Search is speeding up. Google launched a test version of something it calls Web Accelerator, software that speeds up Web searches and content-loading. Web Accelerator, which runs with a user's Internet browser, directs searches and page requests through Google servers. The product works by deploying a cache on local computers and Google servers.

Yahoo! says its video search service is now open for business. The service, which launched as a test in December, allows users to search for video clips of all kinds - news, music, and movie trailers.

Here are a few interesting facts on blogs from Perseus Development Corp. which randomly surveyed 10,000 blogs on 20 blog-hosting services: Perseus reports that there are currently 31.6 million hosted blogs that were created on services like BlogSpot, LiveJournal, Xanga, and MSN Spaces. There were 10 million created in the first quarter of 2005 alone. The 31.6 million is expected to grow to 53.4 million by the end of the year.

Forrester Research has a new online forecast today. The researcher reports that nearly half of all marketers plan to decrease spending in traditional advertising channels like magazines, direct mail, and newspapers, all to earmark those dollars for online ad spending this year.

Here's a milestone: Mozilla's Firefox Web browser recently passed 50 million downloads. OneStat.com reports that Firefox has 8.69 percent of the global market for Internet browsers. The share figure represents a 0.24 percent increase since February.

America Online began beta testing an overhaul of its instant messaging system. The online media company hopes to add new features to its popular IM product including PC-to-PC voice and streaming video messaging capabilities, and file transfers. AOL's IM beta will eventually allow users to access real-time video, swap files, images, and other content, as well as play games. The client also features something called "IM Catcher," which groups messages into a single interface, allowing users to organize IM chats.

The highly anticipated overhaul of Yahoo! News debuted sporting a tidy, more streamlined look and new features. The redesigned site includes the Internet giant's YQ search technology that enables readers to access search results related to specific phrases or names in stories. This is accomplished without ever leaving the page - pretty nifty.

Okay, something we need to know today: Why was Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition, on Microsoft's payroll for several years earning $20K a month? (Not a bad haul, not by a long shot.) And what, if anything, does Reed's work for Microsoft have to do with the company deciding not to come out in support of proposed legislation in Washington state that would ban discrimination against gays and lesbians?

From the cruel and unusual files, comes a report from California that state legislators approved a bill to ban Internet-based hunting. The lawmakers voted 25 to six to ban the practice.

The waiting is over. (Not that it took so long - DoubleClick has been on the block for only five months). San Francisco-based buyout firm Hellman & Friedman is buying the Internet ad services company for nearly $1.1 billion. JMI Equity Fund is a minority investor. It looks like stockholders will get $8.50 for each share of DoubleClick common stock. That's 10.6 percent over the stock's average closing price in the last month. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter and Kevin Ryan, the company's CEO, will depart. Once the deal closes, David Rosenblatt will stay …