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On Halloween, Google announced an initiative called "why these ads." It's a campaign to increase transparency and show users why a particular ad was targeted to them. A "why these ads?" link now appears next to some ads on Google search and Gmail. Clicking it opens a pop-up with an explanation, even though it's often nothing more than "this ad is based on your current search terms."

The pop-up also offers a link to the ads preferences manager, where users can see exactly how Google profiles them for advertising. It shows categories, which can be removed or edited, as well as your inferred age and gender. It also shows the ID of your browser cookie, which Google tracks to personalize your ads. You can also manage blocked advertisers and opt out of personalized ads altogether.

Regular users of premium video streaming site Hulu are by now familiar with the drill: After clicking the play button on a television show or movie, you're given a choice of two or three advertisements to watch. You make your selection and begin watching the latest episode of "Modern Family," which is briefly interrupted only with the ad of your choice.

For something that may seem like a relatively minor detail in the course of one's day, this Ad Swap (formerly Ad Selector) functionality is Hulu's bold, experimental bet on the future of television advertising. The idea is simple: by giving viewers some say in what ads are displayed, you can show them more relevant messages. For advertisers, the value in more effectively targeting ads toward the people most likely be interested in the company's product. Everybody wins.

Google and Nielsen measured the impact of advertising across multiple screens, and the findings were stark. Advertisers will be happy to learn that advertising across devices appears to significantly increase brand retention by eyeballs... I mean, people.

The study tested a 15-second car ad on different subject groups. Some saw no ads, others saw them on various combinations of TV, PCs, smartphones and tablets. Those who saw the ad on TV alone recalled the brand of car correctly 50% of the time. The people who saw it across all devices got it right 74% of the time.

Facebook is offering up to $10 million in free advertising to small businesses in the middle of slight changes to how the social networking site allows brands and consumers to interact on its Pages.

The social networking site will give at least $50 to up to 200,000 small business in a partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business.

Facebook estimated global ad revenues will jump to $3.8 billion, more than double the social networking giant's 2010 total.

Ad revenue for the site, which has over 750 million registered users, will miss the expected $4.05 billion mark, according to analysts, but the slowdown in growth is explained as a diversification into other revenue streams like Facebook Credits.

Alongside all the announcements of new user features for Google Plus, the latest big news out of the Google camp is for advertisers. The +1 button is coming to Google Display Network ads, hinting at the first monetization channel for the social network and enabling Google users to personalize their ad experiences. Google has shown +1 buttons on search ads since the button's launch in March.

Ads now join other Google content as part of the company's personalization efforts with Plus. "A single +1 applies to the same content across the web, no matter where it appears," the announcement says, meaning that clicking +1 on an ad, a search result, or a Web page has the same effect on one's interest graph. The +1 button will start appearing on AdSense for Mobile Content text and image ads by early October. Users who don't want their personal +1 data to be used in ads will be able to opt out in their personalization preferences, even before the ad features go live next month.

Mobile ad optimizing network Smaato has released metrics from its second quarter that show the state of mobile advertising is not what many had thought. Mobile advertising inventory may be higher than ever, but that does not mean fill rates are keeping up. Overall, Smaato saw a 2% decline in worldwide mobile advertising fill rates in the second quarter across the top 40 mobile ad networks. Only 18% of mobile ad inventory had been filled.

The fact of the matter is that there are just too many apps and not enough ads. Smaato's metrics show that the larger mobile platforms, iOS and Android, do not perform comparatively well on a global index. That could leave developers scrambling for ways to make money from their apps as the ecosystem grows.

Mac users who thought Microsoft's acquisition of Skype would mean they'd be forgotten can relax. The service's Facebook integration, previously available only on Windows, is now available to Mac owners as well.

The beta version of Skype 5.4 for Mac, which was made available for download today, lets you connect your Facebook account and add everyone on your friends list to your contacts in Skype. From there, you can IM Facebook friends right from the "Contacts" page and, if your friends are using Facebook with Skype too, you can video chat with them.

In a first in the mobile health marketplace, the US Federal Trade Commission has filed settlements against two app makers that falsely claimed that using their smartphone apps would eradicate blemishes in teens and adults

The FTC passed down the proposed settlement claims against DermApps and Acne Pwner, forcing them to pay in total $14,294 and $1,700 respectively to the thousands of people who downloaded the apps from the iTunes store in a belief that it would shape up their skin flaws.

What happens when the Recession Apocalypse has got you down? Get a couple of buddies together, call yourselves the Defenders of the Commonwealth and launch a $5 million Kickstarter campaign to promote the state of Kentucky in the first ever crowdfunded Super Bowl commercial.

The campaign, started by three advertising creatives, will recognize the state of Kentucky as the birthplace of the Happy Birthday song among other feel-good homages to the Bluegrass State.