link building tips.

Scoop:
A while ago a sketchy self proclaimed "white hat page generator" (www.metawebs.com) hit the market. I do not know a ton of programming, but Dan Thies, one of my well respected SEO friends sent me an email stating:

It took me about 15 minutes to write a Google API app with PHP to fish these out of the SERPs, using a very small list of seed terms (<20 words). I stopped it after a while, but it's like shooting fish in a barrel to find these "unfootprintable" pages. It will get even easier as these sites get indexed, because it increases the odds of a "hit" when searching for them.

SMA EU
has a new blog...and so does MSN search

Rumor Mill
AdWords and Trademarks

Branding
Is it dead? some say yes...

Vegas
I will be going there in a couple hours :) While I am gone you may want to take a peak at Threadwatch. You can also make posts there if you find anything good on the various SEO forums, like I recently did here.

Google Advertising Professional
The Google Advertising Professional program was...

Designed for professionals who currently manage or want to manage multiple AdWords client accounts, the Google Advertising Professionals program can help you become a more successful ad manager – for free.

You have to comply with their rules, spend at least $1,000 in a 90 day period, and pass a test. The test costs $50 to take. Wonder how it helps you make more money for free when the test costs $50? ;) Google AdWords Learning Center
Google has a bunch of free tutorials and quizes which can help prepare you for their test.

Google AdWords Test
I just took the test and it was 104 multiple choice questions. I was given 1.5hrs to take the test and was required to get a minimum score of 75%. A few of the questions are a bit confusing but most of them are rather easy. If you know much about AdWords you should be able to take the test in under an hour.

After you pass the test and spend enough money on AdWords you can get your shiny Qualified Google Advertising Professional Logo

Google Advertising Professional FAQs
There is a large online Google Advertising Professionals Support FAQ section as well.

My Client Center
Allows you to link together up to 500 AdWords accounts and access them from a single login.

New AdWords Tools
I have not tried either of these out, and neither are officially endorsed by Google in any way, but a few newer bolt on AdWords tools are AdWord Accelerator and AdGooroo.