Google Search Launches New Yorker-esque Cartoon Caption Challenge

Google just launched a search caption challenge to see who can come up with a caption that best describes what a cartoon character is searching for on Google.

"As a lifelong fan and connoisseur of New Yorker style cartoons, I always believed in the power of humor not just to entertain but to enlighten," Google VP of Engineering and Cartoons Udi Manber writes on the Google blog. "I have tried to connect humor to everything I do (although, I have to admit, not always successfully). The best cartoonists possess great insights, which they illustrate in a clever package that we can consume in seconds and yet remember for years."

To submit a caption, go to Inside Search and submit your idea. It will automatically appear on the site, and you can share it with friends via a unique link. You can also vote on your favorite submissions and the most popular will rise to the top.

"We've left it to you to imagine what they'd be searching...

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Gowalla Users: TouristEye Wants You to Migrate Your Data to Its Service

Gary Arndt is a Gowalla user who migrated his data to TouristEye.

When Gowalla officially announced earlier this month that Facebook was acquiring the check-in service and shutting it down, most people focused on whether Gowalla and Facebook had screwed Gowalla's investors.

But what about Gowalla's 2M or so users? TouristEye, a check-in and discovery app for travelers founded in Madrid in early 2010, clearly saw an opportunity to bring them to its service.

We first learned of TouristEye's migration campaign when we received the following email from a Gowalla contact:

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Zuckerberg Supports Facebook Competitor Path

Despite any potential threat that Path might be to Facebook, Path CEO Dave Morin says that Mark Zuckerberg supports the company and even uses the product.

"We're friends on Path," Dave said on This Week in Startups. "Mark's a great supporter. He gives me great advice."

Dave, a former Facebook Senior Platform Manager, was one of the original members of the Facebook team platform team but left to start Path in 2010.

"I don't think I'm reacting to anything," Dave says. "I think that we believe...

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White House Gets #40dollars to Trend on Twitter as Payroll Tax Cut Deadline Looms

President Barack Obama has used Twitter to fight political battles before -- he tweet-spammed over the summer as the deadline for raising the country's debt ceiling closed in.

Today his staff is encouraging people to use the hashtag #40dollars and tweet what $40 a paycheck means to them, the amount the average American stands to lose if Congress does not renew the current payroll tax cut by Jan. 1, 2012. By late this afternoon, #40dollars became a trending topic on Twitter.

House Speaker John Boehner is using #payroll in his tweets about renewing the tax cut -- but that term is most definitely not trending.

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Watch Path CEO Dave Morin on TWiST Today at 1pm PT

Today on This Week in Startups, Path co-founder Dave Morin speaks candidly about what he learned from Path 1.0's luke-warm reception, why he believes in the slow product movement and how he's managed to stay on Mark Zuckerberg's good side, even with a competing product.

Dave, who was one of the original members of the Facebook platform team, met with Host Jason Calacanis in CNET's San Francisco studios last week for this special interview. While at Facebook...

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