For the first time, Verizon customers will be able to browse the guide by what others in their metropolitan area are viewing right now and what was most popular in the same time slot last week. Using an open standard widget, Verizon is also slowing rolling out a number of on-screen utilities that will let customers access news, weather, traffic and, thanks to the work of a lone Verizon employee, Facebook accounts. Verizon expects numerous third party companies to step in and develop new widgets based on the developers platform. At the same time, FiOS haqs agreed to carry six new niche high-definition channels, competing with Cablevision's Voom service. Los Angeles-based Entertainment Studios produced channels C ars.TV, Pets.TV, Comedy.TV, MyDestination.TV, ES.TV and Recipe.TV and they will be carried on FiOS later this year.