"comScore Widget Metrix" Service Flawed
Posted on 11. Jul, 2007 by Dean Whitney in archive and has 0 Comments
comScore today announced the launch of comScore Widget Metrix, a new service to track the usage of widgets across the Web. comScore currently tracks Web widgets, which are data files that can be embedded into a site’s HTML code and are typically displayed in a small viewing pane on the site. They are most often used to display customized or personalized content on a Web site, such as to share photos or music recommendations, and are commonly found on blogs, social networking sites and other personalized pages.
The problem is that comScore defines widgets as embedded flash (.swf) objects. This does not include HTML and desktop widgets. Sites like Yourminis, Widgetbox, Pageflakes etc. are predominantly html based widgets and even include widget tools that allow you to build your own widgets from rss content.
With that in mind its clear that Web widgets represent a huge market opportunity – the Flash widgets alone reach over 117 million people!
Clicktale – A new kind of web analytics
Posted on 02. Jul, 2007 by Dean Whitney in archive and has 0 Comments
Most statistic services, whether user centric (eg NielsenNetRatings) network centric (eg HitWise) or site centric (eg Omniture ), will generate statistical reports on page views, click paths, links, time spent, visitors profile and referrers and other parameters. Some solutions like Google Analytics provide “heat maps” of most watched or clicked areas. But aside from setting up an expensive usability lab study no service allows you to see precisely what goes on when someone visits your site.
Clicktale is a new service that allow you to record a website visitors’ every action as they browse your website. Watch movies to understand visitor behavior, gain valuable insights and improve your website’s usability.
(click to enlarge)
In addition to movies, ClickTale provides a unique set of statistics that address important usability questions. For example, the “Percent of Page Viewed” statistic can answer “how much of the webpage did users see and how often did they scroll to the webpage’s bottom?” and the “Active Browsing Time” statistic can answer “how long did users actively browse a webpage, as opposed to just having an open inactive browser?”
ClickTale is easy to set up and amazingly useful. The web page script that it uses is unobtrusive and has a minimal impact on the client side processor. They have a number of plan options ranging from a free version to a $99 per month professional plan.
Brilliant New TED Conference Website
Posted on 29. Jun, 2007 by Dean Whitney in archive and has 0 Comments
The TED organization (TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design) runs an invitation-only conference every year for the famous, brilliant and well connected. I’ve been on the waiting list for a few years. Last I subscribed (iTunes Link) to the TED conference video podcasts and have been enjoying the 20 minute presentations each morning on the tread mill. The conferences have featured such an amazing array of speakers; Bill Clinton, Bono, Rick Warren and many authors, designers, business leaders etc. In April TED launched a new, brilliantly designed website with amazing content.
Here’s some highlights:
- Aubrey de Grey, British researcher on aging, claims he has drawn a roadmap to defeat biological aging.
- Hans Rosling: Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you’ve ever seen
- Malcolm Gladwell: What we can learn from spaghetti sauce
The site is a great example of using both Flash and browser technology to create a rich experience. The home page features a brilliant Flash based navigation element that allows you to select your view either by visualization or list and drill down by theme. In visualization mode the view presents images that represent topics, as you roll over the images a flyout panel provides a description and list of videos. By default the thumbnail sizes are determined by the most recently updated. You can change that view to size up by ‘ most talks’, ‘ most emailed’, or ‘ most discussed’. As you adjust the visualization the view animates to the new settings.
Once you click down to the video level this page displays a full description of the talk and speaker, and all the social computing features to embed the video, share, email etc.
*Click the images to enlarge
The video player provides a chapter navigation on the scrub bar.
The ratings tool is also quite unique providing the ability to quickly checkbox tags and rate the video which then displays a tag cloud.
Visit TED.com for some inspiration!
Twit This
Posted on 14. Jun, 2007 by Dean Whitney in archive and has 0 Comments
TwitThis is a Twitter add-on now available for microblogging site Twitter. The browser booklet add-on allows you to send post the page you are viewing to your Twitter account. There’s also a “TwitThis” button you can put on your personal page or website so that readers can automatically Twitt your page. Of course there’s a handy WordPress plug-in so that you can automatically include the TwitThis link on each of your blog posts. 
TwitThis is a mashup that utilizes the Twitter API and TinyURL, a service that creates a short version redirect of any URL, so your Twitter tweet doesn’t have to be seven lines long. Twitter has grown a strong following of developers and a long list of tools and mashups.
Useful Web 2.0 Technology Acronyms
Posted on 31. May, 2007 by Dean Whitney in archive and has 0 Comments
- AJAX: Asynchronous JavaScript and XML
- API: Application Programming Interface
- JSON: JavaScript Object Notation
- LAMP: Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP
- REST: Representational State Transfer
- RSS: Really Simple Syndication
- SOAP: Simple Object Access Protocol
- XACML: eXtensible Access Control Markup Language
- XFN: XHTML Friends Network
- XHTML: eXtensible HyperText Markup Language
- XML: eXtensible Markup Language
Microsoft Surface
Posted on 31. May, 2007 by Dean Whitney in archive and has 0 Comments
Jeff Han presented his Multi-Touch sensing work at the TED Conference 2006 and it looks like Microsoft has turned it into a product. At the D: All Things Digital conference Wednesday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled Microsoft Surface, the first in a new category of surface computing products from Microsoft that will “break down traditional barriers between people and technology”.
A Surface computer is able to recognize physical objects from a paintbrush to a cell phone and allows hands-on, direct control of content such as photos, music and maps. Surface turns an ordinary tabletop into a dynamic surface that provides interaction with all forms of digital content through natural gestures, touch and physical objects.
Microformats
Posted on 29. May, 2007 by Dean Whitney in archive and has 0 Comments
A new brand of standards are appearing called microformats. Some examples include: Votelinks, NoFollow, hCard, hCalendar, podcasting, blogchalking, xfn, RelLicense, RelTag xFolk, and online news. Microformats.org provides the following overview of microformats.
About Microformats
Designed for humans first and machines second, microformats are a set of simple, open data formats built upon existing and widely adopted standards. Instead of throwing away what works today, microformats intend to solve simpler problems first by adapting to current behaviors and usage patterns (e.g. XHTML, blogging).
Sudoku 2.0
Posted on 23. May, 2007 by Dean Whitney in archive and has 0 Comments
I found this cool Sodoku widget from Sudoku Park on Widgetbox. You can play billions (so they say) of Sudoku puzzles online from easy to evil and its all free. Sudoku solver, print sudoku ebook. also supplies Sudoku puzzles for newspapers, magazines, Sudoku books and websites.
For full features visit http://www.sudokupark.com
The Break Up
Posted on 22. May, 2007 by Dean Whitney in archive and has 0 Comments
A colleague pointed out to me (thanks Sean!) this brilliant web vignette from Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions in Europe. This makes a brilliant statement about the evolution of marketing in general but is also a brilliant lesson in Web 2.0. Bravo!
Micro-Loans 2.0
Posted on 21. May, 2007 by Dean Whitney in archive and has 0 Comments
Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize for his Grameen Bank for pioneering a new category of banking known as micro-credit, which grants small loans to poor people who have no collateral and who do not qualify for conventional bank loans.
The program has enabled millions of Bangladeshis, almost all women, to buy everything from cows to cell phones in order to start and run their own businesses. Similar micro-credit projects have helped millions around the world lift themselves out of poverty.
Based on that principle Kiva.org, a social lending site, lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can “sponsor a business” and help the world’s working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you’ve sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back.
Featured
Social Bookmarks