GMA reported this morning that Google was “down for 40 minutes” on news of Jackson’s death. An overstatement, I suspected. Cnet clarifies in a comment from Google:

Some Google users complained that the search engine’s News area was inaccessible for a time.

A Google representative confirmed that “between approximately 2:40 p.m. PDT and 3:15 p.m. PDT today, some Google News users experienced difficulty accessing search results for queries related to Michael Jackson.”

The same story says CBSNews.com traffic spiked to five times normal levels. And AOL has confirmed that its AIM service was down for 40 minutes.

As to the rumors ricocheting around the ‘net, Technologizer’s Harry McCracken lists 7 lessons learned. Sadly, that Walter Cronkite is not expected to recuperate from his “cerebrovascular disease” is no rumor. It has been confirmed by his family.