So Twitter lists launched last week and over the weekend we all the the chance to take a look see, make a few lists and figure out just what it was all for. As it happens it’s a pretty cool feature which connects you with more people of the same interests giving Twitter even more of a social feel without taking away from the whole ‘Get it off your chest aspect’.
Now, the weekend has come and gone and the Twitter developers have plopped a Lists Widget into our laps for us to play with on our sites and blogs. Here’s what it looks like.
Basically, it works in the same way as other Twitter widgets except instead of showing the tweets of just one person is shows the tweets of everyone who is in that list. I can see this being a massive hit in the blogosphere because building community and adding new features to blogs are two of the most important things for a blogger to consider – well the list widget hits the nail on the head.
I tested it out and while it looks good and gets the job done the widget can be a little slow or sluggish but that’s to be expected seeing as it’s only out a single day. I’m sure the developers are on to it – they’ve had enough practice to know what to do when something is down, broken, sluggish or ‘over capacity’.
Get the Twitter lists widget for your blog right here.
There are dozens and dozens of these applications, scripts and widgets available, but one of my favorites it is definitely is Ptwix. Simple script that you can use it on your website or blog, that shows your Twitter timeline with a very cool design.
The installation process it’s quite simple, just uploaded to your current server and modify the configuration files with your Twitter account. Since the code is based in PHP and AJAX you will be able to use it in almost any platform, including WordPress of course.
The configuration file is named PtwiX_reader.php and you’ll only need to edit these lines:
$username=”yourtwitterusername”;
$password=”yourtwitterpassword”;
$url_path=”http://www.mysite.com/ptwix/”;
$cache_folder=”/var/www/examplesite/ptwix/cache/”;
You also have three different themes to choose or even design one of your own. Here’s a demo of the script working and a simple procedure about how to install it.
Windows sidebar in Windows Vista has its limitations. The size and functionality are basic as with most windows standard programs. You have your sticky notes, weather RSS feeds and downloadable extras. None the less, it’s all very basic. You can’t get the greatest of extras and the news feeds can really get annoying as they all seem to come from Wall Street. Numerous companies have introduced alternatives however few have succeeded to the extent that Sobees have.
The company based in Switzerland has launched a new desktop program that allows you view just about everything that you can think of in the form of handy little desktop widgets. One of the best things I noticed about Sobees is the Sync feature. You sign in when you first launch the program on you PC and then it stays open for good until you close it. But, if you go on another PC that has Sobees and sign in it will sync all of your feeds, widgets and sticky notes to that PC until you sign out. This is great if you’re away from the office but need your news feeds, e-mails and widgets in one place. It’s also a feature the other companies have overlooked completely.
Another thing that I liked was how customizable it all was. As you can see from the screenshot it’s very attractive to the eye and you can shift and shape things to suite your needs. The colours and the themes are great. However, if you go extreme on this front it will slow down considerably.
The widgets are extensive in number. I enjoyed reading news whilst twittering about it without ever opening a browser. There are tons for download but many of these are very specific so don’t expect a library of useful widgets.
In total, it’s much better than Windows Sidebar and the other alternatives out there.
After spending months in public beta and lots of changes to the ad supports music service, We7 is about to launch out of beta with a bang.
We7 have launched with a “Big Listen” campaign. This new service has some great new features including Free on-demand, unlimited access to full tracks and albums, “Search, Click & Play”, A ‘Celestial Jukebox’ with several million track, ‘Play Anywhere’ – a link and play system for blogs and websites, Users can create playlists, share with friends and buy mp3’s, Payments to rights owners and artists.
The first thing you will notice with the new site is that they have a completely new design. Other new additions include a Magazine, Blog and a much improved list of advertisers. Im sure we will be hearing a lot more from We7 in 2009!
If you have noticed over the last week or so we have made some serious changes here at Crenk, and the site has dramatically improved in the process. Today we are announcing that we have just added Mybloglog back onto Crenk. Mybloglog have just launched a new design for their site which has been in the new a lot of late, and I thought it was about time that we really tried here at Crenk to really build a community around our site.If you are on Mybloglog please make sure you head over the join our ever growing community.
So Twitter lists launched last week and over the weekend we all the the chance to take a look see, make a few lists and figure out just what it was all for. As it happens it’s a pretty cool feature which connects you with more people of the same interests giving Twitter even more of a social feel without taking away from the whole ‘Get it off your chest aspect’.
