I compared 4 news aggregators in my Netvibes: Wikio, Google news, Inform and Topix.

As often as with subjects that I want really to follow well, I need more than one source. So, this time I wanted to compare 4 different automatic news portals in my Netvibes page: Wikio, Google news, Inform and Topix.

As you can see from my capture, I have setted all 4 with the same number of feeds and details and I have selected also the publishing by date. Wikio and Topix are publishing also pictures.

What is interesting and contrary to my expectations is that the 20 news on my screen are all different ! That depends of course on sources and methodology and on the date of publishing.

That would also suggest that all 4 portals have different approaches that could appeal to different users.

For Wikio I have choosen the Wikio.co.uk (as the Wikio.com was less focused on the tournament and a special human created directory: http://www.wikio.co.uk/sport/tennis/tennis_tournaments/wimbledon.
Wikio searches the medias but also the blogs (if pertinent).

For Google News it is the .com edition and the search string is just Wimbledon and Google news is limited at the media (no blogs). The same works for Inform which presents a selection of UK media sources. Topix checks thousands of sources.

I must confess, with just this 20 results, I am not able to choose which is working best. I will have to look a them, over time.

But if things remain like that, I think that I will keep just Wikio and Google news to check eachother as the human content selected sources (blogs included) of Wikio can correct the full automated Google news based on ranking.

And you, what is your favorite and why ?

If you want you can check my Tab in my Universe.

I have the official Wimbledon 2008 Widget :( just 1*/5

I just found the official Wimbledon 2008 Widget for the Tennis Championships:
It is distributed by Clearspring.com and sponsored by IMB. And it gives scores, news and palyer info.

But this Widget does not work properly with Netvibes and my FF3 even with the dedicated Netvibes download option.
Sizes are not working properly (as they look inverted) and there is no way to move in the widget area as no scroll is available :(
Are they using UWA ? Not sure...



NetEx Rating: 1*/5
The worst possible result for a Widget : Just a big Ad and no way to use the widget :(

If somebody want to test the widget and try to fix it, click here :

My Facebook page has ADS not my Netvibes ...

and I can ask for more

No good Wimbledon 2008 widget available ? I have for you a feed, a radio and video on demand

As Netvibes has not (yet?) any Wimbledon 2008 Tennis Championships widget to offer, I have decided to check the Web for you, and me ;)

First stop: the Wimbledon web site : all the news, the pics and , of course, the scores.

An the official RSS feed is also available :
click here to add it now to your Netvibes page



But there is more:

You can listen to Wimbledon Live Radio

and if you really want more, there is also the Video On Demand :


And WEB 2.0 is not forgotten: you have a small window on the right column: My Wimbledon ;) : you can choose your top 5 preferred players and follow their results and news.

If you know other interesting sources, let me know.

Netvibes is Back :)

My Netvibes is still down

Netvibes is no more a Start-Up

With the replacement of Tariq Krim by Freddy Mini as new CEO, Netvibes has given a clear sign that the almost 3 year long Start-up phase of the project is now finished.

Many well informed insiders, as Pierre Chappaz (shareholder and former co-CEO of Netvibes and actual CEO of Wikio.com ), have declared : Netvibes is now entering the monetization phase.

On the practical side what does it mean ?

First, it is the end of all those activities for which no revenues are at sight and that could mean a reduction in the Social Features or at least not a futher development.

Second, Netvibes will move to look for a broader massive distribution as the recent deal with the French largest Cable company (Numericable.fr) by which the 4.8 million users of Numericable will be able to access a "personal" mynumericable.fr homepage. " my numericable is a completely customizable web portal for Numericable customers. MyNumericable lets users access personalized TV schedules, email, billing services, local news, weather, games, blogs, widgets and other popular services like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube—all from a single, convenient startpage, powered by Netvibes". This personal homepage is provided by Netvibes as a premium Universe.

Third, an increase of the offer of Widgets, produced and or supported by Netvibes in the hope that the long waited boom in that market will give Netvibes the revenues it still looking for.

For the average end-user, as myself, all that could mean:

• less "glamour and hipe" that only Tariq Krim was able to create around Netvibes
• lesser options to choose from as that is increasing complexity and then costs
• lesser development of the Social side of Netvibes that could have create a real Netvibes'community around the service
• lesser interest from Netvibes team to create my long dreamed Single Social Interface

I hope to be wrong on many issues ;) as I think Netvibes is now just at half of its potential and that the most interesting part of the Service is yet to come.