Users can change the shape and colors of the feathers, the type of head covering, and the shoes of the turkey by clicking on the specific parts. The four feathers are available in many colors and designs, and you can make it wear a toboggan, a wizard hat, and eye patch, and football helmet and more. On the footwear side of things, you options include sneakers, high heels, roller skates and many more.

If you click on the turkey’s wing, is will randomize everything.

UPDATE: Through playing with the Doodle a little more and with a little help from commenters, we’ve found that there are plenty of little Easter eggs hidden in the Doodle. If you align the feathers, hats, and footwear in the right ways, you unlock some sweet hidden animations. The more we learn about this Doodle, the more it’s looking like a productivity killer.

Once you’ve finished your unique creation, you can grab a shortened link to share with friends which will link to your specific turkey design – similar to how you could share your unique songs with the Les Paul playable guitar Google Doodle.

And for the first time that I can recall, there is an actual Google+ share button built into the Doodle. Here’s the box that pops up if you want to share your turkey with your Google+ acquaintances:

See what crazy turkey design combinations you can create, and Happy Thanksgiving!

eBay now owns 93 percent of outstanding GittiGidiyor shares, and although terms of the transaction were not disclosed, eBay fans and shareholders should rest assured that this move isn’t as random as it may sound.

For starters, eBay actually bought a minority stake in GittiGidiyor about four years ago, so it’s had plenty of time to learn how the organization operates and be sure of its profitability.

A couple other interesting facts: GittiGidiyor has over 6.4 million registered users, and according to Internet World Stats eBay highlighted, Turkey is the world’s 12th largest market for Internet usage (with a penetration rate of 45 percent).

Anyway, Doug McCallum, eBay’s senior vice president in Europe, said in a statement, “We knew that when we acquired a stake in GittiGidiyor that we were buying into an excellent business in an exciting ecommerce market.  Since 2007, we have been impressed with GittiGidiyor, its people, its VC investor iLab and its successful approach to ecommerce.  There is a lot that we can learn from GittiGidiyor, and much we can share.”

As for how everyone else is reacting, eBay’s stock is down 1.52 percent so far this morning, but given that the entire market is experiencing a steep decline, this one development may not be entirely (or at all) to blame.

"At present, 3,700 Internet sites are blocked in Turkey, including YouTube, GeoCities, and Google sites," said Miklos Haraszti, an OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.

"Even as some of the content that is deemed ‘bad’, such as child pornography, must be sanctioned, the law is unfit to achieve this. Instead, by blocking access to entire websites from Turkey, it paralyzes access to numerous modern file sharing or social networks."

In a report Haraszti presented at Bilgi University in Istanbul, Ankara State University and at the International Law Congress of the Ankara Bar Association, he noted that, while in Turkey, he was unable to access even the OSCE’s YouTube website.

"Blocking access inside of Turkey is an affront to the public’s right to the entirety of the Internet, said Haraszti. "Numerous Criminal Code provisions are applied against media workers, and as a result, journalists risk imprisonment for carrying out their work."

"Therefore ‘reform or abolish’ the Internet Law is our main recommendation. I hope that the Turkish authorities will soon remove the blocking provisions that prevent Turkish citizens from being part of today’s global information society."

Related Articles:

> Turkey Asks Google For $47 Million In Taxes

> Legalized Online Gambling Would Bring In Billions

> NY Lawmakers Approve Internet Tax

Robin Wauters wrote earlier today, "Local media reports (links in Turkish) teach us that the Turkish government claims it is entitled to additional taxes because of the fact Google operates its online advertising in the country and even boasts offices and a registered subsidiary there while bills and payments originate from Ireland."

Wauters later continued, "Google, which is [the] market leader in search and online advertising in Turkey, has unsurprisingly countered these claims saying that it runs its ad network operations from Ireland . . . .  Google said it is acting in accordance with the tax laws of every country in which it operates, including Turkish laws, and that its negotiations with the government on this issue are ongoing."

Still, whether Google is or isn’t obeying the letter of the law, the odds aren’t exactly in its favor.  After all, YouTube’s been blocked in Turkey for almost a year and a half just because a few user-generated videos claimed that the country’s founder was gay, so the Turkish authorities have demonstrated a real ability to misplace blame and hold a grudge.

Google’s market cap, by the way, is $170 billion, so $47 million at least wouldn’t represent any sort of deathblow.

Related Articles:

> YouTube Faces Formal Complaints In Germany

> Google Puts Analysts’ Targets, Recession In Rearview Mirror

> Google Caught In Another Patent Dispute

Of the 17 European countries individually reported by comScore, Germany’s online audience was the largest with 40 million visitors in April, followed by the U.K. (36.8 million visitors), and France (36.3 million visitors).

The Internet audience in Turkey was the seventh largest with 17.8 million visitors, making it the second largest country in Eastern Europe behind Russia (31.3 million visitors). Internet users in Turkey were also the most engaged in Europe, spending an average of 32 hours online.

"The online population of Turkey far surpasses the rest of Europe in terms of time spent and content consumed per person," said Mike Read, SVP and managing director, comScore Europe.

"Much of this heavy engagement is driven by usage of social networking and entertainment media sites, which maintain users’ attention for extended periods of time. There are certainly excellent digital marketing and advertising opportunities in reaching these 17 million Internet users who are so engaged with the medium."

Google sites ranked as the most popular in Turkey with more than 16 million visitors in April, a reach of 90 percent of the total online population. Microsoft sites ranked second with 15.5 million, followed by Facebook (12.8 million visitors) and DOL (10.1 million visitors), owner of Turkish-based entertainment and sports sites Ekolay and Fanatik.
 

The ban occurred because of user-created videos that insult Ataturk, Turkey’s founder, and we in no way approve of these clips.  It’s just that somebody, somewhere, has to realize a whack-a-mole approach to deleting them (and/or banning YouTube) isn’t working.

The current situation puts Turkey’s government in a light that makes it look more silly than authoritative.  Google’s support of free speech appears weaker every time it gives in.  No one’s winning.

In America, people representing George Washington and Abraham Lincoln sell hamburgers and hawk cars.  The practice isn’t exactly "nice" or respectful, but it does no real harm.  Turkey’s government will need to either get used to the Ataturk videos, accept that YouTube can’t instantly take them down, or just spare everyone the back-and-forth and enact a permanent ban.

Or it can keep intermittently blocking the site.  At least the routine gives us something to write about.

Such a turkey tragedy, and other holiday dinner table disasters, can be avoided with a little help from a good recipe. Yahoo Search has a little something for the food-curious, a new round of Search Shortcuts.

Logged-in Yahoo users can rate recipes on Yahoo Food. When it comes to turkey recipes, quite a few suggest ways to use the leftovers beyond the usual “top turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and gravy; nuke for three minutes on High.”

As Kamae also noted, post-New Year’s searches for ideas for low-fat recipes and other diet suggestions will work the same way.

follow me on Twitter

Tasty Advertising Key For Food Retailers

Turkey Day arrives in a couple of days, soon to be followed by plenty of holiday cheer through the end of 2007. Like other businesses, those who focus on food and its attendant items have the chance to take advantage of the increased interest with their marketing.

Google CPG blog cited Hitwise in naming the top US searches for turkey-related queries through November 16th. ‘Turkey’ and ‘deep fried turkey’ rated one and two, the latter a relatively recent phenomenon fueled by every cook’s desire to make a juicier bird for the feast.

Since the Thanksgiving bird shares a name with the country Turkey, Google advised that food retailers take advantage of negative keyword filtering to keep their ads from appearing in searches for ‘map’ or ‘country’ in Turkey queries.

Google also noted ‘deep fried turkey’ seems to be appearing more regularly than just ‘turkey’ in food-related queries. People also search for ‘dressing’ and ‘stuffing’ almost equally, which should tip advertisers to include both keywords in their food-related ads.

When December comes along, desserts should be the major point of interest for searchers, as Google noted their popularity in December 2006. Ad campaigns focusing on that interest should yield delicious results for advertisers.

follow me on Twitter

More other languages, I should say – the search giant had already made some efforts in this area.  But thanks to the latest release, “Query suggestions are now available in about 40 languages worldwide,” according to Edmond Lau’s post on the Official Google Blog.

It’s worth noting that Turkish is among the languages with which Google has become familiar, and one can’t help but wonder how Turkey’s problems with YouTube did (or didn’t) affect the inclusion of its official language.

To return to the main event, though, Lau went on to state, “If you don’t see them in your country, we’re working on getting them to you soon,” and it was worth pointing out, “You won’t see these suggestions all the time; we only present them when we think they are relevant and useful.”

Aside from the inherent “niceness” of this move, it’s not liable to hurt Google’s market share in any of the target countries.

The cases are unrelated, although there are similarities – videos insulting Ataturk and the king of Thailand are behind the longstanding problems.  Of course, it’s also YouTube’s users – not YouTube itself – who are behind the problems, but the Turkish and Thai governments appear to have trouble understanding (or caring about) this fact.

YouTube’s willing to skip a discussion of the matter, however; a Reporters Without Borders article relayed, “YouTube issued a statement saying it was ready to cooperate with the authorities in order to resolve the problem.”  That statement was in reference to the Turkish ban, but it’s reasonable to believe a similar approach will be taken in Thailand.

And as always, Reporters Without Borders and other free speech advocates are upset about it.  “Reporters Without Borders condemns a court ruling on 18 September ordering Internet Service Providers to block access to the video-sharing website,” the organization announced.

We’ve heard it all before from both sides.  Unfortunately, there’s no reason to believe that we won’t soon hear it all again.