Library clips

PageFlakes, the super innovative startpage that has a great RSS Reader and public pages has now introduced a blog flake (widget).

This is starting to feel like a MySpace widget version, only without the social networking part, what I mean is that this may be the new homepage, ie. a homepage for others to surf to that represents you on the web…the new Netvibes Universe is in the same game.

What represents you, what is the new homepage?

In a past post I was asking this question, and still think someone’s blog is their goto homepage, due to the sidebar.

But the new PageFlakes blog widget turns this around, you aren’t limited to the sidebar, you have a page with boxes, and you can also collapse these, thus fitting more on your page, position them as you like, something TypePad added with their drag and drop sidebar’s.

Now with the Blog Flake the original blog structure is no longer, but what I ask is, can you change the size of the blog flake so it becomes the dominant flake, giving the page contextual structure, in that your page is more about the blog, along with some other widgets.

Why doesn’t the Google Startpage (not sure if they have a public option) have a Blogger widget to compete with PageFlakes?

Anyway, a widget format for blogging allows your blog to become more of a homepage.

[ADDED 18/05/07 : I noticed WebJam has a blog module, kind of reminds me of Zimbio Wikizines]

MyQuire - social network for projects…calendar, text editor, doc viewer, file storage and chat…see the tour. [via SW]

Wattpad - a mobile social network based on text posting, now has an app you can download to read books on your phone.
This has pretty much re-focused the aim of the service, instead of a mobile generic blogging service about anything, the content of your text space is more towards story blogging.

What a great idea, in the past I’ve come across blogs that act as a book, posting a daily chapter, I convert the RSS to email, so I can read a chapter a day on my phone email without using the mobile web. If book blogs are a common thing why not bring them into a generic blogging social network like Sponit and others, where it can be featured packed towards the book blogging format.
What about an audio version, a similar service like Evoca could come along focused on audio story telling, get an RSS to audio of the latest chapter… see my media mashup post for more. FeedCycle and textcasting are mildly related.

Grouptivity Discuss - an email collaboration platform has added a new feature where you can add a discuss button next to your blog post, sounds like a closed group version of webride. They also have a bookmarklet so you can start a discussion about any webpage, for real-time chat try Gabbly, 3bubbles or Conversate (I have these 3 buttons at the end of the comments box on my posts). Other ways to send emails without the contained discussion feature are The Coop, share2me, and bzzstr. [via mashable]

DivShare Groups - file hosts are moving fast, Box has sharing of files, networks (handy if you are always sharing with the same people), a public box and widget. Features like the public box and now DivShare groups are taking filing sharing to the public, but because it’s based on a social network it’s upto the user to not share copyrighted files…you can always create a private group.

Netvibes Universe - joined the ranks of PageFlakes and Protopage by offering public startpage, which aren’t really start pages anymore, but moreso Topic Pages…yourminis and webjam seem to be in this same scene. Will FeedRaider and Speedyfeed survive the competition, as what they offer seems to be just one componenet of these other services.

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