Widgetslab

I'm working on...Widgets Lab.com

2006-10-07T07:41:00.000-05:00

I'm now the editor of Widgets Lab.com Stop by and check out the new blog. Widgets Lab is owned by The Blogging Times. If you have ever been to The Blogging Times you would know that it is the premier source of blog news. The Blogging Times is becoming the go to place for all of your blogging needs. So stop by and check us out today.

The Blogging Times
Widgets Lab

Springbox RSS widget

2006-10-05T19:48:00.000-05:00

springbox.com offers a widget engine and they claim it works on the desktop as well as the blog/site.

i've seen it and it looks attractive, especially if you have a dark theme for your blog. it seems as though you will be able to skin it at a later date. right now access is limited to the default skin. (as far as i can tell)

for the blog/site, every widget is an embeddable flash object with some standard customizations you need to make before you copy the script for your blog.

i don't have plans to download the widget engine for the desktop, as i have no interest in desktop widgets at this point. widgets need "more". they need to be more than a fancy distraction from what i love (wandering the swamp)

if, by some offhand chance the program on my machine would allow me to control the widget on my blog (no log in b.s.) then i will consider using it.

but for right now...it's a nice looking, attractive addition to any blog.

springbox (main)
springbox (blog widgets)
live on the edge (download)(win2000/xp only!)

How do I put RSS on my blog?

2006-10-05T19:46:00.000-05:00

RSS/Feeds are all the rage. They have been for awhile. You have decided to put an RSS widget on your blog. You want all of your readers to see what interests you. This is fun!
Until you run into the field that asks you for the "feed URL" Where are you going to find the "feed URL" ? It's not likely to be prominently displayed on the home page of your favorite blog. You will probably find buttons that say "subscribe to my feed" or "RSS" or any number of other things. But this still doesn't help you find the "feed URL" you need for your RSS widget.

There are ways to get the "feed URL"
1. email the webmaster for it (could take days).
2. click on the subscribe/RSS button and hope that the "feedURL" appears in your address bar.
3. download and use a "Feed Reader" then figure out how to add a "feed" then search for the "feed URL"
4. If you are using Firefox browser or a browser with similar RSS capabilities. Firefox lets you know if the blog/site you are currently at, has a feed. There is a small RSS button in the address bar. If you click on this it will ask if you want to" add this feed or some such" and it will ask you where (in Bookmarks) click ok. Now go to this "feed bookmark" right click on it and view the properties. There you will see the "feed URL" right click on the URL, then select all, right click on it again and select copy. Now go to your RSS widget and paste the "feed URL" into the field.
done.

Now you just need add the code to your blogs html.

RSS widgets
Google Reader
Grazr
feedroll
spring box
neomyz
feedo

Feed Readers
Google Reader
Great news
Blog Bridge
search for feed readers

Maps and Weather

2006-10-05T17:31:00.000-05:00

accuweather badge

Yelp.com-Biz ratings on a map

weather bonk widget

Cluster maps

Wayfaring maps

Wikimapia your blog

Put a Weather Sticker on your blog

Miscelaneous widgets

2006-10-05T14:12:00.000-05:00

PopUp Politicians

ODEO

TheSpringBox

Get A BumpBox!

Eventful.com--your events on your site

Amber Alert--ticker

Bitty Browser!(fits on your page!)

Meetup: local events widget

del.icio.us linkrolls

edgeio.com--FREE classifieds widget

Horoscope widget

Upcoming.org-post events on blog

Create a Timeline for your blog

Clocklink.com Cool clocks Free

Chat widgets

2006-10-05T14:11:00.000-05:00

Gabbly chat on blog

Tag-Board chat

GeeSee chat NOT YET OPEN

How to install and use meebo

What is Spinchat?

Humor widgets

2006-10-05T14:09:00.000-05:00

Andertoon on your blog

bLaugh toons for blogs

gapingvoid toon

Joke-a-day box for your sidebar and more

Poll widgets

2006-10-05T14:08:00.000-05:00

Vizu.com Polls *FEATURED*

Freepolls.com

Webpoll central

Neomyz Polls

Pollmonkey--Paid

Go2Poll.com--FREE

Photo badges

2006-10-05T14:06:00.000-05:00

PhotoBucket.com--Photo badges

Flickr Badge

faces--photo badges with mp3

Slide.com--photo badges

Socialize 2.0

2006-10-05T13:40:00.000-05:00

Piczo.com--picture sharing blog

faces.com--music, photo, blog etc...

AnswerBag--Social answers

Join Twitter

web based chat 4 biz

Last.fm--music social

digg.com

talkdigger.com--search+find+join

squirl--talk about what you collect

Zebo--Brag about your stuff

Blog tools

2006-10-05T13:38:00.000-05:00

Synthasite.com--Click-and-Drag site builder(closed BETA)

Centricle-Show HTML in Posts

Generate things for your blog

Sign changer(you'll see)

Logo Generator

Make your own Ad banners

tools for everyday

2006-10-05T13:28:00.001-05:00

Ning--what is it?

eventful.com

Writely (word proc)

Zoho Writer - Online Word Processor

Converticon (Icon conversion ICO to PNG)

Weather underground.com

Google Calendar

Kiko--online calendar

gliffy.com--diagrams

Video hosting sites

2006-10-05T13:11:00.000-05:00

Revver.com--earn cash

motionbox

Metacafe--video sharing w/ embed

blip.tv--

dailymotion.com

Vsocial.com

hellodeo.com

stickam.com

fliqz.com

PiXPO-no upload-share from home

clipshack videos

Google Video

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself

vmix.com

DropShots.com

Grouper

Revver.com--earn cash

Photo hosting sites

2006-10-05T13:08:00.000-05:00

Faces.com photos and music

Slide.com--a better photo badge

BubbleShare blog widget

Flickr.com has blog widgets

ImageShack®

Photobucket has widgets

Zorpia--Photo-Journal-Socialize

Photoblog.com

Free file hosting

2006-10-05T13:07:00.000-05:00

eggdisk.com 6 gig FREE hosting

File Lodge 500 mb Free

File Den 500 mb Free

flipdrive.com

drivehq.com-1GB FREE

Grazr--Another RSS box? Maybe not!

2006-10-05T06:02:00.000-05:00

Grazer.com offers a fully customizable RSS box/reader widget for your blog.

Typical RSS box/readers contain just a list of feeds that you want to display. They mah include some ammount of the post text and a link to the post. Boring!

Grazr, has them beat! Grazr, offers multiple panes to view feed titles, post titles and the post text. There is also an option to expand the window for easier reading. This helps to keep the visitor/reader on your site. We all know how important that is!

Grazr list

Javascript
custom sizing options
Slider, Outline and 3 pane display options
text configurations (font and size)
No color choices
detailed install instructions for popular blog tools
Multiple feeds (ability to display more than one feed)
no registration required
Detailed, easy to use set up

I would say that Grazr puts most other RSS box/readers to shame. However one feature I would really like to see, would be... tie Grazr in with an actual feed reader and allow control of the widget from the feed reader interface.

The mess you see here

2006-10-04T22:25:00.000-05:00

Sorry about the mess. I'm trying to consolidate the mass of links to make things a bit easier to navigate. Please bear with me for the next few days.
Derek

News Headlines widgets

2006-10-04T22:04:00.000-05:00

BBC Headlines box

Reuters Headlines box

Generic Java News ticker

Send2Press Headlines--w/how-to

Unknown News ticker

mp3 for your blog

2006-10-04T21:58:00.000-05:00

Last FM--not mp3 player

faces--mp3/photo widget

streampad-- your tunes anywhere

Opus Music Players

Tunefeed--your playlist-your blog

Your mp3 player

BBC music cube (very beta)

Comments and Tracking

2006-10-04T21:54:00.000-05:00

fast online users--FREE counter

Apollofind.com--FREE counter

Alexa--site widgets

mybloglog--Site tracking Widget

HaloScan--Commenting and Trackback

WhoLinksToMe.com

StatCounter.com - Free Web Counter

Track Backr

Backlinkr.com--Who links to your blog?

Blog buttons

2006-10-04T21:51:00.000-05:00

"Digg This" button

Favorite Thingz blog badge

Cool Text-Logos, Buttons and more

Create your own RSS Buttons Free

i Feed Reader--RSS Buttons

RSS Widgets

2006-10-04T21:40:00.000-05:00

Google Reader with "clips"

http://grazr.com/

Technorati favorites widget

TheSpringBox--RSS headline widget

Feedroll RSS/feed ticker

Neomyz RSS ticker

P3k.org RSS ticker

Feedo Style--RSS ticker

Why Burn?--Some reasons to use FeedBurner

Search widgets

2006-10-04T21:32:00.000-05:00

FreeFind-- site search widget

listible--list widget

Apollofind search box

Answerbag search box

Eurekster Swicki

Rollyo--search box

A9 search box

picosearch--your blog/site

Google--Site flavored search

Dictionary.com search box

Yahoo.com search box

Add Exalead to your website

Yahoo Answers badge

I love this "Moron talk"

2006-10-04T21:01:00.000-05:00

Google Gadgets... a popular topic.

2006-10-04T05:31:00.000-05:00

Today, I received an email from a friend. H. Lindzon
When these emails show up the information within, is always HOT!!! (not stolen)

Today it was Google Gadgets. Cool!
I checked around and found various posts containing reviews and such.
sexy widget here
mashable here
widgify here
did i miss you here

I decided to mix it up a bit. Instead of a generic review I went and created a generic beta Blogger page and tried out five or six of these "gadgets" there. I also couldn't resist posting some observations as well.
Check it out at gadgetryout.blogspot.com

PopUp Politicians

2006-10-03T04:50:00.000-05:00

As November nears, political posting will increase dramatically. PopUp Politicians (from Sunlight labs) offers a web widget that will enhance any political posting.

This simple javascript (one line) will pick out the names of politicians and add a small round Orange button/link to their name.

On mouseover of this button a "PopUp" (which looks like cartoon talking bubble) displays information about that politician including a picture and links to various resources.

Congresspedia page
Campaign Finance Profile
Voting Record

I say if you have political topics on your blog...try it out. It's free. It could be fun.

Sunlight Labs (popup)
Sunlight blog

This is the Google Reader widget

2006-10-02T19:33:00.000-05:00

I just discovered this little feature in Google Reader. Load your Google Reader with your favorite feeds then find your favorite posts from each and share them. Then view shared items for the javascript code to display on your site.
As I share and unshare items in google reader, my items in my clip will change in real time.
I haven't even considered being able to have a multiple source RSS feed widget. I haven't even seen one of these on a blog yet. This is an awesome way to promote your friends blogs or let your readers take a peek at what you like to read.

Look for my "Clip" on the left sidebar.

Javascript code
7 color choices or plain
no size options
custom titles
option to include item source
above option includeslink to the post and a link to the site.

Google Reader
another review at downloadsquad.com
another review at lifehacker.com

Streampad--Quite possibly the best music widget.

2006-10-02T18:35:00.000-05:00

If you like audio, Streampad.com is what you want and where you want to be.

Streampad allows you to collect mp3 streams that are found on the Internet. From single songs to concerts to podcasts. Anything in the mp3 format, you can add to your Streampad.
Streampad is currently working on a way for you to stream your music right from your computer. Right now this is in limited beta. Sign up to get in line.

Streampad also has a widget. You suspected this, or I wouldn't be writing about it. Right? Anyhow, the widget is cleverly hidden on the Streampad blog. This widget will sit on your blog and allow you to play any mp3's found on any URL. This is an attractive widget.

custom sizing
no color options (yet)
javascript or HTML embed(MySpace optimized)
RSS xml page for when someone updates their Streampad player
Share--a direct link to your playlist
back/forward and play/pause buttons
Title your player
Volume control

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. If you find an awesome song or podcast on a blog that has the Streampad widget, you're not stuck on that blog until the audio is over. You can bring it with you!
Yes I said "bring it with you". This really rocks!

Fred Wilson has one.
Sports N Beer has one.
Disruptive Thoughts has one.
The list goes on.

PhotoBucket Widget. more options than Flickr badge

2006-10-01T14:35:00.000-05:00

I wanted to find another photo badge/widget. Displaying your photos on your blog is huge right now and as more people start blogging...you see what I mean. So I figured there had to be other choices than Flickr.

PhotoBucket.com I don't like the registration. Why do they need to know my zip and sex? So far that is my only complaint.
This is a very user friendly service. There was no email validation crap and as soon as I was signed up, I was uploading. They have multiple uploads and you can create folders to sort your pictures into. I uploaded some wall papers (to test size limits) No problem. The upload was very fast as well (Sunday may be a slower traffic day)

The Widget. (this is a flash widget)
After the upload, there were links/buttons to do stuff with your photos. The first one was the widget button(big smiley). There I was presented with four styles of widget to choose from.

Slideshow--zooms in on photo till transition to next.
Collage--Photos are scattered in random pattern. Mouseover brings focus to each photo.
Stamp--Photos are arranged in the order you pic them, in a un bordered square. Each photo is brought forward and paused for 2.5 seconds
Strip-- Photos are displayed in a right to left moving strip. Mouseover pauses the strip.

Once you create your Widget and save it you can create another one. You have a "widget page" where all of your created widgets reside. Here you can grab the code to place the widget into your blog. You also can get a url for each widget. (for email or IM)

I plan on placing a Photobucket widget in this post along with a static screen shot. I like the ease of this entire process. Except for that damn sex/ZIP thing. WTF?

PhotoBucket.com (main)
Click to see my other PhotoBucket widget

Looking for weather? Try out Weather Bonk: revisited

2006-09-30T18:19:00.000-05:00

Weather Bonk is a very easy to use site. It details current and forecast weather around the globe. Bonk uses the very easy to use Google maps(by default). This allows you to zoom in to your location, use satelite view if you wish or a combination of satelite and map. You can access U.S. radar as well. Surface temp readings and current wind conditions are available as well. There are options for choosing the weather service that you want also.
I would say this is a kick-ass site to visit if you care at all about the weather.

Now the best part:
All of this can be put on your blog...FREE! And the settings for the Bonk widget are just what you want. You can select the height and width, the weather services, the locations, if you want wind data displayed, units of measure, type of view (map, satelite etc...) and the map service (Google, MSN or Yahoo) This type of customization ROCKS!!! I say visit Weather Bonk today to get your very own "Bonk Widget"

Adding Flickr Badge to your blog: revisited

2006-09-30T15:05:00.000-05:00

Flickr Badge is one of the most popular photo widgets out there. For good reason. It works! The layout and set-up are easy to understand. You just have to decide between the flash badge(animated) or the HTML badge and of course what pictures to display.

The hardest part of the Flickr badge is locating it on the flickr site. Nothing that I could see on Flickr jumped out and said "click here for Flickr Badge" so I will include a link to the Flickr Badge page here. (log into Flicker before you click here)

Flickr Badge

Once you have created your badge and copied your code you need to log into your blog editor then go to your template and find a good spot to put in the code. I don't think the code comes centered so you may have to put the code in some open and closed center tags if you want it centered that is.
<> code here

That should do it for the Flickr Badge.
If you have any questions...leave a comment or send me an email.

Flickr Badge
Flickr (main)
Flickr forum post with mods for the badge

Last FM Show off the music you like as you listen to it

2006-09-30T12:16:00.000-05:00

Last FM has a web widget that shows off the music tracks that you are currently listening to. There is a download and installation to read the track titles etc. It installed painlessly, asked what music player I used and was done. I had to tell my firewall it was ok. I did notice that they have covered just about every OS. So you can use it also.

The web widget is really what we are concerned with here. First you get to select the type of display. Whether you want recent tracks, weekly track list, weekly artist list etc... Then You get to pick the appearance. There are hundereds to choose from or, GET THIS, you can make your own. You can include a photo for a background, change the colors etc... This is cool! Most widgets allow some customization to the size and color, maybe text as well. But this is a step above.

As I write this, Aerosmith: No more No more live is playing and Last FM is "Scrobbling" it(sounds like a sex term) so it will display in the widget you will find in the left sidebar.
This is a fun widget if people can listen to the tracks that I am listening to. (if they want) I did notice that if you click on the widget it brings you to my Last FM page where you can see the tracks I have listened to. There you have the option to listen to, trade for or purchase each track or the entire CD. (from Amazon) I would assume this is how Last FM pays the bills and I think it's a sweet idea.

Last FM (main)
deralaand's "Last FM user page"

netWeather2.0 by Accuweather

2006-09-29T20:58:00.000-05:00

First of all, I like the name, Accuweather. The weather forecasts are hardly accurate. Everything is partly this or a chance of that. But I do like this widget. It loads pretty fast and it looks good. There are about six different sizes to choose from, including one that is optimized for MySpace and eight colors to choose from. Unfortunately you aren't allowed to customize the colors or sizes further.
Depending on the size widget that you choose, you will see current conditions, temp, radar, and five to fifteen day forecasts. Some of the links on the widget take you to larger radar images as well as animations. There is also a video link that takes you to Accuweather.com Videos. This is a collection of weather related news stories. Including breaking news about hurricanes.

I would definitely recommend this widget to anyone that wants a weather widget for their blog.
I discovered this widget on The Blogging Times
Accuweather widget page
Accuweather.com (main)

Yelp! Be a critic

2006-09-29T05:14:00.000-05:00

Yelp! allows you to be a critic. This is something everyone should be good at, unless you don't have an opinion about anything, in which case you may be dead.(check with your doctor)
You can review any type of business that you patronize. From convenience stores to laundramats. It's your opinion, share it.
I went through the process of setting up an account and email verification. This was pretty much standard procedure. My ultimate goal, obviously, was to get the badge/widget(customizable) to display for this review.
From other Yelp! widgets that I have seen on other sites, it helps to have more than one review. It also helps if you know the address and phone number for the place you are reviewing. Yelp! does perform a search for the business, looking for that info, but...
Another factor in populating your map with businesses...live somewhere other than the retail wasteland I live in.
Yelp! Is a must have widget if you live to tell others your opinion!

Click here to see my Yelp! page.
Click here to go to Yelp! (main)
Click here to see another Yelp! user Howard Lindzon

Rate it all: Create a list and and readers rate it

2006-09-28T22:02:00.000-05:00

Rate it All.com (of course) Allows users to create lists of whatever you want. These lists are then coupled with the old five star rating system. I'm sure I don't need to explain that.
There are plenty of other options that come with these lists. Like email notification or follow the list with an RSS feed. The lists can be added to MyYahoo or you can share it with a friend etc...
Anyhow, your new list has a choice of two codes, java/script or static html. Either one should work with the major blogging platforms. The java being preferred because it updates regularly.
I think rated lists are a great way to find out what your readers like or what they may want to see you work on.
I am considering adding one of these list widgets in the future. For now you'll just have to deal with the one I stick in the post.

Most Annoying Things on the Internet (5=most annoying) - View All
	Pop Up Ads (50)
	E-mails advertising ways to increase bust size/penis size (36)
	Viruses/Worms (31)
	"Phishing" (4)
	E-mail chain letters (25)
	"SpyWare" (15)
	SPAM (general) (23)
	Porn SPAM (e-mail) (23)
	Slow-loading websites (20)
	Flash Ads (2)
	Cookies (1)
	Computer Freezing (14)
	Bad/ "Broken" Links (16)
	AOL (in general) (26)
	Sites which require extra downloads for viewing (.pdf files, Flash, etc.) (10)
	Chat rooms (21)
	Frequent Disconnections (10)
	Outdated Websites (6)
RateItAll.com - A network for opinionated individuals.

BBC music cube

2006-09-27T23:02:00.000-05:00

**CAUTION This post and the widget contained are slow, very slow! CAUTION**

I was told about this widget from David Holmes. Now this is an interesting widget. It allows you to pick your favorite music from general categories that break down further to sub categories. As you pick out your music tastes, these colored boxes that represent each particular genre, stack on one another to form your music tower. I am assuming that the music tower is then displayed on your blog, allowing your readers to view and listen to the type of music that you appreciate. All played from Internet radio.

However the first thing I noticed is the site is very slow( could be time of day) go pour a drink, pop some popcorn, kiss your partner. When you get back the site will almost be done loading. Most people wil leave the site long before this. But I hung in there to see what happens. You do not need to register to use this service, which is a plus. But you don't get to pick individual songs either. Again, you decide. Here have a look.

Thank you David for the heads up

I have changed my mind and took out the widget. It's to glitchy. It locked up Firefox three times and gave Blogger fits. So all you will see here is a screenshot and I'll post a link to the site.
Visit the link at your own risk **VERY SLOW**

BBC music cube

If you like Google, here's a widget

2006-09-27T13:53:00.000-05:00

Google search widget. It allows your readers to search google from your blog and they recieve the results right in the widget. They don't have to leave your site to get the search results. Sweet!
Their are 6 pages of skins for this widget. So I'm sure you may be able to find one that fits you and your blog.

This widget comes from MuseStorm.com

Travelocity.com widget

2006-09-27T13:46:00.000-05:00

I figured I had better give equal billing. Here is a Travelocity.com widget. Again it looks good and has the basic fields for locating the flight, car rental or hotel that you are looking for. From the widget your users will be sent to the Travelocity.com website for futher information on ther travel plans. This widget may serve to remind a blog reader to make those arrangements or to start planning a trip. Either way the widget would be a nice addition to any blog that has anything to do with vacations or travel.

This widget comes from LabPixies.com/travelocity

Priceline.com widget

2006-09-27T13:28:00.000-05:00

Here is a Priceline.com widget from a third party. It looks cool and seems to function fairly well. I am not much of a traveler, so I may not have much use for something like this, but I thought it was cool so I added it.
It is in an iframe format widget. So if iframe doesn't work with your blog host, don't use it. This widget comes LabPixies.com/priceline

Blufr a fun widget

2006-09-25T21:36:00.000-05:00

Blufr--powered by Answers.com is a fun Widget. The widget comes in three sizes, but I think it is designed to fit wherever you put it. This is a trivia Widget. Yes or no questions are asked. You select an answer and you are sent to the Blufr site for the answer. Once there you can keep playing to attain a high score or email a Bluf to your friends or sign up for a "Bluf a day" in your email. So much for getting any work done.

Hand rolled logo

2006-09-23T22:51:00.000-05:00

My 13 yr. old daughter created a different logo for Widgetslab. I asked her older brother if he would like to create it, but I found out that he was currently grounded from the computer. I just wanted to share.

Faces.com Popular

2006-09-23T13:50:00.000-05:00

Faces.com has very cool widgets for your blog. (it made 4 categories on this blog) They offer an embeddable display for your photos. They also integrate TuneFeed player into their whole "Mashup". The mp3 player is also embeddable in a website.
Faces.com is a socializing site where you can browse other users, rate their photos and playlists. You can embed any users photos or playlists in your blog if you wish.

Faces.com (main)
TuneFeed (main)
Faces post by Mashable
Faces post bt Techcrunch

Logo

2006-09-23T09:50:00.000-05:00

Logo

again

2006-09-23T08:39:00.000-05:00

again