Though you can still access my experimental lifestream at http://digitalcortex.net/stream, I hope it’ll soon be replaced with this cool new open-source lifestreaming tool from jonpauldavies. Key features are:
Looks to be especially good at styling, with several themes ready out of the box.
16 built-in social services with RSS input for those other fiddly ones no-one really uses.
Graphing tools built-in for crispy pie charts etc.
Plus, the PR job he’s doing over at lifestreamblog.com will work wonders at driving support, the main reason SweetCron is lagging behind. Check it out:
UX Magazine – The User Experience Magazine - The inspiration for my new SweetCron theme, which was a long time coming! Great looking site, I’ll be sure to check this out frequently.
GIFMAKE – generator of gif pictures - Just what I’ve been looking for all day. A GIF maker that can handle animation lengths and controls looping rules. Nicely!
Vimeo - Yes I know, late to the scene, but I see Vimeo as a more grown-up YouTube, and one worthy of more respect than it seems to get. Loving their line in HD videos too.
ScrnShots: Share your inspiration - Worth a shot? Upload here for the world to see, with a handy feed to plug into Sweetcron too. Think of it as Flickr for the ‘Shift + Print Screen’ers among us.
QR-Code Generator - My favourite QR code maker, because it’s just so simple.
There is also a YouTube “press release” of their announcement here:
And an example of how the in-game ads might look here:
And finally, an article from CasualGaming.biz who broke the story last Friday:
Google unveils its game plan Oct 8th 2008 at 13:54 by Michael French:
Web giant Google has finally unveiled its long-awaited bid to enter the in-game advertising sector, revealing it is putting a big focus of the strategy on casual games.
In a post on the blog for the firm’s web advertising team Adsense, Google reps said that it is targeting web games in the first instance:
“Do you develop or publish web-based games? If so, you’re contributing to a growing trend – according to comScore, over 25% of Internet users play online games every week, which is over 200 million users worldwide. As a beta user of AdSense for Games, you can display video ads, image ads, or text ads within your online games to earn revenue,” the sales pitch reads.
“You’ll be able to show these ads in placements you define, such as interstitial frames before a game, after a level change, or when a game is over. Members of our AdWords team will sell your in-game ad placements directly to top brand advertisers, and you’ll also see contextually targeted text and image ads based on content and demographic information. In addition, you’ll be able to control the ads you see on your pages using our filtering options.”
Google has opened a beta for the service, which is open to publishers with predominantly (over 80 per cent) traffic from the UK or US.
Demonstration videos for the service make reference to a wide variety of games – although both open with footage from Playfish’s Facebook Word Challenge game.
“We’ve built ad technology for games played within a user’s browser, and now we’re looking to expand our publisher network,” the company said.
Google has partnered with Mochi Media and its MochiAds network to add inventory to its available advertising slots.
Jameson Hsu, CEO of Mochi Media commented: “Google AdSense for Games will be able to offer a wide reach for its advertisers, and Mochi Media can better monetize international traffic for our developers and publishers.”
The news comes just hours after the company revealed its YouTube video service would start offering online sales of games as well via links from its relevant videos to online stores such as Amazon and iTunes.
