The usual fun and general frivolity of Twitter was put on the back burner Monday, as students used the micro-blogging service to report on the China earthquake. Twitter users casper o d j and In walked bud posted eye-witness accounts of both the quake and its aftermath, providing a point-of-view not usually seen in traditional journalism. While it isn’t exactly “a hard news source,” Twitter has proven instrumental in time of tragedy and uncertainty. During the 2007 California wild fires, for example, members used a combination of Twitter and Google Maps to directs victims to emergency shelters.

Turning our attention to Redmond, Microsoft announced a new social video initiative on Monday called “Messenger TV.” The new service is centered around giving Windows Live Messenger users YouTube-like functionality at the touch of a button. The service has already launched in twenty countries not called the “United States,” such as Canada, Australia, and Singapore. Curious Americans can try out the service by switching Internet Explorer’s default language to “Canadian English” and logging into the proper Windows Live site. Not a bad tip, eh?

Ever feel a twinge of jealously at the guy on the bus watching “Chocolate Rain” for the billionth time on his iPhone? Ever find yourself yelling desperately at your media device of choice, hoping that it will “get the hint” and allow to peer into a bit of that YouTube goodness? Don’t get angry. Get CorePlayer instead. CorePlayer is a media player designed to run on nearly any gadget thrown at it, from desktop systems to smart phones to even a few GPS devices. The developers are even working on iPhone, iPod Touch and Google Android support. Arguably its best feature, however, is its capability to stream YouTube out of the box. All of that user-generated content in the palm of your hand can be a powerful thing. But please, on behalf of everyone, refrain from doing the “Numa Numa Guy” video dance while driving. It demeans us all.

In other phone related news, the digital art gallery known as deviantART has announced compatibility with the iPhone and iPod Touch. Users from around the world are now able to look at deviantART’s interesting mix of fan art, anthropomorphic animal sketches, and a host of things that normal users would be ashamed to show to their mothers. The feature set is rather “basic” at this point, but the deviantART team promises to tweak and upgrade it in the near future.

Our final stop on the tour brings us to our old friend, peer-to-peer file sharing. For all of those who have been burned by the Napster debacle and Kazaa’s treasure trove of spyware, we here at Free Line suggest giving Alliance P2P a try. Unlike the others, Alliance works on a private basis - the user shares with his or her invited friends only. Alliance P2P is a great way to transfer materials from work to home, pass around home videos to family and friends, or even give those old “Fair Use” laws a good workout. But remember: share wisely. The law is still the law.