Yea it doesn't seem possible to edit the default dash page, even using ccsm - its a shame, I dont think I've ever or will ever use 3/4 of the huge shortcuts there (view photos, check e-mail, listen to music) since I really only use web services for all of those.

I dont think the dock is editable (if you mean the bar along the top) - you can add applications via ubuntu software center (I added weather), but I don't know if you can add application shortcuts like in previous versions.