r3fresh

New MyBlogLog Widget: Ugly, Clunky

MyBlogLog is a relatively popular service among the blogging community and it’s always been a simple service. If you don’t already know, MyBlogLog is a social networking site for bloggers to communicate and a way to promote their blogs. Whenever a MyBlogLog user visits a blog with a MyBlogLog widget, the visitor leaves a picture behind (in hopes to bring users to their blog). The old widget was very customizable and would fit with almost any blog, but the new widget is the exact opposite.

The new widget seems to go against the MyBlogLog theme. It’s not only ugly, it’s clunky. The rollover profiles are obtrusive and annoying; completely opposite from the original single linked text. What makes this widget even worse is that there is no option to use the old widget, so keep the widget code in a safe place.

The reason for this new look? In early 2007, Yahoo purchased MyBlogLog and is now giving it a new look, for better or worse. If Yahoo hadn’t purchased MyBlogLog, the widget probably would have kept with it’s simple style. Too bad money trumps user wants.

Tags: blogs, bug, design, money, network, problems, widget, yahoo

Yahoo Bought? eBay Next?

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The recent bid from Microsoft on search giant Yahoo was a surprise to most. The bid is sort of a chance for Microsoft to take Yahoo while their down and cheaper. Will the 44 billion dollar bid go through?

With the unexpected bidding going on who’s to say it won’t happen to another faltering internet giant, like eBay. eBay over the past few months isn’t where they want to be. A falling stock and a boring ad campaign have contributed to this problem, but the main reason is the novelty of online bidding has finally started to fizzle. Also, competitors to eBay have started to offer cheaper prices and/or incentives to auction items. eBay has just recently updated their fees, but it’s still not enough.

How does eBay get out of this rut? They’ll either need to innovate in the auctioning field or go expand into newer technologies (eBay auctions on Facebook anyone?). If eBay doesn’t find a way out, they should expect being bought by another company. But who would buy eBay? I’m going to say it will either be Google or Amazon.

What do you think? Leave your opinion in the comments.

Tags: bidding, buyout, ebay, google, money, search, yahoo