I have found the first FEEDS READER with IMAGES

I have finally found the first FEEDS READER Widget that shows images !! I was looking for it since my first Netvibes page and now I have it working . Too cool !

Look at the image down there, I have chosen the Fubiz blog to show you th improvements.


On the left the "normal" feed reader from Netvibes with the "show details" option, then in the center the Premium Widget also from Netvibes. This tile it show images but just 3 at the times.
Then on the right the new Feed Reader Widget: as many images as you want (only jpg).

Imagine all your preferred Video, Sport, Fashion, Design, Art, Photography, Visual, Graphic ... blogs showing up in your Netvibes page with their images... Even Netviber Experience blog will has been enhanced ;)

But that is not all ! With this single Widget you can also :

1) merge different feeds, audio podcasts and video podcasts together
2) filter the displayed items.
3) show feeds on 1-2-3-4-5 columns ...
4) video player and an audio player are integrated in the widget.
5) read the articles directly in the widget too.

Available in English and French

A wonderful widget.

More to come!

Netvibes users want an "import all TAB" option from other's Universes

More and more Ginger users of Netvibes, and I am with them, want a new option when visiting a friend's Universe: "import all that Tab":

You can still import one by one the widgets you are interested in, but an import all the Tab would be much more elegant.

And here is another personal request: please, create a Sub-TAB option for users with a lot of Tabs ;)

What kind of animal is Netvibes today ? A PLATYPUS !

A PLATYPUS ??!!

YES, A PLATYPUS !

Platypus ( (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a small , nice, unique semi-aquatic , duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed, egg-laying, venomous mammal with dense brown fur living in Australia .

If you look back , NETVIBES was an Homepage or a Start Page : It was the your new Private page: a new entry point for the Web to read your preferred feeds, check the weather, your emails .... The competition is from: iGoolge, MyYahoo!, Live.com, Pageflakes,...

Slowly, the new socials networks appeared and with the Ginger release, a new Netvibes was presented. Now, you can have now your own Public Page on Netvibes: Netvibes has become a Social Service on its own but in competition with Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Bebo ...

Now, as evolution continues also in the web, Widgets (those small programmes that you can add to your page) are becoming the big thing... They can travel, they can be today in Netvibes but tomorrow (even today if you want) you will bring them in your own Blog or in your web site.

At this point Netvibes have to evolve again...

So Netvibes wants to become also a Widget Market place in competition with: Widgetbox, Slide, Rockyou, Goowy, Clearspring, Gigya, ...

Other evolutions are awaited: Online Web Storage could be the next one...

So, Netvibes = Platypus , not a strange definition for me ...

4 rules for What are Friends and Followers in Netvibes ?

If you are new to Netvibes and/or to Social Networks like Facebook or Twitter you could have some difficulties to understand what are the FRIENDS and FOLLOWERS of your Netvibes page in the new Ginger release.


FRIENDS
When you arrive on Ginger you have already one Friend: Netvibes Then you will explore Netvibes and you will arrive on someone's universe (let's say: Free-Ingrid-Betancourt) .
If you check her contacts you will ONLY see her Follers (not the Friends !)
If you like her Universe and/or want to get in touch you click under her profile the: add friend .
(For: How to Find Friends with Netvibes read my previous post here)

If you now go in your own CONTACTS (by clicking Conctacts in your own Netvibes page) you will see that your New Friend has been added on your Friends list.

But the term FRIEND is not correct as the correct one should be: FOLLOWING.

Yes, if you are Friend with Some one, in Netvibes and the other Social networks, that means only that you FOLLOW that person.
Following means being able to read and watch his/her Activities.
(For my post on Activities go here)

The contrary is not true:

Rule 1: YOUR FRIENDS DO NOT FOLLOW/READ YOU !

That is quite strange for "normal people" but the Web works with asymmetric communication ;)
In normal life when I phone to a friend he answers me and so forth. Not here.

So, now you are able to follow Free-Ingrid-Betancourt Activities but Free-Ingrid-Betancourt is not. But on her Conctacts she will see a new Follower: you.

Rule 2: WHEN YOU ADD A FRIEND , YOU BECOME HIS/HER FOLLOWER !

That means that if you click on Activities or you watch your MY COMMUNITY Widget you will be able to read her activities , updates ...

Rule 3: WHEN YOU ARE FRIEND, YOU CAN SEE YOUR FRIEND' FRIENDS
When you are a Friend to someone you can, if you go back to your Friend Universe, see who are her/his Friends not just her/his followers. And if the Friends' of my Friends are my Friends rule works then you can find new friends...

FOLLOWERS:
Are following a person Activities.
When you check you own Friends and Followers if you see a little green mark on the right, that just means that you already have added him as Friend = you are already following.


Of course, all your Friends are green marked and possibly just some of your followers are...
But, if you check your Friend' Friends you will see yourself but with no Green Mark: Netvibes bug or choice ?


In conclusion, for what I am concerned, I think that the minimum is to check who is following you and as I am quite open to new ideas I like to transform my Followers in Friends ;)
What I require is just to have an Interesting Universe...

Rule 4: ONLY WHEN YOU AND YOUR FRIEND ARE MUTUALLY FOLLOWER AND FOLLOWING (FRIEND) THAT A REAL BIDIRECTIONAL COMMUNICATION CAN WORK.

Suggestion for Netvibes:
When 2 users are mutually Friends that should be marked differently and perhaps also named as : "GOOD FRIENDS" with a special "BEST FRIENDS" group to be left for the Good Friends to decide...

Hope is it clear enough...

New STAR IT! widget: share and favorite any URL : 5*/5

STAR IT ! this fresh and hot new widget from Maurice Svay of the Netvibes team is one that all Ginger users were waiting for.

With this easy widget, just copy the URL of any post, image, video, webpage, ... you want to star (make favorite) , click STAR and you have your favorite.
You can now choose to send it to your Private or your Public activities. You can add also a comment.

Just perfect ! It works on your Private page and on your public Universe.

To be improved: nothing on the widget, but we will need some kind of Star Box with appropriate tools to use and recover past starred items.

UPDATE: If a FireFox Star it! plug-in was to become available that would make a huge increase for Netvibes appeal ;)


NetEx Rating: 5*****/5

I have add it in my list of REALLY Essential Widgets on my Universe were you can get it directly to your own Netvibes page or you can get it here

Why Netvibes is not directly upgrading new users to Ginger ?

I had to prepare a Netvibes page for my wife. She is not a techie and does not like all the preparatory staff: register, sign in, confirm ... so I do that for her.

But what a surprise, new users with Netvibes are still stuck with a revamped Coriander release version: a nicer layout, some functionalities like the share widget but no Friends, no Activities.

That means that at the moment, Netvibes puts its best version at more than 8 clicks away from the "not yet user "(check image: 6 steps just to go to Ginger) !!??
If the 6 steps were acceptable for users upgrading from Coriander release, it is not for new users

That is not good for a service that is looking to the Big Audience in a very competitive market.

Hope for them, that they will change that soon or they will lose momentum.

Why Netvibes' Team's members prefer Twitter ?

It is some time that I "follow" Netvibes and slowly I happen to be in contact with some of the small Team that runs and builds Netvibes.

What I found surprising is that the majority of the Netvibes Team uses Twitter to chat between them when Netvibes with its Ginger release is now offering a similar service.

Why they continue to do so ?

1. Twitter must be more friendly, easy, adapted to their use or it must give at least the same.
   
2. Their Twitter friends are more numerous than their Netvibes one (that meaning that they were not able "to convert" they friends to Netvibes
3. Old habits are stronger to change even for tech guys and girls
4. The service offered by Netvibes "My community" is not appealing enough
5. They do that just for me to ask ;)

In the mean time you can follow my own Twitter here.