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Online world crumples under soaring Jackson death queries

The online world has become so closely tied up with the way we now live our lives that the biggest news of the year so far, the death of legendary pop singer Michael Jackson, caused Google to buckle under the weight of the sudden traffic surge.

While the search engine mistook the number of people making Jackson-related queries for an automated attack, micro-blogging sensation Twitter also crashed as the King of Pop rocketed to the top of its trending topics and an estimated one in three tweets were MJ related.

But while the players in the online world may have stopped to take a moment and remember Jackson's music (as well as fixing their online infrastructure), the cogs of innovation continue to turn. New Swedish visual search engine Spezify has attracted positive gazes, while search tool Aadvark lets users submit questions via IM or email, and then hunts through their social network contacts to find an appropriate person to answer the query.

And shortly after the judge in The Pirate Bay case was found not guilty of bias when he convicted the torrent site's founders of copyright infringement in April, it's been announced that a Swedish software company will buy The Pirate Bay for 60 million Swedish crowns - around £4.7 million - with the aim of reworking its business model to please both copyright owners and content providers.

Google, on the other hand, has been enhancing its mobile search options by launching Google SMS in Africa, a tool that allows mobile phone users (who make up one third of the continent's population) to access information or ask questions and receive answers on the go.

Mountain View may be opening up significant doors to mobile users in Africa, but they're simultaneously being closed over in China. Last week, Google China was shut down for over an hour by authorities keen to curb the search engine's operations in the region, demonstrating just how far the internet police are willing to go if directives aren't complied with.

With so much going on in the online world, digesting it all can be tough. But with the bigmouthmedia newsletter, you can rest assured that you'll never miss a tasty morsel of hot news again. Knives and forks are not necessary - simply dig in face first and enjoy.

Swedish software firm takes Pirate Bay on board
Swedish software company Global Gaming Factory X AB has offered the beleaguered Pirate Bay an unexpected lifeline.

Google SMS launches in Africa

Google is launching a new mobile web service in Africa, Google SMS, starting in Uganda.

Aardvark helps you search for friendly answers
New search service Aardvark hopes to give your answers the personal touch.

Michael Jackson's death challenges the net
The death of pop legend Michael Jackson has served to illustrate just how many people now turn to the internet for information on breaking news stories

Pirate Bay judge found to be unbiased
The judge who found the Pirate Bay founders guilty of copyright infringement has been cleared of allegations that he held bias in the case.

Michael Jackson death causes Twitter to buckle under traffic
Michael Jackson, who died yesterday following a cardiac arrest, caused a massive search surge over the internet as users swarmed to find the truth about the fate of the King of Pop.

Google searches for Chinese compromise
The Mountain View search engine found itself blocked from Chinese terminals for over an hour last night after being warned by the authorities to stick to China's web rules.

Steve Ballmer claims future grim for traditional media
Microsoft's chief executive painted a grim picture of the future of the global advertising economy as the Cannes Lions International Advertising festival - for traditional media outlets anyway.

Spezify sets new boundaries for visual search?
Swedish search engine Spezify is making search fun with its image and video-heavy visual interface.