Six years ago today, some unruly trees in Ohio plunged 55 million people into darkness during the Northeast Blackout of 2003. While inconvenient, it forced people out of high-rise apartments, neighbors bonded, guitars went acoustic, candles were lit, and there might even be a higher than average number of kindergartners this year. Here are our new beginnings from this week:

• Cheapskates rule: There’s nothing like nuked portfolios and pink slips to make couponing de rigueur. This recession has spawned a generation of proud penny pinchers who enjoy the hunt for great bargains, and the refreshed Yahoo! Deals makes that even more sporting fun. In addition to daily deals, weekly electronic circulars, and online coupons from major retailers, you can now find great local bargains with coupons for groceries and neighborhood stores. You can even share your dollar-saving discoveries through social tools like Twitter, Facebook, Digg and Delicious. Get your save on. More here.
• Trash talking mayors: Politics and fantasies should rarely mix. But mayors from 11 big football cities are letting their imaginations run wild as they pick their teams for the Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football Mayoral Face-Off. From San Francisco to Oakland, Green Bay to Buffalo, mayors are squaring off to see who can assemble the winning team. What’s in it for them? A check for $15,000 to benefit their favorite local sports charity. What’s more, the city with the most votes from football fans scores another $15,000. So go hit the polls now. More here.
• Measure your mojo: If you know how to retweet your @replies with a hashtag, you’re on Twitter. But do you know what kind of Twitter user you are? In celebration of the launch of our new Yahoo! Homepage, we’ve launched Know Your Mojo with a sophisticated pipe thingy that analyzes your account and spits out your social mojo. If you’re a Crowd Pleaser, you’re into hashtags. If you’re a BFF, you’re big into @replies. If you’re a Wall Flower, you seem to have forgotten how to type. We’ll also recommend what websites you should add to your own Yahoo! homepage to help feed your mojo. We’re a Concierge. More here.
• You’re two-faced: Speaking of customizing your Yahoo! Homepage, we’ve developed a Facebook quiz that acknowledges that there’s more than one side to each of us. In our Split Personality quiz, you’ll answer ten multiple-choice questions to determine whether you’re more like Tiger Hilfiger, Galileo Cronkite or Bono Rockefeller (etc.). And then we’ll suggest websites to add to your Yahoo! Homepage that match your dueling passions. What’s your split personality?

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Nicki Dugan
Blog Editor

This week, Yahoo!’s working on more deals…the kinds that save you money!

One thing this recession has created is a society of unapologetic penny pinchers. We’re frugal and proud. That’s why we’ve just spruced up Yahoo! Deals, first launched in November, which now features more great bargains, including grocery coupons, local deals, and even the ability to share your dollar-saving discoveries.

Take Yahoo! Search trends, for example. Searches for “printable coupons” on Yahoo! are up 50 percent in 2009, compared to the same time in 2008, and up 135 percent compared to 2007. The most popular coupon-related searches? Coupons for pizza, major retailers and groceries. And while there are signs of economic recovery, our wallets remain cautious. In a recent Yahoo! survey, 43 percent of participants said they’re using coupons more since last year.

In addition to daily deals, weekly electronic circulars, and online coupons from major retailers, here’s what you’ll find on our refreshed site:

• Grocery coupons for all kinds of kitchen staples, provided by Coupons.com
• Coupons for local chain and neighborhood restaurants, retailers and service providers provided by Valpak
• Exclusive deals from new partners including Visa and Next Jump; Ecobunga! and Greenzer (for eco-friendly products); TechBargains.com and LogicBUY (for computers and electronics); plus coupons and deals on a variety of products from CouponAlbum, CouponMountain, BradsDeals.com and Dealnews
• The gas finder module that helps you find the cheapest gas by zip code
• Improved search so you can quickly find deals from across the site
• Video stories on consumer shopping trends and savings tips provided by Inside Edition
• New social features that let you share deals with friends via email and popular social networks, and to save deals for later use
• The ability to post or read comments on each deal

So whether you’re a bona fide cheapskate or just an average Joe riding out the recession, check out deals.yahoo.com to start saving money today!

Greg Hintz
Head of Yahoo! Shopping

Photo from sgrace

Today in 1857, a dude named Ishmael made it perfectly clear what he wanted to be called. And so was born Moby Dick, one of the greatest novels of our time — about a wandering sailor, a tyrannical captain, a scheming whale, and a popular coffeeshop that can be found on virtually every corner. Oh, wait, that came later. Here’s what was epic around here this week:

• Steals and deals: OK, so you’ve lost 40% of your 401K in the last month. Doesn’t mean you have to join the Grinch in denying everyone of Who-hash and roast beast, does it? Yahoo! Shopping will help your heart grow a few sizes with its new Yahoo! Deals site. There you’ll find exclusive daily deals, online coupons for thousands of big-name retailers (you can even save them for later), discount codes for all kinds of storewide sales, and virtual weekly circulars for those who insist on subjecting themselves to holiday crowds. Because at least being thrifty is better than having the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile, right? More here.
• Calendar progression: The new Yahoo! Calendar Beta debuted a month ago and it’s already got a “new and improved” sticker. The team just released an update that addresses the most frequently reported issues, tunes up performance, and lets you switch back and forth between Classic Calendar and the beta. And they’re already hard at work on the next batch of features, including the top-rated requests from users via the Yahoo Calendar Suggestion Board. So weigh in if you want to get your feature on the roadmap.
• Venerable veterans: If you missed your chance to honor a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine (American and otherwise) for Veterans Day (which this year coincided with the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day, or the end of WWI), head over to the the Commons collection on Flickr to peruse its two newest members, the Australian War Memorial and the Imperial War Museum. Then check out all the photos tagged with Armistice Day for a fascinating look at the Great War. More here.

Subscribe to the RSS feed (or add it to My Yahoo!) to get this Product Pulse every week.

You may be tightening the belt these days — eating in more often, rediscovering the library, planning a staycation, even making do with that ugly bathroom linoleum. But if there’s one thing you probably won’t skip this year, it’s buying holiday gifts for friends and family.

That’s why Yahoo! Shopping just launched Yahoo! Deals. When we saw the economy slowing over the last few months, we decided to pull together a site designed to help you save money — just in time for holiday shopping.

Retail isn’t all doom and gloom. While total spending may drop this season as consumers guard their net worth, Forrester Research predicts that online shopping will actually rise 12% over last year, mainly because half of online shoppers anticipate that the best values and deals will be found on the Web. And it goes without saying that they’ll also avoid the stress of crowded malls and long lines when they log on in their pajamas.

Our new Yahoo! Deals site will save you both time and money as you scout the best online and offline bargains. Here’s what you’ll find there:

• Daily Deals – Every day, you’ll find new handpicked deals from partners like Woot!, Amazon, Dell, BradsDeals, and dealnews. You’ll find the Woot! Deal of the Day as well as 24-hour steals in categories like Computers & Electronics, Home & Garden, and Clothing & Accessories.
• Coupons – Find online coupons for thousands of retailers like Macys, the Gap, Land’s End, Nike, Apple, and Toys R Us. And if you’re logged in, you can even save a coupon, so you can use it when you’re ready to get your shopping done.
• Storewide Sales – You’ve probably had a friend who circulates an email every year with all kinds of great discount codes. We’ve basically digitized those emails and collected them in all one place. But we have your friend beat, with more than 700 specials and sales.
• Weekly Ads – If you prefer to shop offline, you’ll want to check out our electronic circulars for retailers near your location before you get in the car. You’ll find retailers like Macy’s, Staples, Target, JCPenney, and Lowe’s. And since you’ll be driving, you might want to use our Cheap Gas Finder to get the best price per gallon in your neighborhood.

So regardless of whether you are turning to online shopping because of the economic crisis, or simply because it’s efficient and hassle-free, Yahoo! Deals arrives at the perfect time. And as an online shopping addict, I’m personally excited about the new treasure trove of gift giving possibilities. Here’s to saving even more time and money as we wrap up 2008.

Greg Hintz
General Manager, Yahoo! Shopping