This screen shot is from a test campaign I ran this week (to see full size versions of screen shots here, click on them). The drilldown on any ad group’s bid or individual keyword bid allows you to project how bids will translate into ad positions and their expected click volumes in the upcoming month. This is just for a single keyword, “interior decorating.”

As of yesterday, the first wave of advertisers were converting over to Yahoo’s new Panama ad system. The system will be made available to all advertisers in the U.S. by year end. Once they migrate, there will be no opting back for the current Direct Traffic Center, a fact which is unlikely to generate any tears.

The in-development advertising system meant to replace Yahoo’s current product arrived as part of the company’s third quarter financial announcements.

The difference between Yahoo’s second quarter net income between the second quarters of 2005 and 2006 can be explained as a one-time event, but pushing back the new advertising system to 2007 has not been accompanied by much of an explanation. Yahoo’s earnings announcement this week disclosed that the dropoff in net income could be attributed to some non-repeating factors. The company reached certain settlements and sold off some investments, and reaped those gains in 2005. According to Yahoo, without those gains they actually increased net income against the same period last year.

Shadowy skullduggery, twilight tete-a-tetes, and disseminated disinformation may have all been part of rumored talks between Yahoo and Microsoft about their online rival, Google.

Google Video and CBS.com both charge a $1.99 Day Pass (ie, rental fee) for viewing the debut episode of yet another series of Survivor, via the World Wide Web.