Well, it looks like Ask.com is going to mothball Teoma and start using Google as their search engine.  I'm thinking that Search Engine Strategies, later this month in New York City, is going to be more interesting this year due to all the changes going on in the Search Industry – there will be a lot to talk about.

TechCrunch reported Ask.com May Dump Teoma For Google, Layoff 100 People and I created a post about what that means (to me) – Ask.com getting rid of Teoma and moving to Google?

Here's the problem – if everyone except Google and Yahoo give up on Search we'll end up with Google being even more of what it already is -  a monopoly.

History has shown us Monopoly is not conducive to growth – we need competition in order to grow – but if everyone throws in the towel and lets Google run everything -it'll mirror very much what's happened in the world stage where United States was/is the only remaining Superpower.  

And you know how that worked out so far.  That's why Ask.com should not get rid of Teoma and be moving to Google and why it'll be interesting to see who ends up owning Yahoo, Microsoft or someone else. 

You know, I used to go into this Starbucks all the time, it's right near my old office at IBM.com.

But it's title, The Starbucks Conspiracy, doesn't sound quite right – it's more like the Conspiracy at Starbucks.   

Well, at least this video is more entertaining than the one I wrote about yesterday in Social Riots titled SQUEEGEES – a real Social Riot

Found an interesting article in the New York Times titled - Facing Default, Some Walk Out on New Homes – about the rise of home mortgage forclosures that is being made easier by a new company called You Walk Away.

"..In a declining housing market, he owed more than the house was worth, and his mortgage payments, even on an interest-only loan, had shot up to $2,600, more than he could afford. “I was terrified,” said Mr. Zulueta, who services automated teller machines for an armored car company in the San Francisco area.

Then in January he learned about a new company in San Diego called You Walk Away that does just what its name says. For $995, it helps people walk away from their homes, ceding them to the banks in foreclosure.

Last week he moved into a three-bedroom rental home for $1,200 a month, less than half the cost of his mortgage. The old house is now the lender’s problem. “They took the negativity out of my life,” Mr. Zulueta said of You Walk Away. “I was stressing over nothing.”

 

 I tried doing a Compete.com search on You Walk Away but didn't find much – must have just launched in the last few months:

And here's the keywords driving traffic to You Walk Away, according to Compete.com

By the way,  i met with Jay Meattle of Compete.com yesterday for lunch – and there's some pretty interesting stuff coming up from Compete.com, but I can't talk about it yet.