Google Adsense has just announced the expansion of Google-certified third-party ad networks to all the Adsense publishers. This will let other Google certified ad networks to compete directly with adwords and they can show ads using adsense.
Allowing these ad networks would mean more ad networks would be competing now for display ad space on publishers’ sites. And this would lead to more ads to appear on sites serving AdSense display ads – more earning for site owners.
This is great news for all adsense publishers. Now more ads can appear on your site and well you still have control of the certified ad networks. Here is the official word from the adsense blog.
Adsense Email
We have launched a new capability in AdSense allowing Google-certified ad networks compete directly within AdSense, which means that advertisers from these third-party networks will be able to compete with AdWords advertisers to show on the Google Content Network.
These new capabilities will automatically be enabled for your account, and you’ll see a new section in your Ad Review Center where you can allow or block specific ad …

Mac users, you can stop holding your breath. Google announced that Picasa for the Mac, a free desktop application for editing, organizing and sharing digital photos, is now available as a public beta through Google Labs.
It’s an exciting announcement for anyone who’s looking for a good photo management app on OS X that isn’t iPhoto or for anyone who’s used and fallen in love with Picasa on Windows or Linux. This release still sports the beta tag, so you can expect a bug here or there, but overall it appears to boast most of the same features as its counterparts.
The application is available as a free download at picasa.google.com/mac/. Mac OS X version 10.4 or later is required, and the release is for Intel-powered Macs only.

From the press release:
Picasa for Mac makes it easy to manage large photo collections and helps users make professional-looking edits without any technical knowledge, including:

A drag-and-drop photo collage tool that gives users control over layout and content
A retouching brush to wipe out scratches and blemishes – and repair old photos
A slideshow movie maker that uploads …