Further to yesterday's post on the financial underpinnings of the Web 2.0, the market was surprised by strong showings from Google and Yahoo. Google shares climbed 7% yesterday to $445.30 after reporting sales increases of 79% in the first quarter over the previous year. Profits grew by 59%. Yahoo showed 34% growth for the same period.

The company's growth is at the expense of the traditional advertising vehicles of newspapers, television, and radio. Online advertising grew 30% last year to $12.5 billion.