It seems as if Microsoft and Sun Microsystems are about to become much closer than they used to be. According to several published reports, users who install Sun’s Java Runtime Environment will also have the option to install the MSN Toolbar as well. Many within the industry see the move as a roundabout way to take on Google, which is currently the number one search engine in the United States. The exact terms of the deal are unknown at this time..

Moving to the world of social networking for a moment, the new profile editor for MySpace has been officially released to the general public. Aside from the previously mentioned Flash-based template tool, the new editor also features extensive drag-and-drop functionality and the ability to “hide” information from certain users. While it seems small on the surface, the editor change is actually a part of the massive update known to fans as “MySpace 2.0.” The new and improved editor is available now on a totally optional, “opt-in” basis.

Elsewhere, Google has finally released Ad Planner to all users. For those unaware, Ad Planner is a tool designed to help you get the most out of your advertising dollar. The software sports a ton of new features, including the ability to break down users by geographic location and three new ranking methods. The “demographics” portion has also been altered to include users from five major European countries. While it isn’t exactly perfect — the physical site design leaves much to be desired — Ad Planner is perfect for those who only want the very best for their ads.

In other news, blogger Jo Han Mok has written a fascinating piece about what it takes to succeed in business. According to Mok, the tried-and-true adage of “work on your business, not in your business” is, at best, an exaggeration. “I… am totally convinced that working ‘on’ a business brings in big bucks,” he writes. “However, I am also totally convinced that it is very hard to work on a business that you have not worked in before.” True knowledge, he theorizes, comes from experience. The more real world experience you have working in a particular field, the easier it will be to market that field to others. “It’s all about getting your hands dirty, and getting it done.” Short yet intriguing, Mok’s article is a great read for anyone who desires to look at the idea of a “start-up” in a different way.

And finally, we have Spot.Us. Spot.Us is a social news site based around the idea of “community journalism.” Under the system, users pitch story ideas to a slate of freelance journalists. The users then “vote” on which article they want to see written by donating money to the story they want to see written. The articles with the most “votes” (or rather, most money raised) are written first. “Anyone can be a journalist,” founder David Cohn tells TechCrunch. “I decided NOT to try and define who is and isn’t a journalist.” Writing for Spot.Us, however, isn’t exactly as easy as it sounds. “You must explain your qualifications and journalists are encouraged to fill out their profiles which include giving their work history and work sample.” Spot.Us is available now in the San Francisco bay metro area.

Searching the web from your cell phone seems to be on the rise. According to the Kelsey Group, 33.6% of those surveyed said that they use their phones to get movie listings and research products, a 9.2% increase from the previous year. While only 18.9% say that they currently own cell phones, 49.2% say that they are planning to buy one within two years. “We are seeing a qualitative difference in consumer usage of mobile phones,” said Kelsey Research Director Steve Marshall to tech blog WebProNews. “The aggressive projections about mobile are approaching reality, as smartphones are now becoming mainstream platforms for commercial usage.”

Delver, the search engine known for making web searching a social experience, has announced a content partnership with Yahoo. Under the terms of the deal, search results derived from Yahoo BOSS will be integrated into Delver’s existing results. “Leveraging Yahoo Search BOSS allows us to keep focusing on social-graph ranking and indexing,” said Delver Chief Executive Liad Agmon in a prepared statement. “[The deal provides] our users with a solution that intelligently mixes social results with traditional Web results.”

Elsewhere, Google has launched a series of short videos and blog posts designed to help people get the most out of AdSense. In the debut episode, the AdSense team discusses advertising size. According to them, there is one thing that you must do when creating an advertisement — make it big. “Publishers often ask us what the best ad sizes are to include in their site’s design,” writes team member Mel Ann Chan. “If you position your ad units well, users will be more likely to see these ad formats and find an ad that they’re interested in.” Expect more helpful hints such as this in the near future.

In other news, groups are coming to Twitter … in a way. Twitter Japan, along with their partner Digital Garage, has officially launched Twicco, a new site dedicated to groups and the people who frequent them. Aside from the affiliation, the basic group structure is similar to what you will find elsewhere on the web. Twicco groups are available now in Japan. Both Twitter Japan and Digital Garage are promising a “wider roll out” of the service in the near future.

Finally: Internet surveyors Netcraft have finished counting the numbers of active sites on the web. According to the firm, there are 182,226,259 sites, up nearly 948,000 from July. Netcraft is also reporting that Apache is the server software of choice for the majority of active sites, with Microsoft’s IIS server technology coming in a distant second. Apache has been on top of the web server food chain since July 1996.

YouTube is the number one video site in the land yet again. According to a poll conducted by Nielsen Media and Beet.tv, the Google subsidiary had roughly 5.4 billion total views and 82 million unique users in the month of September. The big news, however, has nothing to do with who is number one. In a surprising turn of events, Yahoo Video was able to grab the number two spot, with 264.2 million views and 30 million unique users — an astonishing 59.1% increase from the previous month. Many insiders believe that the popularity boost is due to Yahoo’s unique “quality over quantity” approach to online video. Other video sites listed include Fox Media/MySpace (242.4 million views and 19.2 million users), MSN/Windows Live (164.7 million views and 11 million users), and Nickelodeon (163 million views and 6.15 million users).

To many users, the illegal downloading and sharing of media files are the “dark side” of the Free Line. If you feel this way, then you have a new ally in the fight — the French government. In an overwhelming 297 to 15 vote, the French Senate passed a so-called “P2P three strikes” anti-piracy bill. According to the bill, a new government agency known as the High Authority for Copyright Protection and Dissemination of Works on the Internet (or HADOPI) will be created to monitor all of the country’s Internet connections. If a user is convicted of online copyright infringement three times, HADOPI will have his or her Internet privileges revoked. Critics argue that the punishment does not fit the crime. The French National Assembly has yet to vote on the bill.

In other news, text messaging is coming to Gmail. The folks over at Gmail Labs are hard at work on a plugin that will allow users to send text messages from their mail accounts. The service initally launched last week, but was quickly taken offline after a few major bugs were found. “When you’d try to turn it on, it wouldn’t fully enable,” writes product manager Leo Dirac in the Official Gmail Blog. “We thought about keeping it out there — bugs and all — but the experience wasn’t that great. So, in the spirit of Labs, we’ve pulled SMS chat back to fix it.” Dirac expects the new service to up and running again “in about two weeks.”

In other news, it seems as if the usually mundane task of web searching is about to get a bit more social. Scour (formally known as Aftervote) is a new search engine that allows users to view results from Google, Yahoo, and Windows Live Search, then rank them in order of relevance. Aside from the distinct social aspect, users also have the opportunity to get paid for their work. Each search query, vote, comment, and recommendation is worth a point. For each set of 6500 points, the user gets a $25 gift card. Despite the similarities in the name, Scour has little to no connection to the domain’s previous tenant, music downloading pioneer Scour Media. Scour is up and running now.

Elsewhere, blogger Jack Humphrey has written an interesting piece about attracting more people to your blog. According to Humphrey, the key is to let your personality shine through. “The majority of successful blogs share one thing in common: people follow the blogger, not the blog,” he writes. “If personality weren’t important to building more than just a casual following for your blog, why would so many people who have reached the big time in blogging feel the need to pass on what they feel is a pretty important factor in their success?” Interesting and thought provoking, Jack Humphrey’s article is perfect for anyone who wants to shake things up a bit.

It seems as if Yahoo has decided to give social networking another try. Instead of creating an add on site such as the now defunct Mash, the Yahoo team decided to make the entire service a social experience. The first section to receive a makeover is the all-but-forgotten Yahoo Profiles. “This new profile [system] is not intended to be a new social destination on Yahoo,” writes Vice President Jim Stoneham. “Rather, our plan is to integrate ’social’ as a central dimension into the services you use every day.” The new Profiles page is available now to all registered users.

In other news, the world of graphic heavy display ads is finally coming to Google AdWords. Called the Display Ad Builder, the new service lets you make a smart looking advertisement without spending a lot of time or money. The ad can run on the entire Google Content Network, including in YouTube videos and in-game marketing situations. Easy to use, the Display Ad Builder is perfect for anyone who is growing tired of the traditional, text-only scene that AdWords usually provides.

Elsewhere, scientists have discovered that using the popular search engines such as Google and Yahoo might be better for your brain than reading a book. According to a new study on aging brains from UCLA, users who chose to surf the Internet had twice the amount of activity in cognitive centers than those who chose to read. “[The] results are encouraging,” says Professor Gary Smalls. “Internet searching engages complicated brain activity, which may help exercise and improve brain function.” At press time, neither Google nor The Association of Literary Scholars and Critics have chosen to comment on the study.

Despite what you might have heard, you don’t need a fancy degree or an internship with webtoon maestros The Brothers Chap in order to make elegant Flash files. Nope … not while Wix is around. Wix is a new online Flash editor that lets you create stunning animations and websites with just a mouse click. You can mix and mash YouTube videos, drag and drop images into a stunning layout, and even create simple menus. Unlike most Flash content, files created in Wix are completely search engine friendly. While it won’t exactly give you Homestar Runner,  Wix based Flash files are the perfect way to add a little “spice” to your existing site.

And to finish off the week, blogger extraordinaire Chris Brogan has a few tips on how to grow your blogging community. Twenty-five, to be exact. Brogan’s advice ranges from the simple (use Twitter) to the thought provoking (”Keep your eyes on the STRATEGY of what you’re doing”). As always, these words of wisdom are just one man’s opinion. “If this all works for you, great,” He writes. “If not, as always, I want you to give your thoughts. You probably know better than me.”

Google is the number one search engine in the US yet again. Google has secured a staggering 62.2% share of the market in the month of September, according to research company comScore. While it is impressive, Google’s number is actually down 0.8% from August. Coming in at a distant second place is Yahoo, which clocks in at 20%, up 0.4% from the previous month. The biggest gain came from the Google-powered Ask.com, whose numbers rose 0.6% to 5.4%. Other engines listed include AOL and MSN Live Search.

Go Daddy is going social. The popular web domain registrar has released SmartSpace, a new service designed to give even the most technophobic users a shiny site with a distinct web 2.0 flavor. Seen by many as a cross between MySpace and iGoogle, the service lets users of all skill sets upload pictures, create chat rooms, and stream video with relative ease. “There is definitely potential for this service, considering that so many businesses have yet to create an online presence for themselves,” writes WebProNews contributor Chris Crum. “Anything to ease the transition to the Internet is sure to be a welcome tool.” While it’s not necessarily “free,” SmartSpace is an easy, low-cost way to modernize you company’s web presence.

Despite the nerve wracking state of the economy, many deserving projects are still finding willing financial backers. JS-Kit, a promising little start up dedicated to the creation of website-based tools called “widgets,” has received roughly $3.6 million from tech savvy Altos Ventures. Other Altos-sponsored companies include online outsourcing agent Accolo and game developer Outspark. At press time, JS-Kit is planning to use the new found capital to expand their engineering department.

In other news, we have Orbitfiles. The general idea behind Orbitfiles is simple — six gigabytes of storage space for free. Files loaded to the service can then be tagged, shared, or hidden completely from view. Multiple files of the same file type can also be zipped, in order to save 0space. While some might take issue with the service’s fifty megabyte upload limit, Orbitfiles is perfect for anyone who needs a online safety deposit box for their most important files and documents.

And finally: As many long-time fans of the Free Line can tell you, a first page ranking on Digg can bring in a huge amount of traffic to your website. In an interview with the London Times, Digg found Kevin Rose explains  how you can make your first page dreams a reality. According to Rose, it all boils down to eight rules:

1)  Watch the news.
2) Be passionate.
3) Do your research.
4) Go niche.
5) Be sensational.
6) Get geeky.
7) Name drop former presidential candidate Ron Paul. (”I don’t understand this one,” says Rose.)
Write lists.

Interesting and engaging, this interview is full of helpful advice for people of all skill levels. Thanks to Rose, anyone can be a true front page superstar … just like Ron Paul.

Google is expanding their advertising horizons yet again. This time around, the company has its eyes set on the iPhone. As with the recently announced Google Maps and YouTube campaigns, the ads on the iPhone will seamlessly deliver advertising content relevant to the user’s search. “Unlike phones that browse the mobile Web, the iPhone pulls up sites directly from the Internet,” writes AdWeek contributor Brian Morrissey. “The new option would in essence build a bridge between repurposing Internet ads for a mobile experience and creating a parallel structure for it.” At press time, the lauch date for the new service is still unknown.

In other Google news, it seems as if the company is introducing RSS capabilities to its search queries. According to published reports, the new feature will be added to the already robust Google Alerts system. Despite their reputation as an industry leader, Google is actually the last major search engine to offer live feeds for search results. While decision to lauch has been confirmed by Google, the actual launch date is not known at this time.

Elsewhere, Digg is becoming smaller. The social news service is jettisoning two of their lesser used services, Digg Podcasts and Digg Spy. “Occasionally pruning is the prudent thing to do,” writes Digg creative director Daniel Burka.  “In these two cases, I’m confident that it’s the right course of action for the longer term vision of Digg.” Content from Digg Podcasts will be integrated into Digg Videos. Users fond of Digg Spy are encouraged to use Big Spy, “a better and more entertaining version” of the soon to be defunct feature. Both services are expected to be deactivated some time next week.

CBS is planning to “boldly go where it hasn’t gone before” — YouTube. In an effort to complete with the NBC Universal/Fox Media online video service Hulu, the network has made full-length episodes of Star Trek, MacGyver, The Young and the Restless, and Beverly Hills, 90210 available online for free. Each episode features both pre-roll (before the show starts) and post-roll (after it ends) advertising, similar to Hulu. Along with the previously mentioned Social Viewing Room, the YouTube expansion marks the second time in the past few weeks that the so-called “Tiffany Network” has reached out to the Internet. Both services are available now.

And finally, Internet marketer Mike Liebner has a few interesting thoughts on our old friend, search engine optimization. According to Liebner, three of the worst problems that can befall a site are repetition, unnatural similarities called “patterns” and repetitious patterns called “footprints.” Sites who regularly participate in methods such as these can potentially be banned from Google. The solution, writes Liebner, is to diversify the language used in keywords. Vary the wording, break the potential pattern. Plainly spoken and easy to understand, Liebner’s piece is perfect for the “SEO beginner” in all of us.

In the world of online advertising, it seems as if text ads just might have the edge over the competition. In a survey conducted by research company iPerceptions, only 11% of those polled said that they click on video-based advertising. Nearly one-third of those clicks were provided by people who identified themselves as “under 25.” By comparison, 25% stated that they click on text-based ads. “Our research shows that inexpensive banner and text ads are still preferred among web consumers,” said iPerceptions vice president Jonathan Levitt. “By having a direct dialog with consumers, we are able to know - with certainty - what consumers want and expect from their online experience.”

Speaking of advertising, those familiar picture-free ads are coming to a Google Map near you. The ads appear at the bottom of the screen and feature content relevant to the location in question. While a number of bugs and dead links have already shown their ugly faces, Google is confidant that the new ads will work properly in the near future.

Yahoo is entering the data analysis business. The embattled search giant recently released Yahoo Web Analytics, an Internet marketing tool similar to Google Analytics. Based upon IndexTools, Yahoo Web Analytics provides users with everything one could want in a data collection service, including real time updates and routine performance assessments. Users will also have the ability to add their own custom widgets to the service, thanks to Yahoo’s extensive development network. At press time, the Yahoo Web Analytics beta is being limited to only 13,000 users.

Next up, we have Fring. Fring allows you to use Skype, Twitter, and a host of other tools on a variety of mobile platforms, including the iPhone. Developers see their program as more of a “web 2.0 suite” than an as a run of the mill social service. Easy to set up and and even easier to use, Fring is the perfect tool for anyone who wishes to keep in touch on the go.

And to finish off the week, the Internet Marketing Blog has a new article up about using scarcity to bring in users. Scarcity is a marketing ploy used to make people act impulsively and buy right away. Author PV Raymond warns against what is known as “fake scarcity,” a tactic where people claim that something is hard to find when really it isn’t. Using fake scarcity can potentially get you into a lot of trouble. A great tip, both in marketing and in life.

It seems as if not a day goes by without Google doing something newsworthy. This time around, the news is centered around the new update for its Blog Search engine. The front page greets you with the latest blog news, giving you an overview of all the different things people are talking about throughout the blogosphere. The posts have also been split into eleven distinct categories, allowing users to easily find what they are looking for. While it isn’t exactly an original idea, the new Blog Search layout has made searching for your favorite blog a thoroughly rewarding experience.

In other news, we have Dipity, a social network that attempts to make social networking fun for everyone. Like FriendFeed, Dipity goes through other social networks such as MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIN to pool all your updates into one website. Dipity, however, has one feature that the others lack — timelines. A timeline is a powerful tool that intuitively displays the right content for the right medium when you hover over it. Amazingly simple, the Dipity service is perfect for those who wish to keep their social networks all in one place.

Sling, best known for their SlingBox line of video recorders, has its eyes set on the Internet. The company has recently announced the creation of Sling.com, an online video service similar to Hulu. Like Hulu, Sling.com will feature video content from several media partners, including CBS. SlingBox users will also have the ability to upload short television clips from their SlingBox for others to watch. Sling.com is currently in a closed beta state.

In other software news, it seems as if Yahoo has finally jumped onto the iPhone bandwagon. The embattled search company has launched Flickr for the iPhone, a service designed to make sharing your precious photographs a breeze. While some might be disappointed at the lack of an editor, most will be too busy showing off their photography skills to care. Flickr for the iPhone is available now.

Keith Baxter, best known as the mastermind behind the KingsPoint Project, has unveiled his latest Wordpress-centric system for online marketing. In The Wordpress Project, Baxter shows you how to leverage Wordpress and several key plugins to generate a large revenue stream almost automatically. He also shows you how to find good, niche markets, and how easy it is to get everything up and running efficiently. Simple to implement, Baxter’s system makes blog-focused marketing as easy as writing a paragraph.

Net4Mac, a social network designed specifically for Mac users, is coming to the iPhone. Like its bigger brother, the Net4Mac for the iPhone is only available via a program instead of a website. Once downloaded, users can do a variety of standard social networking tasks, such as sending messages and reading through profiles. While there a small fee attached to the iPhone version, the desktop version of Net4Mac is completely free.

As anyone who has been following the Sarah Palin hacking scandal can tell you, keeping track of all of your passwords and user names are incredibly important. Luckily, there’s Mashed Life. Mashed Life is a new website that stores your passwords and user names securely on a website instead of in a program. While designed for use on Web 2.0 sites, the service is completely compatible with more traditional sites such web-based email accounts. Mashed Life is also one of the few password services to have certifications from both the Better Business Bureau and VeriSign. Mashed Life is currently available on both the website and as a Facebook application.

Another tool that could prove to be very handy, albeit for completely different reasons, is CinemaForge. We’ve all had video files we’ve downloaded from some website or another, and could not figure out how to get it to play properly. CinemaForge takes away the frustration of incompatible files with a bevy of formats and options. You also have the ability of making a video file out of your still images. While there are still a few bugs concerning audio conversion rates, CinemaForge is perfect for those who want their videos as soon as possible.

For something just a little bit on the odd side, there’s the Deletionpedia. The Deletionpedia is a database dedicated to the items that have been removed from the main Wikipedia website. Typical topics include an in-depth discussion on the weaponry used in the board game Warhammer and a list of professional wrestling action figures. Although it wouldn’t be the best source for someone writing a college term paper, the Deletionpedia is great for anyone in the mood for something a bit more obscure than normal.

The DoshDosh blog has a great post on how you can use a mini-funnel website to draw more traffic to your blog and increase your audience very quickly. The idea is to create websites that answer specific search queries, and use the keywords in the domain title of the page. You can draw very specific traffic by doing this, and he gives some great examples of when it works and how to use it properly. Despite the slightly off-kilter presentation, this article is perfect for site owners of every age and skill level.

Yahoo search just might be coming to a mobile phone near you. AT&T has announced recently that Yahoo oneSearch is now the default engine for its MEdia Net service, which allows users to search for news, weather, and Flickr from their phones. AT&T is just the latest carrier to jump onto the oneSearch bandwagon. At press time, oneSearch is available on sixty different mobile carriers worldwide, reaching upwards of 800 million people annually.

Baby boomers  seem to be catching the web 2.0 bug after all. According to a recent survey performed by the NPD Group, 61% of Internet users between 46 to 61 years of age have visited streaming video sites such as YouTube and DailyMotion, while 41% have visited social networking sites. Baby boomers who visit sites such these on a daily basis are also 15% more like to go to a movie theater or purchase a DVD.

Blogger Mark Jackson has a few interesting thoughts concerning the topic of domain acquisition. According to Jackson, there is more to the price of a domain name than what you see on your bill every month. A domain that costs $10 a year but is horrible in relation to your main keywords might actually lose you money in the long run. On the other hand, a $20,000 a year domain name that includes a few keywords could get more visitors which, in turn, means more money for you. The trick is weighing the actual cost against the money that could be made. Do that, he writes, and the rest is easy.

With all of the news surrounding Google Chrome, it’s tough not to overlook the achievements of other cutting edge web browsers. Early alpha releases of Firefox 3.1, for example, include support of the new video tag found in HTML 5. For those unaware, the video tag allows you to embed any type of video, no matter the format, in your site’s code. In theory, the combination of the video tag and Firefox could make the traditional “Flash embedded video” a thing of the past.

Controversial documentarian Michael Moore has announced that he will be releasing his new film, Slacker Uprising, online. The 97-minute documentary, which chronicles Moore’s 2004 campaign to get young people to vote, features musical performances by the likes of , Joan Baez, and Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder. The film, which Moore himself says is “not for John McCain supporters,” will be available in high resolution on Blip.TV for three weeks starting September 23rd.