Yahoo Widget Engine

New Yahoo Widget Engine coming soon

On Wednesday or Thursday, Yahoo is going to revamp its directory of desktop widgets for the Yahoo Widget Engine. This is warm-up for a new version of the Engine itself, Yahoo Widget Engine 4.5, that arrives the week of November 27.

End users won't see much that's new in the Engine itself, but they'll see a shift in how it is pitched. The new directory should be easier to navigate and more approachable. Yahoo, instead of trying to sell end-users on the Engine and then pushing the widgets, will instead begin to pitch the utility and entertainment values of the widgets primarily, and aim to slip the download and installation of the Engine onto their coattails.

Time for new widgets.

The strategy makes sense for the product and for consumers, many of whom have a widget engine of some sort on their computers already -- Windows Vista and Apple's OS X both run desktop gadgets. Adobe's AIR platform is also impinging on Yahoo's engine.

Later this year, Yahoo will begin to push widgets on various mega-sites that it runs, which will be necessary to get the engine onto enough desktops so that developers are attracted to working in it.

Speaking of developers, Yahoo's SVP of Widgets, Jonathan Strauss, in a frustratingly elliptical interview, let on that the new Engine will have "new ways to exploit the power of the desktop." He was referring to new tools for creating widgets. I think the best thing Yahoo could do would be to make it possible to use Yahoo Pipes as a development platform for Widgets, but Strauss told me I "might be reading too much into" his statements.

I like the Yahoo Widget Engine, but it is product from a previous era -- before Vista and its Sidebar, Google Gadgets, OS X Gadgets, Netvibes' Universal Widget Architecture, and Adobe AIR. I don't think running a discrete, desktop-only widget engine is a solid business today. Fortunately, another thing we'll hear about in a few weeks is Yahoo's plans for widgets on platforms other than the desktop -- the browser and mobile devices. We might see a Yahoo partnership announcement with Web widget platform ClearSpring. It would make sense. The two companies' platforms are complimentary. Also, Strauss told me he went to college with ClearSpring CEO Hooman Rafdar. Putting their products together could be a happy reunion.

Technorati : Engine, Widget, Yahoo

Microsoft upgraded Zune player and a new strategy for tapping the strength of social networking sites

Zune doesn't yet pose a real threat to the market-dominating iPod, but Microsoft definitely wants a piece of the action.

Microsoft Retools Zune to Target Apple's Flaws

With an upgraded Zune player and a new strategy for tapping the strength of social networking sites, Microsoft is making serious moves to challenge the iPod.

The company is attacking what it sees as Apple's weaknesses. Zune's hardware and subscription service are still big pieces of the puzzle, but Microsoft's new goal is to follow users wherever they go, from cellphones to social networks.

To that end, Microsoft has invested in Facebook, acquired key technology companies, licensed the Zune store to cellphone carriers and embraced the music widget concept with its Smart Card program.

"Microsoft stands a chance against Apple" in the long-term effort to woo gadget fans, said IDC analyst Susan Kevorkian in an e-mail. "The newly redeveloped Zune platform gives (Microsoft) a strong point of departure."

If this strategy sounds familiar, it should -- it's essentially the same method Microsoft used to conquer the desktop marketplace: licensing technology to third-party companies. In contrast, Apple, its fleeting dalliance with Motorola aside, is mostly sticking to its old, sandboxed ways. The company makes all the hardware and software that works with iTunes and its Mac operating system, and hasn't bothered to create iTunes widgets for increasingly popular social networks. Microsoft, perhaps correctly, sees these openings as ways to increase Zune's market share.

The most ballyhooed (and misunderstood) feature of the first Zunes was their wireless music sharing feature, which ran aground after owners noticed there was no one around to share with.

With the new Zunes released Tuesday, Microsoft has moved "the social" back where it belongs: other companies' social networks. Users of the free Zune software can embed a widget that shows their most recent, most frequently played and favorite tracks on Facebook, MySpace and so on -- wherever HTML is used.

Microsoft also sees a significant opportunity in the area of cellphones, since Apple, with its focus on the iPhone, is unlikely to concentrate on licensing iTunes to cellphone carriers. Microsoft is in the process of acquiring Musiwave, a company that created music services for Vodaphone and Orange in Europe. By combining Musiwave's technology with the Zune store, Microsoft will be able to offer domestic carriers private-labeled versions of the store, according to Chris Stephenson, Microsoft's general manager of global marketing for Zune.

Then there's the video vacuum in Apple's latest lineup of iPods, which lacks a device with a large screen that can hold a lot of video. And, perhaps because Apple has been courting television and film studios to sell their music through iTunes, the iPod maker refuses to give users an easy way to record the television signal they're already paying for, and load those shows onto their portable players.

Microsoft failed to integrate the playback of Media Center files into the first edition of the Zune, but upgraded software now transcodes Windows Media Center videos directly onto the new players, so users can add recorded television programs to their Zunes for free. Stephenson sees another opening in the Zune's sleek interface: He said he thinks Apple was too focused on the iPhone when it designed its new split-screen iPod interface, which he called "absolutely appalling."

Microsoft's recent acquisition of Avenue A | Razorfish, should help Redmond further refine the Zune brand, Stephenson said, making it more attractive both to Zune owners and cellphone carriers.

Technorati : Microsoft, Zune player, social networking