Facebook’s Social Ads program already has some people upset, and at first glance, new product pages just look like another way in which users might be turned into billboards.  But whether this is or isn’t the case, the pages are already catching on.

Search Server 2008 Express arrived as a free download from Microsoft, which launched the release candidate during a California conference.

More people are looking to online reviews, which are having a significant impact on their purchasing decision.

If you’ve been waiting for Google to launch its own computer and operating system, that day is here.

I’ve taken some time over the last few weeks to pay attention to different Yahoo! services. In addition to being an employee I’m a huge Y! service lover, from Upcoming to Del.icio.us, from Music to Widgets, they’ve really built/bought some great products.

I thought it would be fun to walk through a few of their products and give them my ‘How I’d Improve This Product’ dealio, so here goes.

1. Mail

Earlier this year, I asked whether manufacturers would post product reviews. Many retailers are doing it, of course, but too many manufacturers think allowing their customers to review their products is "risky"—there’s that word again. So, does the risk outweight the reward?

Google’s Marissa Mayer, who replaced now ex-Google employee Adam Bosworth as manager of the Google Health product team, said Google Health will officially appear in early 2008. (Screenshots of the product already circulated.)

A WebProNews reporting team covered the SMX Social Media in New York City this week and delivered lots of unique video interviews and session reports.

Shopping has been one of the important verticals Microsoft focuses on with Live Search, and they have made some improvements to product searching there.

A major grouse I have with “shopping comparison sites” is that there’s often no “comparison” involved. They’re usually just a bunch of scraped data from affiliate datafeeds. There’s no “opinion” or comparison of the pros and cons of the product. Just a pile of digital trash on the information highway in my opinion.

A new study from comScore, conducted with Forrester Research, "Why Financial Shoppers Abandon Online Product Applications," found that 54 percent of online financial applicants abandon applications before they are submitted to a site.

AOL picked up a partnership with a search site that isn’t named Google, as their Truveo video search adds to Kosmix results for health, auto, and travel queries.

Visitors to one’s online retail website have a great likelihood of starting from a page of search results, as shown by last holiday season’s activity.