As anyone who has turned on television can tell you, “web surfing” on the go is definitely the hip and trendy thing to do. In an effort to stay toe to toe with both the beautiful people and the so-called “in-crowd,” we here at the Free Line dedicate today’s Showdown to web browsers of the mobile variety. Unless otherwise noted, all of the browsers were tested using a Nokia N81 handset running on the AT&T mobile network.

Browser #1: Opera Mini

Website: http://www.opera.com/mini/
Developer: Opera
Compatible Handsets: Various
Rendering Engine: Presto
First Impression: “So … when are we going to get widgets?”
Ease of Use: 9; “It’s that good.”
Positives: Let us start from the top: It’s stable, much faster than the built-in S60 browser, supports almost every format we threw at it (save for Flash, of course), extremely easy to download … we think you see where we are going with this.
Negatives: It’s slightly harder to rotate the screen on the fly.
Overall: 8

Browser #2: Skyfire

Website: http://www.skyfire.com/
Developer: Skyfire Team
Compatible Handsets: Various
Rending Engine: Unknown
First Impression: “It has a really nice interface.”
Ease of Use: 8
Positives: Flash works! Sure, it isn’t the greatest install of Flash were have ever seen, but at least it works. Although it does not exactly reach “Opera levels” of speed, it does feel a bit faster overall compared to the pre-installed S60 browser.
Negatives: Try as we might, we simply could not figure out how to rotate the screen.
Overall: 7; “If I could figure out how to rotate the screen at all, it would have gotten an 8. Some things are just better in landscape mode.”

Browser #3: Bolt

Website: http://boltbrowser.com/
Developer: Bitstream
Compatible Handsets: Various (Including Blackberry)
Rendering Engine: Proprietary
First Impression: “Well it took me to YouTube in record time…”
Ease of Use: 6 “It’s a bit trickier than the rest.”
Positives: Not only does Bolt do Flash, it does YouTube. It’s a tad cramped on our tiny screen, but that doesn’t really matter at the moment.
Negatives: It took us a while to actually find this browser. We quite ran across it at the last possible second. It also has the tendency to be a bit “too careful” when it comes to “protecting” the user — warning messages are nice in moderation, but we really don’t need to see one every five seconds.
Overall: 6

Special Attraction: Mozilla Fennec

Note: The Fennec alpha test is only available for “select” handsets. Sadly, our unlocked N81 is not one of them. Because of this, we were “forced” to use the developer version designed for Windows. While we will give the browser the ol’ “once over,” we will not be comparing it to the other browsers listed. It just wouldn’t be fair.
Website: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/fennec/
Developer: Mozilla
Compatible Handsets: Nokia S180 tablet
Rendering Engine: Gecko
First Impression: “It seems to be designed for touchscreen devices. Oh … and it has tabs.”
Ease of Use: 7; “This score will definitely go up once the official version is released.”
Positives: It’s made by Mozilla and it supports tabs. ‘Nuff said.
Negatives: If you don’t own a phone with a large screen or a touchscreen, you might be out of luck.
Overall (As of now): 7; “I think there is a lot more that they could do with it.”

…And the Winner Is: Opera Mini. There is a reason why it reigns supreme over mobile devices.

PS: For all of those who are wondering why we didn’t cover the likes of Safari for the iPhone or the Blackberry browser, don’t worry. They are coming soon enough…

As I mentioned yesterday, I have finally installed KDE onto my laptop. It all seems to be working properly … in a way. Let’s start from the top and go down from there.

Konqueror – It runs, but that’s about all that it’s doing right now. What’s the point of having a “premiere league” web browser when half of the tools and features that users depend upon aren’t available? Take this very post, for example. Usually when I type up this fantastic, award winning (hint, hint) blog, I use the standard WYSIWYG (”what you see is what you get) setup that is provided by WordPress. For reasons that I have yet to comprehend, that very setup is not available in Konqueror. I am therefore stuck using the bare bones HTML editor. I might be able to fix things eventually, but I’m not necessarily optimistic at this point.

JuK (Media player) – Nothing plays. I can see the title of the track scroll back and forth, but I can’t actually hear any music. After checking a few sound card settings, I went back into the program, hoping for a better result. Unfortunately, all I heard was dead air. I looked through the various options, hoping against hope that I would stumble across a “configure player” link. What I did find, however, was an option that allowed me to configure various audio shortcuts. While it’s a nice tool to have on hand, it is not exactly what I’m looking for at the present moment.

Kile (Word processor) – Despite reports to the contrary, KOfiice is not installed by default. In its places sits Kile, a self-described “LaTex front end” with an eye for power. For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about right now, LaTex is based around the idea that the English tongue should have a programming language of its own. Despite what you might be thinking right now, a “programming language for text” is actually a decent idea. Making that language editor the default word processor, on the other hand, is not. Hoping to salvage my time today, I immediately closed it and started looking for the Windows version of KOffice. Sadly, it isn’t available for Windows users anymore. Oh bother…

Overall: I will be totally honest here: there is a reason why KDE for Windows is not better known. None of these programs have been designed with the “traditional user” in mind. At this point in time, I can argue that almost everyone, even seasoned Linux users, will loathe this collection of programs. Playing with these “applications” isn’t even a good way to pass the time, let alone as a way to get some work done. So as it pains me to say it, stay far, far away from KDE for Windows. You’ll be glad that you did.

It doesn’t have to be Friday the 13th to enjoy a little of the magic we like to call “News of the Weird:”

- After a fairly long period of research and reflection, the folks at McAffee have finally compiled a list of the top ten “riskiest” search terms on the Internet today. Screensavers take the top spot with a mind blowing 59.1% minimum risk. Out of every ten links that promise such classics as flying toasters and crudely drawn cats, six aim to fill your machine with malware. Coming in second is “free games,” which clocks in at 24.7% minimum risk. ” Hackers will create related Web sites laden with adware and malware whenever a particular topic increases in popularity,” McAffee Senior Vice President Jeff Green told WebProNews. “Unsuspecting consumers are then tricked into… blindly handing over their personal assets to cybercriminals.” Other notables include “work from home” (15.6%), Powerball (9.3%), and President Barack Obama.

- As many of you already know, running a business, especially one that is based on the Internet, is far from easy. Every now and again, something very, very bad is bound to happen. Hardware networks break down. Malware gets accidentally loaded on a random office computer. It’s regrettable, but it’s a fact of life. Still, all of the server crashes or low-level hacking attempts in the world pale to the catastrophe facing the folks at social brainstorming service Imindi. See, the up and coming service was featured on TechCrunch yesterday afternoon. Naturally, a plug coming from a site of this magnitude is all but guaranteed to make people stand up and take notice. Unfortunately, the service wasn’t entirely ready for the influx of people a TechCrunch article would garner, so the servers started to show signs of strain. During the digital “red alert” caused by the new users, an as-of-yet unnamed employee accidentally deleted all of the user accounts. “We are extremely embarrassed by this mistake and we have purchased more capacity and instituted safer backup processes to handle the increased demand to prevent a recurrence of this incident,” writes CEO Adam Lindemann. “It’s a private beta, and it will be a while before this service is ready to be launched in public but we hope that you will be kind to Imindi as she grows.” Anyone who wishes to experience Imindi’s “second chance at a good first impression” can do so by clicking here.

- Sometimes, talking to a random person is fun. After all, nothing says “get to know your fellow man” quite like striking up a conversation in a checkout line or at a bank. Still, there are times that random small talk crosses the proverbial line from “pleasant fun” to “extremely creepy.” Leading the charge over said line is Omengle, a chat service that promises a “100% anonymous chat atmosphere.” To partake in the service, users simply have to press the big blue button that rests comfortably in the center of the page. Once you physically enter the site, you are greeted by some random person. From there, the sky is the limit. Bizarre and rather unsettling, Omengle appears to be one of those ideas that might have looked a bit better on paper than it does in real life. Omengle is available now for anyone brave enough to try it.

The Authors Guild is still having problems with the Kindle’s new text-to-voice feature. As you may remember, Guild Executive Director Paul Aiken has recently questioned the legality of the feature, saying that it effectively lets a user “steal” an audio book. In an op-ed piece in the New York Times, Guild President Roy Blount, Jr. says that he supports Aiken’s view on the matter, claiming the situation is bigger than most people realize. “[P]eople who want to keep on doing creative things for a living must be duly vigilant about any new means of transmitting their work,” writes Blount. “What the guild is asserting is that authors have a right to a fair share of the value that audio adds to Kindle 2’s version of books.” Blount is quick to point out, however, that the Kindle complaints have nothing to do with non-commercial “live readings” and text-to-speech services for the blind. “For the record: no, the Authors Guild does not expect royalties from anybody doing non-commercial performances of ‘Goodnight Moon.’ If parents want to send their children off to bed with the voice of Kindle 2, however, it’s another matter.”

In other news, Microsoft has announced that it will be rolling out yet another “experimental” search engine in the next few weeks. Seen by many as the successor to URank, the new Viveri system will once again use cutting edge ideas to get the best results possible. Unlike URank, which relied on a variety of social media tricks to attract users, Viveri is focused on how the information is delivered. The engine is built upon Silverlight, Microsoft’s new Flash competitor. Once a search is performed, two columns appear — one with the traditional results, and one with small “previews” of the sites in question. Microsoft hopes to have Viveri up and running by the summer.

Elsewhere, Intel seems to be taking an interest in Facebook. The processor giant has announced that they will be sponsoring a handful of projects in the Developer’s Garage, the “beta center” of the Facebook universe. The deal is just the latest chapter in the Facebook/Intel mutual admiration society. A few months back, the Facebook team announced that they plan on adding a fleet of brand-new Intel servers to their operations. Intel responded by creating a specialized Facebook app that allows employees to give gifts to one an other. The first meeting of the new, Intel-friendly Developer’s Garage will meet March 5th in Ireland.

Moving to the realm of microblogging for a moment, we have Ginx. Ginx is designed to be the “Sunday morning talk show” of the Twitter world, with facts, opinion, and spin flying around with reckless abandon. Each Ginx topic (or “room,” if you will) features a panel of experts that live and breathe the topic at hand. When the user decides to join the group, they immediately gain access to every post those experts have ever written, no matter if it’s on-topic or not. The logic behind this is that it allows the user to view the panel as real people, rather than as a group of one-dimensional know-it-alls. There are currently eleven topics available, ranging from topical (China) to specialized (the state politics of Arizona) to the just plain weird (fly-fishing). Interesting to use and fun to read, Ginx is perfect for all of those who feel that the news of the day can be boiled down to 140 characters. Ginx is available now for those lucky enough to have Willy Wonka’s Golden Ticket an invitation code.

And finally: We here at the Free Line present you with the enigma that is Google Shared Stuff. It’s a Google service, but no one has actually heard of it. It’s been open to the public since September 2007, yet it barely registers in search results. When it came time to close the little service, no one mourned the loss … mainly because no one has heard of it. But thanks to our research staff, we have solved the mystery of the lost service. Shared Stuff was designed to be Google’s answer to Delicious — a place where you could share links, pictures, and even YouTube videos. Unfortunately, it was never “officially” launched thanks to a lack of focus, a few ill-timed security flaws, and the dreaded “experimental” tag. It had a few die-hard fans, but other than that, it never really “went” anywhere. Even the usually ignored Google Lively had more of an impact. At press time, Shared Stuff will be completely deactivated March 21st.

The fallout from the Google Japan blogger scandal continues. Matt Cutts, Google’s anti-spam king, has spoken out on the situation, saying that he was “mortified” by the company’s actions. “There were a lot of disappointed, upset, angry people within Google,” Cutts told tech blog WebProNews in a video interview. “Every so often, you have a day where you just feel like ‘I wish that his hadn’t happened.’ That’s what it was like this week.” Despite the momentary let-down, Cutts makes clear that Google still stands for everything that is right and good with the web. “Our position is unchanged. We still think [paying bloggers] is bad for the web… If somebody’s writing, you want them to be writing because they really believe in it, not because they’re paid to do it.”

Elsewhere: It seems as if a few changes will be coming to Yahoo’s front page. Unlike the current incarnation, which is full of bounding boxes and links, the new page will be centered around the availability and usability of online applications. Like most “social” sites, these apps are designed to bring the user closer to the things he or she can’t live without. The site is also designed to further integrate various Yahoo services into the page. Despite the improvements, the site isn’t exactly ready for mass consumption. “We’ve done a number of things to collect input,” writes Tapan Bhat on the official blog. “Bottom line is we’re getting closer to the final design, but we’re not quite there yet.” Expect to see the new updates in the near future.

Not everything is sunshine and roses in the land of Yahoo, however. Yahoo MyWeb, a bookmarking service with designs to be the next big social media site, is being shut down next month. The staff cites the need to “streamline services” as the primary reason for the move. To help with the closure, Yahoo is giving users the option to move their bookmark collection to either Yahoo Bookmarks (for “private” use) or Delicious. The last day of MyWeb will be March 16th.

In other news, multimedia gurus Adobe Systems have announced that a full-featured version of Flash is finally coming to a non-iPhone mobile device near you. Users who currently want to have a Flash fix on the go are stuck using Flash Lite, a serviceable, if not underpowered “stopgap measure.” Those close to Adobe hope that the announcement will force mobile developers to give the platform a second look. Others, however, site the program’s ridiculous two-year development time as proof of vaporware. If all goes according to plan, expect to see mobile Flash arrive sometime in 2010. No iPhone release is planned at this time.

And to finish things out, we here at the Free Line present you with something “lovely.” Lovely Charts is a new, web-based service designed to make the creation of flow charts a beautiful thing. Aside from the standard array of point-and-click features, users can expect to find a variety of interesting tools at their disposal, including the ability to save their flow charts in both JPEG and PNG image formats. Limited file sharing is also included in the basic package, adding a bit of “social flair” to the proceedings. Easy to set up and use, Lovely Charts can make thought organization a sweet thing indeed.

Some big changes are coming to Gmail, according to Product Manager Todd Jackson. The third most popular webmail service in the land will be getting a few much needed updates, including increased attachment size, high-definition video chat, and a revamped contact list. The one thing that is not coming, however, is a Gmail application for the iPhone. “We could make one for mail … but we’d also have to make one for Palm and BlackBerry,” Jackson told CNet. “It’s time consuming.” While no official release date has been announced, these updates are scheduled to appear within the next three or four months.

In other Google news, the company has developed a pricing structure for non-profit organizations that use Google Checkout. Groups that have sales less than or equal to ten times their AdWord spending will continue to receive the service for free. If AdWords spending goes over the limit, or if the non-profit in question does not take advantage of AdWords, site owners will have to pay a 2% plus $.20 per-transaction fee. Non-profits that also have a Google Grants account will be eligible for free Checkout processing until 2010. For everyone else, expect the new rates to kick in March 31st.

Moving on to YouTube, the popular video service is experimenting with the idea of video downloading. The videos will be available in an efficient, yet surprisingly nice looking MPEG4 file, similar to what is available on the iPhone. Just like the other audiovisual services tested by Google in the past few months, the new download service will only be available for political videos. Although the official tool might be new, the general concept has been around for almost as long as YouTube itself. Several add-ons, from programs to extensions to Greasemonkey scripts, have been created for the express purpose of downloading YouTube videos. As always, keep in mind that there is a clear line between fair use and outright piracy. Don’t cross it.

Elsewhere, Yahoo is about to get a bit more social — quite a statement, considering that improving their standing in the web 2.0 world has been a clear goal for the company in the past year. Users now have the option of choosing from twenty distinct, third-party apps and tools to add to their Profiles page. The end result is something that more closely resembles a MySpace page than a “traditional” profile. Many within the industry see the expansion as an attempt to further differentiate itself from its chief rival, Google. The new and improved Yahoo Profiles are available now for all users.

And finally: Every now and again, even the best of us needs a few things translated. If you find yourself in this situation and just don’t have the time to use a human-based service like OneHourTranslation, then Fried Babelfish is for you. Fried Babelfish is a program that moves Google Translate from the browser to the desktop. The key advantage to a program such as this is accessibility. No browser instances, no new tabs to manage. Extremely easy to set up and use, Fried Babelfish is perfect for anyone who needs that precious translation, and needs it right now.

Yahoo is entering the world of television, in a way. The embattled Internet giant has unveiled “Connected TV,” a new service that will add Yahoo-powered widgets to a traditional television set. Said widgets will then be connected to a variety of external apps and tools, including Twitter, Flickr, and Yahoo News. Like the previously mentioned ports of Adobe Flash and Adobe AIR, these widgets will take advantage of Intel’s upcoming Media Processor CE line. Several heavy hitters have already pledged their support to the new tech, including LG, Sony, Samsung, and Vizio. Connected TV is expected to hit the public by late summer.

In other news, Google is toying around with an idea that would add geotagging capabilities to Blogger. While the new feature is extremely promising, it is certainly not ready for “prime time,” as they say. Several major bugs have already been discovered, many of which involve the editing and reediting of HTML code. Because of this, Google has decided to add the new tool to Blogger in Draft, a special “preview edition” that features several new tools and abilities. If all goes well, expect to see geotagging integrated into the main site within a few months. For those itching to play around with the tool now, Blogger in Draft is available now for all users.

Elsewhere in Google, search engine bigwig Matt Cutts wants 2009 to be as spam-free as possible … and he needs your help to make sure that it happens. “I’m not going to mention any specific area that would bias you,” he writes. “I want people to independently consider what they think Google should work on to decrease webspam in the next six months to a year.” The response has been massive, to say the least. Since Wednesday, 150 SEO experts and Internet marketers (at press time) have posted their thoughts on the subject, which range from focusing on so-called “duplicate sites” to the removal of those who participate in malicious backtracking. While unique, this isn’t the first time Cutts has went to the SEO community for advice. Similar “call for actions” were posted January 2006 and July 2008, netting the Google webspam team a grand total of 300 suggestions.

Turning to the world of Internet marketing for the moment, noted blogger Bob Bly has written an interesting piece on what makes a marketer truly successful. In 27 Secrets of Internet Marketing Success, Bly discusses the common problems most first timers run into, and what can be done to avoid them altogether. He also takes some time to discuss a few “public domain workarounds” that could become invaluable when selling your product or service. Easy to read and understand, Bly’s piece is perfect for anyone who needs a little help getting the proverbial ball rolling, no matter if you’re brand new to the marketing game or a seasoned pro.

And finally, the gigantic computer malfunction/non-event known as Y2K will be making a comeback, at least according to writer Richard Wilcox. On January 19th at 3:14:07 AM Greenwich Mean Time, an error found in the C++ programming language will cause all 32-bit programs to “roll back” to 8:45:52 PM on December 13th, 1901. While the problem is apparently easy enough to take care of, the true cause for extreme panic slight concern comes from the use of “legacy software” — older software that is still used with some regularity. “Even if every PC in the year 2038 has a 64-bit CPU, there will be a lot of older 32-bit programs running on them,” writes Wilcox. “The larger, more complex, and more important any program is, the better are its chances that that it’ll be one of these old 32-bit programs.” At press time, no insane, irrational panic is planned for January 19th, 2038, but plans can always change.

Legendary pollsters Nielsen have released their data concerning the growth of online video in 2008, and the results are, to say the least, surprising. According to the findings, nearly 60% of videos loaded from sites such as YouTube and DailyMotion are from people above the age of 35. Younger viewers, on the other hand, tend to watch more diversified content more often. “Initially, it is a bit shocking,” writes the team on the official Nielsen blog, Connecting the Dots. “But the truth of the matter is that video has already reached popularity to the point that the video universe, in broad terms, looks much like the overall Internet audience.”

Entrepreneur, sports executive, and generally polarizing figure Mark Cuban has a few interesting things to say when it comes to the future of Yahoo. According to the Dallas Mavericks owner, the solution to Yahoo’s financial woes is simple — buy up the competition like there is no tomorrow. “Yahoo has a very simple business. Generate traffic and monetize it,” writes Cuban. “Their strategy should be to acquire every and any company that makes their traffic, services, content or monetization stronger.” If all goes well, he theorizes, Yahoo won’t need another company like Microsoft to bail them out. It would also prove once and for all that the company might not be as “washed up” as many think. “Yahoo has the opportunity to be the ultimate next generation media company. Google does one thing well, search. Yahoo is and should be the best at everything else. It just has to stop being afraid of its own shadow.”

Elsewhere, Twitter is the latest major media concern to sign on to Google’s new Friend Connect service. Users can now use their Twitter IDs to access everything the Friend Connect universe has to offer, from Google Doc to AOL Instant Messenger and everything in between. The service also adds your Twitter contacts as friends automatically, making it easy to stay in touch no matter which service is in use. The addition of Twitter is big news for the fledgling service, which has to compete with both MySpaceID and Facebook Connect. While many within the industry applaud the new Google/Twitter partnership, some wonder if the existence of three “universal login services” is even necessary. The new, Twitter-centric Friend Connect is available now.

In other Google-related news, the search engine giant has begun to make a few changes to its Google Suggest feature. Instead of providing a series of “related searches,” Suggest now simply provides a sponsored link that takes the user directly to the site. Full-fledged advertisements have also been spotted, but these links do not interfere with the normal Suggest listings. At press time, the new “intsa-link” technology is active for only established organizations (UPS, for example) and news stories. While beta testers have been working with the new addition for a few days now, it is as of yet unknown when the feature will hit the general population.

Finally, we have Zannel. Zannel is based around the idea that iPhone users need a microblogging service of their very own. Like Twitter, the service lets users send short messages back-and-forth at rapid speed. Unlike the name brand equivalent, however, users can use the included map to see what other activity is going on around them. In addition to the root program, the map picks up Twitter and Flickr usage as well, making it easy to find new things and people. Easy to use and set up, Zannel is perfect for anyone who wants something a bit more “technologically advanced” from their portable microblogging client. Zannel is available now for all users.

Sometimes, a heavy diet of website advertising is not necessarily a good thing. According to a new survey conducted by Burst Media, roughly 29% interviewed said that they routinely leave sites they feel are swarming with ads. Out of those who do stick around, 75.5% claim that they generally ignore the advertising around them. “One of the main obstacles to getting consumers’ attention online is ad clutter,” Burst Media Vice President Chuck Moran told WebProNews. “It is critical for advertisers to ensure their messages are being placed in a high quality content environment to receive the maximum exposure they deserve.”

Elsewhere, Microsoft has been working on something that is a bit different — a web-based scrapbooking program called Thumbtack. Thumbtack is a brand new service designed to keep notes, pictures, and comments all in one place. While many within the industry are generally underwhelmed by the base program. most agree that the available “gadgets” makes the entire experience worthwhile. By employing these gadgets, the system transforms from a mere collection of thoughts and images to a highly powerful trip maker and planner. The only real drawback is the need for Silverlight, Microsoft’s Flash alternative. Without it, many of the handy tools simply will not work. That aside, Thumbtack is solid enough on its own to warrant a test run. Thumbtack is available now for all users.

As many fans of the Free Line know, a fair share of oddball social media applications have come across our collective desks. From social programming to social history folders and everything in between, there are few things that people will not do in order to work together. Bitloot, however, is easily one of the most original social concepts out there. The general idea behind Bitloot is to make open source programming a true community experience. First, users of the service offer up what they would like to see worked upon in an open format. A programmer then takes up the project, all the while asking for donations from the community. Once the program is finished, the code is immediately forked and released to the community. Although it might seem a bit odd at first, Bitloot has the potential to show everyone what a cooperative open community can truly do.

Staying in the world of open source for the moment, blogger John Perez has one (or rather, 25) good reason(s) why you should try to “open up” your company’s tech resources. “Many who oversee the Operations and IT Budget [have] probably been challenged to reduce your capital budget by at least 40%,” Perez writes. “[Open source programs are] some of the most cost effective applications on the market [and] can easily replace some of your more expensive Enterprise solutions and functions.” A wide variety of programs inhabit the list, ranging from Free Line Favorites (Open Office) to future all stars (Get Clicky). Interesting and highly informative, these programs will not only help you get the most out of your system, it’ll save you money as well.

And to finish out the week, the folks at Google have officially removed the “beta” tag from Chrome. The newly christened “Chrome 1.0“ features a new bookmark manager, faster page load times, and better all around security and stability. “Google Chrome is a better browser today thanks to the many users who sent their feedback and the many more who enabled automatic crash reports”, writes Sundar Pichai on the Official Google Blog. While the rise to software legitimacy is a big step for any program, it doesn’t necessarily mean that all of the bugs and kinks have been worked out. Says Pinchai: “Our goals for stability and performance have been met but our work is far from done. We are working to add some common browser features such as form autofill and RSS support in the near future. If you haven’t used Google Chrome for a while, now might be a good time to give it another spin.”

Google is number one in the world of online video yet again, and it’s all thanks to YouTube. Roughly 5.37 billion Google-controlled videos were loaded in October according to respected pollster comScore. Out of those videos, nearly 98% featured the familiar “YouTube” branding. Coming in second is MySpace parent Fox Media, which saw 520 million downloads and a 3.8% share of the market. While it is impressive, the number does not even come close to that of Google/YouTube, which enjoyed a staggering 39.7% share. Other notables include Yahoo (363 million views, 2.7% share), Microsoft (286 million users, 2.1% share), and Hulu (235 million users, 1.7% share).

Last week we talked about Facebook Connect, the new service that lets users use their Facebook IDs at a variety of web 2.0 hot spots. Now it’s MySpace’s turn to join the “all for one” party with MySpace Open Platform. The big news concerning Open Platform is less about where the new scheme can be used, and more about whom is actually backing it. The new service is compatible with OpenID, OpenSocial, and most notably, Google Friend Connect. Many within the industry sees Open Platform as a more “long term solution” than Facebook Connect, mainly due to the OpenID partnership. “The beauty of open standards is how easy they make it for users anywhere on the web to connect with the people they care about,” Google’s David Glazer told WebProNews. “We’re excited to work with MySpace.” The MySpace team is also working with British telecom Vodafone on a mobile implementation of the service.

Elsewhere, the critics are being less than kind when it comes to Experimental Search, the new search feature from Ask.com. Like many modern search engines, Ask.com incorporates paid advertisements into their results page. Unlike these engines, however, Ask doesn’t differenciate the paid ads from the actual listings. The result is something closer to a “full page ad” than a page of search results. Officials at Ask.com have disputed the claims, saying the monsterous ad was due to the actions of a “rouge syndicator” that have since been dealt with.

In other news, bookmarking mega-site Delicious is now available for mobile phones everywhere. The new, more portable version of the service features everything its older brothers does, only in a smaller package. Since it’s designed to work on as many different handsets as possible, don’t be surprised if (or rather, when) the service doesn’t physically look all that great on newer equipment such as the iPhone. Aside from the physical appearence, the only real drawback is the dreaded “beta” tag — some users have already run into their share of bugs and mistakes. Even with the “beta” label fully attached, the new Mobile Delicious is better than almost anything your cell phone currently offers.

And finally, we have Twones, a Dutch music suggestion service with a distinct social flare. Instead of operating primarily from a website, Twones does its business from a browser extension. Each time you listen to a song, the extension makes a note of it. The song is then sent to your personal music feed, which houses your overall playlist. Others can review the burgeoning list, leave suggestions, and link to their own private lists. While some might fault the service for lacking a music library of its own, most will pay the minor inconvenience no mind. Twones is available now by invitation only.