If there is one thing that everyone knows about, it’s advertising. No matter where we look, there always seems to be a thirty-second television spot, billboard, or conveniently placed Coke can within eye shot. While that sort of bombardment does have the tendancy to be annoying at points, it could always be worse. We could be living in the media obsessed dystopia of Max Headroom. In the series, advertising is present in three unique, highly diverse ways. On today’s installment of Twenty Minutes into the Future, we will take a look at three techniques and discuss how each are being used in today’s culture.

Technique #1: The Cheviot Method

Championed By: Ben Cheviot (George Coe), founder and president of Network 23.
Thesis: People first, ads second.
Explanation: According to the “Cheviot Method” of advertising, it is imperative to remember that it isn’t robots and/or lemmings watching these ads. It’s people. If “advertiser A” uses their predetermined ad time to insult the viewer, or if they try to do to much, the viewer is less likely to return. If such behavior keeps up over time, the viewer will simply “give up” and simply stop caring about your product or service. By treating people like people, not only do you get the viewer to care about the product, you make hem more willing to investigate other products or services that have your name on it.
In-Show Result: Network 23 is consistently number one in the ratings.
Real-World Example: Anyone who tows the Free Line concept practices this advertising method.

Technique #2: The Grossberg Method

Championed By: Ned Grossberg (the late Charles Rocket), the president of Network 66 and Cheviot’s mortal enemy.
Thesis: People exists to buy things, so they might as well be buying those things from us.
Explanation: When this particular advertising method is employed, the consumer essentially becomes secondary to the items that are being shown on the screen. Although the company involved might see a initial spike in “audience participation,” the numbers will actually be lower overall. To compensate for this, the advertiser/network is forced to employ a variety of gimmicks in order to coerce people into coming back for more. In the show, these gimmicks ranged from ridiculous (”Watch 66 in your sleep! You can do that now!”) to horrifying (one second long “blipverts” that had a nasty habit of making fat people explode) to the downright bizarre (a reality show about the life and times of super genius infants).
In-Show Result: Grossberg is made to look like a fool on a fairly regular basis; network ratings go down sharply.
Real-World Example: Any company labeled as an “evil corporation” has been accused of using this advertising method at least once in their existence.

Technique #3: The Zik Zak Method

Championed By: A fairly mysterious, multi-national corporation called “Zik Zak.” While it is implied that Zik Zak makes everything from furniture to prescription drugs, the company’s main products are soft drinks and fast food.
Thesis: People?! Who cares about people! Buy our stuff and quit complaining!
Explanation: People who employ this kind of advertising structure simply do not care about anyone or anything other than their product. It really doesn’t matter if people get “inconvenienced” or even find themselves in a sticky situation. They still bought the product. The “in-world” example of this tactic is the NeuralStim, a “free bracelet” that caused people to crave cheeseburgers. In the case of our hero, Edison Carter, the bracelet made him nearly die from overspending.
In-Show Result: The “faulty” bracelets cause Zik Zak to nearly go bankrupt.
Real-World Example: In a fictional TV show, it’s called a “NeuralStim.” In the real word, it’s called “malware.”
Special Note: During my research, I ran across three very different organizations that call themselves “Zik Zak.” Please keep in mind that the comments above only apply to the fictional corporation, not to the these real-life entities.

Our Advice: The “Cheviot Method” is the only way to go. As I said a few days ago. These are your people. Never forget that. Your customers (and everyone else, for that matter) will thank you in the long run.

Anyone who lived through the late 1980’s ought to remember Max Headroom, the hyperactive, pseudo-CGI “head in the box” portrayed by actor Matt Frewer. The Max Headroom character was everywhere in those days, from music videos to ads for Coca-Cola and seemingly everything in between. What many people don’t remember, however, is the science fiction program that bared the character’s name. This was not the lovable, wacky Max that called Cinemax and England’s Channel 4 home. This Max exists in a world where the major television networks are in charge. Because of this, such every day items as the off switch and the mute button are deemed to be illegal. Televisions are everywhere, including bathrooms and junk yards. Simply put, no one could ever escape the grip of the mass media, and the people like it that way.

Working within the confines of this odd, “Network-meets-The Matrix” world is Edison Carter (also portrayed by Matt Frewer), ace reporter for the highly-rated Network 23 and the “basis” for Max Headroom. It is his mission to bring his viewers the truth, no matter the situation. In the show’s fourteen episodes, Emerson and company does everything from thwart a sentient supercomputer to blowing the lid off of a dangerous subliminal advertising scheme run by Bill Maher, using nothing more than quick thinking and a heaping helping of brutal honesty. The viewer, both physically in the show and otherwise, are constantly reminded that the world is a better place thanks to people like Emerson Carter and his “computerized” alter ego. As long as there are people fighting for the truth, there really is nothing to worry about.

In many ways, we are approaching this basic existence, only with a different concept serving as our vice. Instead of thriving on a flashing picture, we are addicted to information. I don’t just mean the “TMZ/Perez Hilton” style celebrity gossip columns. I mean anything. Pick your topic — President Obama, professional wrestling, U2 — and I bet there is someone, somewhere talking, tweeting, or blogging about it at this very moment. We need to know about what is going on, and we need to know it now. Take the recent “best of seven” series between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Orlando Magic for example. Five years ago, we would have had to wait two to three days to hear former Laker Shaquille O’Neal talk about his former team. Thanks to Twitter, we heard it minutes after the Lakers cliched the NBA title. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that this kind of “instant feedback” can become addictive.

Now despite what some might be thinking, things really aren’t all that dire. Our world isn’t based upon the idea of two-way television sets or networks that can make commercials so compact that they make people’s heads literally explode. We’re simply talking about the delivery of information, not a re-creation of 1984. It’s human nature to want to know what is going on around us. Exploiting that desire, on the other hand, is something else entirely. It all comes down to priorities. Those who put more effort into their advertising than their content are more likely to alienate their audiences than the people who put their “product” front and center. By ignoring the very thing that got you into this very situation to begin with, the writer/blogger/YouTube “star” is actually sending a message that your fan base’s mouse click means more than their physical presence. Who cares if the content is good nor not? You clicked the link. It’s your loss.

While it might seem like a good idea now, turning your audience into a group of mind-numbed automatons randomly clicking things will not help you become a success in the long run. The trick, if you want to call it that, is to adopt what I like to call the “Edison Carter” approach to content creation and maintenance. It all breaks down to three basic principles:

1. Your users are more than just a group of random mice clicking a white box. They’re people. Your people. Always keep that in mind when developing your content.
2. Stay genuine to your cause.
3. Stay open to the needs and concerns of your user base.

Do this, and the world just might become a better place. If you don’t, well … let’s just say living in an “off switch-free world” is not anyone’s idea of a good time. Be sure to come back tomorrow for part two of our three part series. Until then, this is Brad Fallon signing off for Network 23 the Free Line.

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…

What do cherries, Microsoft, and the Irving Berlin classic “White Christmas” all have in common? Despite what you might be thinking right now, the answer is not ice cream sundaes, anti-trust suits, or Danny Kaye. It’s Bing. For those unaware, Bing is Microsoft’s new “do it all” search portal that will supposedly change the way we look at search portals. Does it live up to the hype? We are about to find that out.

First Impression: “Why does the welcome picture have little ‘hot spots’ in it?”

Search (Term: “Open Source Browsers”)

Number of Hits
Bing: 57.2 million hits
Google: 62.6 million hits
Yahoo: 35.8 million hits

Search Quality
Bing: Although devoid of both repeating links and blatant advertising, Bing seems to be focused on one thing and one thing only: Chrome. Out of the ten links on the first page, four deal with Google’s controversial browser. Mozilla and Firefox, meanwhile, are left out in the proverbial cold.
Google: Google results seem to be a bit more diverse than that of Bing. Chrome, for example, only appears once, while Mozilla makes its presence felt twice.
Yahoo: Yahoo’s results are a tad more redundant than both Bing and Google, but it’s not anything to really write home about. Mozilla appears only once, while Chrome isn’t mentioned at all.

Video Search (Term: “Photoshop Tutorials”)

Number of Hits
Bing: 34,700
Google (YouTube): 73,600
Yahoo: 6,215

Search Quality
Bing: Every video on the first page actually corresponded with the keywords in question. While the difficulty and intended audience might differ from one clip to another, the overall theme remains steady.
Google (YouTube): Same as Bing, only with less links.
Yahoo: A few of the links seem to go a bit off-topic, but most stay on-point.

Bing On…
News: When you first arrive, you will notice a few videos sitting at the bottom of the screen. Those videos can be turned on by either clicking the link (as per tradition) or running your mouse over the “play” button. While it isn’t suited for watching whole stories, the Bing News mouse over feature makes grabbing a “sneak preview” as painless as possible.
Maps: For the life of us, we just could not get the map feature running properly. Instead of getting a map full of roads, rivers, and landmarks, we received a desolate beige blob full of orange arrows. After a little while, we were able to turn the beige blob in a grid similar to the one found in the science fiction film Tron. The actual turn-by-turn directions, however, are a completely different story. Every set we tried were incredibly detailed and extremely easy to read. We especially appreciate the “if you see ___, then you’ve gone too far” note that appeared at the end of every page. It makes exploring new places a bit less taxing.

Final Thought: While it isn’t exactly perfect, it’s much better than we expected. Microsoft supposedly put a ton of time and effort into this project, and it shows. Yes, it’s still “rough around the edges,” but it isn’t just a rebranded “Live Search” either. In short, Bing just might be the “web portal powerhouse” Redmond has always wanted. Whether it actually lives up to hype, however, remains to be seen.

- 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.

In the past year, we here at the Free Line have seen Twitter used in a variety of unique and creative ways. With all due respect to the likes of Chris Bosh and Mark Cuban, no one has utilized the “in the moment” power of Twitter quite like the college students of Moldova. Bosh solicits travel directions and restaurant suggestions from his fans. Cuban angers the NBA on a fairly regular basis with his highly opinionated ramblings. The Moldovians, on the other hand … they use the service to help spark a revolution. Displeased with the underhanded and borderline illegal tactics employed by the country’s communist government, the students started a pro-freedom rally on the steps of the parliament building in Chisinau. The protesters have been using the microblogging service to not only give up-to-the-minute reports on the situation, but encourage others to join their cause. Thanks to the Tweets (and an odd YouTube video here and there), the students’ nonviolent protest has quickly turned into a full-on revolution. Like in many communist countries, access to ideas that fall outside of the “party line” is almost nonexistent for most Moldovians. By using services like Twitter to spread their message, dissenters can make sure their voices are truly heard.

In other news, next major evolution in websites could potentially cause some major headaches for professionals worldwide. As many of you now know, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers — ICANN for short — has relaxed the rules concerning top-level domain names. Instead of being limited to the traditional .com, .net, and .org, consumers can now pick the domain name that fits him or her best. A wrestling promoter, for example, could use .suplex for their site instead of settling for comparatively boring suffixes like “.tv” or “.info.” This is where the problem comes in. Many major businesses, organizations, and services buy similar-sounding TLDs in order to prevent others from encroaching on their territories. When a business owner doesn’t take that level of care, bad things tend to happen. (The Whitehouse.gov/.com debacle of a few years ago comes to mind.) By adding a near unlimited amount of TLDs, site owners find themselves having to buy ten or twenty new names instead of just four or five. Added to that is the fact that in order to buy the domain suffix outright, the purchaser has to put at least $185,000 down and offer up another $25,000 a year formaintenence. ICANN feels that the new domains could lead to “one of the largest marketing and branding opportunities in history.” Others, such as Verizon vice president Sarah Deutsch, don’t have such a rosey view on things. “It costs companies hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, to enforce their trademark rights in the existing space, so imagine how expensive it will be when Verizon gets infringed in a thousand new domains,” Deutsch told USA Today. As far as she is concerned, the new TLDs are nothing more than a “form of extorsion.” As always with stories such as this, we’ll keep you updated with latest information as it comes available.

And finally: With what must seem like a trend, the mighty Google is once again on top of the search engine heap. Roughly 72.34% of all search traffic traveled through Google last March, an 8% increase over the previous year. The once — and if current trends indicate anything, future — runner up is Yahoo, which clocked in with a 16.36% market share, a 19% decrease compared to this time last year. Rounding out the top four are MSN Search (5.5% share; a 17% decrease) and Ask.com (4.07% share; a 1% decrease overall).

In many ways, joining a social media site is a lot like enrolling in a new school. You start out alone, fresh-faced and nervous, while the people who have been there for a while politely and quietly ignore you. You try to fit in, but you quickly find that it isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do. The thing is, it doesn’t have to be this way. You have the power of Twitter Suggest on your side. Described by Biz Stone as the electronic equivalent to the “staff picks [section] at a book store,” Twitter Suggest offers up a variety of colorful and intriguing characters to follow. By following this ragtag group of eclectic personalities, insiders theorize, users will become more comfortable with the nature and feel of Tweeting. Several of the top users have already signed on to the feature, from politicians (San Fransisco Mayor Gavin Newsome) and computer visionaries (Apple co-founder/celebrity dancer Steve Wozniak) to comedians (Michael Ian Black) and rappers (50 Cent). While it isn’t a long-term way to make friends and influence people, Twitter Suggest is a great way to get the “lay of the land” while virtually hobnobbing with a few celebrities.

A few days back, we reported on Academic Earth, a Hulu-esque video service that features lectures and classes from several major universities. If you like the general idea, but wish there was a more accessible, mobile-friendly alternative available, we here at the Free Line suggest giving YouTube EDU a try. Like the aforementioned education super site, YouTube EDU features the best professors in the country doing what they do best — teach. Several noteworthy colleges have already signed on for the service, including Stanford, MIT, and the Culinary Institute of America. While it doesn’t exactly have the same “ivy covered walls” feel of Academic Earth — being shoulder-to-shoulder with such “low-brow entertainment” as professional wrestlers and Rick Astley tends to damage your credibility a bit — YouTube EDU is perfect way to expand your horizons without ever leaving your house. YouTube EDU is available now for all users.

In other Google-related news, it seems as if their slate of web tools are taking the proverbial “road trip.” In a rather surprising move, the computing giant announced that they will be teaming up with several web hosts to supply on-site support and up-to-date features to its subscribers. The move is based upon the notion that you don’t have to have an advanced computer science degree in order to have the best tools and services the best tools for your site. “It used to be that creating a web page was a pursuit reserved for the truly tech-savvy, requiring a geek’s expertise in HTML, Java, or C++ coding,” writes product manager Rajat Mukherjee. “[The Google Services for Websites project] includes Webmaster Tools, AdSense, Custom Search, and Site Search, making it easier to drive traffic to your site, monetize your site through the Google ad network, and add various search capabilities to help your visitors find information on your site faster.” The Google Services for Website system is available now.

And finishing off the week, vector graphics are finally coming to Google Docs. For those unaware, vectors are the difficult to work with, yet oddly satisfying replacement for pixels found in many computer-based applications. Based upon a little-known online service created by the now-defunct Tonic Systems, the so-called “Insert Drawing” feature makes vectors simple enough for anyone to use. A variety of different objects are built directly into the tool, making it easy to find exactly what you are looking for. Although its fairly powerful for an application of its size, don’t be expecting a full-on replacement to Adobe Illustrator or Flash. From the looks of things, Insert Drawing is better equipped to handle flowcharts than animation. That being said, Insert Drawing is a great way to add a little bit of angle-based spice to an otherwise average document.

Hulu is now the fourth most popular online video site in the US, according to research firm comScore. The much-talked about site gained a staggering ten million users over the course of the last month, bringing their total viewership to a shocking 37.4 million users. Many within the industry say the sharp rise is due to the site’s creative advertising campaign, which features the likes of Alec Baldwin and Family Guy creator/generally controversial figure Seth MacFarlane as alien invaders. Other rankings of note include YouTube (99.3 million users), Fox Media/MySpace (53.7 million users) and Yahoo (41.6 million users).

In other news, Facebook isn’t the only social networking site of note undergoing a drastic design change. LinkedIn, the network geared towards business people and the folks who love them, have recently unveiled their own set of improvements. The first thing that you will notice is the inbox … or rather, the total lack of one. Instead of it looming large over your front page like it used to, the inbox now only appears when there are actual messages to be read. Once inside, you’ll run into the second major improvement — tabs. These are designed to make both reading and sorting your mail a quick and painless experience. The new inbox is just one of many planned improvemnet aimed at increasing productivity and usability. The mailbox of your dreams is available now for all users.

And finally: A slate of classic films have finally received a new lease on life. The folks at Warner Brothers have just put the finishing touches on the “Warner Archive,” a video site that specializes in “forgotten classics.” The Archive features over 150 long out-of-print films made before 1986, such as “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” the golf-centric silent film “Spring Fever,” and Paul Simon’s “One Trick Pony,” which is more remembered for the song “Late In the Evening” than the actual film. What makes the Archive special is its “on demand” nature. Unlike most DVD-based services of this type, the actual disc is created only after the user orders the film. Not only does this method cut down on labor and storage costs, it makes the concept of “niche entertainment” economically viable. The discs from the Warner Archive start at $20 a pop. Digital versions of the film in question are available for $15.

While the “DVD-on-demand” concept is still considered to be a fairly “recent” idea, it is by no means new. Anyone who has attempted to purchase a high school football retrospective or lesser-known professional wresting DVD in the past ten years have seen the on-demand concept at work. Many smaller video companies, such as Smart Mark Video and Pittsburgh-based Digital Horizons, have built their distribution systems on variations of that very concept. Amazon also utilizes on-demand as a way to sell their severs full of children’s programming from the 1990’s.

Expect to see more on the topic of video creation and distribution on an upcoming episode of the Free Line.

It appears that Google is setting their collective sights on the world of music videos. The new media giant is currently in discussions with several major music labels to create “Vevo,” an online music video hub similar to Viacom’s “MTV Videos” site. Although the Vevo network would indeed be built upon the existing YouTube framework, the service would be given its own separate web space. Many within the industry are intrigued by the idea, saying that a video site full of professionally-made, completely legal videos is much more attractive to potential advertisers than the supposedly dodgy, “do-it-yourself” ethic that YouTube is based upon. The proposed launch date for the Vevo service is unknown at this time.

In other Google-based news, the company has added “expandable ad” support to its popular AdSense service. For those unaware, an “expandable ad” is a picture that gets larger when the user interacts with it in some way. The ad itself usually contains something fairly interactive, such as a Flash video or a movie trailer. While inventive, traditional expandable ads have a reputation of being rather obtrusive, usually playing a loud audio track and destroying page layouts at will. According to AdSense team member Courtney Chin, the new service is out to change that way of thinking. Instead of running on mouse-overs, the new ads will only start playing after the ad itself is clicked on. Once it is clicked on, the ad opens itself in a new layer, leaving your site’s layout completely untouched. The new ads are available now to all registered AdSense users.

Switching gears for a moment, online video site Ustream is coming to a cell phone near you. Similar to to pioneering video service Qik, the new broadcasting app allows you to stream video from your cell phone’s camera directly to their website. Users have a variety of options available to them while filming, including a live chat applet, access to real-time polling data connected to your video, and a variety of GPS tools. The broadcasting center also features built-in Twitter and Facebook support, making online notification a breeze. Fairly easy to use and extremely powerful, Ustream mobile is perfect for anyone who likes Qik, but desires something a bit more heavy duty. Ustream is available now for most Nokia-branded phones. An iPhone app should be out shortly.

Elsewhere: Every online service has a “star” — the one thing that packs the house every night and keeps them coming back for more. For Yahoo, that star is their email service. According to a new Hitwise poll, roughly 37% of those surveyed said that they visit Yahoo only to check their mail. Furthermore, the Yahoo Mail’s user share has gone up nearly three percent in 2008 — quite a feat, especially when one considers that Yahoo wasn’t projected to even survive 2008. Even Gmail, whose share went up a whopping 88%, can’t catch up with the Yahoo Mail juggernaut. “Yahoo Mail seems to be growing in influence over time,” writes WebProNews contributor Doug Caverly. “Perhaps Steve Ballmer was focusing on the wrong department during those wretched Microsoft/Yahoo negotiations.”

And to finish up the week, we have yet another edition of Browser Extension Friday. On today’s award-winning episode, we take a look at four extensions that bring a little bit of that microblogging goodness to your browser. And to make things even more interesting, all of these extensions will be affiliated with a service that prides itself on being an alternative to Twitter. After all, variety is the spice of life, right?

• YammerFox - Adds a small, Yammer-centric icon to the lower right hand corner of Firefox. When a message appears, so does a handy little chat box. Due to the no-frills layout of said box and its “twenty message” limit, YammerFox seems to have more in common with the old Yahoo Chat system than it does with Twitter.
• RejawFox - Similar to the Yammer tool mentioned above, this extension adds a dedicated Rejaw “message box” to the bottom corner of Firefox.
• IndentiFox – …And the trilogy is complete. Like the others, this extension adds a handy microblogging alert system to the bottom of your screen. This time, however, the service in question is underground Canadian sensation (and former Free Line all-star) Identi.ca.
• Jaikungfu -Get all of the benefits of Jaiku without ever having to “properly” log in to the official site. An absolute must for all fans of the service.

Charging corporate users to use Twitter might not be as ridiculous as once thought. According to Abrams Research, 39.6% of business owners interviewed would willingly pay a monthly fee in order to use the microblogging service. Many within the industry see the poll as proof of Twitter’s emerging presence in the corporate world and a testament to its staying power. On the other end of the spectrum, 41.1% say that gaming/social networking hybrid site ImInLikeWithYou.com is the most likely to shut down in the next year. Bebo, the United Kingdom’s favorite networking site, comes in at a very distant second with 12.4% of the vote.

Sticking with Twitter for a moment, ESPN personality Dan Le Batard has a few interesting thoughts concerning the service’s popularity with athletes. Appearing as a guest host on Pardon the Interruption, the newspaper columnist/talk show host sees “technological advances” such as microblogging and text messaging as a way of eliminating the need for sports writers. “We’re fast approaching the day where [professional athletes] don’t need the media at all… They’re not going to need the Sports Illustrated cover. They can create their own connections with the fans without our help.” Le Batard’s comments echo the sediments of NBA all-star Chris Bosh, who says he uses Twitter to get everything from driving directions to restaurant suggestions. Fellow all-star and all-around media maven Shaquille O’Neal is also a fan of the service, saying he currently has “about” 93,000 followers.

In other news, MySpace Mobile is getting a much needed overhaul. The new site is created to replicate its full-featured brother as closely as possible, allowing the user to “drift” between interfaces with ease. In addition to the site, the company also announced support for both Nokia handsets and Palm webOS, making MySpace the only social network with a free standing app on every major mobile platform. Those close to the company say the moves could not have come at a better time. Mobile use of networks, especially MySpace, is projected to top 50% within a year or two.

Elsewhere, it seems as if the new, improved TV.com is getting noticed. Hulu, a one-time partner, has pulled all of its content from the site. A few months ago, owner CBS has turned the once innocuous site into a high-tech, online video powerhouse. As such, it was only a matter of time that the proverbial battle lines were drawn. Despite the pull out, TV.com users still have access to content from a variety of networks, including Showtime, Sony, and, of course, CBS. Hulu fans who don’t feel like visiting the main site can still catch its content on the Comcast-sponsored Fancast and Sling.com.

And finally: As you might have noticed, the top three or four links on the average Google search result page are now YouTube videos. The underlying reason for this is due to the company’s “Universal Search” initiative, which allows all Google-owned properties to be searched at any given moment. This tells us three things:

1. When choosing between a finely tuned website and a YouTube video, Google search is much more likely to choose the video — fifty times more likely, says Forrester Research.
2. The old days of the “viral video” are gone. Search engines, particularly Google, are the future.
3. At this stage of the game, videos need YouTube. Without it, your video is much less likely to be picked up by the main search engine.

So what can you do? That’s where the YouTube Secret Weapon comes in. The YouTube Secret Weapon is a brand new project that will not only show you how to optimize your videos, but why optimization works the way it does. The end result is a list of highly ranked, notable videos sitting on top of good ol’ Mount Google. It’s an easy system to follow, completely cost effective, and most importantly, it works. Simply put, the YouTube Secret Weapon will help your video-powered masterpiece top the charts, without making your wallet sob uncontrollably.