Here's a splash of ice water for your morning cup of coffe, Yahoos: Silicon Alley Insider hears 3,500 people will lose their jobs in Yahoo's next round of layoffs. "People familiar with the company's thinking" — read: flacks who want to be able to deny the comments later — call that number too high. Cold comfort, indeed. These people say layoffs very much remain an option and that "the online ad market was already pulling up prior to Wall Street's collapse over the last few weeks, so Q4 and beyond could be scary." A tipster tells us Yahoo has already laid off two-thirds of its recruiters. A sensible move, since it's not like Yahoo will be hiring that many people. But putting those recruiters out on the street will make it all the easier for rivals to snap them up, and use their knowledge of Yahoo's talent pool to lure away the company's best remaining brains.