Christmas is just around the corner, but that doesn't mean our favourite online players are ready to settle in for the holidays. The last week has seen the biggest names in the business battling to come out the top of Christmas charts, so read on and find out which have been naughty and which have been nice in the run up to the big day in our last missive before the festive season kicks in proper.
Google continued its plans to try to become the world's favourite online multiservice-provider with the promotion of Google Mail in the UK, while Amazon revealed intentions to piggyback on the Mountain View giant's popularity by introducing an affiliate tool for Google Blogger.
With an eye on things to come in the year ahead, we released the bigmouthmedia 2010 predictions and a bigmouth reporter spent some time delving into future possibilities for Google's search result snippets this week, while Norton revealed children's searching habits for the year past - with some disturbing results.
Meanwhile Yahoo! launched a Yahoo! Shortcut for business searches in an attempt to remind searchers they continue to innovate despite having a tough year behind them. Microsoft also has something to prove as 2009 draws to a close, as a small design company launched a plan to sue Bing over its name.
As the Google and Yelp deal appears to be at an end, claims have surfaced that it was the search seraph itself that walked away from the partnership. Whichever company was responsible, we might assume some names have been scratched off Christmas card lists as a result.
This week also saw news that an internal security breach could have been responsible for the Twitter hack that took the popular microblogging service offline briefly over the weekend, while some seasonal intrigue has been provided by a journalist claiming the intellectual property rights for the popular Twitter hashtag uksnow.
With this week's news all wrapped up, all that remains is for us to wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. See you in the next digital decade!
Popular listings site Yelp-ing over abandoned Google deal
Reports conflict regarding which web powerhouse pulled the plug on multimillion dollar negotiations between Google and Yelp.
Software vender's chart shows disturbing search trends from children
Security and parental control software maker Norton has published a list of top searches in 2009 for children under 18, under 12 and under 7. Alarmingly all age groups searched for porn.
Internal security breach responsible for Twitter hack
Social media site says user accounts not targeted in Twitter's recent hack attack but add that the culprits took advantage of an internal security breach.
More than snowball fights for #uksnow
A journalist has claimed the intellectual property rights for the popular Twitter hashtag uksnow
Microsoft sued over Bing name
A small design company has issued Microsoft with a lawsuit over unfair use of the Bing trademark.
Google to automatically populate titles in Snippets?
A bigmouth ponders the progression of Google's search results snippets.
Amazon introduces affiliate tool for Google’s Blogger
Internet retail giant Amazon has integrated with Google's blog platform. The new module allows affiliate bloggers to quickly add links and search Amazon simply by highlighting text in a post.
Yahoo! Shortcut for business searches
Yahoo! revamps its search offerings for local businesses.
Google promotes Google Mail with easy message
Google uses videos to promote Google Mail to users in the UK while ComScore data shows the email service is recovering from a shaky start in 2009.
