This week, Verizon delivered some good news: Not only did the firm add 1.5 million new wireless subscribers in the third quarter, net income was up 31%. While landline and DSL customers decreased, the launch of FIOS, the company's fast Web, phone and television bundle, is meeting its targets. In short, if there is one thing that consumers won't sacrifice during a downturn, it is fast home and mobile digital communication. Fall fashion, the home renovation or even the new flat screen can wait. Without Internet access, we are nothing.

As technology advances and the demands of customers frag­ment, the task of empowering resellers and distributors with effective, relevant marketing tools becomes daunting.

Pay-per-click traffic quality management and click fraud prevention service provider ClickForensics today released its third quarter industry average click fraud figures.

Visual search engine Searchme has launched its music search-and-share feature that allows users to listen to unlimited streaming audio tracks through embeddable widgets from social music service Imeem. Users also can share search results with others through social networks.

The 10-year budget battle between display and search marketing appears to have come to a close, giving way to an integrated approach to online advertising. Multiple studies pointing to an increase in lift and ROI can be credited for broker­ing the truce.

It's no secret that the words "search" and "Google" have become synonymous in many peoples' minds. Frankly, I find this is a bit disturbing. Sure, Google has the biggest audience, and yes, its interface is arguably the most streamlined and intuitive. But just because Google maintains a significantly larger market share and might be a bit easier for users than the other engines does not mean it's the best at everything — which is why I'm interested in what everyone else is doing better than Google.

For all of the Web's advancements, the content it houses is still a snapshot in time. For the most part, these written words, images and video are no different than messages carved in stone. Once posted, they serve as a historical record of the past, and frequently searchers need to piece together multiple Web artifacts to understand the correlation between people, places and time.

The marketing role of search is to capture prospective customers who actively seek information in three generally applicable groups: brand, product and category information. Prospective consumers are searching for information at various stages of their conversion process.

Ask.com's Garell discusses search's continuing evolution

Google this afternoon released its Q3 earnings during a conference call with investors. This quarter, which ended September 30, the leader in search market share made $1.35 billion or $4.24 per share. This represents a 26% increase from this point last year when the company made $1.07 billion, or $3.38 per share.