2007: the end of NETscape - 2008: the rise of NETvibes

Best wishes to all !!

Netvibes has Premium Widgets category

Hi,

browsing the Netvibes Ecosystem I stumbled on some Widgets that were stamped premium Widgets. With a little search here is the explanation:


"With Premium Widgets, save additional space for your screen by merging feeds from one website in one handy widget. Forget about RSS, every time a new RSS feed is available, it will automatically appear on the widget."




At first it looks interesting if you are interested in all the tabs that the widget is offering you.

But,

• if you want to reed fast the What's News AND the Business tabs of the WSJ, then 2 separates feeds will work faster.
• the LOGO : you can not modify, reduce or delete... and it takes a few pixel .
• the Widget Title: you can not modify, reduce or delete.

In fact those PREMIUM WIDGETS are "produced and mantained" by Netvibes with the aim to get a revenues from this. If the program works, it should bring in the future that no WSJ feeds could be available on Netvibes except for the branded one ...

Netvibes is finally looking for more local content

Hi,

I already wrote a few posts on the need for Netvibes to get more Content, and especially Local Content, the one related to the place you live and work.

And it seems that Netvibes has just decided to go alos that direction.

In a recent post in the Netvibes Developers' Blog, they wrote:

"... that local content is as important to us as is global content - and it’s even the primary reason behind UWA and Ecosystem: to let developers build widget for local services, to let users submit local feeds and data, and have all these local items be available to all Netvibes users."

"So build local widgets and submit them to Ecosystem: local items are just as important as global ones, and everyone wants local informations coming directly to their desktop! That’s what UWA is for, and we hope to some cool widgets land on future updates of Netvibes’ local start-pages. Let’s build the long tail of widgets!"

The big problem is the search of the Ecosystem Directory that is not as efficient as a similar search with Google.

If I want to find my own tab: LONDON (UK) in the Netvibes Ecosystem

1) I can search the Ecosystem with its own search : http://eco.netvibes.com/search?q=LONDON+UK , and I will found it in the second page because of the small number of downloads (but in results with a better download rate there is BEEF BAGEL ??!!). If I prefer I can choose the "most recent" but then again as it is not a new widget, mine will not show up. So, it will be difficult for a new widget to show up in the first page if only downloads is requested.

2) I can search the Ecosystem with a selective search by GOOGLE:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Aeco.netvibes.com+LONDON+UK&btnG=Search
and bang! It is the first result! Impressive.

That is for searching a specific item but the problem remains with a generic search.

If I wanted to earn revenues with Netvibes...

Hi,

I was thinking about which ways I could use if I wanted to get revenues with Netvibes.

Here is a first list:

1. creating an "exclusive content Univers" using Netvibes as a "media platform" to aggregate content with several different widgets and selling the audience to Advertisers. These Content Universes (say the "New York Restaurants Univers by Peter: lists, reviews, suggestions ") should have some kind of exclusivity and promotion from Netvibes or they could just be "rented" to Netvibes .
   
2. creating "single widgets" to be placed on Netvibes and other platforms and selling that audience to Advertisers
3. getting an exclusive deal with Netvibes as their only Advertising Sales agency selling cumulative or targetted audiences to Advetisers

For all of those, I would need some agreement from Netvibes and more data on the actual users.

And you will correctly guess which is my preferred solution at the moment...

If there are many others with ideas like this, netvibes could have found its business model.

Last Video preview of Ginger from Netvibes

Hi,

last post before Christmas.

And last Video preview of Ginger from Netvibes English Blog:

3 videos to show:

• how easy adding new widgets is, with the integration of Ecosystem (it looks realy easy and Widgets have now a new directory presented with a capture)
• that you can save links for yourself and your friends
• what your friends are doing with "Activities"
• how to browse your friends Universes

For now is all!

BEST WISHES!!

Want to see the Universe of Netvibes' CEO?

Hi,

would you like to see the personal Universe (for testing) of Tariq Krim , Netvibes' founder and CEO ?

Just go here . By clicking on the little icon on the right, you will have a first glimpse of Ginger, new version of Netvibes, as it will show you the Activities of that Tariq wants to share to the public.

You will find also the number of friends and followers he has (56 and 42)

Netvibes wins Mashable best start page award

Hi,

Netvibes has won the Best Start page of the first ever OPEN WEB AWARD from Mashable !

(With in excess of 5 million monthly pageviews, Mashable is the world's largest blog on social networking).

Other winners for 2007 are : Flickr, Youtube, Last.fm, Facebook ...

And the Ginger version in already online for everyone ....

In June, Netvibes was already awarded "The top 100 Webware sites for 2007" in the Browsers application.

NEW USER TAB: to help you start your Netvibes page if you are a new user

Hi,

If you are a "New User" and you would like to start using Netvibes, the first screen offerd at the moment by Netvibes is, as I already posted, so poor ...

So I prepared and published a tab, the NEW USER TAB that could be used as a starting point to build a "good" starting page for Netvibes new users.

The idea is that Netvibes should ask the new user something like :
"Please set your location to receive local news, blog feeds, weather and more "

As it is not exisitng at the moment, in my tab, I have done it by hand.
For starting the discussion I choose : DUBLIN and IRELAND but it would work for any other location.

The Tab presents what could be a new "new user tab" for Netvibes with:

a Weather widget (already existing)
some local news blogs (already existing) that I choosed from Netvibes Local content : Ireland
the email wizard widget (already existing)
the Ebay widget (already existing)
a map search (already existing)
the Ecosystem search widget (already existing)
and many searches widgets set on DUBLIN and the same set on IRELAND

The searches on the Location with the instruction on how to get the FEEDS directly on his new page should "inspire" the new user offering a choice of sources. The best selection is made, according to me, by Google.

That way, with the addition of a short Webnote to explain the first moves and with the links to FAQ and ECOSYSTEM it should help the user to catch the real value of the use of Netvibes.

PS:
the ECOSYSTEM Latest modules search widget is not working properly.
If I search in the widget for IRELAND it gives no results when if I search directly in the Ecosystem I can find 57 results of which some are pertinent.

Netvibes starts the private beta testing of new Ginger release

Hi,

The Netvibes blog has announced the launch the private beta testing of the new Ginger release.

As many other netvibes users, I am waiting for an invitation to test the new features:

• In addition to the podcast, the Netvibes player can now stream your favorite web radios
• 2GB of free storage space for every registred user
• ...

For the others, jsut wait until January...

The BBC has launched a Netvibes style homepage

Hi,

the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has just launched a new homepage very much in the style of Netvibes, reports the Read/WriteWeb blog.

At the moment, you can only choose in the BBC content of news and services but who knows in the future ?

"Please set your location to receive local news, weather and TV/radio schedules"...
a text I would be pleased to see in the new users page of Netvibes.

When I was saying that content is the center of the war...

Netvibes Start page is so poor for new users

Hi,

since Netvibes has decided to look for the Mainstream users, it should think more to the average new user.

Let's think about the Netvibes first page when you are not already registred with Netvibes and you are a beginner in the Web2.0 world.

What you get with no effort if you live in a European Capital (like me) and you arrive on http://www.netvibes.com/ because you read about it or a friend sent you an email about it ?
You get that (see the screen shot)

1. The weather widget already set to your Internet Supplier hometown (this city can be some KM away from your actual place)


2. a Feed from the Natioanl news papers (also given by your IP address)


3. a Feed from the national Tv/radio (also given by your IP address)
4. an Unknown Blog feed


5. an Email Widget assistant


6. a Video search widget set on :" music"


7. a Web search widget


8. the netvibes blog feeds


9. a Webnote with a short welcome message by Netvibes


10. a todo widget


11. a facebook widget


12. an Image search widget set on "lighthouse"

In conclusion: very little Local content that could give to the new user the sense of what a great service Netvibes could give him/her.

Even if the new user select s, in the settings the Local content all what he can get is a list in the left side bar of a selection of News feeds (not a complete one and with no description).

Netvibes should remeber that "new users" do not know what to use Netvibes for when they saw Netivibes for the first time !

SOLUTIONS:

Netvibes, could have easily supplied the new user with a widget search in the Ecosystem for the city and Country name if they had asked him at some point !

Or better, some one could have prepared a "best of" for each country with a selection of major cities to be promped at any new user.

Problems with Steekr.com (online storage)

Hi,

has I just posted that Netvibes and Agematis, a French provider of online storage, have announced that Agemantis will provide Netvibes with personal online storage technology for its millions of users, I wanted to test already the service offered by Agematis under the label Steekr.com.

1. it was very, very slow
2. it was not at all intuitive
3. it asked to me to install a plug-in
4. since then, by just calling steekr.com from my favourites, my Internet Explorer 6 shuts down !! (UPDATE: the same happens with FireFox 2 !)
5. I was not able to upload or download anything...

Conclusions: I hope that this service will improve, or ... well I will miss that online storage.

Hope also that netvibes will check this out.

A Netvibes Tab about Food

Hi,

in a recent post I wrote about a Food page in Pageflakes.

Now, browsing on Flickr images with the Netvibes tag I saw this neat and complete page made by dennisandluba:

If DennisandLuba reads this I would be pleased to be able to charge his/her FOOD STUFF tab!

Netvibes Drive: 2GB storage space for every user !

Hi,

duringthe Paris during LEWEB3.0 conference Netvibes and Agematis, French provider of online storage, have announced that Agemantis will provide Netvibes with personal online storage technology for its millions of users.

For once, the press release is sufficiently clear to just transcripted:

"Agematis, provider of online data storage and sharing solutions under the Steekr name, and Netvibes, pioneer of the personalized banner page, have combined their expertise to offer the users of Netvibes an online file storage and sharing service. Fully integrated in the new version of the Netvibes site, the service will be available on the personalized pages of Netvibes users as well as in Netvibes universes".

"The upgrade of the 30 million personalized pages created with Netvibes across more than 150 countries will happen over the next coming weeks. Thanks to this service, completely based on the Agematis Steekr technology, each user of the Netvibes community will have access to a 2GB storage space that will be extendable upon request."

"Within the Netvibes environment, the service will make it possible for everyone to play his/her music, to look at his/her movies or to create a slideshow of his/her photographs without having to download anything on his/her computer."

Agematis is headquartered in Bordeaux (France). The main sales office is located in Paris and the Company also operates sales offices in London, San Francisco and Sao Paulo.

Why Netvibes is not organizing any Prize Contest ?

Hi,

here are some of my Marketing considerations on Netvibes

Now that Netvibes is more and more focused on mainstream users, I am surprise to notice that Netvibes is very keen to organize Parties for nerds (at Web conferebes as Le Web 3 in Paris or WEB2.0 in Berlin or ...) but nothing has been thought for developers and users at least since last year!

A Contest would create more emulation and more exposure. Prize would not be difficult to find for a company based in PARIS... (from Champagne bottles to Luxury weekends).

I have some ideas for contest:

• most innovative use of Netvibes page
• most complete on a certain subject
• most creative layout
• most easy to use
• Netviber user of the Month
• Netviber developer of the Month
• Widget of the Month

and some categories could be created:

• Travel
• Food/cooking
• Health
• Music
• Sport
• Brands ...

Each contest would last a few weeks and would be open to anyone. A short list should be selected by a "selected" pannel of independent Specialists on the matter. The short list would be then proposed to all the "netvibes community" that could vote for their best choice. (1 user = 1 vote).

The better the prizes, the bigger the buzz...

The overall result would be a bigger awareness of alternative uses and subjects already available in the Netvibes community.

Ginger Video demo by NETVIBES CEO himself, Tariq Krim

Hi,

If you were not in Paris to LEWEB3.0, here is a video by French Blogger Grégoire Gagnon with Tariq KRIM , Netvibes' CEO, showing himself the new Ginger release in English.
(11' mind: The sound is awful! )

The Social move by Netvibes is now clear: "Netvibes is a page where you can express yourself!"
and the new target is : MAIN STREAM USERS!



Ginger netvibes presentation by tariq krim
envoyé par gregoiregagnon


At the moment, Ginger is in beta private testing and has been unofficially announced for mis-January for everyone!

If Netvibes reads this blog: I would like a Beta for Ginger

Hi,

As I discovered that someone at least in Netvibes reads this blog (the only dedicated to netvibes) I would be pleased to receive an invitation for the beta private version of the Ginger release...

NETVIBES: your Custumers service rocks!

Hi,

Just to tell you that a few hours ago I had a problem charging Netvibes as I was posting here on my Blog.

Just an hour passed and someone from Netvibes, François, has taken his time to give me the advice to reset the netvibes cache by clicking on the following URL:
httt://www.netvibes.com/?reset_cache=1

and it worked !

Thanks François, thanks Netvibes!

If you can not access Netvibes.com try m.netvibes.com

Hi,

I am not able to access my Netvibes page on netvibes.com but by chance the m.netvibes.com was working!

http://m.netvibes.com is the netvibes version for your Mobile phone (even if you do not have one...).

To access it , type the same ID and Password.
The look is different, no colours but at least it was working!

UPDATE: after 5min it just out of order as the rest!

Problems charging Netvibes

Hi,

While (or because ?) the new Ginger release is showed at the WEB 3 conference in Paris, I am not able to charge my Netvibes page either in IE or FF.

I see the tabs but content is missing except the Widgets created with Any Url.

Hope it will work soon and that there will be some explanation...

Netvibes unveils first official preview of Ginger release

Hi,

The Netvibes blog is unveiling the first official preview of the new Ginger release that will officially presented at the LE WEB 3 Conference in Paris next Tuesday.

As I already announced as a scoop, the main change will be the Social twist made by Netvibes.

With Netvibes Ginger, you will be able to:

• Import your friends from your favorite social networks or make new friends directly in your Netvibes page
• use Activity, a new feature that will let you know what your friends are doing
• you can archive and tag as favorite any content or any widgets for yourself or with your friends
• you can create your own Universe and build your public Netvibes page
• add your myspace or facebook friends, and distribute widgets

Perhaps all this could help NETVIBES to become my Single Social Interface ?

Netvibes Universes: just a Directory of data sources

Hi,
I was looking for some interesting Universes in Netvibes, and I found them quite boring in fact. All of them.

Let's see the most popular (by the way, there is no sign of any downloads numbers contrary to the Widgets): Marianne, a French news magazine.
You have loads of RSS Feeds , the Forums, the Podcasts, the Videos and the Podcasts and the blogs all from one source : the Marianne magazine.
It is ok, if you want to choose only from it, let's say it is a Directory of Data sources from one supplier.
But there is no life, no added content, no way to create something.
It is just a Free News Stand from 1 source!

And almost all Universe are like thet, they add the weather (why?) , if they are Commercial Brand Universes (like Glenfiddich) there is a little game but, so what ?

Who is going to add those games to its own page ? If you know , tell me.

Is that all for the WEB 2.0 Personalized Homepage innovator ? I hope not!

Netvibes needs some Human Content Aggregation

Hi,

In my previous posts on Netvibes and Content I was pointing to the fact that for "Non-nerds" Netvibes does not offer a lot of digested Data ready to use.
That's why I prepared my self the London (UK) and Paris (France) Tabs.

Pageflakes, one of Netvibes competitor, is going in my way. They have just published a FOOD page with feeds, blogs, recipes, pictures. It is a starting point for an "non-tech" English speaking audience and I am sure that Netvibes should go also that way but better.

I am surprised to see that there is no major INTERNET MUSIC page from Netvibes, knowing that Netvibes CEO, Tariq Krim and many of his team are coming from the Internet Music World.

When I speak about Human Content Aggregation is a way to signify that Automatic Aggreagtion is possible only with "experts" because they already know the subject and the sources.
But the average Internet User is not. Most of my friends and family have not already heard about RSS or Netvibes and there is the future.

Netvibes is waiting for the GINGER release to become social but, I insists, it is Content, Human Content, that will make the difference!

Can Netvibes become My Single Social Interface ?

Hi,


Just read a good post by Kin Lane on his blog about his reaction to Yahoo declaration that the future will be modeled on Facebook and emails. All started from a NYT paper stating that Google and Yahoo " hope to turn their e-mail systems and personalized home page services (iGoogle and MyYahoo) into social networks".


Kin lists his request for a "future" Single Social Interface that will be serving all your personal and professional needs in just one interface.


As I agree on the list here it is with my views on the ability of Netvibes to help. But first I want to state the big advantage, at the moment, for Netvibes: is "independent" from megagroups as Yahoo, Google, Microsoft..

1. My Profile - I want a single profile Not yet but possible with the help of http://openid.net/ + http://oauth.net/about/
2. Contacts - I want a single point of entry for people in my life Possible
3. Individual Communication - I want a single point of entry for all communications and prioritzed by the senders relationship with me Possible
4. Network Communication - I want to be able to communicate with my network of contacts, friends and family through any way that works for me and for them Possible
5. Public Communication - I need to communicate with the general public Not good enough
6. Information - All the information I need daily Almost perfect
7. Schedule - I should be able to easily manage my private and public schedule Not yet good enough
8. Storage - Everything should be in one central place and then be able to distribute where ever I need or want it. No good
9. Projects - Project tracking for everything I do So So
10. Applications / Tools - I really need an application framework that is desktop, rich, and web all at once Not available but needed

to be clear here is also a graph

So let's hope that Netvibes evolves fast in that direction!

Hi,

If you want to have a climpse of Netvibes Officices in central Paris go to the page of
Kara from All Things Digital and watch her video.
Be aware the sound is just awful !

Watch Netvibes Ginger release demos on Youtube

Hi,

for those who had problems viewing the Quicktime videos on the new Ginger release by Netvibes I have found the same demo videos on YOUTUBE:

video1
video2

How Netvibes could look with Ads by Google ?

Hi,

I was trying to figure out how Netvibes would look if it was getting some (big) revenues from an Advertising Agreement with Google.

I think it probably would look like this:

The Netvibes-looklike page is from http://www.wireseek.com/

Many Netvibes users complain about long uploading time

Hi,

I was checking reactions on the Web concerning the future Ginger release on Netvibes when I noticed that the main complaint about the service was the " TOO LONG UPLOADING TIME" for charging the Netvibes page.

I agree, at the moment using IE or FF looks quite the same, the loading time is a bit too long.
Of course, with 318 line feeds just for my Tabs on Netvibes, it would surprise me if it was very fast... But how could I reduce this charging time ?

If you have suggestions write them here.
By the way I have more than 30 different tabs on my page... among them:
http://eco.netvibes.com/tabs/201664/london-uk-
http://eco.netvibes.com/tabs/202827/paris-france-

Netvibes' Blog confirms Ginger release previews

Hi,

Also the Netvibes Blog has confirmed that the Ginger release will bring a social twist to the best Independent Homepage .

On the Developers side Netvibes "have decided that the moment the technology matures, to include all the existing Social APIs as plugins for UWA, Netvibes' Universal Widget API. "

The graph below summerizes that.

Netvibes will launch “Ginger” as a social widgets platform

Hi,

a few days ago I was the first to announce a Social networking twist from Netvibes and Tariq Krim, Netvibes' CEO and founder has just announced in the WEB2.0 conference in Berlin that Netvibes will launch a new released called ... "Ginger"and that release will be their social answer.

Netvibes, as reported by Mike Butcher of uk.techcrunch.com reporting live from Berlin, decided that it it was too late to go creating a new Social Network competing with Facebook, Opensocial and others, and has decided instead that " it was time Netvibes to tap into the existing social networks".

The idea is to mash Netvibe’s UWA widgets with social APIs like Google’s recently announced Open Social or the Facebook application platform.

Krim has declared : "We decided to re-engineer Netvibes around social services. When you see something on Netvibes and like it you can share it with friends on your public Netvibes timeline"

Watch here a demo of the new Ginger release (Quicktime).

The new Ginger release will present in the upper menu line a Friend icon that will call on your screen the icones of your friends and followers as in Twitter (like I had well guessed )

Among the new content offered, the demo shows a Weather's Friends widget.
I am quite sceptic for the use of such a widget but who knows...

Watch here a second demo of the Ginger release (Quicktime)
Here we can see another new icone on the upper menu line called : FLOW
By clicking on it , you will be able to check the activities of your friends on a timeline !!
You will have also a Private timeline and a public timeline. I guess that your public timeline will be the one available to your friends.
The Friends timeline is showing the activities of your friends: if they stared a link and which one, if they added a widget and which one, and so on...

On your personal timelines you will the same kind of informations.

I think that it is a good step for Netvibes, it gives a new dimension to your page even if you do not use as a social networking tool.

In the social networking field I think also that is the best move for Netvibes and it could provide a way to communicate between separated and closed social networking.

Netvibes could make people from Facebook and Myspace to meet in a single Netvibes page.

Just wait to see it from real !

Will the new Ginger release bring some social networking to Netvibes ?

Hi,

We are waiting for a new Ginger release of Netvibes.

Looking at the only picture I have found on the subject published on the occasion of the Widget Summit 2007 in San Francisco...

... you can imagine that the Netvibes could become more social by presenting on the first 2 rows of the screen a selection of pictures of avatars of friends and/or relations.

It reminds me a little of Twitter.com that I know most of the Netvibes team use.

Position of Netvibes in the Starting Pages market

Hi,

here is a comment I posted in the ReadWriteWeb post about the position of Netvibes in the market of Starting Pages:

"Netvibes is not the pioneer of startpages, but if you consider WEB 2.0 market for startpages, Netvibes is, at the moment, the leading competitor in terms of:
1) independence from MegaGroups,
2) collaborative creation of content,
3) overall quality,
4) international openess,
5) general compatibility (IE, FF..; PC-MAC, PC-mobile,)...

In my point of view what is missing is the attractiveness for the BIG AUDIENCE.

In my analysis, Netvibes and the other starting pages are used mainly used for Feed reading.

All the other possible practical uses are yet to be publicised (or discovered).

But CONTENT is always the key for success. It must not be Netvibes OWN content but a starting page has to give you the content you need (even if you do not know it already). "

Netvibes launches the PREMIUM UNIVERSES

Hi,

Netibes is now launching the announced NETVIBES PREMIUM UNIVERSES.

As I published in a previous post end of August, Netvibes is now offering to Publisher to help them to create widgets with their own content and also to distribute them everywhere.
Basically is a Netvibes page in an iframe on the publisher website.

The offer considers:

-All the publisher feeds presented in one single widget. (Several thematic widgets can be created on demand).
- Premium Widgets can be branded just as a media property on its own.
- Built with UWA (Universal Widget API) : widgets can be installed in one click on Netvibes, Microsoft Vista, iGoogle, Apple Dashboard, iPhone, Live.com, etc.

Marshall Kirkpatrick on ReadWriteWeb is quite cautious on the success chances for this new service by Netvibes stating "I don't know how many companies will go for it".

For me, is just a piece of action in the CREATION OF CONTENT that will guarantee a long independent life to Netvibes.

New estimates for Netvibes unique internet users.

Hi,

new estimates from COMPETE.COM give 207.638 unique "US internet users visiting the site" for August 2007.

As you can see from their graph the growth is important since December 2006.

The Compete.com definition for "people visiting the site" is:

"People Counts are also known as unique visitors - they only count a person once no matter how many times they visit a site in a given month. People Counts are typically used to determine how popular a site is.
Recommendation: To best understand the popularity of a site, you should consider additional metrics beyond People Counts.
For instance, Site X could drive up its People Count by buying a lot of advertising across the Internet. However, many of these people may leave the site immediately. Use Engagement metrics to understand how much time people spend on a site and how many pages they look at on average during each visit to more fully understand the site's popularity."

French site LA VIGIE also estimated in April 2007 the NETVIBES UNIQUE VISITORS just for France at 150.00 (measures by Nielsen Netratings)

In August 2007, Compete.com counted 2.350.817 visits made to the site (a person can be counted as one person in the month (see previous count) but can make multiple visits).

A rapid calculation 2.350.000 visits/208.000 users gives an Average of 11 visits by person or 1 every 3 days for Netvibes.

Ginger will be the new version of Netvibes

Hi,

Tariq Krim, Netvibes CEO and founder, announced on the 29th of September that the new version of Netvibes on which they are working will be named: GINGER.

After CORIANDER in February 2007, and CINNAMON just last year (October2006),
ANISE in April 2006, another spice name is coming.

No date is available for the new release.

How to create a Blog Maintenance page with Netvibes

Hi,

in my review of the Practical Uses of Netvibes, I would like to reccoment you to read this Blog Tip from INTERNET DUCT TAPE BLOG: on How to Create a Blog Maintenance Start Page with Netvibes.

The author designs its Netvibes page with 3 column:

Column 1: Comment Administration and Social Site Monitoring
Column 2: Blog Stats
Column 3: Direct Communication

The text its full of tips and URL to services that will help you write your Blog.

Good work.

Netvibe introduces the Premium Widgets

Hi,

in the same blog, Netvibes also introduces a Premium Widget program which allows large media companies and publishers to instantly syndicate multiple media properties without having to develop individual widgets on multiple platforms.

Premium Widgets are Universal Widgets that merge multiple feeds, podcasts or video channels into a single widget, within a branded and sponsored environment.

Premium Widget launch partners include: CBS Interactive, BBC Mundo, El Pais, El Mundo, Le Figaro, MTV.it, Il Sole 24, CNET Asia and Sports.cn.

The New York Times Premium Widget is a good example. It is in fact an Universe but in a single widget where you can choose more than 15 news feeds in this widget: National, International, Business, Sports, Technology, Arts and many more.

In the end if you are interested in all of them you will probably switch for 15 individual widgets but if you want just the ability to check them from time to time the Premium Widget is a good solution!

Search Not working in the New Widget Directory for Netvibes

Hi,

Netvibes has just announced that their Widgets, Universes and Tabs Directory (The ECOSYSTEM) has been revamped.

The look is changed, there is no more a FEED DIRECTORY, the new title is:
The Netvibes Widget directory.

You can see what are the most popular widgets and rate the widgets you like or not.

Netvibes pretends that now you can have :"A fresh design, a better navigation. Finding widgets has never been easier on Netvibes, you can now browse and filter widgets by categories, try our new search and see live preview on widget’s details page."

Well it was need, as I was also writing myself in July, Netvibes Ecosystem should improve the Search function...

But, as will rewiew it, I do not see any clear improvement in the search function.

The search has not clearly improved. Well, probably, if you just happen to use Netvibes, the search is better but if you use Google a few times a day then... No it has not improved. Let's show you why.

Suppose I want to find the TAB I created LONDON UK about all you need to prepare a trip to London (UK), what I should do is type LONDON UK and find the TAB in the first results but then no!

So first results are: UNIVERSES as Rugby World Cup 2007and URL Shortener ???.
Well default the selection is "Most recent" so I have to click on "Most Popular" ... let's do it.

And the result are:Finance and Mini-Clock and Babylon Box ???

I see some problems as the search seems to forget the tags, that authors have chosen for their widgets and also there is no distinction in the search function between tabs and widgets or universes...
A good solution would be to rate first "title" of the widget, then Tags, then use ratings and downloads. The missing search choice is MOST PERTINENT.

Now lets try LONDON UK TRAVEL, as a search string. But the result is the same of the previuo s search without TRAVEL ??!!

Well perhaps the search works better with the Widgets. So let's try to focus on them.
I will search for NETVIBER EXPERIENCE (well yes this blog has a feed so...) and as you can see here on the capture the first result is ... Google Calendar Embedded ...

Well, you could think that my Feed is not so popular or not so recent, ok let's try NETVIBES itself on its own Search.
Here is the result:
and surprise the first result is ... GOOGLE CALENDAR EMBEDDED... and is the same that I had for my feed so MOST POPULAR does not screen the results but gives just the most popular list with no regards for the search string ... strange!

But the wirst has to come, suppose you are a Sponsor of Netvibes and you want to see where are your universes, suppose you are the French Newspaper Group "LE FIGARO" then you search for LE FIGARO and the first result is ... MTV.it , the Italian MTV !!!!!


It seems the SEARCH FUNCTION is not working properly!

Blend as many feeds you want in just 1 feed !

Hi,

in a previous post I was writing: Mix together up to 6 Feeds in just 1 Feed but I checked better the FEEDBLENDER application that I was usingand I discovered that I could increase the maximum number of different feeds that I could mix and blend together.

By just clicking a little red text on the right : + Add More Feeds !

You can add 3 feeds each time you press the text... with no limit!
So you can blend as many feeds you want.

Try yourself this very good tool!

Write a novel, a short story, a blog with Netvibes

Hi,

as I continue my review of Practical uses of Netvibes, here is an "artistic" one.

How to write a novel, a short story, a blog ... with the Help of Netvibes and the advice from: HED's writing mission blog.

Basicaly you should create 4 separate Tabs:

1. Inspiration. As writers get their ideas from everywhere, you will fill this Tab with a bit of everything : feeds, but also Delicious tags, search Modules, mp3 feeds, flickr widget,...
2. Relax. For your little break choose some cartoons, a TV feed and a clock to go back to work!
3. Language tools. Wikipedia and multiple translators will be placed here
4. Quick Notes. A few web notes widgets ready to get used .

What is missing is an integrated word processor to create the text directly in Netvibes.

Choose what you want in the Universes

Hi,

Have you looked at the more than 780 Universes offered by Netvibes?

I did, but was afraid to be obliged to import all the Univers, with all its settings and to loose my time to delete all the unwanted stuff.

But that is not the case : you can choose just one (ore more) widget or feed and import it directly in you own page!

Let's say I am interested by the TECHCRUNCH Univers, but that the only new thing I need is the READ/WRITEWEB feed on the right column. Then I just click on the title and the ADD TO YOUR PAGE message appears, I click on it. Then select the option "SAVE changes to your private page" or the "Back to my private page". And that is it! The widgets you selected are now in your page!

Nice done Netvibes!

Create a constantly-updated page to monitor any subject

Hi,

in my new serie on "the Practical uses of Netvibes" here is a new one.

If you want create a constantly-updated page to monitor any subject that you are interested in, just follow the indications of William J. Turkel gives in his Blog.

Basicaly here is how he proceeds:

1) First of all, create a (free) account at Netvibes.

2) Add the RSS feeds you need to check "the subject you are interested in"

3) Go to the "Add Content" and Add a blog search module for "the subject you are interested in"

That gives you the spectrum of discussion ranging from edited, through mildly moderated to free-for-all.

4) Pass the feed through a Feedshake filter if the data are not "precise" enough. This is a free service (but you need to register) for customizing, filtering, converting and merging newsfeeds and podcasts. Feedshake lets you combine and manipulate RSS feeds online.

5) To get the latest book news, grab a feed of reviews and create a feed of "the subbject you are interested in" books at Amazon.
Do this using Paul Bausch's Amazon Feed Generator (another free service with no need to register)

6) Next you will want to get links to the tables of contents for the journals. To do this make use of the Feed43 service and follow the specific instructions of William J. Turkel on how to Scrape a Web Page to RSS Feed.

7) Finally, add in the notepad module (go to Add Content and choose Basic Widgets and select WebNote) to jot down anything you want to remember while reading all your page.

8) If the result is ok, and you think you could share this Tab, why not Share this Tab by sending an email or if, of more general interest, why do not publish it in the Netvibes Ecosystem ?

Good work!

Mix together up to 6 Feeds in just 1 Feed

Hi,

As I was checking the first results of the mini-poll on Netvibes uses (here on the right) I observed without surprise that the main use of Netvibes is to Read Feeds.

If you check the Netvibes ecosystem you can choose from 86.230 feeds !
Myself I has suscribed to more than 100. Some Feeds are updated every hour or so (as a Google News Feed) but other even the Feed from this blog is update 1 or 2 times a day at maximum.

Then it could be usefull to mix together and blend different Feeds on the same subject (let's says Netvibes) and get just one Feed. Well, FEEDBLENDER does just that!

You go on their site and without any registration, just by copy/paste the feeds URL you want to mix or blend, you get a single blended Feed.

As simple as that! As they say: "FeedBlendr takes a bunch of RSS, RDF or Atom feeds (news, blogs, podcasts, you name it) and puts the contents of all of them into a single "blend", which is ordered by date, newest at the top. You can then view the blend online, on a mobile device, integrate it into your own site, or just subscribe to it in any news reader. Oh yeah, and it's free!"

FEEDBLENDER prepares also a list of different URLs adapted to different uses of the new feed ( atom, rss, m, html...) and you can put your feed where you want.

The only limitation I know: If this blend is not accessed by anyone for more than 3 months, it may be automatically removed...

I have already prepared one for you. You can check it here: http://feedblendr.com/blends/18672

It is just the blend of Netvibes Official Blog Feed with the Feed of the Google News search on Netvibes.

Try yourself this very good tool!

Vote my mini-poll on Netvibes uses

Hi,

If you have 2 seconds, vote in my mini-poll on Netvibes uses.
Just here on the right column.

You have 5 choices and no registration needed!

Thanks

Netvibes uses Promotional Ad Banner

Hi,

For those who have not used Netvibes for some days or for those not focused on Revenues, I want to point out the use for the first by Netvibes itself of an an Promotional Advertising Banner to announce its new mobile service directly in every Netvibes page.

"Netvibes goes mobile! Now, you can check your netvibes page on your mobile phone or your iPhone at the following address: http://m.netvibes.com".

As you can see from the image, this yellowish banner, is positionned just under your Tabs row.

Personnaly, if the banner was placed in the Netvibes Headline and never blincking, I do not think that that would disturb me very much if the service offered by Netvibes was to be increased. So a potential source of revenues? I think so, because Ads is the easiest way to do it!

As Tariq Krim, said in August 2006 :"Netvibes will remain free of charge" , that is not incompatible with some kind of Advertising.

I published my PARIS (France) Tab in Netvibes ecosystem

Hi,

after my London (UK) tab, I have just published the Paris (France) tab in the Netvibes ecosystem.

I compiled more than 50 feeds, logs and widgets on the French capital. It will be usefull for Parisians and visitors. Unfortunately the majority are in French (it would help an online translator for Feeds...).

Here is the list:

Contents:
Cityvox Paris Adresses
sommelier, Paris
Perturbations en Ile de France
Cityvox Paris Evenements
Le Blagueur à Paris
FRENCH HOLYDAYS
Cityvox Paris Accueil
Horaires RATP
Cityvox Paris Les sorties cinéma dans les salles parisiennes
Infotrafic.com
paris.thover.com en
Trafic RATP
Les Echos - ile de France
Carte des expos en cours à Paris - Artscape.fr
Audio Guide de Paris gratuit
Pages Blanches
20minutes - Paris
ViaMichelin
Toutes les photos taggée avec paris
WiFi Hotspots Finder
ViStA aime... ou pas !
V-Trafic - Information Trafic en temps réel
Expos à l'affiche
Paris traffic
Paris Logue
leParisien.com - L'info du Parisien
Photos de Cent déclics
The Paris Blog: Group Blog about Paris, France
Paris etudiant / Agenda Soirees
Jazz in Paris News
ParisDailyPhoto
Wombat Agenda
Wombat City guide
Paris etudiant / Agenda Expos
parisperdu
artscape.fr
Lesinrocks - CONCERTS
VODKACOCA SELECTION NUIT
VODKACOCA
AlloCiné -
Le Figaro - Culture
Libération
Daily art news
Google News - Culture
Le Monde : Culture
Voyage
Comme Au Cinema : Actu

Best of Paris (France): 51 widgets : Wether, Traffic, Culture, Blogs, Transportation, Maps, News, Photos, Audio guides, rent a bike stations, Bars, Night life, Exhibitions,...

New: Netvibes Premium Universes

Hi,

Netvibes is announcing the creation of Premium Universes.

A Netvibes Univers brings together and delivers on a single Netvibes page all of a brand's rich online media, including RSS feeds, websites, podcasts, videos, blogs, photos, stores and widgets, which can be remixed according to each user's personal preferences and interests.

Premium Universes are the same but the Premium Netvibes Univers is embeded in the Web site of the Announcer. Check here the Premium Universe of Le Figaro Newspaper web site called Myfigaro and you will see the Url is: http://www.lefigaro.fr/monfigaro/.

You can add feeds, widgets or all the tab to your own Netvibes page.

If you click on the upper left side link of the embeded Netvibes Univers "go to your own private Netvibes page" you go there but with the new Upper Headline from the Figaro.

Fred Mini, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Netvibes, in his French blogs adds "for those interested" that these Premium Universe are "Not for Free"... That means that could be a "source of revenues".

What I do not understand is the interest for the Netvibes partner/announcer .
If I can import the single Premium Univers feed or widget in my own Netvibes page, I will no more be exposed to the "contestual world" of the Announcer...

And if in the future, if this Embeded Netvibes is a success, then the hundred of cloned applications will be available to integrate this kind of Feeds Aggregator service in any website.

The New York Times has just followed another way. They have built their own Netvibes like starting page called My Times: a free service that lets you create a personalized page with what you like best in The New York Times and your favorite sites and blogs from all over the Web. This personalized service makes it easy to read all that you like, from one central place.


If you want to choose between the 750 Universes offered by Netvibes go here.

Another practical Use for Netvibes

Hi,

I was wondering what are the real practical uses for Netvibes.

For sure the first one is as a Personal Feed Aggregator Reader : multiple feeds from different sources in a smaller and compact presentation all on the same page (Ex: the Web 2.0 Tab)

But I found another practical use for Netvibes as a Searching Page for multiple Data Libraries: as reported by CMB, a medical library in the north of the Netherlands who presents a list of search modules.

Try Netvibes on the iphone

Hi,

tariq Krim has just announced the definitive version of Netvibes on the iphone.

Want to see what it looks like (even if you have not the iphone or you are not using an Apple) then go here: http://iphone.netvibes.com
and with your Netvibes user and pass you will access a very nice Netvibes version.

Tabs are in Vertical order, colours are in the Blues.
Feeds reading is ok, it also shows images.
At the moment the only difference I see with the Coriander Version of Netvibes is in the Webnotes where the Url links are not working.

Looks like that external widgets as "Any Url" are not working either.

Well, quite nice, I could be tempted...

More details on Netvibes TABS

Hi,

back to the desk , with some minor interesting change with Netvibes Tabs.

As you know, TABS are single pages with all their content: RSS feeds, calendars, webnotes, widgets ... You can find the 3.689 Tabs already available by looking in the Netvibes Ecosystem.

Untill now you could choose the Tabs just by its short description and the first 2-3 items but now if you click on the Tabs Page ( like the one for my LONDON UK ) you will be able to look at all the content. With the Mouse Over you can read all Link Locations.
That way you could souscribe just to a single item content of the chosen Tab!

That gives a better view of the Tab content... The way for Netvibes to the better Content is a long one but this one is another step.

Netvibes presents the Facebook Widget

Hi,

Netvibes has just announced the Facebook Widget.

Now the Netvibers will be able to check their Facebook accounts on the Netvibes page.

On the Content side, Netvibes is using Facebook (as any other external source) to try to increase its own audience: that's fair enough but Facebook does not accept the situation.

In fact, Facebook does not currently allow outsider providers to access their News Feed.

In other words, Facebook won't let you display your News Feed from the front page in your widget (or change your status for that matter.) . Facebook is then retaing its own content to be viewed on its own website.

That way, Facebook increases the traffic on its own site. Facebook future tactic could be to create a Netvibes style platform and offer it to its own audience to keep them there.

The WEB PORTALS 2.0 are coming ...

More infos:

- for Competition from Homepages with Facebook: "To compete with Facebook as a social network, they need to attract third party developers - and quickly."

- for Competition between Facebook and Myspace: "Facebook’s strategy is almost the polar opposite from MySpace. While MySpace frets over third party widgets, alternatively shutting them down or acquiring them, Facebook is now opening up its core functions to all outside developers."

I published my London (UK) Tab in Netvibes ecosystem

Hi,

after my discussion on "How to prepare a Trip to London (Uk) with Netvibes", I published my TAB in the Netvibes Ecosystem.

You can find it here: London UK Tab for Netvibes.

Contents:
Londonist
UK Holidays
Mobissimo Travel
London Logue
Travelocity
Art Events in London this month - All In London
Kayak Search
Exhibitions in London this month - All In London
lastminute.com Entertainment
BBC News - England
Lastminute - Holidays top deals
Telegraph - Breaking news
Telegraph - Travel
BBC News - News Front Page
Lonely Planet
Museum of London Group upcoming events
Google Map
The London Symphony Orchestra News
Children and Family Events London this month - All In London
The London Philharmonic Orchestra News
Our Pick of Events in London this month - All In London
All In London News Feed - July 2007
All In London Entertainment News Feed - July 2007
London Daily Photo
Guardian Unlimited
This Is Local London Top Stories
BBC News Entertainment
Yahoo! UK Movies
Google Maps Search
UK Traffic & Travel News
London Baroque News

A tab to prepare your trip to LONDON (UK) with more than widgets, feeds and links: Weather, What to do, News, Blogs, Maps, Best deals, Traffic, Links, ...

I published it the 25th of July but it is not verified yet...

If Netvibes can not stop clones then only Content is left.

Hi,

To continue my series on Netvibes Clones, here is another Netvibes look-alike: MEVOU.
It looks like Netvibes in the version previous the last Coriander Update. But everything is there and seems to work: widgets, weather, clock . Of course the Netvibes Ecosystem is missing but the rest is there with a small feed directory and the principal applications.

As, ReadWriteWeb wrote: " The barrier for entry in getting into this hot area has never been lower than now"
So, If Netvibes can not stop clones to come to the surface the only solution for them to survive is Content.

But what surprises me is the lack of reaction from Netvibes Managers.

Let's take FRANCK MAHON , Lead Product Manager or Hubert MICHAUX, Marketing Manager we never ear from them. Only Tariq KRIM , the founder and CE0 speaks for Netvibes.
But the Content subject seems more and more confused not to speak about an Exclusive content.

Another Request for a Clone of Netvibes

Hi,

again on Netvibes Clones, I just read this offer :

"We need an exact clone of www.netvibes.com
we need all the same features and the same AJAX interface and the same everything.
We need the modules that they offer and also the netvibes ecosystem where users can add their modules to the ecosystem.
We need an exact clone in no more than 15 days delivered to us.

AGAIN WE NEED AN EXACT CLONE AND THE USER MUST HAVE CREATED SEVERAL AJAX WEBSITES.

WE WILL PAY IN FULL AFTER THE PRODUCT IS DELIVERED TO US AND WE CAN PAY EITHER THROUGH SCRIPTLANCE OR THROUGH PAYPAL.PLEASE DO NOT BID IF YOU ARE NOT SERIOUS AND FAMILIAR WITH AJAX.

THE WEBSITE DELIVERED SHOULD BE EXACTLY LIKE NETVIBES NOTHING SHOULD DIFFER AND IT SHOULD HAVE 100% OF THE SAME FETAURES AND LAYOUT AND FUNCTIONING.

WE NEED AN ADMIN PANEL FROM WHERE WE CAN CLICK ON A USERS ACCOUNT IF HE HAS SIGNED UP WITH US AND GO TO HIS NETVIBES PAGE.

ALSO WE NEED A FEATURE IN THE ADMIN PANEL FROM WHERE WE CAN EDIT THE LAYOUT.
WE NEED SUPPORT FOR AT LEAST 3 MONTHS AFTER THE WEBSITE HAS BEEN DELIVERED."

Price offered is... 100-300 $ and is an auction! Netvibers lawyers will work hard this summer...

Want a clone of Netvibes for US$399 ?

Hi,

Again reading my stats for this blog, I noticed a search on Google for : scripts netvibes clone.

And here is what I found on the ALSTRASOFT page:

"AJAX DeskTop StartPage Enterprise is our latest range of web 2.0 AJAX based application that allows you to start your very own personal start page service just like Netvibes.com, iGoogle & PageFlakes.com."

"StartPage Enterprise also features a unique "Drag and Drop" interface that allows your users to easily add or remove widgets from their pages making it truly a simple to use and fun tool for all your web users."

And the cost ? Well ... just US$399 for AJAX DeskTop StartPage Enterprise (Single license + 1 year updates)

If Netvibes has copyright or Marketing skills here is a new source of revenues.

By the way, Alstrasoft has many customers complaining: just read this Alstrasoft Nightmares page and this one...

Netvibes in interesting Web Trend Graph.

Hi,

on the Blog of Freddy Mini I found this interesting graph about WEB TRENDS.

Netvibes is marked 2.0 when Facebook, Wordpress, Wikipedia are already 2.5.

How to prepare a trip to London (UK) with Netvibes

Hi,

Let's assume I want to prepare a trip , say, to: LONDON, UK. How can Netvibes help me?
(Here is what I wrote about "Travel with Netvibes ")

If I know well Netvibes, I will do:

1) First, I select local content in SETTINGS/ LOCAL CONTENT/EUROPE/ UNITED KINGDOM
2) Then I must go to the ADD CONTENT/ FEEDS/ FEATURED FEEDS. There I have a selection of 12 Feeds on UK in general , (5 from the BBC)
3) if I go for ADD/CONTENT/FEED DIRECTORY by clicking on each of the tab I will get a few Uk feeds more spiecialized in Travel, Entertainment, Internet... But nothing on LONDON , so now I go for the Netvibes Ecosystem.

4) there I search for London, or better I choose the Tag London and I have more than 60 results.

The first interesting is the i-m-tro module by Patrice, where by choosing the city you want to travel (Londo, Paris, Ny, ...) you have a search module helping you to find your way in the public transportation systems of more 250+ cities around the world! I select London, UK.
Now to go from Waterloo station to Trafalgar square, I choose:
Waterloo (and the module proposed me 3 choices) and Trafalgar ( and the module proposed me to complete with square) I can then add the Day and the our to use the Tube. I could have checked or not the following choices: Tube, DLR, River Service , First Capital Connect,Croydon, C2C , Silverlink , Southwest Trains , Southern , Southend, ONE South Eastern Trains , First Great Western , Airport Services by train or Airport Services by bus.

This is result is:
Waterloo International Station - Trafalgar Square (Sunday 20:00)
Best routeTime about 14 minutes - 0 connection(s)
At Waterloo International Station -->Walk to -->Waterloo -->Take Northern Line (Char.C.)Direction High BarnetMill Hill EastEdgwareNorthbound
Get off at -->Charing Cross -->Walk to -->Trafalgar Square

Impressive! Looks complete but as I am not from London I needsomone to check it in the real world!

5) Then I could choose a TAB UK TRANSPORT containing a selection of UK transport news feeds. But the only interesting are Feeds from Google News and Technorati that I will modify myself to have more precise news on London.

6) Then I have feeds, a lot of them, but many are for London cities in the USA ! I select instead a few feeds on London Orchestras.

7) Then I search for TRAVEL on Netvibes Ecosystem and I have more than 130 results. I go for the Tabs and I found TRAVEL: with just 3 Widgets: Mobissimo, a travel search widget, nice and sober that gives results in the widget.; Travelocity, another travel search widget that opens an external windows with the results. I added myself another Travel search Widget: Kayak search (that opens also in external windows).

8) There was also a Google map Widget ( a few to choose from : Google Map and Search that can search sushi, hotels, pizzas, coffes shop (Well American style food...); Google map by Cristophe (simple and clear) .

9) Then with the Netvibes Search Widget I looked for "LONDON BLOGS" and I selected: the Directory of London Bloggers amazing how many you can have! My preferred are LONDONIST and LONDON LOGUE.

10) Then from the ADD CONTENT of Netvibes I added the Weather Widget, A calendar for UK Holydays, A London Daily Photos .... I add also a TRAFIC TRAVEL NEWS UK Widget,

In my new TAB : LONDON (UK) I have now 38 from Widgets and Feeds all setted on LONDON. I will publish it in the Netvibes ecosystem so that if others are interested, they will not lose my 3-4 hours of work.

Still, I am sure that something is missing.

Let me know.

WZD.com: a new competitor for Netvibes

Hi,

Reading the stats of this Blog, I was attracted by an unknown short url: WZD.com . I followed the link and there it was a new Korean Competitor to Netvibes.

I do not read Korean but I was able to change my background theme and could have registred. Instead I googled for some news and here is a short description in English from WEB2.0 Asia:

"WZD.com (pronounced Wizard.com), a Korean offering of web start page, has beta launched its new version. According to 2Z, a Korean blogger (note: link in Korean), the notable features of the new version include:

• Sharing web widgets and personal pages: Users can share the widgets and startpages they created with other users. The place where these assets can be posted and shared is called "Oz".
• Better UI and design: Unlike on other startpage services, WZD.com users can freely adjust the size of the widgets. Also widgets can be overlaid on top of other widgets, not necessarily constrained to move only up and down within the given horizontal boundaries.
• Web widget API: WZD.com announced WZDAPI, a widget-creating API that's compatible with Mac OS, Google, Netvibes, etc. "

So Technical competition on the AJAX homepage platform is increasing everyday.

Among Netvibes competitors we can point:
http://my.yahoo.com/
http://www.google.com/ig
http://my.msn.com/
http://www.live.com/
http://about.aol.com/myaol
http://my.netscape.com/
http://www.protopage.com/
http://www.pageflakes.com/
http://www.webwag.com/
...
I think is time for Netvibes to go for real good content!

TRAVEL with NETVIBES

Hi,

I continue to search for the Content offered by Netvibes. (started here)

Now, if I consider Netvibes as a good Platform for my content (as Netvibes can be accessed by PC and Macs, IE and FireFox, ADSL and Mobile ) one of the first uses I will want to explore as a Netviber is : TRAVEL with NETVIBES.

In that case I would like to find on my Netvibes Page the following:

1. Maps,
2. Travel guides,
3. Accomodations
4. Restaurants
5. Shopping
6. Tips,
7. Time Tables,
8. Local News,
9. Event list,
10. Weather forecasts,
11. Booking facility,
12. Pictures and videos,
13. Places to go,
14. Calendar,
15. Email checking and sending
16. Usefull numbers-links,
17. selection of Local Blogs,
18. Social opportunities and why not:
19. job opportunities,
20. short rentings,
21. children activities
22. sport facilities,....

All the above will be set just for my needs giving me just the info I need where I need it.

I know it is a lot but in a way or another we need all need that. It could be a huge market!

And with Netvibes (or a similar pernsonalized page) I could travel with it, or just consult it in an internet cafe'. I could also use it by printing some of it.

Of course, Google, Yahoo ore other sites are offering something like that but everything is their choice: take it or leave it.

I would prefer my own selection, with my page organized as I want it : with the weather coming from different sources and placed on the top right, the local news on the left, the webcam of the day in the middle, and....

But can Netvibes help me in planning and enjoying my trip ?

Will see it in another discussion...

No sex in Netvibes

Hi,

After my post of yesterday about the necessity for Netvibes to increase their offer of Content, I wanted to evaluate the Content offered today by Netvibes, so I went for the Netvibes Ecosystem.

But there is no Directory to choose content from. The only Directory I found in Netvibes is in the Add Content of the Netvibes home page, in Feeds, where you have a Feed Directory: Top Headlines, Sport, Finance, Business, Tech, Internet, ...

So I tried with their Search but as I wrote yesterday it is not effective so I figured out to test the TAGS which gives the number of Widgets, feeds, Universes, tabs, ... that are tagged with the chosen word.

Here are the number of results for any chosen tag:

news = more than 300

podcast = more than 100

finance = more than 180

internet = more then 160

google = more than 80


But in an optic to have a more popular Netvibes I looked for everyday words:

food = more than 150

music = more than 420

sport = more than 200

love = more than 130

weather = 31

Then also because I can be a naughty boy, I checked the S word:

sex and guess what I was expecting at least 100 like podcast, or 200 as sport but the result is just 23 !!!

Well it was perhaps the Tag a bit to strong so what about:

erotic = just 2 !!


Then I went to Google Trends to check about the searches made in 2006 worldwide and here is the resulting graph with the following terms in dicreasing order:

red=sex than light blu= google than yellow=music than green=love and finally dark blue=sport.



So SEX is a much searched word in 2006 (2005, 2004, 2003...) than Google but also than love, food, sport,... That was no surprise to me as markets for VCR recorders, Satellite TV and of course Internet were and are driven by sex.
n
The lack of significative erotic presence is there to signify that there is no real business to be done in a homepage-platform like Netvibes? Or it is just that there is not enough audience ? Or, that personal homepages are the last "no-sex" territory?

Netvibes' new frontier : Content

Hi,

Ok Netvibes is there. A good platform to put my (yours) own tabs and widgets but if Netvibes wants to count in "real millions" of users instead on thousands it should be more interested in Content.

See why .

I just discovered a site founded two years ago, by then-fifteen-year-old Kamran Munshi, that is aggregating real estate and location data. The site is called Terabitz.

And Wired Blog describs Terabitz as "Ajax-ified, with a responsive, drag-and-drop interface that lets you view a dashboard showing various aspects of the real estate market for areas you're interested in. You can decide which metrics are interesting to you: Housing prices, rental prices, recent real estate transactions, local school info, the locations of banks, grocery stores, and libraries, and more. Each one of these items is a module you can drag onto your dashboard. If you want to compare locations you can point the same dashboard view at a different town or ZIP code."

How do they will make money ?

Here is their answer: Terabitz will always be free to you, the user.We are different than other real estate sites in how we make money as well. Rather than traditional advertising, we allow companies to introduce you to themselves in a highly localized, contextual fashion. Appropriate service providers can sponsor targeted category bits on the site as you use them, so you see only relevant information as you research. Everyone wins.

And Venture Beat describes Terabitz with: "Think of it as a cross between a personal homepage (like iGoogle or Netvibes, for example) and a real estate information site (like Trulia or Zillow)."

So, Terabitz is a "Specialized Netvibes" that will look for advertising, sponsorship, fees on local ads, .... No surprise Terabitz launches, with $10 million in venture funding!

So will Netvibes educate the masses and leave to others the juicy niches or is it going to create, develop, capture them ? Wait and see.

Netvibes Ecosystem should improve the Search function

Hi,

another function thet Netvibes Ecosystem should immediately improve is their search!

There is no point is listing 1050 Widgets(Modules) ; 85.000 feeds; 1160 podcasts; 282 Events; 3500 tabs and 600 Universes if the Search is not much much better.

Why? I tried to find directly the page of the Module/Widget "Netvibes Customize" .
Well, of course is just listed on the right column under Most Popular. But if I type "Netvibes Customize" (with or without braquets) in the search, I get more than 130 answers !!! And that is just limited to the Modules !!

Netvibes should replace Modules with Widgets

Hi,

I was checking the Netvibes Ecosystem for new Modules to add to my own Netviebs page and I was a bit confused in seeing that there was no more a tab for Modules and that it was replaced by Widgets!

But, If you click on the Widgets tab, that is the text "Modules are applications and services built by the community of Netvibes developers."

So if for Netvibes, Modules are the Widgets, I would expect from netvibes a massive copy/paste and the replacement of the of the old term.

I prefer myself, Widget, as is worldwide accepted and should increase the diffusion of Netvibes.

Text to Voice Rss feeds Reader: The Widget I would like now

Hi,

I would like to place on my Netvibes a Text to Voice Rss feeds Reader.
It would permit me to listen to RSS feeds instead of reading them.
Why ? I think that in the future with mobile phones I could need it.

Listen here what could be the Text to Voice Update from Netviber Experience Blog.

Any suggestion ?

I tried to check the Netvibes Ecosystem but their search is very poor... and that could become a problem. How to choose Modules and Widgets if you do not have a proper search function? But that is worth another discussion.

(For the Text to Voice simulation I used the ATT research Demo and File Storage is provided by OhShare (direct upload up to 80 MB and no registration and no time limit))

About Widgets Monetization and Netvibes_part 2

Hi,

yesterday I started a discussion on the possible revenues for netvibes coming from Widgets Monetization.

Let's first explain what are Widgets and why they interest the Marketing community:

Basically, Widgets are portable applications (programs) that provide functionality and content online. Widgets can either sit on a user’s desktop or a web page and perform a function. There are desktop (Yahoo and Vista) and webtop widgets (webblog, Netvibes, Pageflakes, Myspace, iGoogle, etc.) made available via Springwidgets.com, Clearspring.com , Netvibes, Widgetbox.com, or other platforms, with many different functions that they can perform.

If you use Netvibes, by clicking on the upper left side of your page on the "ADD CONTENT" you will have a choice between Widgets and Universes.

Netvibes' Widgets are devided in Feeds (RSS) ; Basic Widgets (Weather, WebNote,...); Communication (Gmail, Yahoomail, Popmail...) ; Search (Web, Blog, Images, ...); Applications (digg, ebay, twitter,...); External widgets (UWA modules, Web page by url...) .

The interesting thing about Widgets is that you can add them where you want (if they are correctly written) and you become independent from the Original Web page. In Netvibes (or any other independent personalized homepage) you can have your Gmail next to your YahooMail and your Msn Hotmail. You can read the feeds from the BBC next to the CNN and the REUTERS (but all of you know that already).

The difficulty for the Content Providers and the Advertising industry is that the Widgets use programming languages that create problems in measuring the audience of the "Original Content Provider" as the final user (Me) is not always directly connected to the Content Provider (ex: CNN).

On the other way, the Widget builders will want to:

1) Drive Traffic to their own site (ex: Tip of the Day, Photo of the Day, latest Blog post, or a Sale of the Day )

2) Allow for a deeper connection with their consumers (ex: a nationally known pet products brand offered a desktop widget that allows users to get updated local weather and have a photo of their pet as a background)

3) Push the Brand

4) Build links (from every site that embeds the widget)

Widgets represent an entirely new way of looking at advertising.

Unlike almost all other online ads, widgets are uploaded onto sites (personal sites, profile pages, blogs) by consumers themselves. They are pulled by their audience, instead of pushed by marketers. And the publishers (largely personal publishers) who upload them are far more than affiliates: owing to these publishers’ personal dynamic and voice, they become advocates for the marketers whose widgets they help distribute.

About Widgets viewership:

In the Wall Street Journal, Comscore reports on viewership of widgets: 177.8 million in April:

Slide is leading the widget economy with 117.1 mln widget-views in April 2007, followed by RockYou with 82 mln., followed by PictureTrail, PhotoBucket, Bunnyhero Labs, BlingyBob, POQbum, Brightcove, Layoutstar and MusicPlaylist.us. 105 mln people visited MySpace in April 2007 and 38.8 mln visited Facebook.

Many readers have noted that YouTube.com is not included...

(sources:

http://www.widgetcon.com/marketing.html;

http://www.agerhart.com/web-20/why-your-business-needs-widgets/;

http://www.agerhart.com/web-20/why-your-business-needs-widgets/;

http://podmetrics.wordpress.com/2007/07/10/widgetworld-the-distributed-web-6132007/

)