There’s a lot of buzz about AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML); but what’s at the center is JavaScript. JavaScript is the world’s most popular programming language. It looks like Java but its much more flexible and works inside the browser. Here’s a few JavaScript leaders to watch.
“Get the Katie Gadget on your personalized homepage”… I’m not sure that statement would have much meaning a few years ago. As Web 2.0 goes mainstream marketers are finding clever ways to leverage Web 2.0 concepts such as consumer generated media, widgets and communities into online advertising. 
The CBS Power of 10 Web site today featured and ad from CBS Evening News for the Katie Gadget for your iGoogle start page. This is a good indicator that having widgets and start pages is being seen as more mainstream. Ironically Katie reports on how Internet addiction affects 10% of the population.
Facebook is the second most popular social network next to MySpace. Since Facebook released it’s api its quickly evolved into a software platform and developers are building businesses around it. In just 10 weeks, hundreds of developers launched more than 2,500 new applications, triggering 139 million downloads.
Read the full Business 2.0 article “The Facebook Economy”.
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!
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.
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
Meebo just released a cool new feature called meebo rooms. Sandy from Meebo calls it “chat rooms on steroids”. Meebo rooms have a built in feature that enables you to create a room, add it to you buddylist (to receive notifications even when you’re not in the room), you can even embed the room on your personal profiles and websites, just like meebo me!
A very cool feature of meebo rooms - unlike the traditional chat rooms is media. Meebo has partnered with media outlets to provide a player component in the room so you can enjoy videos while chatting. Partners include Blip.tv, Capitol Music Group’s Capitol Records , Virgin Records, CNET, CollegeHumor, Flixster, GameTrailers.com, Jive Records, NBC Universal, Pop Sugar, Popular Mechanics, RockYou, Veoh, Us Weekly’s Us TV, and VIBE Magazine.
Meebo has integrated some unobtrusive video advertisements and a sign-off ad into the rooms - I was wondering if they’d ever find a way to generate revenue.
An early pioneer in interactive media, Dean Whitney is a Web 2.0 and Social media technology evangelist. Start-up veteran, President of Garfield Group Interactive a Boston-based digital agency.
