PaulSpoerry.com

Looks like MySpace is trying to play catch up to the MASSIVE lead Facebook has in this area by *finally* adding support for mobile browsing of their site and 3rd party apps/gadgets/widgets.

Just like the website version, MySpace Mobile also allows reading and send bulletins, accessing of MySpace message, approving friend requests, viewing of photos, searching for other users, posting comments, blogging, and checking out friends profiles. To access MySpace Mobile, users simply need to type m.myspace.com on their phone browsers to visit the website. Ho hum in my opinion. I don’t like looking at shitty MySpace “profiles” and their horrible layouts on my PC why would I want to subject my mobile phone to that?

Recently, MySpace started showing off its new gallery of third-party applications that users can now start adding to their profiles and to their MySpace home pages. So here they are again attempting to play catchup (feature-wise… MySpace is still the largest social site on the net) with Facebook. Most of the apps have issus, but to be fair this is still “beta” (which in the web 2.0 world means generally available but not expected to work).

Found this excellent list over at MakeUseOf. Many I’ve know about but there are some new ones that look promising too! Looking for a place to find some good deals or bargain discounts while shopping online for electronics, clothing, accessories, etc? Well, there are a good number of sites out there other than Fatwallet, which everyone in the world knows about. I’m going to list as many really good deal-finding shopping sites that I can, so check them out and see what you think!

	A very cool site that’s a mashup of deals from other sites like Slickdeals, Fatwallet, Gottadeal and lots more. Mostly tech-related stuff, but there are other things also.
	A site created by a University of California student that lists out a bunch of great deals on everything from tech to shoes daily. This site is very simple and is addicting.
	The nice thing about this site (and others) is that you can subscribe to the RSS feed to quickly find deals. Also, pictures of the items are included in the feed. This site also gives you info on rebates and coupons in addition to just deals.
	DealDump is an aggregate of multiple deal sites, covering everything from Woot.com to DealOverFlow. There are a lot of sites on here I had never even heard of before, so you might find something good here.
	Find the hottest deals on gadgets, computers, electronics, cameras, and lots more. The cool thing about this site is that you can subscribe to an RSS feed for the specific item you’re looking for.
	Takes the same concept of Digg.com and does it for deals. Users vote for the best deals and the ones with the most votes get on to the front page. Also once you join you can enter to win free stuff, etc.
	As you can probably tell from the name of the site, Techdeals.net is all about tech stuff likes games, MP3 players, digital cameras, computers and more. It’s updated daily and has a good number of items.
	An online service that helps shoppers find coupons and hot deals for tons of online stores. It has a very clean interface and is one of the best sites for just finding coupons! Definitely check it out.
	Not your normal deal-finding site! This site is basically a social shopping deals site, complete with a game show host and a good number of great products. You’ll have to check it out yourself to find out.
	DealItem is another deal site for mostly tech stuff. It works best when you’re searching for something by model # or by make and features. If you know what you’re looking for, check out DealItem.
	A social bargain hunting site that changes frequently during the day, so you’re looking at new stuff all the time. Again, its based on a peer voting system that brings the best deals to the front page.
	SlickDeals is one of the better known deal sites and includes everything from tech gadgets to men’s shirts. They also have over 800 coupons that you can use at your favorite stores. Very clean interface and easy to use web site.
	Finally, GottaDeal.com is very popular site for finding deals and coupons online. Has a bunch of categories and brings in deals from many of the major retailers such as Apple, AT&T, and CompUSA.

Google introduced a set of themes for your personalized homepage (or iGoogle) a few months back. But if you’re looking for a few more customization options, check out this new Google gadget. Once you install the gadget on your homepage, you can choose from a variety of custom skins, create your own, or submit themes for other users to install. It currently provides 10 new skins.

 The gadget features three main tabs; a skins directory which mimics the built-in iGoogle theme selector, a tab with details of how to create and upload skins and a skins submission form. Unlike many other gadgets, this one does rely on a server side component to retrieve a list of available skins from the database in JSON format and also to validate and insert new skins submissions. This little gadget will also permit a different skin per tab - and thankfully no more reloading the page when switching skins. Works in IE and FF.

   Custom iGoogle Skins

Check out BonstioNet for the latest.

Today the Google Personal Homepage has been officially renamed iGoogle.

Originally Google decided they wanted the personalized homepage to be a feature, not a product. Hence, it doesn’t have a particular name until today. Launch your homepage and you’ll see a shiny new logo like in the image above. Notice your iGoogle may look different, the one above has the personalization theme applied to it. According to the Google folks, themes have been adopted by 30% of the Google personalized homepage user base (I use it, doesn’t slow it down to much and adds a bit of splash to the otherwise bland Google pages).

Also being launched today is Gadget Maker. Basically self made Gadgets that require no programming. There are 7 different types of gadgets that users can create with this tool. A new link at the bottom of your iGoogle page will allow you to access the Gadget Maker service. Once the gadget is created, you can invite other people to view & use the gadget, and make it publicly available for other people to view & use it.

The wizards let you enter the settings for seven new gadget templates:

1. A Photo gadget (share a series of photos with others)
2. GoogleGram gadget (allowing you to display a new greeting message to someone for every day for 7 days)
3. Daily Me gadget (which will show what you’re currently doing, as well as quotes, what’s on your mind etc.)
4. Personalized Countdown gadget
5. A Personalized List (you can e.g. publish your own top ten list with this, Google says)
6. YouTube video favorites gadget (pictured above, this gadget will let you create a YouTube channel to share)
7. A “Free Form” gadget (an “all-purpose gadget that lets you meld text and image in any way,” Google says)

The Gadgets can also be shared. You send a friend an invite, similar to a Docs/Spreadsheets invite and the gadget will be immediately shown on the invite page allowing your friend to play with it before adding it to their own page.

Neat stuff! You can read more over at Google Blogoscoped.

I’m big into customizing my desktop. I’ve been an Object Desktop user for years… and I’m in love with Windowblinds. I was stoked when I first heard about Vista’s Gadgets, but after running Vista I can tell you that they suck, take up space, and use up memory. It’s basically useless eye candy. Thankfully, disabling it is pretty simple. Just right click on the side bar or side bar icon, select properties and uncheck the “Start Sidebar when Windows starts” checkbox. Done. You’ll have to reboot to notice the effect, to close it without rebooting simply right click on the icon and select exit.