Dang — I should have saved a screenshot. But the normal Yahoo results are back. That’s good.

Blogs are helpful for lots of things. Now, they even help you lose weight. And if Aaron Wall is right, they make money too. Good luck with both, Aaron: weight loss.

After the Florida update and after Yahoo stopped delivering Google results, I thought Yahoo had Google on the ropes, figuratively speaking. Of course, Google was still going public with a $20+ billion valuation, so it’s tough to be too negative. Google still rules, but now it seems the competitors are trying to keep it that way.

Yesterday, I ran some searches on Yahoo — no problem. This morning, I do the same thing and it’s like somebody hijacked Yahoo overnight. Someone that was trying to get Yahoo to lose the search wars.

It’s 2004 when there are plenty of smart people at all the search engines working on delivering better and better search results, and at least some people that know something about web design. Or so I thought.

Yahoo’s new SERP’s (search engine results pages) are the ugliest thing I’ve seen in a long time. (Note: as of right now, there must be a lot of people checking out the new look, because it’s taking forever to deliver the results.)

Does anyone like this new look? First, the big black titles and all the white space is an ugly design with a horrible use of space. Second, my screen settings are pretty small, and on my monitor the results page shows nothing but Sponsored Results. You have to scroll down past two sets up sponsored results and a link to Yahoo shopping to even see the actual organic search results. Ugh.

Of course, Yahoo makes money only from the sponsored listings and Yahoo shopping, so it makes sense to put as many of these categories of listings higher. But the current page would be the equivalent of a television station running 30 minutes of commercials at the start of a one hour sitcom.

Note to search engine competitors: Google won because people thought it had better results. Over time, more people are going to use the search engine that they think delivers betters organic results. Ads are ok, if they’re separated, but they are ads. Putting an entire page of them on top of free search results is not the way to win the search engine preference wars.

With all the people using Gmail now, my question is:

“Yes, you can search through all your emails lightning fast — but how are you adjusting to not having folders?”

Then again, perhaps Gmail is just a much better Hotmail/Yahoo mail. But I was hoping it was more — like something you could use in everyday life. I could tell you about the alpha/enterprise version of Gmail that all the Google employees are using, but that will have to wait until everyone can get Gmail from Google (primary market) than eBay (secondary market (or incredibly smart viral marketing campaign)). Maybe those 100 PhD’s are starting to delve into marketing…

When I was in Toronto at the Jupiter Search Engine Strategies conference, I met a Google employee who said that many Googlers were baffled by the kerfuffle (go JT) over privacy concerns about Gmail. If you’ve followed this, you know what I mean. I’ve said for awhile that these early complaints were bogus, but here’s the best debunk I’ve seen to the whole issue. Nice work, Tim O’Reilly.

Also in Toronto, I learned it’s bad to quote Google employees from hotel bars during Google’s “quiet period.” (Sorry, D.) Shhh — hope the IPO’s still on course.

Blog traffic spiked today with Cynthia Webb’s article (free registration required) about the secondary market for Gmail. Like I told Seth Godin yesterday, just when you thought Google was losing their “coolness,” they go and create a frenzy of people falling over themselves to get their new service. (Godin fans will recognize both the Purple Cow of Gmail as well as the Free Prize of getting valuable invites — just for the opportunity to give away their service.) Now that’s viral — and cool.

But of course, it’s not hard to understand Google staying at the forefront of cool, now that Google co-founder Sergey Brin is an international “hipness consultant.” (No kidding.) And thanks for the link, Cynthia. You can have an invite anytime — if I haven’t already traded for “an orginal song” or “good karma,” two of the current offerings.

It’s very funny what people are offering for a Gmail account. Interestingly, not all the offers are rated G. So far, the leading contender for one of my Gmail invites is a guy who’ll make a custom cartoon with me in it. Not sure what I’d do with it, but pretty cool.

Now this is terrific. Fed up with spam, and particularly porn spam, the Government has created a new rule that’s sure to help.

Not.

Yesterday, a new FTC (Federal Trade Commission) rule took effect. From now on, all “unsolicited commercial email” that contains “sexually oriented material” — I wonder if that includes Viagra ads with G-rated pictures of happy couples — anyway, now the porn spam at least is supposed to contain the words “SEXUALLY EXPLICIT” in the subject line.

I wonder what bureaucrat thought this was a good idea. I thought after the CAN-SPAM law was passed that it was solid proof of cluelessness. And the universally recognized increase in spam after the law took effect was pretty hard to argue with.

This is almost as dumb as the “Do Not Spam” list where people were supposed to provide their valid email addresses to the spammers with an instruction not to do something that is already illegal.

Note to FTC: Spam is already illegal. People who send unsolicited commercial email are already breaking the law. They don’t care about your stinkin’ badges.

On the other hand, maybe the stepped-up specific penalties will deter a few. I doubt it. I wish they’d just take my advice and add a private right to sue in state court based on the federal law — just like they did with unsolicited commercial faxes. Then, a lot of the junk fax litigators would soon find a new, more profitable hobby. And just like the significant decrease in junk faxing, the law would actually help. There’s nothing like turning loose an army of contingency-fee lawyers to see some action. Ask anyone.

Thanks to the instructions page on Gmail Swap, I clued in to the fact that I have two (2) gmail invitations to give. Woo Hoo! Now, I can go to www.gmailswap.com and pick my prize(s). More on this later…

Heard about Gmail Swap yet? Apparently, Blogger is no longer giving out invitations. Now I kind of wish I’d saved mine. It’s probably not likely that anyone wants to take over my account: bradfallon@gmail.com.

Anyway, if you have a Gmail invitation, you can swap for everything from Paris Hilton’s phone number, to 15 minutes of fame (long story, but unrelated to Paris Hilton), to a formal dinner at Worcester College of Oxford University. As stated in the offer, “This includes a full 3 course silver service meal, grace read in Latin, senior fellows at high table, and of course my company.”

Good idea, Sean Michaels, creator of Gmail Swap. And cheers on your 15 minutes of fame.