Earlier this year, Google, Yahoo! MSN and Ask Jeeves all released versions of “local search”. So, what the heck is it and how does it differ from the regular searches you do on those sites?

Local search obviously targets the local area. Whereas before, you might type “St. Petersburg web design” into the search bar, now you can do a local search and type “web design” in the search bar and select “St. Petersburg, FL” as your search location. Instead of retrieving a bunch of websites that the search engine thinks are relavent, this search will actually retrieve yellow page like listings for all local businesses that match “web design”. In addition, the results page will show a map with the various businesses marked, so you can judge which one is closest to you. In some cases, you can even get a satellite view of the business, just in case you want to place it in the scope of local landmarks (or check out their roof).

The search engines get their local search listings from the local yellow pages, and other database companies. In most cases, you can submit your business to be listed yourself. Yahoo! even offers enhanced listings for $9.95 a month. As local search becomes more useful, more and more people are beginning to use it over the more traditional internet search methods. Now is a good time to get a leg up on the competition.

As the war between cable and phone companies over who’s going to control communications escalates, a new player is quietly picking up steam.

Power companies are now beginning to offer broadband internet access to their customers through their already existing power lines. Broadband over power line (BPL) technology is already being used in Europe. A little closer to home, Cinergy is offering broadband access to commercial customers in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.

Recently, IBM has partnered with Centerpoint Energy Houston Electric to launch a residential pilot program in Houston. Residents will simply have to plug a special BPL modem into any ordinary electrical outlet in their home. Once they connect their computer to this modem, they’ll have instant broadband internet access.

What does this mean to you? Over half of Americans already have broadband access at home. That percentage is only going to increase if getting broadband is as easy as plugging an inexpensive adaptor into any powerline. This means more people will soon be searching for you on the internet.