- The world of Top-Level Domains has yet another superstar name on its hands — .ME Originally designed for the Eastern European country of Montenegro to signify its independence from Serbia, the fledgling TLD has become a hit with users who wish to give their sites a “personal touch.” According to industry site WebProNews, the relatively new .ME domain has been registered roughly 250,000 times since the initial “sunrise period” last year, and is only continuing to grow in popularity. The .ME TLD is available now through several registrars, including GoDaddy, Afilias, and the Montenegro-based Me.net.

- Despite rumors to the contrary, advertising will not be coming to a Twitter account near you anytime soon. In a post on the official Twitter blog, co-founder Biz Stone says that running banner ads “have always been low on our list of interesting ways to generate revenue.” Still, he’s not quite ready to close the door on ads just yet. Writes Stone: “We say traditional web banner advertising isn’t interesting to us which is true. However, to say we are philosophically opposed to any and all advertising is incorrect… [F]acilitating connections between businesses and individuals in meaningful and relevant ways is compelling. We’re going to leave the door open for exploration in this area.”

- The search engine known as Kumo might be making a public appearence sooner than anyone has ever expected. According to those close to the situation, Microsoft is planning to unveil the much anticipated replacement for Live Search as early as next week. In addition to the new name, Kumo is expected to bring a few much needed “enhancements and innovations” to the table, including the ability to group search results by category. The folks at Redmond reportedly have high hopes for the new engine, which could conceivably put them in the same elite category as Google and Yahoo. Microsoft is currently third in the “search engine arms race” with a disappointing 8.2% adoption rate.

- Cable network ESPN has struck a content deal with YouTube. According to the terms of the agreement, the sports giant will provide the online video megastar/Google subsidiary with original, ad-sponsored material designed to “compliment” the network’s programming. All of the videos in question will be available on the base YouTube site, but will feature a video player designed especially for ESPN. No live games or programming events are currently planned, but many believe that content from the broadband network ESPN 360 will be added in due time. A solid launch date is as of yet unknown.

- Popular music service Pandora has received a major upgrade. Called Pandora One, the new strategy is designed to “reward” paying customers while not “punishing” those who prefer the free-to-use player. Aside from the total annihilation of both banner and audio advertising from the site, the “pay service” has one major thing going for it — a desktop application powered by the Adobe AIR runtime environment. Thanks to the app, users can now stream their music at a higher bitrate (192 kbps), fill that space left by the advertising with fully customizable backgrounds, and more. Critics  point out that while the program does improve the overall desktop experience, Pandora’s penchant for repitition makes long-term use difficult. Others say that the app’s price ($36) might be a bit too steep for many users. Still, there is one thing that almost everyone can agree on: despite its faults, Pandora One is a nice little antidote to the predicable, sanitized nature of most FM broadcasts. Pandora One is available now for all paying customers.