This is after Google Finance was misreporting lots of share prices yesterday evening. But this was official enough to trigger a 52-week low notification for users of the Fidelity Investments site. Any of you market obsessives out there want to explain what's going on? Technical glitch, or some sort of wily trader gamesmanship? Because if somebody actually caught a nearly 200-point swing in a trade of Google shares, they just made a mint.

Update: Even MSN Money reported a day low of $0.01, generally a sign that trading has been halted for some reason. Curioser and curioser. NASDAQ is investigating, with CNBC reporting that NASDAQ cancelled some trades, and set the official closing price at $400.52. As one tipster speculated based on reports of a low at $200, "I bet you a nickel some ass traded 400 shares at 200 instead of 200 shares at 400."

*In the sense of "persuading, especially with flattery," you dirty birds. What did you think I meant by "canoodling"?

We can't see AOL making a serious run at Yahoo, whose Finance and News portals are tops in share in their respective markets and are a big reason for the continued success of the company. However, it's a good start. AOL, at the least, needs to keep its fleeing dial-up users before it's too late. But is it too little, too late? Probably. Yahoo Finance's producers are clever enough to put Valley fox Sarah Lacy front and center. Even the revamped AOL finance site has nothing close to her.

(Photo by mav.mbecker.net)

Remember Yahoo FinanceVision? It was Yahoo's attempt to imitate CNBC, except on your computer. Launched in 2000, with an annoyingly overenthusiastic commercial embedded above, dragged on for two years before declining online advertising revenues put a bullet in it. We hear it's rising from the grave. We've confirmed that BusinessWeek columnist and certified Valley Fox Sarah Lacy has been signed as a talking head. Other rumored contributors include VC blogger and TV pundit Paul Kedrosky and manflesh connoisseur Henry Blodget, the disgraced Wall Street analyst and founder of Silicon Alley Insider. Blodget, at least, has experience talking up stocks.

When I was reporting on the meltdown of Mackey's dotcom spinoff, WholePeople, some Whole Foods employees whispered to me about Mackey's love of Yahoo Finance's message boards. It was a tip I didn't have time to follow up on as I chased down the details of how Mackey's absences, followed by meddling, botched WholePeople's launch. Towards the very end of my reporting, days before the story went to press, Mackey answered some questions by email. And that's where he almost — almost — gave himself away.

Whole Foods had agreed to sell what was left of WholePeople to Gaiam, an e-commerce company founded by Jirka Rysavy, a close friend of Mackey. Mackey agreed to be Gaiam's co-CEO. I asked him if that role would distract him from running Whole Foods. Here's what he told me on July 15, 2000:

I'll decrease my involvement there as the transition is complete.... My title of co-CEO of Gaiam.com is largely titular and transitional.

I doubt Mackey will stay heavily involved with Gaiam.com. I expect his CEO role is more transitional and titular.