Jaiku is better than Twitter. it got comments, it supports Channels via #channelname, it got Geoloc positioning (or manual), indicative gesture icons, IM bot, Search, Feed Importing and had better support in phones when it came out. and it also got Better Official Widgets and Badges.
I decided to post about Jaiku because there is a renovated interest in a Twitter competitor because of Twitter less than stellar performance and the fact that while Twitter got a ecosystem of third party apps. if the sources fails. everything fails. and the problem with Twitter is that it now fails more beause of the stress brought by API usage than anything else.
Jaiku don`t got any of those problems. their problem is called google and being neglected by it. but somehow the whole jaiku project may burst into life once again because it is said that there is no coincidence that the Android Logo and the Jaiku Logo share the same color and design and that Jaiku will serve as Android social network.
So better to be prepared than sorry right?.
With Jaiku you got two options: JS badges or Flash Widgets.
JS Badges
I.-Online/Offline indicator
II.-Single Status Message badge (from minimal to detailed)
They were the first Jaiku Widgets and now Widget Evolution makes them more of a badge now.
As part of the common Google Acquisition. Jaiku is now invite only and if you don`t got a Jaiku Account don`t worry. i got 10 Jaiku Invites so if you want one just leave a comment or write to me.
If you are already part of jaiku and have not revisited it i recommend you to do it. you can also Add me at http://AvatarX.jaiku.com or send me a message at my Jaiku channel in #Avatar.
" SFNewTech has announced the lineup for June 11th’s widget panel and demos that I will be moderating, and it’s a good one. No, a GREAT one. Some of the more cutting edge widgets, widget publishing tools, and widget platforms are represented."
He even commits the blasphemy to call it the best ever. he is just that giddy about it. so it must be somewhat good.
SoundsFlavor is a good example of the great work you can do when you recognize the good use of cataloguing, labeling and tagging and know they are not the same thing. that way they can find you waht you want without any complicated algorithm and produce great results.
They got a music matching and recommendation service that grabs bits from iLike, Last.FM and pandora while not being a copy of any of them and coming of as something apart.
You can search a song by the content in its lyrics, the decade it is from, the genre and even look for those songs that are free to grab while offering a common search engine for artists and bands.
They also got a widget, and the widget is a hoot. i like it. is simple, it works and it lets you find what you want directly from the widget. the widget can match your requests from the name of a song, to an artist and more and give you a matching playlist of things alike to your query and the song you want is served with a YouTube Video. all without leaving the widget and it also generates its quick install options from a gigya wildfyre powered high spread sharing panel.
I like it enough to put it here for anyone to try.
JS-Kit , known for their easy to integrate Script Widget Suite for Community Engagement will now get their Widgets into WorldNow CMS platform. WorldNow could be seen as the Blogger or Wordpress for Media company websites.
This represent a huge win to JS-Kit mindshare and a boost in validation for their hands off approach.
It also makes sense that a non Bloggging CMS platform like WorldNow liked JS-Kit and jumped to the deal. it is way easier to integrate JS-Kit Script Widgets into a Platform that spend time, efforts and resources on developing, testing and deploying their own In-House solutions given the nature of the Business they run.
When i briefly reviewed PicApp in April. I said that it was not a logical solution for Bloggers because there were some other options for them. i still believe that. however i do think that their last partnership to give support for b5media does makes sense and it is a big win for picapp. that may seem as contradictory but it is not.
The ones asking the support is the Blog Network high ups. and getting proper free to use stock photos for blogging is still a touchy subject that need a political correctness to handle any mention of it.
PicApp is the best way to deal with that because you then transfer any obligations or scrutiny to a third party.
So congrats to Picapp, they get a very needed boost and b5media gets a weight off its back. everybody wins.
Some of you may or may not know that Yahoo got a Lifecasting solution called Yahoo Live that competes with UStream and Justin.TV (to a degree), where you can create your own live webcam based chatroom.
Yahoo Live is more akin to PalTalk in the way it is laid out. the novelty in the service is that it is using Flex to power the service. that makes it a little experimental but easy to manage if you got good RAM in your computer because it is quite heavy to load and it gets heavier as time passes if you maintain the channel open all day.
Ming from stickiwidgets did some simple Google Gadgets for Yahoo Live. yeah, using Google to make a gadget from a Yahoo service.. i find that quite ironic and even sarcastic based on the recent developments
So if you want a way to let your readers know when your channel is live and you follow the lifecasting crowd it is a good fit.
No more searching for movie trailers–Video Detective delivers!
VideoDetective.com has created an easy to use Widgetbox.com JavaScript widget that delivers movie trailers for current DVD releases, movies in theaters now and upcoming movies.
The widget allows you to watch the trailers without leaving the site you are on. Each trailer loads fast and seems to play without interruption. (depends on connection) You can easily navigate through the three different categories and each trailer has a small pop-up title. There is also a search function built in that delivers trailers for movies that aren’t in the main categories.
Widgetbox says:
“If you love movies as much as the the folks at Widgetbox do, we think that you’ll enjoy this new Video Detective widget.
The Widget is interactive and features high quality movie clips and previews… directly in the widget! So if you’re excited to see the new Mike Meyers movie (’The Love Guru’) or the upcoming Adam Sandler movie (’You Don’t Mess With The Zohan’) – you’ll love the Video Detective widget. And don’t worry – if Adam Sandler isn’t your favorite, there are over 200,000 other movie clips from movies currently in theaters, releasing soon and on DVD (or Blu-Ray for that matter!).
We are also excited about the Video Detective widget because we know that many of our widget publishers and bloggers are huge movie buffs and avid celebrity fans. If you fall into that bucket, this widget can add dynamic, relevant and fun content to your site… so go grab it! “
Hard to find:
I expected to find links to ticket sales for movies currently in theaters and “buy it now” links for movies in DVD release. Perhaps this will be a consideration in future editions of this widget.
Expecting parents can easily track the growth progress of their baby
babyzone.com has created a widget that allows you to track the growth of your unborn babies and also babies that have arrived. The widget also includes a button that links to detailed information about every specific stage of your baby’s development. Also included are tips on improving yours and the baby’s experience.
babyzone appears to be a great resource
some details:
The web version of this widget uses Flash programing. This is great because most blogs and customizable social pages allow embeds that use Flash.
babyzone.com indicates that there is a desktop version of this widget but they require you to sign up with email and a password just to get the widget.
babyzone.com says:
“Add this widget to get weekly, personalized pregnancy and baby updates delivered straight to your desktop or favorite webpage! Your Growing Baby Widget tracks the growth of your baby or baby-to-be with the most relevant—and fun!—information from BabyZone.com pertaining to your stage of pregnancy or parenthood. Plus, you can add this tool to your own webpage, blog, MySpace or Facebook profiles, Google homepage, and many other places on- and offline. Click on the “Get This Widget” button now to grab it.”
“Need some family fun ideas? Check out the Kaboose Crafts Finder widget, and you’ll never be stuck for kid-friendly craft ideas again. Put this widget on your desktop, favorite webpage, or blog. Click on the “Get This Widget” button to get started.”
“Don’t know what you’re cooking for dinner tonight? We’ve got recipes! Family meal ideas are easy with the Recipe Finder widget. Put this widget on your desktop, favorite webpage, or blog. Click on the “Get This Widget” button to get started.”
Facebook is already some years old but the anniversary of the “true” facebook all got to know first was the one it turned into when they launched their Facebook Application Platform that changes Social Networks and even changed some of the original plans Google had and formed part of the reason why the Yahoo brand stumbled into a hole, a minor role into that but they helped.
Facebook Platform turns one year old
The single reason Facebook managed to get where they are it was because of the hype and the mindshare they made when they launched the FBAP.
One year later and the reason they rose to the heights is exactly the reason why they stopped ascending. Facebook apps and widget-apps for that matter became something even worse than the bling cluttered MySpace pages from 2006-2007. they turned into Spam and bad bacon. myspace pages and bling were and are a threat to good taste, but they don´t spam you, do they?.
and then Facebook profiles turned into bling and trivial app cluttered ridden unsustainable garbage because all of us got good friends who simply don´t give a damn about looks or good taste. do we unfriend them?. no because they are our friends in real life and unfriend them is not a question. things are worse when your own family members are part of facebook and the offenders of such crimes. interesting how even a walled garden like facebook got into that problem.
Facebook Changes Look
Facebook got older and wiser and like in life, when you reach to certain age, you decide to experiment and have a makeover. change after all good right?.
It is but, there will be always someone hurt and someone to gain from that change. in this case the ones that get hurt are the App makers. they made facebook and now Facebook is turning the back on them?
partly true, but it is for the greater good. i welcome facebook changes. i got 3 facebook accounts from where i experiment in the platform. i can tell you that i got one profile that is placed as if i were a average user and it is a mess so bad that i cannot even look at it. and that is also because of the people i have friended in it, my most conservative profile account. the one i actually link to is more clean and is still a little redundant and i can take myself to try apps in it because of the clutter.
That is why that while app makers may suffer from now , the answer to their woes could be around the corner. this change of look is about to give Facebook users a chance to split their attention and also manage their profiles better.
I see it as taking the knifes away from the table from a 7 year old. the kid knows the knife is dangerous but the kid still likes to take the risk and play with the knife. taking it away is the only way to assure that even if he gets hurts in other way later, he will not be able to cut himself and then call you upon to it.
Facebook Goes Open Source
While there a plenty ways of interpret this i think it not only a response to Open Social and all the other Social Network platform but the path to get Facebook ready for whatever integration or spin off we may see from Facebook acquired Parakey.
Another thing i have noted from the new Facebook design is the emphasis on facebook turning into THE lifestream solution and that the tabbed profile model resembles very well what netvibes has been turning to: a social starpage. Facebook is gearing to be various things with this change:
Facebook=
The Social Network
The Social Search
The Social Startpage
And maybe even a Social Graph integrated user generated Web Services provider and platform that will extend to the common web without data having to be bridged out to leave facebook. this is what they would need to become so Facebook could become a multithreaded company like Google and may be the reason why they have recruited so many Google and many Mozilla supporters as their workforce.
I maybe be going to stretch with the last thing. but the first 3 things. those are things i know that should be a given.
Facebook Future
I agree with Nick O´Neill. it is hard to predict the future of a company like facebook but that is because unlike other companies they got many options and roads they could go with. and that is exactly what makes it so interesting to follow.
After talking about enterprise mashlets yesterday, i though it would be good to show one for the consumer side. and StickiWidgets got just what i needed to make my point across.
While it is a prototype and all, it is actually better than many pro widgets i have seen. so for being a mashlet (mashup widget) it is truly good. as its tagline implies (job search made easy) it goes even further to make job search a walk in the park by combining 3 job listing services:
Searches are run against each of the services and the results are displayed in the widget.
Click on a job title to view a summary of the position. For more details from the source site, click on the “more details” button and a new page will open with the complete listing.
Whenever someone grabs the widget for themselves they will have the opportunity to set the size and default search criteria for their widget”
The best of this widget is that it got the updated clearspring launchpad too. so it got the best customizable High Spread Sharing i have seen so far. 27 services. this breaks SimplyHired Springwidgets record in pieces. the only major omission i can see in the new clearspring launch pad is Bebo. all the other relevant social networks and blog platforms got their quick install link within the widget.
Another high point is that while it don´t got the looks it works and does the job better than any other job search widget so far. a proof of how mashups and Widget Developing Platforms have changed the face of widgets this 2008.
For more on the widget and the widget itself. go visit our friend Ming at stickiwidgets:
Did you knew that Nvidia got a widget?. me neither but i found earlier today and it is quite understandable it exists. it got do with proper nvidia driver download marketing. why is that?. because after a study about XP gaming usage and Vista Usage, it was found that Nvida had to do with faulty intallations and faulty OS configurations more that any other thing ever. that is truly no good.
How do they have been fixing such a blow to their PR and Brand image?. with a change of politics, goals, and some spin off marketing to compensate that. they now have voucehd to be the first to get full dirvers for Windows 7 so the issues with Vista don´t repeat themselves and they get to carry the blame. also because they may acquire VIA and they need to have a stable and better brand if they want to make such a deal.
A little point in that new marketing and Pr strategy s a Nvidia widget, perfect for IT, PC, Gamer and even vista related blogs. a Widget to promote Nvidia drivers..
The widgets come in two forms and are Script widget so they aim for your sidebar. i wish there were a widget for ALL kind of Drivers, that would be really a time saver. so good idea nvidia.
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