Giant RSS button

by Derek Anderson	Stumble this!	March 29th 2007

Comes straight from photoshopcandy.com

designed by Aaron Ovadia
Aaron Ovadia rss_feed_icon

Bzzster! bookmarks widget–Share your ‘Marks as you find them

by Derek Anderson	Stumble this!	March 28th 2007

Bzzster! rocks!
It was late when I got this in the mail…but I plan on writing this up proper…in the AM.
In the mean time…go get your self a Bzzster! widget.

Bzzster.com
Bzzster signup
Bzzster widget

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NY Times Crossword widget

by Derek Anderson	Stumble this!	March 28th 2007

Yes…you get to play right in the widget…at least in the “Not for MySpace” widget.

Where can I get it?

LabPixies.com/nytimes

NY Times Classic Crossword

Above you will find the MySpace version

Below you will find the full version.

Using JavaScript allows this widget to be playable right on the page where it’s located. Unfortunately this also limits your customization abilities. There are no size options or ability to add or change widget titles. There is a color border option…but you are limited to what LabPixies allows you to choose from.

LabPixies.com/nytimes

ToonDoo.com Comic Strip Creator

by Derek Anderson	Stumble this!	March 28th 2007

ToonDoo.com has a pretty cool Drag and Drop Comic Strip Creator.

ToonDoo is a cool, comic-creating tool from Jambav, a fun site for kids. Jambav is devoted to creating a unique array of free and customizable online games of educational value for children of all abilities.

You can now just drag-drop or click to create comic strips that express your views, opinions, angst or to just have fun, loads of it!

Where can I use it?
ToonDoo looks to be friendly for most platforms…including MySpace!

Do I have to sign up?
You do if you want to create a comic strip.
You don’t if you want to display comics created by others. (just have to find the embed codes)

I believe each comic strip comes with an RSS feed and Digg and del.icio.us submit links.

I like the slide…scroll effect! (I had to remove the widget…it doesn’t play well in my post area.)

(click to see image)

Please comment on this product…I’m interested in your opinions.

TechCrunch story about ToonDoo

Golf Now.tv– video widgets

by Derek Anderson	Stumble this!	March 27th 2007

Steal this!…Makes these very viral.

If you want a widget with very hot Keri Murphy talking about golf…grab one!

I would like to see GolfNow.tv become an advertiser on WidgetsLab.com

I am trying to find the widget below… but…so far, no luck.

SpotBack ratings widgets

by Derek Anderson	Stumble this!	March 26th 2007

SpotBack.com–Information is spotty at best (pun intended)

Beta testing right now…seems to be a widget for rating things…including posts.

Try them out if you can…both in this post are working widgets.

I will post more info when I find it…

Do great minds think alike?

by Derek Anderson	Stumble this!	March 26th 2007

Feed timing and comparisons.

TwitThis– adds Twitter effect to blogs

by Derek Anderson	Stumble this!	March 26th 2007

TwitThis.com is the location for the simple “TwitThis” widget.

What is it?
TwitThis is widget that allows your readers to tell the Twitter community that they are reading your blog at this very moment. It uses a type of Java bookmarklet that pops open a smaller window and asks you to log in to Twitter to “TwitThis”.

Why would I use it?
Twitter is very viral at this point and the web is all about catching on to the fast moving wave. In hopes of getting noticed. Say John Edwards happens to view your blog because of a search and he “TwitThis” about your blog. Thousands of people follow him on Twitter alone. These people would be exposed to your link because of “Twit This”.

How do I get this?
Simple…go to TwitThis.com
There is no sign up necessary. Just grab the code and go.

Observations
I think TwitThis should incorporate a per post link instead of just the entire site link. It’s good to get visitors to your site…but most people want to share specific content, not main links.
(there is a Word Press plugin but I haven’t tried it and…not everyone uses Word Press)

TwitThis needs to put some advertising on their page. Catch the wave dude!

Traitcloud– tag cloud for your traits

by Derek Anderson	Stumble this!	March 26th 2007

Traitcloud is an attractive widget that allows your profile viewers or blog readers to vote for your traits. If your most endearing trait is missing…your viewers can add it. (lets say Butt Head)

Where can I put it?
This is a MySpace friendly widget…for whatever thats worth anymore. If you can place it on MySpace …you should be able to use it anywhere…including TagWorld, Bebo and even Blogger. It’s Flash based which makes welcome just about everywhere.

Can I customize it?
Not through the traitcloud website. You may be able to edit the code though. I see options for different sizes in the code. But this sometimes doesn’t work well with rounded corners and background images.
Color choices are laid out in the code and are easy to understand. You’ll need a HTML color code that can be found at Visbone.com/colorlab

How do I get it?
Sign up requirements include a name, email address and trait. Not sure what the email address is needed for. Nothing is indicated as to whether you get notified of votes or added traits. Go to traitcloud.com to get your traitcloud

Mashable/Traitcloud covers more about the service. I’m just mainly interested in the widget and what can be done to modify it.

ScribeFire 1.4(previously Performancing for Firefox)

by Derek Anderson	Stumble this!	March 25th 2007

ScribeFire makes it so you can blog without having to leave the site that your information is located on.

ScribeFire (previously Performancing for Firefox) is a full-featured blog editor that integrates with your browser and lets you easily post to your blog.

ScribeFire (previously Performancing for Firefox) is a full-featured blog editor that integrates with your browser and lets you easily post to your blog. You can drag and drop formatted text from pages you are browsing, take notes, and post to your blog.

Version 1.4 changes:

* Rebranding of Performancing for Firefox as ScribeFire
* Improved support for Blogger accounts
* Improved file upload support
* Added support of the new Wordpress.com API

Get ScribeFire for Firefox
Visit ScribeFire.com

An excellent tool that keeps getting better.

Widgetbox v1.5 Released

by Derek Anderson	Stumble this!	March 25th 2007

This comes directly from WidgetBox.com/blog

Widgetbox.com released version 1.5 Friday night.

This release improves the ability of a widget to “go viral”. In particular:

* Get It Now. When someone sees a widget out in the wild, like on a blog or MySpace, they can get it right there, without going back to Widgetbox. New and existing widgets get this automatically — be they Flash or HTML/Ajax — and it works on every site, including MySpace.
* New places to install widgets. Most notably, no-code installs to Google homepage, Netvibes, Pageflakes, and “email this widget to a friend”.

In addition, there are hundreds of small features, usability improvements and perhaps an easter egg or two.

Enjoy!

WidgetBox is a simple solution for adding and changing widgets on your blog.

Snipperoo.com also offers a widget management tool and a large widget selection as well.

Help make censorship impossible

by Derek Anderson	Stumble this!	March 25th 2007

irrepressible.info is an Amnesty International campaign.

About this campaign:

The web is a great tool for sharing ideas and freedom of expression. However, efforts to try and control the Internet are growing. Internet repression is reported in countries like China, Vietnam, Tunisia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria. People are persecuted and imprisoned simply for criticising their government, calling for democracy and greater press freedom, or exposing human rights abuses, online.

But Internet repression is not just about governments. IT companies have helped build the systems that enable surveillance and censorship to take place. Yahoo! have supplied email users’ private data to the Chinese authorities, helping to facilitate cases of wrongful imprisonment. Microsoft and Google have both complied with government demands to actively censor Chinese users of their services.

Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right. It is one of the most precious of all rights. We should fight to protect it.

There are four widget sizes to choose from.
Each widget updates automatically with reportedly banned or repressed content. This is done using a JavaScript.

Here is the link to the actual widget page

powered by performancing firefox

Widgets delivery service

by Derek Anderson	Stumble this!	March 23rd 2007

iPod widget: TipKal allows you to quickly determine tip amounts and will also split the check up to five ways. You can install this using either a Mac or a PC.TipKal(from My Final Haven)

Allen Stern over at CenterNetworks caught and posted some news about SplashCast. Seems the SplashCast people have been doing some perfecting to an already fantastic Web 2.0 service.
Some updates include:

• Easy embed
• RSS feed for any channel
• sizing functionalities

Visit the CenterNetworks post for the whole scoop.

Supposedly this is the “Official Road Rules” voting widget. This allows you to vote for your favorite Pit Crew member without having to go to the MTV website. Oooh…shivers. Check it out at Road Rules Revenge

Yes! LC over at SexyWidget is finally taking a vacation. Not I can steal some of his readers!

Tim Trent shares his opinion on the AutoRoll widget. He says “Jury still out on Autoroll”

powered by performancing firefox

Yahoo! Widgets 4…Releases tomorrow

by Derek Anderson	Stumble this!	March 21st 2007

If you haven’t figured it out yet…I like widgets!

I usually favor web widgets, but this new Yahoo! 4 is too cool to ignore!
The Dock alone, is worth trying out this new version. But what really shakes things up is the new Yahoo! Flickr Widget. It gives you the ability to upload your images right to Flickr…without having to open a browser window or signing in every time. That Rocks!
Another awesome addition is the Yahoo! Gallery Widget. This absolutely must have widget allows you to browse the 1000’s of Yahoo! Widgets and when you find the one you want…add it with one click! (this will lead to widget overload)

In the semantic web of the impending future, widgets will facilitate the demise of the web browser as we know it.
(sentence of useless terminology to puff up my credentials)

Key New Features for:

Consumers

Widget Dock – (Right side of post)Is a brand new feature that provides a live at-a-glance view of Widgets.  Users can auto-hide the Dock and attach it to any side or corner of their monitor.

Dramatically improved performance – reduced memory consumption of individual Widgets by up to 40 percent.

New Widgets by Yahoo!:
Yahoo! introduces the Flickr Widget and the Yahoo! Gallery Widget.

Key New Features for:

Authors, Publishers, and Advertisers

Streamlined installation – smaller download and a new Widget-centric installation process makes it easier than ever for consumers to get the Widget they want and for authors to promote their own Widgets.

Improved authoring tools – new functionality and improved tools for Widget authors to build more powerful Widgets.  Featuring: Canvas object support, SQLite, DOM/View System improvements, new online documentation.

Automatic updates – notification via the Widget Dock when newer versions of the Widgets in use are available and ready for one-click upgrade.

Yahoo! Widget4 Blog

Yahoo!4 discussion on Tech Crunch

Askimet plug-in is a WordPress Hero

by Derek Anderson	Stumble this!	March 20th 2007

askimet.com

A picture is worth a thousand words!

Spammers are Bastards