Friday Morning News Round-Up

Here's some news from the world of web search and search engine optimization on this (at least in my neck of the woods) foggy Friday morning. Grab a cup of joe and siddown.

• Napoleon Dynamite: Phillip Lenssen already knows what he's going to be this Halloween.
• AOL Switching to Free Access: The NY Times reports that "the new AOL.com" will be "now open to everyone." Still see that subscription button on the front page though...
• Pure Yahoo Blog Search: Spotted via Threadwatch, you can also grab the code and make one yourself.
• Bible Translated into SMS: via SmartMobs, the Bible translated into text messaging. "In da Bginnin God cre8d da heavens & da earth. Da earth waz barren, wit no 4m of life; it waz unda a roaring ocean cuvred wit dRkness. (Genesis, chapter 1, verses 1-2)."
• Google Adsense Study for Weblogs: "If you're a publisher looking for ideas on maximizing your AdSense revenue, check out the case study on how we grew our blog ad revenues from $200 to $3000 a day in about a year's time. "
• Google Toolbar for Firefox: GoogleAddiction reports that Google Toolbar for Firefox now works with the latest versions of the browser.
• Yahoo Kicks Out Naughty Chat Rooms: From InternetNews; "Yahoo is slamming the doors to chat rooms with names that may promote sex between adults and minors as part of an agreement with law enforcement agencies."
• Yahoo and Microsoft, Sitting in a Tree:From InformationWeek; Microsoft and Yahoo planning to tear down fence between their instant messaging technologies.
• Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Software Pirates: From PCWorld: "Three California men were indicted Wednesday for their alleged participation in a "massive" software and music-CD copying scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California."
• Nokia and First Keyboard Phone: Suhhhweet. Intended to be a "Blackberry killer."
• iMac G5: "Slimmer than ever, the gravity-defying enclosure also houses built-in iSight, SuperDrive, wireless and the easy-to-use software that brings it all together."
• Missing Beethoven Manuscript: "An 80-page, handwritten working manuscript score of Beethoven's 'Grosse Fuge' that went missing 115 years ago has been found by a librarian near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, The New York Times said on Thursday." From the Hindustan Times.