Powered by Yahoo! - Just as I resist the iPod bandwagon, so I eschew the google-ization of everyday life. Instead, Yahoo is my lifestyle partner. I always liked them as a search engine, and starting years ago I picked them as my free webmail portal. Later I added Yahoo! Address Book and Yahoo! Calendar. I feel it really paid off as all of these things are accessible via WAP, even in color, on my mobile phone. (If I don't have someone's number in my phonebook, I can quickly zip online and retrieve it.) Yahoo! Mobile even keeps track of my local weather, favorite sports teams, movie theater preferences, maps and driving directions. And recent acquisitions make it plain that Yahoo intends to continue the trend of tying itself to every aspect of my busy life as a tech-savvy, on-the-go urban professional.

[Regardless of who you use, at least it's nice to see both companies getting out ahead of the Evil Empire from Redmond. See what competition can do for you?]

Update: Google Desktop users, eat your hearts out, because the WaPo reports Yahoo is releasing its own software to search the contents of your local machine. It's reportedly faster than Google and can access the contents of mp3s and PDF files, which Google can't. But one concern may slow adoption of this powerful technology: As the Post puts it, "people are afraid that their privacy will be breached if others sit down at their computers and can easily and quickly locate and transfer confidential or sensitive information of all kinds." But Ben, we don't fear full disclosure of our archives. Or do we?