In addition to today’s Internet Marketing Monitor coverage, we felt these stories were worth pulling out of the multitude of news items for April 30, 2007:

YouTube To Add Pre- and Post-Roll Videos [InsideGoogle]

Is anyone really that surprised by this? Customers hate pre-roll ads. But that’s never stopped Google before. And according to this (and other) reports, they’re taking it a step further with pre-roll and post-roll advertisements. I don’t know about you… but I won’t be sticking around to watch ads after my YouTube video is done playing. But pre-roll ads do serve a purpose: time to grab that forgotten drink before settling in to watch your video!

Google Transit Sends Upset User Superman Cape [Search Engine Land]

I love a company with a sense of humor. Ok… so technically this isn’t “newsy”. But it goes to show that even a company as big as Google can 1) admit when it messes up and 2) can try to make amends, even on a personal level. Apparently one Google Transit user found himself with directions that instructed him to take a route that would have involved walking across 8 lanes of traffic. In response to his irritation, Google sent the guy an apology (text included in SEL post) and a Superman Cape. Cheeky? Yes! Great PR? Ohhh yes! You should never be above making your customers happy, no matter how big you are. Kudos, Google. Despite my issues with you, I’m still impressed with your ability to surprise me.

Yahoo loses VP of consumer search to Accel Partners [VentureBeat]

Andrew Braccia has left his position as VP at Yahoo to pursue a career with Accel Partners, a venture capital firm. Former Inktomi VP and General Manager Vish Makhijani will take over for Braccia at Yahoo. Some are reading a lot into this departure by saying that it has something to do with Yahoo’s search struggles. I suppose it could. I’m not Braccia so I can’t tell you for sure. But isn’t it possible… just maybe… that he simply wanted to get into venture capitalism? Sometimes, folks, a duck is just a duck.

Google PageRank April Update: Most Notice Drop in PR [Search Engine Roundtable]

Google must feel pretty special these days. Every time they twitch webmasters across the world go up in arms. This time a lot of people are reporting drops in PageRank after an April update. We didn’t notice any changes to our sites and I haven’t noticed any changes to my personal sites. So who knows for sure. But here’s a potentially shocking proposal: maybe the sites that dropped in PR rank… deserved to? Wild, I know. I’m just sayin’…

Google to Launch iGoogle [Information Week]

Via Search Engine Land - Google is set to roll out a newly-branded version of its personalization services tomorrow (Tuesday) called iGoogle. According to Marissa Mayer, Google will be working to bring all of its personalized services together under the iGoogle umbrella. Interesting idea. But what’s with the ‘i’ stuff? I’m a big fan of Apple… but they should be smacked with a bamboo pole for starting this whole iName mess.

If you missed it earlier, we’ve released the next version of our IMM-Glossary plugin for WordPress. It’s chock full of new features, more customization, and more options. More information on the plugin, as well as the download link, can be found at the plugin’s homepage.

See you tomorrow!