Posts Tagged ‘Lifecasting’

Plurk Timeline Widget for Blogs and MySpace

October 20th, 2008

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A new, not so new Plurk Widget. this time is the Flash based Plurk Timeline Widget. as all may or may not know Plurk is a Nanoblogging Social Messaging service like Twitter and Jaiku. but it shares more things from Jaiku. Plurk UI is Timeline based and it got many Quirks and Features specific to it.

It now even has two desktop apps doing the rounds in Beta, one in Private beta and the other in Open Beta if you don`t want the Timeline UI. you can also get other official Plurk Widget that is JavaScript based and that i have talked about before.

This is now the turn for the Plurk Timeline Widget.

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The Widget is very simple. it is flash based, it depicts a mini version of Plurk showing your last posted plurk notes and the last plurks from some of your plurk contacts too and it also carries a quick invite link to plurk if you decide to go join and follow the widget owner. in this case that would be me.

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And once you have set the size( i choose 300px.). you are presented with only two choices. Myspace or grabbing the code and paste it yourself wherever you want it. weird because they previously offered a Gigya Wildfire High Spread Sharing module. so, i wonder why they dropped it from the options. so if you don`t use Myspace, you can then grab your code. drop it and it will look like this one here:

 

I like the Widget. it is ok and it got a novelty approach in how it “replicates”  plurk most notable differentiator. but it really needs to add Customization for Height, Colors and skinning so it can be compelling enough as a representation of Plurk. and also bring back High Spread Sharing. one single supported Quick Install service and the embed code does not cut it anymore.

 Plurk

Plurk Timeline Widget

Ustream: now with overlay ad banner

June 25th, 2008

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Not content to be left out of the possible money to be made in Online Video Advertising. Ustream. the biggest video Lifecasting provider will now “try” (more like adopt from the top) Overlay advertisements with some of the most notorious or  popular users in the service. pretty much the same that YouTube has been doing and what other are going to do in this space.

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And calling them proper overlay ads would be wrong. they are going mix with the “live comment track” in the player and if you hover the advertisement in the video you will get another front overlay with offering. i have seen the ads already and while the execution is a no brainer. they got several problems to me:

  • 1.-They are ugly.
  • 2.-They are not truly translucent
  • 3.-They have not been well thought out.

These are not even on the level of youtube overlay banners. but the good news is that they got a good company behind the ads. YuMe. the same that will be providing help to Microsoft. so they should do fine. at the pace online video advertising is pushing i would say we should expect overlay ads in some capacity or execution on pretty much all mayor online video providers by the end of the year.

USTREAM

Yahoo Live Channel Guide Google Gadgets

May 30th, 2008

2008-05-27_0536                       

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.

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Yahoo Live Channel Guide iGoogle Gadget

Yahoo Live Channel Guide Web Gadget 

Yahoo Live Facebook Widget-app

you can see it live at Stickiwidgets

Profilactic Social Aggregator Badge and Lifestreaming Widget

April 17th, 2008

Copia de Profilacticcom - smorty71's mashup

I have been talking a lot about Lifestreaming, Lifecasting and Social Awareness Widgets lately and it is not because i want to give Mark Krynsky some competition, i am not, he is doing a great job already. it is simply because there is a lot of buzz on that niche right now. and of that buzz, there are Widgets news to cover.

And in the middle of all that buzz and hype, i always regret not having covered pioneer Startups first before getting to cover what is predating them.

One of those cases is Profilactic. they are pretty much the main Social Aggregator Profile Network and one of the First Lifestream and Lifecasting Solutions made easy. they Aggregate 173+ services and you can customize your own services to be aggregated into, do web clippings (limited) and keep up with the update rate you and your friends have online.

It is pretty much THE Social Aggregator Network Profile in terms that you can put all your information in there.

They have been around for some time now, so how it is that most have not heard of them?

Profilacticcom - smorty71's mashup

Well, that is another matter that i find very very understandable, given the uninspired design, the over complicated way to sort features, the bad logo that makes me think of Rocketeer and Cadillacs  without forgetting  the terrible name.

I would explain that further, but this is not the right blog to do so, i will profile them later in one of the new blogs i am cooking up.

Now, don`t get confused by what i said, i am not saying i don`t like their service, in terms of what they do, they do more than any other service and provide simple way do grab a badge so you can extend what they are doing for you to your Blog or Site.

You can make a Online Awareness badge so people know where to find you online:

httpwwwsmorty71com                       

     And you can also make a badge with your Online Lifestream and take it with you.                   

httpwwwsmorty71com2

While i think that Profilactic have done great by making very easy for users to have their Badge and Widget. they should consider offering customization so you can have it on different forms and factors.

Offering versions of their Badge and Widget done in Flash or Silverlight would also be a win, Get High Spread so they can be easily installable, etc. and on very personal opinion replace their button with something that can actually be read and look decent.

Obviating the Branding, Organizational and Design wise mess Profilactic got in their hands. they are still the best solution if you are a power user that got a very active Online Life and Online Presence, at least up to now. but they still got time to make it work right and gain mindshare before their new competitors can Out pace them.

Profilactic

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