Hello and welcome back to to our Year End Extravaganza … On a Monday: News Maker Edition! On today’s show, we will be taking a look at numbers three and two.

Story #3: The Downfall of MySpace

Why It’s Important: Let’s face it: The proverbial “fall from grace” is always news. The fact that it happened seemingly overnight just made it all the more surprising.
How Did It Happen?: After spending a nice amount of time on research, we were able to narrow it down to five possible reasons.

1. Shortly after MySpace became the “hip place to be,” televised reports containing phrases like “child predator,” “inappropriate relationships,” and “are our children safe” started to appear on six o’clock newscasts nationwide. The sad music and awkward camera angles that usually accompanied these reports didn’t help calm any nerves.
2. When the news wasn’t reporting on the horrible things mentioned above, they were talking about the various viruses, malware, and “potential identity thieves” that were hiding behind that average looking profile picture.
3. Stories about teenagers being bad — dirty messages, online bullying, inappropriate images — helped to make a bad situation worse.
4. Every article we read felt the need to remind us that MySpace was owned by Rupert Murdoch-controlled News Corporation. This lead us to one obvious conclusion: Millions of writers users suddenly decided that they hated both Murdoch and his company.
5. Three simple words: The fad ended. It’s as simple as that.

Will It Ever Make a Comeback?: For every one fad to successfully stay/reenter into the public’s consciousness — the yo-yo, Mr. T, The Simpsons — there are nine that are mocked mercilessly decades after their run on top (Vanilla Ice says hello). If history is any indication, we will be making bad MySpace jokes for years to come.

Story #2: Google

Why It’s Important: According to most of the tech writers out there, the only reason why the sun rises in the morning is because Google says that it’s okay. If that doesn’t make a story important, then we don’t know what does.
So What Did They Do?: Well for starters…

• Google Android 2.0: This was the mobile phone OS that “all the right people” were talking about. Sure, the iPhone still outsold all of the Android-based phones, but at least it got good press. The kicker? It’s actually worth most of the praise it receives.
• Chrome (The Browser): It has extensions now!
• Chrome (The Operating System): Chrome is undoubtedly the most beloved, most revered operating system than no one has ever actually had the chance to use ever. It was so popular, in fact, that famed tech blogger Michael Arrington was calling it the “Windows killer we all have been waiting for” minutes after it was announced.
• Google Wave: Wave is the “Twin Peaks” of web 2.0 applications: It’s fairly popular and obviously groundbreaking, but no one is quite sure as to what is going on.
• Google Voice: The app that launched a thousand angry letters to Apple and AT&T.
  
• Vint Cerf: He supports Net Neutrality! He supposedly knows the president on a first-name basis! He uses really big words! What is there not for writers to like?

…And there you have it. Be sure to come back tomorrow to see our list of the top five apps and services of 2009. As for our number one news piece … that will just have to wait until New Years. It will be more than 140 characters, we promise you. Until Tuesday, we bid thee a fond adieu.