Do Google's Font Changes Mean a Troublesome Q4? (GOOG)

The Stalwart submits: As much as we talk about Google, we'll still plead that we talk about Google less than we could (every day), and that in itself, is worthy of praise.

This morning we caught an absolutely absurd spot on CNBC, in which an analyst was making the bull case for Google. One of the things he cited was the looming battle between Google and the government over search histories. Whoa. Isn't this the news that sent Google's shares southward last Friday? According to the analyst, and we paraphrase: "A public trial will allow Google to increase exposure, and improve brand image". Got that?

First of all, there's no way in hell Google's gonna let this go to a public trial, or even the government for that matter. Second of all, Google doesn't need more exposure -- who hasn't heard of them? And third of all, does Google really want to stand up to the government over an issue that the media will frame as being about pornography and protecting children?

And since the Google Q4 earnings guessing game is full on, here's an interesting analysis from a Yahoo employee Amr Awadallah (via SiliconBeat):

A colleague of mine reminded me that Google did a SERP UI change in early December, they increased the font-size for the East adword listings (i.e. listings on the right rail of the page). We call this type of change an “accelerator change