Archive for July, 2009

Polldaddy at the top, now getting into ratings

July 12th, 2009

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A year ago, Polldaddy widgets were already a big deal and that is why they got acquired by Automattic. Now they look to be at the top of the game when it comes to Polls and Widget Polls:

PollDaddy has just released some of its latest stats, and they don’t fail to impress: the company is now serving 430 million poll impressions per month, with a reach of over 74 million people worldwide, giving it a Quantcast rank equivalent as the 22nd most visited online service in the world.

I do have to admit that before Polldaddy came to be all the way back in  2006. Poll widgets were boring and not really well done since they were kinda ugly and not asynchronous (caused extra page loads)

So i think it is well deserved for them to be at the top spot. enough for them to be going into JS-KIT territory with Rating Widgets. that will be a interesting thing to see since according to Techcrunch they even plan to integrate that data to their Polldaddy Answers site. Something that could also mean a new kind of sub-site can emerge from that too. Techcrunch talks about a Digg competitor but i don’t see how they could manage a social news site or how Matt would want that. If he were to enter that space i think it would be more logical for him to build a social blog directory for WordPress powered blogs first since social news site are very tricky to manage. I am seeing them more probable to step into RateItAll territory with consumer review ratings. so maybe it is time for Lawrence Coburn to keep alert on that possibility.

Polldaddy

via Techcrunch

Math and Science Opera Widgets

July 12th, 2009

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Looks like Don Reisinger  at CNET does love the Opera Browser and since he got another post on Opera Widgets, i think it would be a disservice to not highlight it too.

Before, it was about 10 Great Opera Widgets. Now it is about Math and Science Opera Widgets.

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From astronomy to math equations.  7 widgets worth a look for those using Opera Browser.

Opera widgets for the math and science whiz

Metaplace Widget: Blog Embeddable Virtual Word

July 12th, 2009

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Metaplace is a MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) which closest references would be Runescape, Second Life and The Sims. it would say it is like a mixture of those based on the dynamics of it. i am not even comfortable saying it is a MMORPG but for the sake of reference just go with my description above.

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Having said that i find it suitable for kids, tweens and maybe some a small slice of teenagers would find it attractive. but you never know. proof of that can be seen in The Sims that was targeted for those sectors originally but expanded well beyond them to the surprise of its publisher.

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Talking directly about the widget, things change because it becomes a nice 3d chat widget when used from that perspective. mostly a novelty but a good option to check out.

Don Reisinger over at CNET got a nice and quick overview about it in overall

Metaplace virtual worlds now blog-embeddable

Metaplace

Sungale ID800WT Widget Enabled Digital Photo Frame

July 12th, 2009

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Because Chumby is not the only company chasing to give you Widgets in a convenient factor. Sungale is up to that task and since Chumby has not materialized getting into TV’s or Digital Photo Frames yet, then it is a good opportunity to take for other companies while they still can to arrive early enough to the game. That is where Sungale and ID800WT Digital Photo Frame gets in.

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I seriously think that having one of these is the way of the future since it not only a digital appliance  but also a piece of furniture to a degree. with one of these you replace common radios, weather, note boards,  alarm clocks and of course photo frames among other things in a single device.

Here are the details of the Sungale ID800WT:

Functions

Youtube:
Top ten Youtube programs for your entertainment

RSS news:
Google &Yahoo

IP Radio:
Thousands of stations for your selection

Picasa:
View and download your photos

Stock:
Real-time stock quotes and market news

Gmail:
Watch your email without a PC

Weather:
Real time weather report in your area

Video:
AVI

Music:
WMA / MP3 Convertible

Photo:
JPG, TIF, PNG, BMP

Calendar:
Digital Calendar

Clock:
Analogue Clock display

Touch Screen:
Touch screen to do your operation

Features

  • Auto link to your home wireless router,
  • auto configurationView and download your photos on internet
  • Listen thousands of IP Radio stations on the global
  • Input Zip code to find real time weather report in your area
  • RSS to view your favorite and personal YouTube
  • Real time stock quotes and market news
  • Top ten YouTube programs for your entertainment
  • Display Google news and Yahoo news
  • Gmail watchable
  • Touch screen make you enjoy your operation
  • Digital Calendar
  • analogue clock display
  • USB Slave for PC to manage your files
  • 8” hi-resolution LCD screen/Slide show/video/music

Specifications:

Display type:
TFT LCD

Screen dimension:
8 inch (4:3)

Resolution:
800RGBx600pixels

Brightness:
500:1

Contrast:
250 cd/m2

Photo file formats:
JPG, TIF, PNG, BMP

Music file formats:
WMA / MP3 Convertable

Video file formats:
AVI

USB connection:
USB Host and USB device?

Cards:
SD/MMC/MS/XD/CF

Power supply:
AC 100—-240V DC 5V 2A

So it got lot of stuff and seems fairly capable. the only thing i don’t like is the price. in my opinion these kind of things should never go over the 100 dollars line and these will set you back 165 bucks. that is 35 bucks less than the chumb. But the chumby got a better widget platform and it is even more capable than this one  since it can even run jajah or  quake!. but if you cannot wait for the Chumby to get really portable, cheaper or for it to become a  actual frame. This is the best option i have seen so far.

You can read a hands on of the Sungale ID800WT with unfinished firmware at Zatz Not Funny so you can form a better opinion of it, if interested.

Sungale ID800WT

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