The original social networking site, Friendster, has dumped Yahoo’s search and advertising services in favor of a new deal with Google. Friendster has been struggling to rebuild itself, and has fallen far behind MySpace and Facebook in membership and visits.

Some of the researchers behind the now closed Google Answers have launched a new question and answer site. Uclue.com is in beta and requires payment for answers from their researchers.

Yahoo executives told an investor conference that the work they did through 2006 has fixed the company. They have been seeing improved relevance from the new Panama ad system, which has led to better results for advertisers and for Yahoo.

France has banned anyone but professional journalists from filming or publishing violent acts. Citizen journalists who record incidents could face jail time. The proposed law is part of a clamp down on violence and people who film it for their amusement.