June 18th, 2007

Rich Internet Applications make big splash on PCWorld's top 25 sites to watch

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 4:47 pm

Categories: Flash, Flex, Goowy, Rich Media, Silverlight

Tags: Desktop, Internet, Internet Application, Web Browser, Ryan Stewart

It looks like PCWorld thinks Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) are going to be a big thing to watch this year because their list of the Top 25 sites to watch has a few recognizable names. The first is Popfly, Microsoft’s mashup creator that is targeted at geeks and average users a like. It’s been getting a lot of buzz and is a really fun RIA to play with while showcasing Silverlight technology.

Also on the list were Goowy, a Flash-based webtop and Picnik, a Flex application that lets amateur photographers retouch their photos from right inside the browser. Also surprising were the number of rich media sites on the list. Sites like Splashcast, Eyespot and Yodio all incorporate Rich Media elements and have helped expand what the web browser can do while blending a variety of web technologies.

It’s really great to see the excitement of RIAs transcend the small group of people that have been tracking them and move into a more general audience. The applications on the web are getting more sophisticated and users are coming to expect a much higher degree of interactivity and richness. What’s great is that this is all happening inside the browser. As the richness of the desktop moves into the browser and blurs the lines between a desktop app and a browser app, we can focus on when we should be deploying a desktop app and when we should be leveraging the power of the browser. It’s going to be a fun conversation and these sites are leading the way.

[Via Sean Alexander]

March 30th, 2007

yourminis opens up the widget platform, releases API

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 2:45 am

Categories: Apollo, Flash, Goowy, Rich Internet Applications, yourminis

Tags:

Tonight yourminis announced the availability of their API, giving developers a way to build widgets and upload them. In addition, the team released an analytics application that will help you track where your widget is going and how many people are using it. All of this is under a developers section on the yourminis page which includes information on how to get started and the files you'll need to download.

This move is obviously a great one by yourminis as they continue to build out the widget platform and expand beyond what others can do. Flash developers should be able to create widgets without much difficulty. I played with the API a bit before it was released and found it easy to use and fairly quick to turn around a widget. The tutorials on the site were a big help, but Flash developers should get the hang of it with no problems. A couple of minis that were released with with the API include a Twitter widget and a Skype widget, showing just how powerful the API and the platform are.

From a widget developer standpoint, I think yourminis stands out from the others, and that's partly due to their use of Flash (and a good team). The ability to provide access to your widget from their page, a Firefox extension, a blog, or the desktop using Apollo, is invaluable for getting your brand or content to your users. There may even be some overlap for people who want to monetize widgets directly with a service like Wallop. Widgets continue to grow and become more important, and this is just another innovative step by yourminis. Developers should be happy.

February 21st, 2007

Yourminis gets a makeover, starts talking Apollo

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 12:47 am

Categories: Flash, Goowy, Rich Internet Applications, Rich Widgets, yourminis

Tags:

Yourminis released a new version of their site today to focus more on widgets and themed based pages that contain information all relating to a single interest. The new HTML based start page also looks like it's aimed at introducing users to the yourminis experience and allowing them to pick and choose parts of yourminis that they want to explore.

Official "competitors" to yourminis are Netvibes and Pageflakes, but because yourminis is flash-based, it's much easier to incorporate rich media into your startpage than with the others. It also has a very polished look and feel that sets it apart from the two sites above. I actually think it competes more closely with Scrapblog, a site I covered just yesterday. As RIAs move into a more creative space, sites like yourminis and Scrapblog are bound to become more competitive.

The new look yourminis also adds a social aspect to widgets that I haven't seen elsewhere. People can compile and customize widgets then display and share them on the themed pages mentioned above. For instance I can use the RSS widget and have it serve up hockey information or set up the YouTube widget to play hockey-themed videos. Then I can customize my page with those widgets, adding a background and other bits to create a personalized start page that is shareable. The widgets also work independently so that any yourminis widget can be embedded on a blog or MySpace page. The new homepage is set up to reflect this new, more independent approach so that users can easily browse widgets or public pages.

In addition to all this, yourminis is also talking more about how they're using Apollo. They are going to present at Adobe's Engage conference and talk about how they're using Apollo later this month. Right now, they are building out functionality with Apollo that lets you use widgets on the desktop. You can take any one of the widgets and add it to your desktop. It means you can access yourminis content on the web, or the desktop, exactly the kind of hybrid Rich Internet Application that I think adds the most value.

One thing that I think makes yourminis very interesting is that by using Flash, they allow you to embed bits and pieces almost anywhere. You can take an entire themed page and embed it or you can choose to embed a specific widget. The flexibility means that yourminis can cater to a lot of different tastes. Flash gives the users a rich experience that they can make their own. It's an exciting time for RIAs as yourminis helps lead the charge to Apollo and widgets. I think this launch is going to be great, and I can't wait to see what others think of it. Marshall already seems to be impressed.

January 9th, 2007

Universal Desktop Daily - Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 3:05 am

Categories: Adobe, Flash, Goowy, Microsoft, Rich Internet Applications, Windows Presentation Foundation, Yahoo

Tags:

• I noticed that Jeremy Suriel of Goowy and Yourminis has a blog. He's got a lot of experience in building RIAs and I'm looking forward to reading what he has to say.
• Aral Balkan has a detailed writeup of the FlashFoward MacWorld Keynote. There were some good demos and some interesting information it sounds like.
• FlexLive has an interesting breakdown of Microsoft vs. Adobe. It does seem like there is more overlap now than there has ever been.
• Mike Chambers blogged that the open source ActionScript 3 Libraries have been moved over to Google Code.
• Tim Sneath has an updated list of WPF and WPF/E bloggers. I think I subscribe to most of those and I don't think you'll be lacking information if you download the OPML.
• I'm still gathering information on this but TechCrunch has a writeup of Yahoo's Vista Messenger which is written in WPF. The video presentation looks really slick.