Yahoo! launched its new search capability early today EST. The move, which Yahoo! had been working toward for several months, effectively eliminates the use of Google as its default search provider.

Talk about a surprise. Initiative Media has won the estimated $200 million AOL offline media business in a run-off with Carat. The months-long review process pitted Initiative, the incumbent, against Carat, and Starcom, which withdrew, allegedly at the last minute on Feb. 6, after citing a conflict with Disney.

One thing that's abundantly clear to me -- all media is undergoing tremendous change right now. Change owing to a variety of factors including the proliferation of media options, media fragmentation, emerging technologies, and the 24/7 nature of the Internet.

ORLANDO, FL-The art and science of media buying and planning is in a renaissance of sorts. There have never been more options for creatively approaching a marketer's media challenges. There have never been more levers available to integrate media - TV, online, print, radio, outdoor, events, public relations, branded content integration and sponsorship, to name a few.

Orlando, Florida -- Apart from the heady buzz surrounding the Comcast-Disney mega-merger, media executives attending the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4AAAAs) Media Conference here are immersed in convergence issues, questions of media mix, and a whole host of other issues confronting the business.

Is the Monster coming back to life? And will all of that high profile Super Bowl advertising pay off this year? The online jobs giant today reported a fourth quarter profit earning $12.1 million or 11 cents per share.

There's a new online campaign designed to educate people on the value of legal music downloading. The "What's The Download" campaign, coordinated by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS), is the latest in a series of public awareness efforts on digital music. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and other groups have also come out with education efforts.

Okay, I promise. One final comment on the Janet Jackson flap -- really.

The drumroll to the Grammy Awards has begun and while Justin Timberlake is set to perform on the CBS broadcast Sunday night, Janet Jackson is banned from the show. Meanwhile, America Online is preparing to stream Clive Davis' big pre-Grammy party on Saturday night. The party will be streamed live to members and non-members. The event begins Saturday night at 9:30 PST, 12:30

I was curious as to the amount of traffic Mitsubishi notched on its website after its creative cliffhanger spot during the Super Bowl. To find out, I phoned Ian Beavis, Mitsubishi's senior-VP marketing, product planning and public relations. Beavis said that the dedicated seewhathappens.com site racked up more than 11 million hits in the first six hours after the spot ran; as of Feb. 4, the site had 30 million visits.