widgetbox

Widgetbox introduces integration with Confluence

Widgetbox is making its widgets compatible with Confluence, a business wiki product from Atlassian.

Widgetbox widgets "componentize" applications and Web sites, making them portable and transferable across any Web site. To date, the focus has been on consumers, but the integration with a clear enterprise business product like Confluence is a good step behind the firewall. The company also recently introduced Blidgets, which take any feed and turn it into a widget.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the Confluence wiki and Atlassian's bug-tracking tool, Jira, they provide free versions to open-source projects and … Read more

Widgetbox turns on 'Blog Network'

Widgetbox is one of many companies that jumped on the widget bandwagon, and now it's jumping on the ad network bandwagon.

So far, the company has 135,000 embeddable objects and 64 million monthly consumers of its widgets, which live on blogs, social-networking sites, and other Web destinations. The most popular widgets are "The Fun Classic Super Mario Game In Flash," BabyTicker: The Baby Countdown Pregnancy Ticker," "Cyber-pet," "Bubbles," and "Idiot Test."

While Widgetbox claims 462 million widget views in a month across 500,000 discrete domains, the big numbers … Read more

Widgetbox launches portable widget directory for iPhone users

One of Apple's biggest blunders in creating its own directory of iPhone Web apps was to make the site suited for desktop users instead of people on the portable handset.

While the company has since made it easy for people to bookmark Web apps onto their home screens by adding a quick link from inside of Safari Mobile, the "official" directory of Web apps continues to be unapproachable for iPhone users unless they're on a speedy Wi-Fi connection. Widget directory Widgetbox has come up with its own solution and launched a directory of iPhone-friendly widgets that … Read more

Widgetbox's App Accelerator gets more Facebook-friendly

Just over a month after releasing Widgetbox's App Accelerator, a shortcut for turning blogs and other Widgetbox widgets into Facebook apps (review), Widgetbox announced an upgrade that enmeshes its apps more completely into Facebook profiles.

According to Widgetbox, creating a functional Flash widget that lives in and operates from the user's profile page was the top developer request. It was mine, too. I wrote that:

"Most Facebook applications launch in a separate window when you click them, taking interaction off the user's profile page (the Facebook-developed Wall is a notable exception). It is therefore tragironic that … Read more

Widget developers: Put your apps on Facebook

OK, this is a stretch, but we know that CNET Download.com users like to post their work to Facebook too.

That's why, even though Widgetbox's new online tool to publish widgets to Facebook isn't strictly the stuff of downloads, we're bringing you this hands-on review.

Widgetbox's (blandly named) App Accelerator is a step-by-step guide and tool for creating Facebook applications from Widgetbox widgets. Yet it shrewdly connects the community developers of Widgetbox's widget marketplace (this could be you) with Facebook's burgeoning user community. Talk about viral marketing.

The conversion works by adapting Widgetbox's Flash and HTML/JavaScript code for Facebook compatibility. There's a lot of link-swapping involved, and much of App Accelerator's ease-of-use can be attributed to Widgetbox's assumption of several routing URLs.… Read more

Widgetbox's App Accelerator turns widgets into Facebook apps

Widgetbox today announced App Accelerator, a step-by-step guide and tool for creating Facebook applications from Widgetbox widgets. The blandly named App Accelerator shrewdly connects the community developers of Widgetbox's widget marketplace with Facebook's burgeoning user community. Talk about viral marketing.

Widgetbox has done its usability homework in creating a friendly, check-listed step-by-step guide that walks users through what might otherwise be a confusing process. Still, I ran into some problems using App Accelerator, including some URL pasting mistakes that rendered my new application useless and significantly delayed this review. This is something I hope Widgetbox and Facebook will both limit in the future with appropriate error sensing and alerts.

Since the proprietary service only converts Widgetbox widgets, I needed to begin by registering and building a widget. I used Widgetbox's Blidget tool (read Webware review) to create a widget of "my" blog (I used Webware.com, of course.)

Next I needed to register as a Facebook developer; easily done through Widgetbox's prominent link. After converting the blog into a widget, I was offered the opportunity to "promote" it on Facebook. Don't be fooled; this isn't App Accelerator's work. Rather, it crashed my Firefox browser, then posted an image of my blidget to my Facebook mini feed, as a video.… Read more

iTunes widgets coming from Widgetbox

Interestingly enough, those My iTunes widgets that popped up last week have a new distribution partner in the form of Widgetbox. While the widgets you'll find at Widgetbox's site are the identical to the standalone Apple widget builder you get sent to via the iTunes music store, Widgetbox also has their own widget called MixIt that will let you share your iTunes iMix on blogs and Web sites.

If you're unfamiliar with the iMix feature, it lets you publish any regular iTunes playlist to the iTunes music store for others to view, rate, and (hopefully) purchase. A … Read more

Widgipedia: Wikipedia for widgets?

There are a lot of widgets out there. So many, in fact, that sorting through them can be absolutely daunting. Joining the fray of sites that attempt to solve this problem is Widgipedia, a site that catalogs and hosts widgets, both Web-based and downloads. We've covered competitor Widgetbox several times, and the two sites are quite similar. Where Widgipedia differs is in mixing up widgets that run on different platforms: those that run right in your browser and ones you download for various engines such as Mac OS X's Dashboard and Yahoo Widgets. The result is a diverse … Read more

Widgetbox rolls out Blidgets

Widgetbox has rolled out a new and fun widget-creation tool for blog readers and creators to make their own widgets called Blidgets. A typical Blidget pulls the latest stories or posts from your blog and presents it in a small, customizable widget. All it needs from you is a URL or an RSS feed, and the Blidget maker takes care of the rest. You can even set the Blidget to show pictures and text from a blog's posts. It's all very simple and easy to set up.

When you're done with your Blidget, you can publish it … Read more

Widgetbox gets a stats upgrade

Today Widgetbox launched its new syndication metrics service for widget developers. Fancy name aside, this service lets users keep track of how many visitors are using the Widgetbox widgets on their MySpace profile, their Web site, or any other online location. Once you've registered your widgets, you can easily monitor their usage with a simple dashboard that offers data visualization such as graphs and charts. It's a cool tool for individuals to track basic traffic, but it holds more potential for attracting advertisers' attention to the potential for money-making widgets.

Widgetbox has had their syndication metrics service charting … Read more