"My interest in distributed web businesses – web businesses that don’t reside on a single domain, but instead span across various web sites – stems from necessity. While the long tail of the Web is getting longer, so is the percentage of overall pageviews absorbed by the head of that tail. If your site isn’t one of those elite sites at the head of the curve, you’re most likely losing ground every day. In this environment, you either find ways to put your content / functionality / service in front of people where THEY are, or you wither away into irrelevance. At a macro level, there are four broad strategies that can be undertaken to get" Join discussion...

Google and Universal Music Group will be partnering with gBox, Inc., an online music retailer, to sell DRM-free music tracks via Google search results. gBox, based in Apple's backyard of Cupertino, California, will begin selling Universal tracks, sans DRM, via their web site on August 21. Universal will purchase text ads on Google's searches to direct searchers to gBox sales pages. Though Universal will also sell music without copy protection through Wal-Mart, Best Buy Digital Music Store, Rhap Join discussion...

"Adgetseite Hier gibt es nun eine zentrale Adgetsammelstelle. Wie bisher auch schon Listen und Empfehlungen können nun Adgets auch übersichtlich bearbeitet werden. Hinzugekommen ist daher auch eine Möglichkeit, die Adgets zu benennen, sie erneut zu bearbeiten und den Code erneut anzeigen zu lassen." Join discussion...

"Like just about everybody else, preteens and teens tend to reject banner ads and other obtrusive forms of online advertising. But an online study suggests younger internet users also tend to be more accepting of using ad-supported widgets and other downloadable promotions that can be tied in to social networking, according to the WSJ. The online survey, conducted by Grunwald Associates and underwritten by MySpace/News Corp, Microsoft and Verizon, looked at more than 1,200 kids ages 9 to 17 an Join discussion...

"SharedBook, the publishing company that lets you create digital and hard copy material from your online content, has launched its Blog2Print widget in beta today. This widget works off of the SharedBook API, and can currently be used as a Blogger plug-in. Support for more platforms will be added later this summer. The widget is a fast way for bloggers to compile their desired posts into a printed book format, and lets them monetize this content with the sale of the blog books that have been cr Join discussion...

"Flogd has created a commerce widget for you to sell your items directly on your blog, website or social networking profile such as MySpace, hi5 and Piczo. Similar to other widgets you see on MySpace, including Snocap, the widget is designed for a way to independently sell items of your creation. Flogd will work well for things like posters, clothing items, CDs, etc. It’s integrated for use with your Paypal account and enables shoppers to make credit card transactions in a secure manner. Join discussion...

"Google Gadget Ventures is a new Google pilot program dedicated to helping developers create richer, more useful Google Gadgets." Join discussion...

"Now, I see my job as a tireless enthusiast for widgets. The fact that widgets are now a crucial part of every company's marketing strategy gladdens my heart no end. And I find it hard to put down any widget that is trying to add to the sum of widgety goodness. But this widget is an abomination. It should not see the light of day. Let's step through the problems:" Join discussion...

For eBay sellers, Cooqy provides fully customizable showcase widgets; For shoppers, Cooqy is the ultimate way to shop eBay Join discussion...

"I’ve been holding off on contributing my two cents on Facebook’s API until I could properly digest the ramifications. At this point, I still don’t know what to make of it. The few Facebook applications that I’ve played around with so far are pretty lousy. The iLike application for Facebook, one of my favorite social media sites and the run away early winner in the Facebook distribution sweepstakes, is a shadow of its destination site. None of the functionality that I enjoy on iLike Join discussion...