Webware

eBay does MySpace-compatible widgets

eBay has a neat new way to promote your items for free. Users can take any item listed on the auction service and widgetize it using a really simple editor. There are three options to choose from: single item, multiple item, and search. The multiple items widget has a scrolling display of item images, and is good for Powersellers, or anyone who is selling a few things at a time. What's great is that you don't even need to sign in to eBay to make one, just an item number.

When you're done creating a widget, you … Read more

AOL: We do too innovate

At the Mix '07 developers' conference tomorrow, AOL will show off its new Vista sidebar widget built with Silverlight technology. Called the "social e-mail gadget," this new tool will let you know when your personal A-list of contacts sends you an e-mail or IM, or posts a photo or video on an AOL service.

New and different

I kind of like the idea. E-mail is too cumbersome to monitor in a widget, unless you are rigorous about creating and maintaining filters, and even standard IM buddy lists have become visually overwhelming, due to the number of contacts most … Read more

Take me out to the ball game

The Washington Nationals may not have the best record, but they're ahead of the game in creating new ways to use your cell phone. As of April 26, the team is letting fans use digital tickets on their handsets to gain admission to games. After buying a ticket from the team's Web site, you can request to have it sent directly to a phone in a multimedia message (MMS). You then take your phone directly to the admission gate where they scan the bar code from your handset's screen. Then it's off to enjoy the ball … Read more

Google re-branding personal home page, adding widget maker

Google is renaming its personal home page iGoogle tonight. Google is also adding a new tool called Gadget Maker that helps people create their own widgets for use on their iGoogle page. The Gadget Maker comes with seven templates, including two media gadgets to pull in content from YouTube and online and offline photo collections. Users will also be able to organize their personal space with a countdown timer and a simple 10 item to-do list. There's also a free-form widget that lets a user mix together various media such as text and pictures.

This is a step in … Read more

BBC's iPlayer relaunching soon

The BBC's iPlayer, the downloadable app for watching BBC content on PCs is relaunching soon, following the successful beta test that garnered more than 10,000 users in the U.K. The player will give users a few ways to access BBC programming, including downloading single episodes or watching entire series the month after it goes off the air. The move enables viewers to catch missed content before it makes the long jump to DVD, and potentially catch up on shows they might have missed without resorting to seeking out pirated content. It's also one of the few … Read more

Will Do My Stuff get people to do your stuff?

Thrillist, a NYC-based e-mail list that features everything from bar picks to gadgets, has tipped us off to some pretty cool webware recently. (The site currently operates "everywhere," NYC, and LA versions with San Francisco coming soon.) They do, however, tend to be targeted toward Thrillist's key demographic of party-ready slackers. Like this one, for example: Do My Stuff. It's a way for you to find people to, well, do your stuff: lawn mowing, house painting, moving, posing for photographs (ahem), you name it.

The thinking behind it is sort of an eBay-Craigslist hybrid, with … Read more

This is Netflix on Silverlight

Scott Guthrie, GM of platform development at Microsoft, gave a talk targeted at developers here at the Mix 07 conference (which is, frankly, all targeted at developers). Here's the takeaway from his talk for Web users: HD-quality streaming video, as well as "DVD-like interactivity and overlays."

Guthrie quickly handed off his talk to Netflix for a demo we've been waiting for, by Neil Hunt of Netflix and Darin Brown of Avenue A/Razorfish. Check out the video:

YouTube adds Active Sharing feature to videos

YouTube has added a new feature to its TestTube section as of last night, called Active Sharing. With this feature enabled, YouTube will keep track of videos you watch, for both archiving and real-time interaction with other users. If you're watching a video with other Active Sharing-enabled users, you'll be able to see their names with a little green dot next to it to signify they're watching too. Clicking on someone's profile name will show you the last five shows they've watched using the service.

Active Sharing joins the other TestTube projects, Audio Swap [hands-on] … Read more

Live at Mix '07: Ray Ozzie

Microsoft is rolling out Silverlight, its competitor to Adobe's Flash technology, today at the Mix '07 event in Las Vegas. I'm sitting in the audience waiting for the keynote to start and will report on interesting developments as they happen.

For a news preview, see Martin LaMonica's story on News.com, Microsoft opens up on Web strategy at Mix '07.

Ray Ozzie on stage now, saying that the "pendulum is swinging once more," in the Web vs PC world. The "vs." is the Web, openness and "creepy behavioral analytics," vs. freedom … Read more