Google Base now provides an RSS feed for its search results. Every search contains a link to the RSS feed and a feed icon on the top right portion of the page. A search for Pearl Jam is a good example. (via Search Engine Watch) I’m surprised the results are provided in RSS and not Atom, as Google seems to prefer the later. It’s good that Google added the feed icon as well, drawing attention to the link….
Category Archives: Software
MySpace upgrades to Flash 9
MySpace recently required all widgets upgrade to Flash Player 9 (ActionScript 3) and disable internal links.
BloxPress personalized blog sidebars
BloxPress is a theme and template engine for WordPress that allows viewers of your blog to configure their own widget modules in your sidebars. If Bill likes to view the last 10 comments and Jane likes to see your latest Flickr uploads, they can have both at once with their own configuration. Individual user preferences are stored in a cookie and anyone can create their own “blocks” for the system. Check out the demo to see the system in action. It’s too bad the blocks do not seem to interoperate with any other widget definition format. I’m glad Spaces…
Windows Live Feed Platform has a blog
I’ve been working on an online feed syndication platform at Microsoft since late-April, and now the project finally has a blog. I decided to start the conversation by discussing some of the key concepts and ideas behind the project, and some of its planned features. The first post focuses on synchronization, sharing, and portability. Is it possible to develop a product or platform in the open? Partially. I won’t disclose what’s shipping when, or what product will be first up for integration, but I can be open about our approach to some common problems and expose some integration points for…
FeedBurner acquires Blogbeat
Feed statistics and advertising company FeedBurner has acquired web page tracker Blogbeat for an undisclosed sum. Blogbeat is located in Raleigh-Durham, giving FeedBurner a presence on the east (web stats), center (hq), and west (bizdev) in the U.S.. Blogbeat tracks visitors to a web page using a JavaScript placed on each site page. FeedBurner is able to provide similar tracking through its FeedFlare service but had not yet built a front-end allowing publishers to view the data. The acquisition of Blogbeat will allow FeedBurner to offer publishers a more complete view of their site, posts, and subscriptions by tracking…
The Widgetization of the Web
Widgets are taking over the web, small pieces at a time. Big web destinations are opening their templates to custom configurations by users and pre-configurations with special partners. Mix and match your favorite content from around the web on your personal start page from Microsoft, Google, or Netvibes. Share a few live and always updating bits of information in your blog sidebar using widgets on WordPress or TypePad. Small(er) businesses can leverage the huge distributions of users across most of the top web properties. Over half of the top Internet companies for home users currently open up their pages for…
Web 2.0 tag cloud laser etching
Mac geek Dan Lurie took his PowerBook to Squid Labs yesterday for a custom laser-etched cover. Dan designed a tag cloud full of Web 2.0 buzzwords for the world to see. He’ll definitely have fun at the next Web geek gathering. I have a feeling most of the buzzwords will end up a historical blip like so many of the companies in the Monopoly .com edition I have at home. If you’re coming to San Francisco for WWDC start designing your etched covers now! There are a few laser etching shops in the Bay area….
Yahoo and Windows Live exchange messages
Yahoo! and Microsoft’s instant messaging networks are now able to exchange messages between users. A Windows Live Messenger user can IM with their Yahoo! buddies within the Windows Live application and without having a Yahoo! account. Same thing in reverse for Yahoo! users. These initial features are just the beginning of planned interoperability between Yahoo! and Microsoft’s networks. The interoperability should be especially popular in east Asia, where Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger are extremely popular. Desktop clients based on open-source libraries such as Gaim currently provide a single client for text-messaging access to multiple networks today, and the…
Google Sitemaps and Atom 1.0
If your site currently generates an Atom feed for use as a Google Sitemap you may want to hold back upgrading your feed to Atom 1.0. Google Sitemaps currently accepts Atom 0.3 only and will throw errors when it encounters the Atom 1.0 feed….
LiveJournal adds Jabber, XMPP
LiveJournal will soon rollout a Jabber service to connect its over 10 million users and content generated on the service. LiveJournal users can authenticate against the service using their LiveJournal username and password to connect to their online friends and receive real-time alerts on new posts and comments. Users will also be able to post to LiveJournal using a special chat bot. The team plans to federate the service to other networks, allowing interoperability with users on Google Talk and other compatible clients. The new service should be able to support Atom notifications over XMPP. Developers should be able…