download google widgets

Download - No Smoking 2.0

2008-10-09T17:49:00.015-07:00

No Smoking 2.0
Provides some motivation to help you stop smoking.

About No Smoking
This is a very simple widget that gives you a count of the number of days that it’s been since you’ve stopped smoking. You enter the date that you last had a cigarette and it displays the number of days that have passed since then on top of a No Smoking sign.

Optionally you can now enter how much you typically spend per day and it will display how much money you have saved as well.

Widgets - WiiDiva Wii Strap Blinds You With Sassy, Bedazzled Luxury [Sassy]

2008-10-09T17:49:00.013-07:00

Boss: You know what the Wii needs? A sassy-injection. Our market research suggests that divas are the most overlooked demographic when it comes to gaming. I believe we can fill that void. So, I am... Read More

Dashboard - Nintendo DSi Will Come Loaded With Extra RAM [Nintendo DSi]

2008-10-09T17:49:00.011-07:00

Nintendo's DSi will be loaded with more RAM than the DS Lite, according to Opera CEO Jon von Tezchner. In an interview with TechTree, the man responsible for web surfing on Nintendo's handheld said... Read More

Dashboard - No Smoking 2.0

2008-10-09T17:49:00.009-07:00

Provides some motivation to help you stop smoking.

Widgets - Cool show, Cool Widget!

2008-10-09T17:49:00.007-07:00

Cool show, Cool Widget!
If you haven't taken a look at the show "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia", now is the time. This show is awesome in the way that "The Office" is awesome. It's a brilliant comedy about four friends who own a bar who almost universally approach every problem with the wrong solution. If I had only one word to describe the show, it would have to be "Great!"

The widget is perfectly sized for a blog post, or placement on a Myspace profile and has tons of show related content and links.

Click the options to share this now, it's a live widget!

BIG Interactive and FX Networks created a SpringWidget to help promote the show.

Like the show, the widget is great as well. There are video clips to watch, Sunny tour dates, show information and links to the polls, website and Sunny Blog and even a sneak peak video.

I had never watched this show before seeing the widget, but the widget provided me with enough video and information about the show to let me know that I had to go out and buy the first season DVD set. I didn't realize until after I was at home watching one of the episodes that a "widget" had convinced me to buy the show. I had not even visit the website before I made the purchase.

The best part of the Sunny widget is that the developers at BIG Interactive really took advantage of our platform, building in some features that are only available when the widget is downloaded. So while the online widget is cool, only users who grab it as a download get the full experience.

Download the desktop widget and you get a second widget hidden in the right click menu made to look like the star characters. This second widget is not available online.

You can click and drag the widget by the characters "head" and some pretty neat physics take place, they wiggle and bounce off the side of your monitor. when the character stops, some pretty hilarious video clips start to play.

If you are reading this on a Thursday for the next few months, including This Thursday (tonight) the show should be airing on your local FX network. Take my word for it, it's worth watching.

-Don

p.s. You can find out more about BIG Interactive here and more about FX Networks here

Widgets - Shiver Me Timbers!

2008-10-09T17:49:00.005-07:00

Shiver Me Timbers!
For the fans of Captain Jack!...

A SpringWidgets Pirates of the Caribbean countdown clock to put on your profile or blog!

Those of you who have seen my MySpace profile and noticed the skull and crossbones that I use as my profile picture, you have probably figured out that I'm a big fan of pirates.

So much so that I figured that we just had to create a countdown to what will probably be, in my opinion, the biggest movie of the year . . . Pirates of the Caribbean!

Being somewhat piratical ourselves, the team can really relate to the need for blue ocean waters, treasure and wearing silly three cornered pointy hats.

By the way . . . take a look at the bottom of the widget...

Fans of our widgets will notice that the "pop" button has moved from the upper right to the lower left of the widget and it now has a couple of friends, an "options" button and a SpringWidgets logo.

Don't worry, the Pop button will still give you one click downloading of the widget to your desktop if you have the SpringWidgets application installed . . . we just moved it so that it would look better on some of the odd shaped widgets that we are seeing in the gallery.

If you take a moment and click on the options button, you can see that we have added in a few, well... "Options" to the widget. You can now copy the code directly in the widget, download the widget from the menu, jump to the customize/share it page and learn more about the widget you are looking at.

I hope that you like the changes and find that the added functionality enhances your widget experience. If you like the widget and have a moment, stop by our community page and send a note to the team letting them know.

I'm going to go dress up like a pirate now and try and find some buried treasure.

-Don

Download - We hit a million . . . and counting . . .

2008-10-09T17:49:00.003-07:00

We hit a million . . . and counting . . .
We just had to share . . . SpringWidgets has had over One Million widgets viewed on webpages in less than a month - YEAH!!!! - and we're trending upward daily.

While that may not seem like a lot to some and is certainly a relative number depending upon your comparison group - we're are definitely pleased. It means you're enjoying the widgets, pasting them to your pages and others are enjoying your modifications by doing the same.

Don't forget to check out the widget gallery from time to time . . . we have a new Christmas Tree widget loaded and will be launching a Simply Hired widget very soon!

(Maybe we can make Two Million before Christmas!!!! That would be cool! Keep embedding and spreading!)

Download - SimplyHired "job search" widget launched Monday

2008-10-09T17:49:00.001-07:00

SimplyHired released a widget on SpringWidgets this Monday (2/5/07) - a SimplyHired "job search" widget!!!!! More will be announced "officially", but wanted everyone that might drop by the blog to know they should go grab the widget and put it on their page or pop it into the desktop launchpad.

http://springwidgets.com/simplyhired

Get this widget!

Widgets - Critical Bug Fixed: "'mt_pluginmanager' doesn't exist"

2008-10-09T17:48:00.003-07:00

It took me far too long to track down a simple error a number of people were reporting with Plugin Manager, but I did track it down, and did finally manage to fix it. Long story short, the deployment mechanism... Read More

Download - Get Media Manager

2008-10-09T17:48:00.001-07:00

Media Manager is a free Movable Type plugin designed specifically for Movable Type 3.2 and above. Download Media Manager now!... Read More

Widgets - No Smoking 2.0

2008-10-07T17:10:00.019-07:00

No Smoking 2.0
Provides some motivation to help you stop smoking.

Widgets - Feed Compare Feedburner subscriber graphs

2008-10-07T17:10:00.017-07:00

Feed Compare Feedburner subscriber graphs

A large number of blogs and other sites now use Feedburner as it has a number of great Pro freatures and Feedburner also allows you to transfer feed ownership between users. Whilst you can see your stats in Feedburner the graphs are not that great and you can compare them.

There is a site called Feed Compare that allows you to view the RSS subscriber data for up to 4 feeds on a single graph. This means you could compare your competitors RSS subscriber count with your own feed.

To allow you to get a better idea of subscriber numbers you can also view a graph showing data for the last month, quarter, half year, year or 2 years assuming the feed has been in existence for that long.

The reason this is such a great tool is that you can now find out exactly how a sites RSS feed has grown over time. All you need is the sites Feedburner URL which you can get by right clicking on the sites RSS feed icon and copying the URL than pasting it into Feed Compare.

This post is from the Newsniche website and should not be reproduced elsewhere. Why not subscribe to the RSS feed and get this information delivered straight to your News reader.

Widgets - AirG: The Wii Guitar that Fits in Your Palm [Wiimote]

2008-10-07T17:10:00.015-07:00

AirG: The Wii Guitar that Fits in Your Palm [Wiimote]
While games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero require huge peripherals to play, the AirG for the upcoming Wii title PopStar Guitar fits in your hand. Just slip the Wiimote into the AirG case and you can...

Widgets - Nasa's Messenger Sends First Full Fly-By Image of Mercury [Space]

2008-10-07T17:10:00.013-07:00

Yesterday at 4:40AM east time, Nasa's Messenger (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging spacecraft) flew by just 125 miles over the surface of Mercury, the closest planet to the... Read More

Download - Social Trends for September

2008-10-07T17:10:00.011-07:00

Social Trends for September
Here are the trends for September. The first graph shows the evolution of the ranking for the top 10 social bookmarking services. We can clearly see the sudden rise of Facebook to the 4th position in September. Another interesting path is the one traced by Live, who was initially in the 6th position, was pushed [...]

Here are the trends for September. The first graph shows the evolution of the ranking for the top 10 social bookmarking services. We can clearly see the sudden rise of Facebook to the 4th position in September. Another interesting path is the one traced by Live, who was initially in the 6th position, was pushed down to the 8th position by Reddit and StumbleUpon in April, and then went back up all the way to the 4th position in July pushing down Digg and MyWeb.

As expect, September’s mover is Facebook, going from 5% in August to 7.1% in September. Delicious however lost a little bit of traction. Favorites (browser bookmarking) have also increased, but this is mostly due to the fact that Favorites are now also included in the drop-down widget.

Google Reader continues to grow and lead the feed reader market (up 1.4%) while MyYahoo and Bloglines are standing still. The mover for September is Live, which moved up 2%.

To see more trends, click here.

Top Social Bookmarking/Sharing - Ranking Over Time

Top Social Bookmarking/Sharing - September 2007

Top Feed Readers - September 2007

Dashboard - Production Paradise Search Widget 1.1.3

2008-10-07T17:10:00.009-07:00

Production Paradise Search Widget 1.1.3
With the Production Paradise Widget the world’s finest visual media professionals are at your fingertips.

About Production Paradise Search Widget
With the Production Paradise Widget the world’s finest visual media professionals are at your fingertips.

Widgets - Google Maps Terrain Downloader 4.81

2008-10-07T17:10:00.007-07:00

Google Maps Terrain Downloader 4.81
A tool that help you to get small tile terrain map images from Google Maps A tool that help you to get small tile terrain map images from Google Maps (read more)

Widgets - WiredDeals

2008-10-07T17:10:00.005-07:00

WiredDeals
Keep track of tons of daily deals from FatWallet.com and SlickDeals.net!!! This simple Widget lists top deals as rated by the deal aggregator WiredDeals.com Current version lets you configure: Number of deals to display Forum (All, Hot Deals, Finance, Free Stuff, etc) Deal age limit (deals posted in last 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours, etc) Deals update frequency Widget appearance (colors) Widget width Numbers before the deal title are current deal rating and 2-hour rating increase.

Dashboard - Reviewing an Item in Your Queue

2008-10-07T17:10:00.003-07:00

Reviewing an Item in Your Queue
Media Manager provides the ability to review any item on your queue. Creating a review automatically creates a post and associates it with an item. When create a review post in your weblog, Media Manager inserts a simple "Media...

Download - Sizzling Classic 45s 0.5

2008-10-07T17:10:00.001-07:00

This widget lets our Mac customers stays current with the daily changes in our inventory of classic 45 rpm records.

About Sizzling Classic 45s
Each 45 published in the widget includes the artist, title and label, as well as the year of issue. It also shows the record condition and price. For many of our new records, the widget displays a detailed description and commentary on the music, as well as a scan of the record label or picture sleeve.

Click on the song title to see the detail info, and click “Return To List” to see the full list of the latest 30 or so records. To visit Classic 45s, click on the song title when viewing the detailed info.

Dashboard - SpringWidgets loves iGoogle

2008-10-02T20:13:00.009-07:00

There is a lot of press today on Google Homepages... oops... I mean "iGoogle"

Since we at SpringWidgets are really big fans of Google and everything they do. I thought this would be a great time to officially say how much we love the iGoogle page by letting everyone know that we have recently added in support for automatic posting of all SpringWidgets into your personalized iGoogle page!

Just choose the widget you are interested in, configure it however you like it to look and function and then select the Google icon in the share it box.

The whole process takes only a few seconds and is one of the easiest ways to put one of our widgets on a page that we have available. Way to go Google!

With all the recent focus on widgets, it's not surprising that everyone is building a widget destination of some sort. We at SpringWidgets will continue to build support for each new destination as APIs become available and look forward to helping enable 2007 truly being the year of the widget.

Here is my iGoogle page. Complete with today's MLB games and a countdown to the next episode of NBC's Heroes!
Read More

Widgets - Access Manager for Windows 8.01

2008-10-02T20:13:00.007-07:00

Password protect your PC & Restrict access to to key features of Windows Password protect your PC & Restrict access to to key features of Windows (read more) Read More

Download - Nintendo DSi Not Coming To US Until 'Well Into' 2009 [Nintendo DSi]

2008-10-02T20:13:00.005-07:00

Nintendo DSi Not Coming To US Until 'Well Into' 2009 [Nintendo DSi]
digg_skin = 'compact'; digg_bgcolor = '#f1f8fa'; digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo/Nintendo_DSI_Not_Coming_To_US_Until_2009'; Here at the Ninendo Media Summit in San Francisco, NOA President...

Dashboard - How to display your RSS subscriber count

2008-10-02T20:13:00.003-07:00

How to display your RSS subscriber count

You've all seen the little FeedBurner subscriber counters on sites that display a site or more often a blogs number of RSS subscribers. Whilst this is a nice widget to display on your site there isn't much in the way of customizing to display something different.

Plaint text subscriber count

There is a way to display the number of readers you have for your feed by using FeedBurners API. This means you can display your subscriber count within some text, for example as part of a blog post. You could also have a separate message somewhere on you site saying X number of readers subscribe to this site.

You can use the PHP code below. You need to have PHP5 otherwise the SimpleXMLElement command will not work.

//get cool feedburner count
$whaturl="http://api.feedburner.com/awareness/1.0/GetFeedData?uri=YourFeedburnerFeedLinkHere";

//Initialize the Curl session
$ch = curl_init();

//Set curl to return the data instead of printing it to the browser.
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
//Set the URL
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $whaturl);
//Execute the fetch
$data = curl_exec($ch);
//Close the connection
curl_close($ch);

$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($data);
$fb = $xml->feed->entry['circulation'];

//end get cool feedburner count
?>

The next line of PHP needs to be located where you want the subscriber count number to appear. This code needs to occur after the code above for it to work.

I borrowed this code from Mark over at 45n5 so thanks Mark.

This post is from the Newsniche website and should not be reproduced elsewhere. Why not subscribe to the RSS feed and get this information delivered straight to your News reader.

Widgets - Currency Converter 0.9.8

2008-10-02T20:13:00.001-07:00

Currency Converter 0.9.8
Easily calculate currency conversions between more than 200 world currencies (almost every traded currency in the world), including all the old legacy European currencies.

About CurrencyConverter
Easily calculate currency conversions between more than 190 world currencies, plus all the old legacy European currencies, some world legacy currencies and even unrecognized currencies and virtual currencies (like the Linden Dollar from Second Life).

- Automatically updated exchange rates
- Support for almost all the traded currencies of the world
- Support the old legacy european currencies (like Italian lira, Deutsch mark, French francs)
- Support multi currencies conversions (you can add all the currencies you want to the conversion table)
- Support inverse conversion (just type an * before the value to convert to enter the inverse mode)
- Support math expression evaluation: just enter a simple math expression and the result will be converted
- Support multiple widget instances, so that you can keep open more than a conversion table, each with a set of preferred currencies
- You can choose the desired decimal precision, from one to five decimals
- You can choose your preferred interface theme
- The widget displays the currencies signs and the country flag
- Added support to the computation of the exchange taxes
- Localized in English, Italian, Portuguese, German, French, Dutch, Spanish, Swedish, Russian, Greek, Serbian, Polish, Traditional Chinese and Japanese (all the currency names are localized, too).

Widgets - His Compass Bible Search

2008-10-02T20:12:00.009-07:00

This Widget allows you to search the Bible using His Compass Bible Search from His Compass Ministry Read More

Download - Access Manager for Windows 8.01

2008-10-02T20:12:00.007-07:00

Access Manager for Windows 8.01
Password protect your PC & Restrict access to to key features of Windows Password protect your PC & Restrict access to to key features of Windows (read more)

Dashboard - TextCatch 2.6.4.1

2008-10-02T20:12:00.005-07:00

A powerful windows TEXT capture program with many features and options A powerful windows TEXT capture program with many features and options (read more) Read More

Download - Access Manager for Windows 8.01

2008-10-02T20:12:00.003-07:00

Access Manager for Windows 8.01
Password protect your PC & Restrict access to to key features of Windows Password protect your PC & Restrict access to to key features of Windows (read more)

Widgets - "Plugin Manager Enabled" Badges

2008-10-02T20:12:00.001-07:00

Are you a Movable Type plugin developer? Have you built in support for Plugin Manager yet? If so, consider adding one of the following badges to your plugin's web page to signify the your plugin is "Plugin Manager Enabled." This... Read More

Download - Bar2D2, the R2-D2 of Failed Space Operas [Robots]

2008-10-01T14:39:00.005-07:00

Bar2D2, the R2-D2 of Failed Space Operas [Robots]
Remember that time in Star Wars when R2-D2 shot out the lightsaber to Luke Skywalker? Yeah, well the only problem with that scene was that lightsabers don't freaking exist. And until they do, robots...

Dashboard - ExpressWidgets from SpringWidgets!

2008-10-01T14:39:00.003-07:00

It’s a day to “Express” change . . .

Today we’ve launched our ExpressWidgets service…

http://springwidgets.com/express/getFeed/

Up until now you could use our RSS Reader Widget to brand and add a blog to your site or desktop, but you could not add that finished blog widget to our gallery so that other people could find it and share it.

Today we changed all that!!!

As of right now you can use our ExpressWidgets process to create your own uniquely-branded Widget(s) and have those widgets instantly added to our gallery just like any other widget. Build as many as you want and add them to our growing gallery of blogs and desktop Widgets so other users can embed, pass along and bring them to the desktop.

It’s pretty cool. We “expressed” the RSS Reader first. We think it’s the easiest build process for you to quickly syndicate and distribute your blog or audio and video podcast content. Best of all, you can uniquely brand your ExpressWidget to match your website or blog, making it a truly one-of-a-kind Widget out in the WidgetSphere.

To make sure that the end product is as good as it can be, we've added a new way to customize an Express RSS Reader - you can now skin the "chrome" around the content so that it better matches your blog or site. (This is a feature that has been requested for a while and we are happy to be able to push this feature live today).

And for our many Feedburner users, your burned feeds will continue to give you the industry leading analytics and metrics for which Feedburner is known. If you have your Feedburner feed handy, drop on in to the ExpressWidgets process now and add your blog to our gallery to get some free exposure.

Talking about exposure… We’ve also added in a few familiar buttons on the display pages for your widget. Anyone can now Digg, Reddit, Del.icio.us and otherwise bookmark your widget directly from the widget view in the gallery – guaranteed to lead to at least a couple of hundred eyeballs on your content ;-)

Go get’em tiger! Read More

Dashboard - Atom Feed XSL Stylesheet

2008-10-01T14:39:00.001-07:00

One of the key features of Feed Manager is the ability to render a virtually illegible XML feed as HTML so that it is more easily understood by a person. The secret behind this feature is a simple XSLT stylesheet... Read More

Dashboard - Netflix To Open API and Databases To The Public [NetFlix]

2008-10-01T14:38:00.013-07:00

Netflix To Open API and Databases To The Public [NetFlix]
Netflix will introduce their API to the public tomorrow at the Experience AJAX conference, and according to ReadWriteWeb, it will allow free access to movie data and stats stored on their servers....

Widgets - xCuts 1.2g

2008-10-01T14:38:00.011-07:00

xCuts 1.2g
Puts a full reference of Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts at your fingertips in the Dashboard.

About xCuts
A utility for looking up Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts, something that recent switchers from Linux or Windows probably need to do quite a bit! This widget lets you easily browse or search the contents of its MySQL-powered database, which it accesses over the web using Ajax. The xCuts are organized by Category, Scope, and Object, and you can even drill down to a second cross-referenced level if you need to. Or just use the fast live search form.

xCuts includes tips on the use of certain shortcuts, and it’s designed to let you copy and paste shortcuts to external documents. This resizable widget uses the terrific Script.aculo.us effects library to work its visual magic. When you’re done, click the title to compact xCuts down to a tiny lozenge for later use.

Dashboard - Redefining the Widget

2008-10-01T14:38:00.009-07:00

Last year at Widgets Live, the announcement of the SpringWidgets platform redefined what a widget could be. At the time of our launch there were three categories of widgets: desktop widgets, web widgets and a special subsection of web widgets that would work on social networking profiles.

We changed all that by inventing a widget platform that allowed for the first time, the ability to use a single, updatable and configurable widget file to reach all of these destinations. We took it further by incorporating in the ability to “pop” any SpringWidget you find on the web onto your desktop with just one click.

Since our release, there have been a few companies that have announced a similar product offering - YourMinis and Netvibes are examples we feel are well done.

I'm going to give you a little sneak peak behind the curtain where we are quietly working on redefining the widget once again, and perhaps in the process spur another round of inspiration.

For the most part, online widgets have been exactly what the limited definition has made them out to be …

A web widget is a portable chunk of code that can be installed and executed within any separate HTML-based web page by an end user without requiring additional compilation.

Thanks Wikipedia

Reading this, I’m thinking about the widget landscape and in my head I’m starting to challenge the entire box that we have collectively put widgets into, trying to look past the simple definition and look at the transformative nature of what a portable chunk of code can do.

Is the widget just a visitor on the web page or can it be much more and control and interact with the web page it’s on? If widgets are like parasites, can a parasite define the host?

Can a widget be a portable “experience?”

Envision if you will a Widget that no longer sends the user off to another site to personalize itself. Imagine a widget that is not content to stay within the confines of it’s own little box, but rather can interact with the page it lives on. The “Transformative Widget” would take over the page it’s on; integrating it's content within that page and transforming it based on a click.

If the Widget is not just a chunk of code, but rather a portable experience, imagine the infinite ways we can expand the brand experience within the social network itself. Moving code and embedding Widgets can create a better way to immerse the user in an extreme brand experience. The widget then becomes an ad that is user embedded, user selected and more powerfully engaging and interactive than any traditional advertisement that is available - and just as performance oriented.

If a user allows the widget to brand the entire page, is that a "Widgetview", an "Ad Impression", or a "Pageview"?

So if SpringWidgets is ready to challenge the Widget Landscape it’s safe to say that the launch of THE FANTASTIC FOUR Widget is the next step in redefining the Widget. The transformative nature of TFF Widget is completely apparent once you start using it on your MySpace profile and the brand experience is more immersive than anything possible with a widget prior to the Fantastic Four widget launch.

This is only one of the many transformative widgets that we are engaged in and only represents a small amount of our R&D efforts. Over the weeks and months to come, we'll be rolling out some truly fantastic products that will not only transform the widget, but transform SpringWidgets as well.

We would love to have you on board as we make these transformations, so please feel free to download our API and put your own thoughts to work in redefining what a widget can be. Read More

Widgets - Twitter Tweets

2008-10-01T14:38:00.007-07:00

Twitter Tweets
21:21 Blogging & WordPress Twitter Tweets: 12:26 Getting ready for my keynote at #word.. tinyurl.com/3pv5y8 # Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter Posted in Blogging Tips

21:21 Blogging & WordPress Twitter Tweets:
12:26 Getting ready for my keynote at #word.. tinyurl.com/3pv5y8 #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

Posted in Blogging Tips��

Download - Twitter Tweets

2008-10-01T14:38:00.005-07:00

Twitter Tweets
21:21 Blogging & WordPress Twitter Tweets: 12:26 Getting ready for my keynote at #word.. tinyurl.com/3pv5y8 # Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter Posted in Blogging Tips

21:21 Blogging & WordPress Twitter Tweets:
12:26 Getting ready for my keynote at #word.. tinyurl.com/3pv5y8 #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

Posted in Blogging Tips��

Download - John Chow vs Shoemoney RSS competition

2008-10-01T14:38:00.003-07:00

John Chow vs Shoemoney RSS competition

RSS is now one of the most valuable metrics on the net. Increasing your RSS subscriber count is a measurable way to show the popularity of your site. As RSS is an opt in way for readers to view your site contents, they can easily stop being a subscriber at any time.

It shows how far RSS has come when John Chow and Shoemoney start a competition to see who can get the most new subscribers in a month. Notice how it wasn't a competition to get the most traffic or the most subscribers to an email list but who can get the most RSS subscribers.

Why RSS subscribers

John and Shoe are both canny marketers and know the value of RSS. RSS is a transparent metric that shows a loyal readership. If a site starts to slide in it's content then readers will no longer subscribe. They would rather gain an RSS subscriber than an extra visitor.

Whilst the challenge is a bit of fun there is also a serious reason John and Shoe have gotten together to run this little competition. At the end of the competition they will both have a larger loyal subscriber base. This competition has gained them a large number of new subscribers which generally means more revenue for them.

This post is from the Newsniche website and should not be reproduced elsewhere. Why not subscribe to the RSS feed and get this information delivered straight to your News reader.

Dashboard - Social Media: The New Path of Economics and Marketing

2008-10-01T14:38:00.001-07:00

In A Rubric for Social Media Expertise, Liz Strauss is exploring how we use social media for our blogs and our businesses, especially how we organize and structure social media to work for us. As the living web begins to seamlessly integrate into our concrete cultures and as our lives become globally intertwined, businesses are beginning [...]

In A Rubric for Social Media Expertise, Liz Strauss is exploring how we use social media for our blogs and our businesses, especially how we organize and structure social media to work for us.

As the living web begins to seamlessly integrate into our concrete cultures and as our lives become globally intertwined, businesses are beginning to investigate what this means. Though the idea of markets as conversations may have started with Cluetrain ten years ago, but it has only become business credible with the advent of what we’re calling Web 2.0 and social media.

In recent years, major enterprise, telcos, cablecoms, and mainstream media have found more reason than not to look at social web models as unsound. Meanwhile we’ve been exploring concepts such as influence, authority, transparency, permission marketing, and experimenting with social media tools and networks to understand how a customer-centered market actually works.

Part of her work in developing educational standards for writing social media training materials, Liz explains that we are walking down a totally new path of economics and marketing which is returning to the “culture of a village” and changing the whole marketplace. You can watch from the outside or jump in - either way, you have to understand that this is the same as business techniques of the past while being totally different. In her words, “Can you spell paradox?”

She takes it even further with a quiz in Have You Organized Your Social Media Thinking Lately?

As we are all questioning where social media is taking us, and how much we should invest in the various types and forms, it’s time to organize your thinking around social media.

The keyword of the three day Blog World Expo event a couple weeks ago in Las Vegas was social. People were desperate to understand how to connect via the web with their customers and potential customers, and how to build the networks they so desperately need to build their business - yet they don’t understand how it works, why it works, and what will work specifically for them.

Are you questioning all that time you are spending on Twitter, fixing up your Facebook page, requesting LinkedIn connections, and trying to be all things to all social services and networks? Is it really working for you? Or are you spending a lot of time being social without the return on the time investment? Where should you really be putting your social energy?

When I was planning for my college options, I struggled with two challenging realizations. A higher education was important. I needed to take the basics and quickly move down my chosen educational path to secure my future career. Yet, I realized that all the knowledge in the world won’t help you when it is who you know not what you know that makes the difference. While I could get the basics of a great education at a community college or lessor known college, making connections with a sorority and my fellow students at a well-known, established (expensive) university were connections that would last a lifetime. Understanding that the relationships made during those crucial university years may benefit me more than the education itself helps move me in that direction.

The same applies in the online world. It’s the relationships formed through the social media that help you with your work and life, not just what you learn from the experience.

Maybe it’s time you started re-thinking about this new social world we live in to make wiser choices.

We’re becoming a global village. Who are your neighbors? Who have you been chatting across the virtual picket fence lately?

Site Search Tags: liz strauss, social media, social networking, social network, social, network, connections, business, business of blogging, blog business

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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

Posted in Blogging Tips��

Dashboard - Critical Bug Fixed: "'mt_pluginmanager' doesn't exist"

2008-09-29T21:08:00.019-07:00

Critical Bug Fixed: "'mt_pluginmanager' doesn't exist"
It took me far too long to track down a simple error a number of people were reporting with Plugin Manager, but I did track it down, and did finally manage to fix it. Long story short, the deployment mechanism...

Widgets - RSS Hugger

2008-09-29T21:08:00.017-07:00

RSS Hugger

Collin LaHay has come up with an idea called RSSHugger, it's a site that allows webmasters to promote their RSS feeds by adding them to the site. You can add your own page but it will cost you 20US dollars (10 is you blog about RSSHugger).

RSS Hugger seems to be a cross between an RSS directory and a wiki. Collin wants the directory to grow to 50,000 blogs which he claims is 0.00045 percent of the blogosphere.

The idea behind the new site is to create buzz and generate new RSS subscribers for RSS feeds that are added to the site. When you buy a page you basically get your feed headlines displayed on your own page within RSSHugger. Whether or not enough buzz is created to generate any new subscribers to members feeds remains to be seen.

This post is from the Newsniche website and should not be reproduced elsewhere. Why not subscribe to the RSS feed and get this information delivered straight to your News reader.

Widgets - Countdown to DEAD SILENCE - the movie!

2008-09-29T21:08:00.015-07:00

Countdown to DEAD SILENCE - the movie!
How creepy is this widget?!!!!

--His eyes move when your cursor is idle,
--his eyes follow your cursor when your cursor is close to his face, and
--CLICK ON HIS HEAD!!!!! IT BOBBLES!!!!!

CREEPY!!!!

See the widget on the Dead Silence movie page inside MySpace at:

www.myspace.com/deadsilencemovie

Get this widget!

Widgets - Check out our Christmas Tree widget!!

2008-09-29T21:08:00.013-07:00

Check out our Christmas Tree widget!!
We thought everyone could use a Christmas Tree widget that counts down the days (like you need more reminding of how fast it is approaching)!

Go to the Christmas Tree page on the site http://springwidgets.com/widgets/view/46 to get your own tree for your page or to pop to your desktop. It can be configured to your liking. We're working on a Menorah and Kwanzaa also . . . keep checking back!

Get this widget!

Dashboard - Kinara widget for Kwanzaa is here!

2008-09-29T21:08:00.011-07:00

We're finished the Kinara widget for Kwanzaa!!!!

A new candle is lit for each day of Kwanzaa. Click on "Get this widget" to put it on your page!

Get this widget!

Download - Kinara widget for Kwanzaa is here!

2008-09-29T21:08:00.009-07:00

We're finished the Kinara widget for Kwanzaa!!!!

A new candle is lit for each day of Kwanzaa. Click on "Get this widget" to put it on your page!

Get this widget!

Widgets - Twitter Tweets

2008-09-29T21:08:00.007-07:00

Twitter Tweets
08:14 Will be also speaking at #wordcampportland on Woopra - real time stats web analytics. Sept 27 Portland Oregon # 11:16 #wordcampportland keynote going to be AWESOME. Need sleep but working on a great talk. See you this weekend. # 16:31 On my way to #wordcampportland meet up to talk about this weekend’s activities. Going to meet [...]

08:14 Will be also speaking at #wordcampportland on Woopra - real time stats web analytics. Sept 27 Portland Oregon #
11:16 #wordcampportland keynote going to be AWESOME. Need sleep but working on a great talk. See you this weekend. #
16:31 On my way to #wordcampportland meet up to talk about this weekend’s activities. Going to meet all the volunteers and team in Portland. YEAH! #
16:31 @ahockley Sleep? What’s that? Aren’t there going to be #wordcampportland events on Sunday? Everyday is WordPress day for me! #
16:32 @mollermarketing Approvals should be announced soon. Coming in batches. A LOT signed up. Stay tuned. #
16:32 @gregbd BuddyPress is being used by a lot of people, though it still is in development. Go on, try it. Let us know how it works for you. #
16:33 @MelaniePerry Blogger & Podcaster Mag has been around over a year, tho making a lot of changes. It’s a fun mag with great stuff like me! #

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

Posted in Blogging Tips��

Widgets - See You in Las Vegas at Blog World Expo

2008-09-29T21:08:00.005-07:00

I’m going to be joining everyone in the blogosphere at Blog World Expo in Las Vegas this weekend, September 20-21, 2008. Not going to be there? You are missing out on what could be a record breaking event. I will be there with Woopra, Layered Tech, and WordPress. I’ve peeked at the Conference Schedule and there [...]

I will be there with Woopra, Layered Tech, and WordPress.

I’ve peeked at the Conference Schedule and there is so much going on, I don’t even know where to begin.

In addition to the Blog World Expo Exhibitors in the Exhibition Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the incredible collection of speakers and workshops, and the crème de la crème of the blogosphers attending, there are also events within the main event, including:

These specialty meetings and workshops cover niche areas and specific issues that confront bloggers within those specific areas. So much of it crosses borders, though, I’m having a tough time deciding which to attend.

I do know where I will be Sunday, September 21, from 3:00PM - 4:00PM. I will be on a panel with my buddies, John Pozadzides and Liz Strauss, covering The Stats of High Performance Content and Marketing.

I will also be occasionally found in the Exhibition Hall in booth 220 with Layered Tech, Woopra, and WordPress. If you want to talk about servers, web hosting, and the grid, I’ll let you talk to the other guys there, but if you want to talk WordPress or Woopra, I’m ready!

I hope to see you there!

NEXT: Next weekend, September 27, 2008, is WordCamp Portland, Oregon - September 27, 2008, where I will also be making noise. The event is sold out and there is a waiting list. It’s going to be great!

Other upcoming events where I will be speaking and attending include:

Site Search Tags: lorelle, lorelle speaks, converences, events, woopra, blog world expo, wordcamp portland, blogworldexpo, blogworldexpo2008, wordcampportlland, hawaii, blog events, blog conferences, blog news, conference news

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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

Dashboard - iRiver Taking Pre-Orders For Retro-Slick Spinn PMP, Shipping October 3rd [Mp3 Players]

2008-09-29T21:08:00.003-07:00

iRiver Taking Pre-Orders For Retro-Slick Spinn PMP, Shipping October 3rd [Mp3 Players]
iRiver's beautifully designed Spinn we handled in Berlin (that giant analog knob, mmm) now has official details on U.S. availability: $250 for 4GB and $280 for 8GB, with pre-orders taken now to be...

Download - Convenient Download Bundle

2008-09-29T21:08:00.001-07:00

Convenient Download Bundle
For many installing Perl modules is difficult within their environment, and for those people we provide a simple and easy to install bundle of all the necessary perl modules for Plugin Manager. Instructions Download the bundle. Navigate to the MT_HOME/extlib...

Download - TheSpringBox 1.1.5

2008-09-25T19:10:00.019-07:00

We've got a new build for you today. Most of the additions are for you developers out there. Here are some of the new API features:

Widget.onClose() this event is fired when the Widget is closed

Widget.center() center you widget on the screen

Widget.onMemoryUpdate(isTrigger) now passes a Boolean identifying the instance of the widget that updated the Memory.

We've removed Widget.setVersion() and replaced it with Widget.setMetadata() to allow you to configure an about box for your widget.

We've also updated our SDK to version 1.1.5 so you can view full documentation on the new features; we've also fixed the no-trace issue in the Web Simulator. Online docs will follow in the next few days. If you have any further questions, please post them in the forums. Read More

Download - Beyond Sync 3.5.8.135

2008-09-25T19:10:00.017-07:00

A file synchronization product that allows you to synchronize files between folders A file synchronization product that allows you to synchronize files between folders (read more) Read More

Dashboard - What All Glasses Will Look Like in 2020 [Crazy Inventions]

2008-09-25T19:10:00.015-07:00

The latest in designer eyewear, these just-announced, newly-patented "Avant-garde Frames" reduce the strain of glasses that generally pinch your nose and weigh down your ears. By shifting the support... Read More

Download - Promote Your Widgets!

2008-09-25T19:10:00.013-07:00

We've been upgrading our site over the past few weeks, adding robust search and sorting, better widget description pages and building in some new tools that can be used promote your widgets.

Almost every upgrade we added is focused on making your widgets easier to find and the promotional tools are free to use with any widget in our gallery, so I thought I'd invite you all in to try them out.

No matter if you have uploaded a great new custom widget or created a quick express widget, all the new tools that we have just added in will work to help you promote your SpringWidget!

So, what's new?

1. Tagging In case you don't know what they are, "Tags" are just words that describe your widget that are used when someone searches our gallery. "Tagging" allows you to make it easier for users to find your widget.

You should tag your widget with words that describe the content or nature of your widget. For example, the springwidgets blog is all about news on the SpringWidgets platform, so I'd tag it with "springwidgets", "widgets" and "widget news" but I'd leave out more obvious words like "blog" and "news" because they really don't help users find content that is specific to my blog.

2. Star-Ratings Another tool to help you promote your widgets is our new ratings system. You can rate any widget in our gallery and users can sort by the best rated widgets. The more that you rate, the better the system gets! Help us out and rate a widget or two in the gallery today.

Here is an important tip - we let you rate your own widget so you can start the ratings yourself... Go ahead, give it a try.

3. Favorite Widgets Every time a user "favorites" your widget, it's added to a list of favorite widgets on that users profile! The better your widget looks and works, the more likely you'll have fans.

Want to favorite a widget? Just click the "favorite widgets" button on any widget in our gallery. Much easier and faster than saying "What was that widget called again?" and banging your head on the desk. :-)

4. Social Bookmarking Links Automatically add (or help vote up) any widget in our gallery to the various social bookmarking sites like Digg and Reddit. These sites are great ways to promote your widget and find new users. Just click the icon and follow the directions to get started. The great news is that once you submit your widget with these links, users can vote your widget up with a click or two!

5. Widget Search The best way to be found is to make sure that you are accurate when describing your widget. Any user can search our gallery for your widget and find results based on your developer id, widget title and description and tags.

The more accurate and descriptive you are, the more likely that a search will include your widget in front of interested users.

6. Tag Clouds and "Sorting by" Navigation Users can now search by Ratings, Tag Clouds, Name Sorting, and Most Recent Widgets.

Since users will be looking through the gallery with these tools, the more descriptive you are when entering your widget into the gallery, the better!

7. User Comments The more talked about your widget is, the more users are likely to trust adding you to their page or desktop. Get the conversation started by adding your own comments to the widgets you like.

Find a widget you like? let the creator know that you like it. Just feel like saying "thanks for letting me use your widget?" That's ok too. We hope that the addition of comments will be a popular and helpful feature for everyone.

Now get out there and start promoting yourself!

We are continuing to make improvements every day and we'd love to have your input on what to build next, so pop on over to the forums and tell us what you think!

Thanks,

Don Read More

Widgets - Install Feed Manager

2008-09-25T19:10:00.011-07:00

Install Feed Manager
There are two options when installing Feed Manager: Download and install the Feed Manager archive manually Install via the Plugin Manager plugin for Movable Type...

Download - OceanWaves 1.0

2008-09-25T19:10:00.009-07:00

This 3D Studio Max plugin adds a new geometry object which generates a statistically generated ocean wave suface. This 3D Studio Max plugin adds a new geometry object which generates a statistically generated ocean wave suface. (read more) Read More

Dashboard - iPhone 2.2 Beta 1 Seeded to Developers [Iphone 2.2]

2008-09-25T19:10:00.007-07:00

iPhone 2.2 Beta 1 Seeded to Developers [Iphone 2.2]
Well, that was speedy. Not too long after iPhone 2.1 arrived to fix most of iPhone 2.0's most damning problems, Apple has seeded OS 2.2 Beta 1 to developers. No one's had a chance to dive in yet to...

Download - Shiver Me Timbers!

2008-09-25T19:10:00.005-07:00

For the fans of Captain Jack!...

A SpringWidgets Pirates of the Caribbean countdown clock to put on your profile or blog!

Those of you who have seen my MySpace profile and noticed the skull and crossbones that I use as my profile picture, you have probably figured out that I'm a big fan of pirates.

Dashboard - Backyard Nuclear Reactor Should Be Ready to Ship by 2013 [Nuclear Power]

2008-09-25T19:10:00.003-07:00

Hyperion Power's plans to develop and sell portable nuclear reactors first came to light last year—but most people probably brushed off the idea as some sort of fantasy. Whether that is true or... Read More

Dashboard - Rockbox Replacement MP3 Player Firmware Gets Updated [Mp3 Players]

2008-09-25T19:10:00.001-07:00

Rockbox Replacement MP3 Player Firmware Gets Updated [Mp3 Players]
Remember Rockbox? Back when MP3 players couldn't do a whole lot more than play MP3s, Rockbox was there to add Gameboy emulators, additional codecs and other homebrew features. And if you're still...

Widgets - Google Brings Push Gmail, Google Maps Street View, Other Tight Integration to the G1 [Android]

2008-09-24T02:53:00.019-07:00

Android is here, and as to be expected with a Google-made mobile OS, there's a bit of Google App fanciness going on. In fact, it's designed with Google Apps in mind so much that whether or not you're... Read More

Download - Twelve Clock

2008-09-24T02:53:00.017-07:00

Twelve Clock
A clock with the true look of a six digit LED broadcast clock or similar clock.

Download - How the T-Mobile G1 Stacks Up To Its Frienemies [Android]

2008-09-24T02:53:00.015-07:00

How the T-Mobile G1 Stacks Up To Its Frienemies [Android]
digg_skin = 'compact'; digg_bgcolor = '#f1f8fa'; digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gadgets/T_Mobile_G1_Price_and_Feature_Comparison'; The T-Mobile G1 launched today with a rich feature set, but how does...

Download - Nokia's "Point and Find" Head-Up Display For Life is Launching in Beta [Augmented Reality]

2008-09-24T02:53:00.013-07:00

Nokia's Point and Find system is similar to the Sekai iPhone app we mentioned: you point your cellphone's camera at an object (such as a cinema) and it'll automagically respond with the film times,... Read More

Widgets - "Plugin Manager Enabled" Badges

2008-09-24T02:53:00.011-07:00

Download - The value of an RSS subscriber at 30 dollars

2008-09-24T02:53:00.009-07:00

Have you ever wondered how much each subscriber to your RSS feed is worth. Well according to Mark over at 45n5 that magic number is currently $30. Mark arrived at this figure by dividing the price blogs have recently sold for by the number of subscribers to the blog.

I have previously made predictions about RSS playing a more important role back in October 2006. It looks like RSS is now an important metric to measure the success of a site and it is also starting to play a larger role in deciding the monetary value of a blog.

RSS subscribers and their value

Although Mark's use of RSS as a measurement of value was just a bit of fun it does show that RSS is a valued metric. A year ago most webmasters and readers would not have placed much if any value in the number of subscribers you have.

As RSS becomes a more valued metric the value of the RSS feed itself will grow. There are going to be more advertisers willing to buy advertising in an RSS feed and the value of RSS will grow. This is because many RSS subscribers do not click through to the website itself but use the feed to consume the content.

This post is from the Newsniche website and should not be reproduced elsewhere. Why not subscribe to the RSS feed and get this information delivered straight to your News reader.

Dashboard - 3 things you really want to know about RSS

2008-09-24T02:53:00.007-07:00

I have been doing some digging into the statistics for Newsniche to try and discover what you are really interested in when it comes to RSS. So I have come up with the imaginatively titled 3 things you really want to know about RSS. So here are the most wanted to know things about RSS in reverse order.

RSS publishing tools

The third most popular topic is on RSS publishing tools. Rather than an article this is a section of the site dedicated to letting you know how you can publish RSS on your site. Being able to publish RSS on your site means that you have a constant stream of updating content for your readers.

Which is the best RSS feed reader

The second most popular item on the site is an article on Which is the best RSS feed reader. You certainly want to know which is the best way to read your feeds. This is not surprising as RSS is all about being able to have information from your favourite sites available to you without having to visit every you like frequently. Why not subscribe to their feed and have the content come to you.

Using Javascript to display RSS

I guess deep down everyone wants to display RSS using Javascript as the number one most read article is Using Javascript to display RSS. This is an article I wrote ages ago showing you how you could easily place content from an RSS feed on your site using a snippet of Javascript. That is so 2006.

This post is from the Newsniche website and should not be reproduced elsewhere. Why not subscribe to the RSS feed and get this information delivered straight to your News reader.

Download - Designing WordPress Themes For the Slowing Web

2008-09-24T02:53:00.005-07:00

Designing WordPress Themes For the Slowing Web
Jonathan Bailey of the Blog Herald wrote about Surfing the Slow Web, a summary of his recent experience trying to connect to the Internet as an evacuee from Hurricane Gustav. While most web designers are pushing the limits of heavy handed design towards high bandwidth, the world still doesn’t work that fast or wide. According to [...]

Jonathan Bailey of the Blog Herald wrote about Surfing the Slow Web, a summary of his recent experience trying to connect to the Internet as an evacuee from Hurricane Gustav. While most web designers are pushing the limits of heavy handed design towards high bandwidth, the world still doesn’t work that fast or wide.

According to statistics, if you are reading this, you are probably on a broadband connection. Whether you are surfing at work on a LAN or at home on a DSL or cable modem, you are probably not on dial up at this moment.

However, there was a time not that long ago in which Webmasters were optimizing every element of their page feverishly to squeeze every ounce of speed from it. Broadband simply was not that common and, even over dial up connections, visitors had twitchy fingers on the “back” button at all times.

But in the age of YouTube, Flash ads and embeddable content, those lessons have been all but forgotten. However, not everyone has access to high-speed connection, especially in rural locations, and after spending just a few days limited to dial up, the lessons come flooding back.

Let us not forget that the virtual world is moving off desktops and land line and cable connections to the wired world of mobile computing. For years, our bandwidth speeds have been increasing, but now that we are moving to Internet access via cell phones and handheld computers, bandwidths are slowing down and narrowing again. Wired’s recent iPhone 3G survey reported that the average speed in the USA is 990 kbps - a typical average where only a few high scores can bring up the lowest to a well-meaning number, but a number not really indicative of what most are experiencing.

Living on the road in the early years, we started jumping up and down when we got a dial-up connection past 1200 baud (that’s without the kilobyte) in 1996, it was a thrill to get the first “fast” connection and actually move into the kilobytes. When WIFI was released and we could reach into the megabytes, and speeds have been increasing, but life on the road means taking what you can find, and what you often find is pretty darn slow.

I moved recently and had a frustrating time researching and initiating Internet access. I only have one choice for Internet service, and while they have multiple offerings, from dial-up to 20 Megs per second, I only have one choice, 1.5 Megs, at my location.

Designing for a Slowing Web

As you design your blog, WordPress Themes, Widgets, and even WordPress Plugins, you have a lot of options about how you code the code and include the graphic elements. You can design for the high speed broadband market, of which you might be one, or take into consideration the drop in bandwidth many are taking when they move from dedicated to mobile connections.

In addition to Jonathan’s tips for designing your blogs with slower bandwidth in mind, here are mine:

Use CSS: CSS was created to speed up page loading by putting all the design elements within the stylesheet. Many are putting them back into the architecture, including redundant images. Move all redundant design images and references back into the stylesheet and increase page generation times significantly.
Style for Accessibility: If your blog design meets the Section 508 Accessibility Standards and the WebAIM Section 508 Checklist, the odds are that it will load faster because it’s designed with accessibility features in mind like page readers and text only browsers.
Put Content First: The general order of a web page’s content in loading should be 1) header, 2) content, 3) additional content (comments), 5) sidebar(s), 6) footer, and the last should be ads and other heavy graphic elements. If a visitor has to wait for a heavy graphic element like ads, sidebars, and big images to load before they get to the content, they are very likely to lose patience and leave. Design the underlying architecture to load the content first and the pretty later.
Use a Mobile/Handheld Stylesheet: Include the option for a mobile or handheld stylesheet for your blog design or WordPress Theme. Restrict the visible design elements to the MOST critical information such as content rather than heavy graphics, sidebars, and ads. There are WordPress Plugins to help create a mobile version of your blog such as the new WordPress iPhone Plugin, Mowser WordPress Mobile, WordPress Mobile Edition, Mobilize by Mippin WordPress Plugin, WP-Wap, WordPress PDA & iPhone, WPhone, and iPhone / Mobile Admin.
Reduce, Resize, and Lower the Resolution of Graphics and Images: Do you really need to upload and display an image that can be viewed on IMAX? No! Keep images, even linked images, down to 800 to 1200 pixels wide. Keep file sizes down. Use JPG and PNG files with optimization to further reduce file sizes. Don’t preload images unless absolutely necessary. And don’t hotlink images as that adds more bandwidth to the bandwidth to pull them into the page from multiple cross-server locations.
Avoid Embedding Videos: As Jonathan mentioned in his article, why embed or host video players on your site when a link to download and play the video on whatever player the user has installed on their computer or browser will work just as well. Consider replacing embedding with a thumbnail image wrapped in a link or with a link to download the file in order to play it.
Limit JavaScripts and AJAX: While most of the web today can’t function without JavaScripts and the new AJAX, these scripts are often found in the head of the HTML architecture file, loading before the rest of the page. This can slow down the generation of a page. Consider optimizing all scripts and updating them for fast loading, and add them to the footer when possible to make it the last thing that loads on the page.

There are many other things you can do to speed up the loading of your blog’s design and content. As Jonathan noted, in the early days of web design, we wouldn’t even release a web design or WordPress Theme without running it through a battery of tests for code checks, accessibility standards, and bandwidth optimization. Maybe it’s time to bring that back for all WordPress Themes and blog designs, as well as for design enhancing and impacting WordPress Plugins.

The whole world doesn’t run at top bandwidth speeds. While we’re waiting for everyone to catch up, let’s design nice.

Site Search Tags: blog design, wordpress themes, web design, optimization, speed, bandwidth, dial-up, mobile, css, testing, design tests, accessibility, accessibility standards

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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

Dashboard - Woot.com 3.5.3

2008-09-24T02:53:00.003-07:00

This widget displays the current-selling product at Woot.com.

About Woot.com
At Woot.com one hugely-discounted product is released each evening at 12 midnight (Monday - Friday). This product is available for only 24 hours or until it totally sells out. The widget now supports wine.woot, as well as the original woot site.

Widgets - Install Photo Gallery

2008-09-24T02:53:00.001-07:00

Install Photo Gallery
There are two options when installing Photo Gallery: Download and install the Photo Gallery archive manually Install via the Plugin Manager plugin for Movable Type...

Widgets - Sebastian Vettel 0.1

2008-09-19T17:36:00.015-07:00

Get all news of F1 hero Sebastian Vettel.

About Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel (born July 3, 1987 in Heppenheim) is a German race car driver. He is currently contracted to the Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One team alongside Sebastian Bourdais. He had been the third (test and reserve) driver for the BMW Sauber Formula One team from the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix onwards. By taking part in Friday practice for the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix, Vettel became the youngest ever Formula One driver to drive at a Grand Prix meeting, at 19 years and 53 days.

On Sunday September 30, 2007, during the Japanese Grand Prix Vettel became the youngest driver to lead a race in Formula One history. He also became the quickest driver to get a fine in F1, being fined $1,000 nine seconds into his career, after speeding in the pitlane. He also became the youngest driver to score points in a Grand Prix and lead a Grand Prix. AND he is the youngest driver ever to WIN a Grand Prix (GP Monza - 14 September 2008 - 21 years old) - A new F1 star is born!

Dashboard - LTE Downloads Cute Animal Pictures at 170Mbps While Driving 40MPH [Lte]

2008-09-19T17:36:00.013-07:00

LTE Downloads Cute Animal Pictures at 170Mbps While Driving 40MPH [Lte]
The next thing in fast mobile internet is the 4G standard LTE. While we've seen an LTE demo before, it wasn't quite as ridiculous as the LTE demo T-Mobile and Nortel just wrapped up: While driving...

Widgets - Speed Video Converter 3.1.13

2008-09-19T17:36:00.011-07:00

Speed Video Converter 3.1.13
An application for converting video files of various popular formats An application for converting video files of various popular formats (read more)

Dashboard - 3 things you really want to know about RSS

2008-09-19T17:36:00.009-07:00

RSS publishing tools

Which is the best RSS feed reader

Using Javascript to display RSS

This post is from the Newsniche website and should not be reproduced elsewhere. Why not subscribe to the RSS feed and get this information delivered straight to your News reader.

Widgets - Adding an Item to Your Queue

2008-09-19T17:36:00.007-07:00

From anywhere within Media Manager you can add another item to your queue. Click on the "Add Item" link in the left hand menu, or the "Add Item to your Queue" found on the main Media Manager screen. From... Read More

Dashboard - news4mac 2.0

2008-09-19T17:36:00.005-07:00

news4mac 2.0
The most recent news for Mac users from the most trusted sources

About news4mac
The news4mac widget allows you to display the most recent Mac news from the most trusted sources. It’s compatible with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. You can also submit your own news story at news4mac.com

Download - SpringWidgets loves iGoogle

2008-09-19T17:36:00.003-07:00

Download - Simon Wedege’s The Insider 1.1

2008-09-19T17:36:00.001-07:00

RSS widget for the danish blog “Simon Wedege’s The Insider”

About Simon Wedege’s The Insider
Get the latest blog entries from the danish blog “Simon Wedege’s The Insider”.

Dashboard - Corpus Clock: "The Strangest Clock in the World" Unveiled By Stephen Hawking [Corpus Clock]

2008-09-19T17:35:00.003-07:00

Stephen Hawking has made his way back to Cambridge after participating in the launch of the LHC to unveil an unbelievable new clock at Corpus Christi College. Designer John Taylor intended the clock... Read More

Dashboard - Question of the Day: Can Advertising Really Help Make Microsoft "Hip?" [Question Of The Day]

2008-09-19T17:35:00.001-07:00

newVideoPlayer("/pcpride.flv", 475, 376,""); There is no doubt about it, Microsoft's "I'm a PC" ads are far better than those miserably bad Gates and Seinfeld spots. The newer ads try to dispel the... Read More

Dashboard - Plasma Tube - Motion Light Widget 2.1

2008-09-15T07:30:00.003-07:00

An amazing motion lamp widget - The PlasmaLamp. Unmatched 3d animation with a little zip for fast dashboard viewing.

About Plasma Tube - Motion Light Widget
Engineered like no other. The Plasma Lamp leaves your grampas old motion light in the 60’s! We’ve filled this sucker with a material patented exclusively to innermindMedia. This plasma is like no liquid you’ve ever seen and it simply defies the laws of gravity and physics. This is the ultimate eye candy for your Mac OS X Dashboard.

Dashboard - AccuWeather Pocket Weather

2008-09-15T07:30:00.001-07:00

This amazingly compact weather Widget gives you all the information you need without taking up valuable space on your desktop. Choose from among the 2.7 million locations around the world for which AccuWeather.com provides forecasts, and get: - Current conditions in Fahrenheit or Celsius (with an easy toggle back and forth between the two) - Five-day forecast via a quick-opening, quick-closing fly-out window - Day display in English, French, German, Italian, or Spanish AccuWeather.com's Pocket Weather Widget stores as many locations as you want, from one to thousands-and you can instantly see any of the locations you've previously viewed. Read More

Widgets - The Week in iPhone Apps: Games, File Sharing, and More Games [IPhone Apps]

2008-09-15T07:29:00.015-07:00

The Week in iPhone Apps: Games, File Sharing, and More Games [IPhone Apps]
At the Let's Rock event this week, Apple pushed the new iPod touch hard (and iPhone too, obviously) as a viable gaming platform. Steve even went so far as to call it the best portable gaming platform...

Download - 3 things you really want to know about RSS

2008-09-15T07:29:00.013-07:00

3 things you really want to know about RSS

RSS publishing tools

Which is the best RSS feed reader

Using Javascript to display RSS

This post is from the Newsniche website and should not be reproduced elsewhere. Why not subscribe to the RSS feed and get this information delivered straight to your News reader.

Widgets - TVNavigator

2008-09-15T07:29:00.011-07:00

Have you ever looked at the TV Guide? Tried to find interesting shows? Was it tedious? Do you want a faster way to find new / interesting shows? TVNavigator is the solution for you. It allows you to Filter channels, Color favorites channels and shows, But the most important: It allows you to filter out recurrent shows, TV listings are full of them, actually more then 85% of the shows are repeated shows! What if you could filter all of the repeated shows? (Well the ones you know you do not want to see) You will see just the shows that are new (and the ones you did not filtered out) In a matter of seconds you can browse your TV Guide. All you need to do is sit down for one hour, go over the TV Guide and filter-out shows Go over a week of listing - no pain no gain :) After that, whenever you see a show you do not like, filter it out - after the first cycle, It will be very easy to do. You won't have much work to do. (NEW) You can even print your own TV Guide, but not the one with million boring shows that you can buy everywhere, a TV guide with Just the shows you did not filter-out. It will even color your favorite shows. Now you can take the "TVNavigator" to the train with you! (NEW) you can set alerts, and get notifed before a show starts. If you are a TV fanatic this is the Widget for you. Read More

Widgets - Tropical Weather Outlook Central Pacific (Hawai’i) 1.1

2008-09-15T07:29:00.009-07:00

Tropical Weather Outlook Central Pacific (Hawai’i) 1.1
Hurricane watch for Central Pacific 140W-180W (Hawai’i).

About Tropical Weather Outlook Central Pacific (Hawai’i)
This widget provides a feed from NOAA, specifically the Tropical Weather Outlook for the Central Pacific from the Hurricane Center in Honolulu, Hawai’i. Unique for Hawai’i in that it is a direct link to the Central Pacific.

Dashboard - What is the U.S. Military's New Top Secret Terrorist-Killing Gadget in Iraq? [Top Secret]

2008-09-15T07:29:00.007-07:00

What is the U.S. Military's New Top Secret Terrorist-Killing Gadget in Iraq? [Top Secret]
Here's an idea for new unofficial Gizmodo game. It doesn't have a name, but it's based on guessing what Bob Woodward was talking about when he said the U.S. military had some super secret new gadget,...

Download - The Media Manager Queue

2008-09-15T07:29:00.005-07:00

Media Manager is the easiest way to write about Amazon items in MT. Media Manager provides a simple queue to serve as a central location for you to manage all of media assets for your blog. From here you can... Read More

Download - HTML Snapshot 2.1.2008.901

2008-09-15T07:29:00.003-07:00

HTML Snapshot 2.1.2008.901
ActiveX Component that uses the internet explorer's functionality to take (capture) a snapshot of a given URL ActiveX Component that uses the internet explorer's functionality to take (capture) a snapshot of a given URL (read more)

Download - July Top Services: Facebook, Google, and MySpace

2008-09-15T07:29:00.001-07:00

July Top Services: Facebook, Google, and MySpace
We looked at our large amount of bookmarking/sharing data for the month of July. Here are the results. The top services are Facebook, Google Bookmarks, and MySpace … followed by Live, Delicious, and Digg. Google Bookmarks has enjoyed first position for a long time, but now Facebook is suddenly taking over. We will be sure to [...]

We looked at our large amount of bookmarking/sharing data for the month of July. Here are the results. The top services are Facebook, Google Bookmarks, and MySpace … followed by Live, Delicious, and Digg.

Google Bookmarks has enjoyed first position for a long time, but now Facebook is suddenly taking over. We will be sure to check this data again next month, to see if this trend is continuing … this space is changing fast.

Dashboard - Shiver Me Timbers!

2008-09-13T15:56:00.019-07:00

Download - The best way to get your band's blog on Myspace.

2008-09-13T15:56:00.017-07:00

While I was looking through the widget analytics data the other day, I noticed just how many bands are using our RSS reader to deliver news to their fans into social networks like Myspace and Facebook and start pages like iGoogle, Netvibes and Pageflakes.

Get this widget!

Grab this Led Zeppelin widget now.

Of course, I'm going to show my age here, but I had to ask who Timbaland, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Rich Boy were, and I had no clue about The Wreckers, Robin Thicke or Faith Hill but when I found out that the official Beastie Boys, Led Zeppelin and Michael Jackson's Thriller profiles were using our widgets I had to spread the word.

Admittedly, Timbaland may get a bit more play these days, but I spent so much time listening to my Zeppelin albums and tapes that I wore them out. And the Beastie boys Licensed to Ill was awesome and played non-stop while cruising in my 66 Mustang in the 80's. (I really am old)

If you have a band, take a look at how some of the other artists I mentioned above implemented the widgets on their Myspace pages and feel free to use our widgets or our platform to promote your own news or events to your fans.

We don't charge for bands to use our RSS reaader, so it's probably the lowest cost investment that you'll make in your popularity. If you are feeling generous, we'll take concert tickets, CD's and backstage passes if you have any to spare ;-)

Get this widget!

If you are a band and add a SpringWidgets express RSS reader to your page to promote your website or blog, please add a comment below and let us know where to find it.

Rock on and build your own RSS express widget today. Read More

Dashboard - RSS Hugger

2008-09-13T15:56:00.015-07:00

RSS Hugger seems to be a cross between an RSS directory and a wiki. Collin wants the directory to grow to 50,000 blogs which he claims is 0.00045 percent of the blogosphere.

This post is from the Newsniche website and should not be reproduced elsewhere. Why not subscribe to the RSS feed and get this information delivered straight to your News reader.

Dashboard - Thesaurus 1.0

2008-09-13T15:56:00.013-07:00

Retrieve the synonym for every word.

About Thesaurus
Retrieve the synonym for every word. If available you will get antonyms, related terms, similar word and user suggestions too. Click one of the results to start a quick new search for that term. As well it keeps a history list of your search terms. Thesaurus service provided by words.bighugelabs.com.

Widgets - Designing WordPress Themes For the Slowing Web

2008-09-13T15:56:00.011-07:00

According to statistics, if you are reading this, you are probably on a broadband connection. Whether you are surfing at work on a LAN or at home on a DSL or cable modem, you are probably not on dial up at this moment.

However, there was a time not that long ago in which Webmasters were optimizing every element of their page feverishly to squeeze every ounce of speed from it. Broadband simply was not that common and, even over dial up connections, visitors had twitchy fingers on the “back” button at all times.

But in the age of YouTube, Flash ads and embeddable content, those lessons have been all but forgotten. However, not everyone has access to high-speed connection, especially in rural locations, and after spending just a few days limited to dial up, the lessons come flooding back.

Designing for a Slowing Web

In addition to Jonathan’s tips for designing your blogs with slower bandwidth in mind, here are mine:

Use CSS: CSS was created to speed up page loading by putting all the design elements within the stylesheet. Many are putting them back into the architecture, including redundant images. Move all redundant design images and references back into the stylesheet and increase page generation times significantly.
Style for Accessibility: If your blog design meets the Section 508 Accessibility Standards and the WebAIM Section 508 Checklist, the odds are that it will load faster because it’s designed with accessibility features in mind like page readers and text only browsers.
Put Content First: The general order of a web page’s content in loading should be 1) header, 2) content, 3) additional content (comments), 5) sidebar(s), 6) footer, and the last should be ads and other heavy graphic elements. If a visitor has to wait for a heavy graphic element like ads, sidebars, and big images to load before they get to the content, they are very likely to lose patience and leave. Design the underlying architecture to load the content first and the pretty later.
Use a Mobile/Handheld Stylesheet: Include the option for a mobile or handheld stylesheet for your blog design or WordPress Theme. Restrict the visible design elements to the MOST critical information such as content rather than heavy graphics, sidebars, and ads. There are WordPress Plugins to help create a mobile version of your blog such as the new WordPress iPhone Plugin, Mowser WordPress Mobile, WordPress Mobile Edition, Mobilize by Mippin WordPress Plugin, WP-Wap, WordPress PDA & iPhone, WPhone, and iPhone / Mobile Admin.
Reduce, Resize, and Lower the Resolution of Graphics and Images: Do you really need to upload and display an image that can be viewed on IMAX? No! Keep images, even linked images, down to 800 to 1200 pixels wide. Keep file sizes down. Use JPG and PNG files with optimization to further reduce file sizes. Don’t preload images unless absolutely necessary. And don’t hotlink images as that adds more bandwidth to the bandwidth to pull them into the page from multiple cross-server locations.
Avoid Embedding Videos: As Jonathan mentioned in his article, why embed or host video players on your site when a link to download and play the video on whatever player the user has installed on their computer or browser will work just as well. Consider replacing embedding with a thumbnail image wrapped in a link or with a link to download the file in order to play it.
Limit JavaScripts and AJAX: While most of the web today can’t function without JavaScripts and the new AJAX, these scripts are often found in the head of the HTML architecture file, loading before the rest of the page. This can slow down the generation of a page. Consider optimizing all scripts and updating them for fast loading, and add them to the footer when possible to make it the last thing that loads on the page.

The whole world doesn’t run at top bandwidth speeds. While we’re waiting for everyone to catch up, let’s design nice.

Site Search Tags: blog design, wordpress themes, web design, optimization, speed, bandwidth, dial-up, mobile, css, testing, design tests, accessibility, accessibility standards

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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, the author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.

Dashboard - 3 things you really want to know about RSS

2008-09-13T15:56:00.009-07:00

RSS publishing tools

Which is the best RSS feed reader

Using Javascript to display RSS

This post is from the Newsniche website and should not be reproduced elsewhere. Why not subscribe to the RSS feed and get this information delivered straight to your News reader.

Dashboard - HP Exploring Shift to Linux in Order to Bypass Vista, Compete With Apple [Hp]

2008-09-13T15:56:00.007-07:00

HP Exploring Shift to Linux in Order to Bypass Vista, Compete With Apple [Hp]
According to Businesweek, HP has been quietly working on two projects aimed at bypassing unpopular features in Vista and possibly competing with Apple down the line. The first involves developing...

Dashboard - SimplyHired "job search" widget launched Monday

2008-09-13T15:56:00.005-07:00

SimplyHired "job search" widget launched Monday
SimplyHired released a widget on SpringWidgets this Monday (2/5/07) - a SimplyHired "job search" widget!!!!! More will be announced "officially", but wanted everyone that might drop by the blog to know they should go grab the widget and put it on their page or pop it into the desktop launchpad.

http://springwidgets.com/simplyhired

Get this widget!

Widgets - Porn Browser Wars Heat Up, Firefox Goes Incognito, Too [Browsers]

2008-09-13T15:56:00.003-07:00

Porn Browser Wars Heat Up, Firefox Goes Incognito, Too [Browsers]
In a response to Google Chrome's Incognito mode and IE8's InPrivate(s), Firefox beta 3.1 (hitting next month) will have a privacy mode of its own that will "ensure that users can't be tracked when...

Widgets - Tinysoar Zune Video Converter 1.6.1

2008-09-13T15:56:00.001-07:00

A useful program that allows you to convert video files into Zune compatible format A useful program that allows you to convert video files into Zune compatible format (read more) Read More

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Download - Twitter Tweets

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Dashboard - Kinara widget for Kwanzaa is here!

Download - Kinara widget for Kwanzaa is here!

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Dashboard - iRiver Taking Pre-Orders For Retro-Slick Spinn PMP, Shipping October 3rd [Mp3 Players]

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