12 posts tagged “widget”

So MySpace won't let you post your Photobucket videos and remixes anymore.  That's no fun.  While Photobucket has formally acknowledged that some of their services have been blocked from use on MySpace, the social networking giant has not said anything regarding the matter quite yet. 

We're all sitting on the edge of our seats awaiting a reason for blocking Photobucket videos and remixes.  Why not block everything, photos and all? Does MySpace admit that blocking photos as well would really piss off their users? Or do they just not care?  Photobucket seems to know that MySpace could become a pretty dull place without their slideshows, and since the rise of this whole online video thing, MySpace has been pretty sensitive about who gets to show clips.

Arrington aroused speculation that MySpace, notorious for cutting off widget makers, is taking a preemptive strike against Photobucket in the event that they be bought by a rival. Wouldn't that be a replay of the GooTube drama?  Or maybe MySpace has some new video remixing widget player they'll be releasing tomorrow, via SpringWidgets?

No? Well, whatever the case may be, I'm sure we'll hear from MySpace sooner or later, and they'll say that there was some technical/secuirity/whatever issue with Photobucket's video and remix widget player.  I refuse to believe that MySpace doesn't have some line of communication with a good portion of widget makers out there.  Especially the big ones, like Photobucket.  Jay's got some pretty interesting thoughts regarding the MySpace widget existence, so be sure to look out for that soon. 

And yes, MySpace is abandoning their roots, and their users are upset.  But the users keep on coming! MySpace has yet to fall from grace when it comes to the public at large. And when you're that big, you tend to do whatever you want until you actually can't get away with it anymore.  Taking away so many key privileges for users, though, is heading in the wrong direction.

ZenZui, launched today, is a Microsoft-backed product for mobile phones that lets you browse the web better through their widgets.  These widgets (36, so far), are pre-determined and sponsored by a variety of companies, including epicurious, Zillow, and Traffic.com.  Meaning, ZenZui is really a better way to browse their web with their widgets.  It's another sneaky way to circumvent at least some of the overlords of the mobile world, but will this ad-based, limited model work for Microsoft and ZenZui?

Getting more companies to sponsor their own widgets probably won't be hard.  Businesses are clamoring to get the best marketing strategy possible for the mobile realm.  What better way than to sponsor a ZenZui widget?  It's branded, highly specialized, works across many platforms, and incentivizes the end user by subsidizing their browsing costs.

But how will the consumer really feel about it?  We early adopters may or may not like it.  We may marvel at the design but scratch our heads at the short-term goal of ZenZui.  But the consumer will probably eat it up.  They've been locked in on so many fronts when it comes to mobile options; from ring tones to wallpapers, the average person will most likely love all that ZenZui has to offer. 

Most websites have yet to be optimized for mobile use anyway, and the cost of using the internet via your mobile phone is very costly.  So offering services that help you find a recipe while you're at the grocery store, or help you navigate through traffic during your evening commute could prove to be valuable for users.

Long term, consumers will eventually want more options.  If ZenZui can't find a way to maximize the number of widgets they offer, they could be in trouble.  Just like with traditional models for music distribution and news dissemination, people will eventually stop listening to the experts and want to find more on their own.

If you're a twitter fan, you may have noticed that the feed over-loader is running a bit slow today.  Yah.  Even slower than yesterday.  We'll safely assume that it's because of all the great traffic they've gotten lately, and hope it's just one of those "good" problems to have.

In the event that you'd like to find a great alternative to the Twitterific website, check out Jaiku.

Very similar in function to Twitter, but they've incorporated more of a community and additional customization features.  Jaiku is also more intuitive when it comes to interacting with others on the site, seeing what users are up to, and adding multiple feeds outside of those you've added from Jaiku members.

If you just need more ways to jack up your cell phone bill, try WidSets.

They let you add a pre-formated widget to your cell phone, or create one of your own.  WidSets offers a handy way of keeping up with the big blogs, and your friend's too.  Other widgets included are for Flikr, eBay Wikipedia and the BBC.

Nevertheless, once Twitter gets back into the swing of things, be sure to check out some of my favorite Twitterers:

Mashable
CenterNetworks
Rex

Google's new frontpage gadget lets you watch MTV content.  This gadget, one of thousands provided for your frontpage, brings in all kinds of tv programming that's been provided by networks' broadband channels. 

So if you'd like to consider this a loophole for Viacom's persistently upset stance on Google playing their content, go right ahead.  But I can't imagine that this is much different than finding search results for Viacom--or even video search results for that matter.  The content isn't pirated (it shouldn't be, at lease).  As a matter of fact, the way in which you can watch MTV using Google's gadget feed  is probably what Viacom would prefer over the pirated content that has made YouTube what it is today. Legality.  That's all that Viacom wants, right? And maybe some revenue kickback. 

At any rate, many are speculating that this new Google gadget will increase the strain on the relationship between Google and Viacom.  And maybe it will. It's still easy to find those pirated YouTube clips with a quick search on Google Video, but I guess all that really will have to be worked out in the courtroom. Could Viacom get all that upset about the RSS feed on Google?  Would they, in turn, get mad at all the other companies that are allowing users to make their own program line-ups based on content provided through these feeds?

Below is an interview with BlastMyMusic founder Chris Fellure.

There's a lot of activity surrounding music culture, distribution and  selling online.  How did you get into the market?

I’ve been a concert promoter, band manager, and venue owner for the last 9 years, so I’ve been very familiar with artists and how they make a living (and why the are not actually making a living).  I signed a band to EMI and realized that they weren’t going to see any money from their records sales for several years, if ever.  Then one day my girlfriend, Kristina, had an idea that I realized was the answer to the problem of artists not making money from their music.  Fourteen months later, that idea is now BlastMyMusic.com

Are you a music artist as well? 

No, I realized early on that my talent is not in making music, but in selling it. 
 
How does BlastMyMusic work? How do artists get paid and how do you get paid? 

BlastMyMusic is a very simple, easy to use service.  An artist creates an account for free (there are no fees for artists to use our service, ever).  They upload their music.  Then they place the MusicBlaster on their websites.  When their fans purchase music, we pay the artist 65% of the gross sale price (as opposed to other companies who pay artists net after “expenses”).  BlastMyMusic uses the remaining 35% to cover transaction fees and administrative costs.  All songs are tracked geographically in real time in the artist stats section so the artist will know where their songs are selling and can plan tours more effectively.  Funds are available to the artist immediately after a 30-day verification process. 

What other tools do you offer the artists? 

Aside from the stats section that tracks sales geographically and in terms of popularity, etc…we also have a promotions page with tools available to the artist.  If an artist is releasing a new record exclusively through BlastMyMusic, we can also run a feature on that artist.

       
In terms of tracking sales (regional data, etc), do you think you'll  ever allow that information to be public in the sense that artists would be able to compare themselves to others in their industry? 

That information is extremely valuable to the artist, and should only be viewed by those who that artist deems necessary.  If an artist wants to share their information, they are free to do so, but we currently do not have plans to make it available to the public.  (if we start to get requests from artists wanting that information publicized, we can introduce that functionality) 
 
It looks like you're sort of covering two ends of the music  distribution spectrum here; music can be bought and sold on your website, or sellers can export your service to their website.  How are you going about being a destination site as well as providing a plug-in for users? 

     
At this point in our marketing endeavors, we are not focusing on being a destination site.  We want the destination site to be the artists website.  They are our greatest advertising outlets, and we want fans to feel like they are directly supporting their favorite artists, because they are.  In the future, we may begin marketing the option to buy music from our site, but our primary focus will always be driving fans to the artist sites. 
 
In terms of your success as a business, which do you think will be  more important; being a destination site, or providing a mobile plug-in for sellers to export onto other websites? 

As we continue to grow and expand, there will be opportunities that involve using our site as a destination, but they will not interfere with our primary focus of driving traffic to the artists site.  
 How does your widget work? 

     
An artist arranges their catalog (albums, songs, etc…), features any music they want to feature, then copies the code from the MusicBlaster section in their artist account into their websites.  Any changes they make to the MusicBlaster in their account automatically shows up in all the websites incorporating the MusicBlaster as soon as they save those changes.
 
How do you protect the artists selling music, as well as ensure that  copyrighted material isn't being sold by users? 

     
If an artist or label attempts to sell music they do not have permission to sell, any profit they earn can be taken by the owners of that music, and the artist or label attempting to sell it will be subject to legal action. 

     
Right now we are focusing on digital music, but those options are on the table.

  PicksPal, the social network for showing off your sports knowledge, has launched their March Maddness site today.  It's a free NCAA bracket for users.  Top users don't win cash, but they do win prizes.  PicksPal also provides a widget for you to show off on your blog or favorite social networking site. 

With March Maddness being as popular as it is, PicksPal will be able to take advantage of one of the most social activities surrounding sports.  They are offering a very social component to it's online rendering, as their widget will replace the big charts in dormitory hallways and men become mysteriously unproductive at work for the coming weeks.  They turn their users into experts, and have a very good track record to prove that their users know what they're talking about. 

PicksPal is a pretty great way to enjoy the fun of betting online without the current legal woes surrounding online betting services. 

Photobucket is supposedly set to announce their partnership with PumpAudio, a music licenser service, in order to offer music to be included in Photobucket's new media mixing features. The mix capabilities are powered by Adobe, which is posing itself to really allow widgets to power to the next level in terms of creative license, image faculties, sharing capabilities, and overall aesthetics.

This is all very important, as the realm of widget-ry will get incredibly competitive in the year 2007. The look and functionality of widgets will be ruthlessly judged by the consumer base, and those with the most desktop and mobile phone compatibility will probably overrule most others.

So if I can add music to my Photobucket slideshow now, will that interfere with the music that's already annoyingly playing on my profile?

AuctionAds has launched their eBay auction widget for people to put on their site to display eBay items for sale that match their chosen keywords.  It's an affiliate program intended to incentivize the bloggers site owners of the world by paying them a dividend of ad-revenue.  They will get 100% initially, but that's just for eBay to get the ball rolling.  It's a tactic used by almost all of the well-backed companies looking to kick-start their latest campaign.

At this point, it will be interesting to see how well the Auction Ads is received in the community at large.  Affiliate and Google advertising methods have left us all a bit disillusioned.  Only those who really know what they're doing and how the system works have been able to make a decent profit from these advertising methods, unless you've warrented enough traffic to not have to worry so much about beating the system. 

Still, the idea of creating this type of widget is a good one.  It's far more engaging than text ads, and typically proves more relevant to the end user as well.  It would be much cooler, though, if it streamed ongoing eBay auctions instead of displaying a limited number at a time.

Wisheus is a service that allows you to create your wishlist and share it with others.  My favorite aspect of Wisheus is their widget that becomes a fun little add-on to your personal blog or profile pages across various social networks.  You can create a wish list and a have list, and it becomes a subtle way of letting others know what you want.  Wisheus has great potential as a feature, especially when users find creative ways to incorporate it into their lives, such as for wedding or graduation gifts.  I wish it had been around when I was a kid, vigorously (and I mean vigorously) sifting through newspaper ads, catalogs and tv commercials making my Christmas list each year!

 I recently got a chance to catch up with Leon (Chee Kit) Leong, co-developer of Wisheus.

 How did you come up with the idea for Wisheus?

There are a couple of scenarios where we wanted to buy a present for our friends but were awkward to ask them what they really liked as we meant it as a surprise. A social wish list service which becomes a subtle self-expression on the web via physical items seems like what may work. On the other hand, a small population of bloggers are posting their wish lists on their blogs. This somewhat rhymes with the innate need of self-expression in this sense. Therefore, we thought that it may a good idea to start Wisheus which is a social wish list engine.

How do users go about collecting items for their wishlist?  Is this a bookmarking tool of some sort?

Wisheus is not a bookmarking tool. At present, we’re giving users the total freedom to add any items that they are wishing for [or possess] manually. However, what we have, in the pipeline, is a means which allows users to dynamically add items with keyword(s). Wisheus would then automatically gather the relevant information and images pertaining to the item to save the user the hassle.