SumtnSumtn connects Twitter with web comments
Twitter is a very natural extension of commenting on blog posts or video — and in some ways it’s better than a link stuck on a specific website or page, since it has the benefit of publicizing those pages through tweets.
A German company called SumtnSumtn hopes to capitalize on that by integrating Twitter into a bookmarklet that travels with you wherever you browse. When you pull it up, it hovers over the page, lets you… Continue Reading
Startups unite to drive nail into the coffin of Internet Explorer 6
If you’re still using Internet Explorer 6 — the frequently criticized web browser that was first released in 2001 — the Internet is becoming an increasingly hostile place.
Popular sites like YouTube are telling visitors who are using IE6 that they need to switch to a “modern browser” like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox 3.5, or Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer 8. There are even sites like Bring Down IE 6 devoted to getting web users off IE6.
Now… Continue Reading
Roundup: Google’s layoffs, Pick Your Five’s popularity, and more
Here’s the latest (layoff heavy) action:
Google lays off 200 employees — Most of the cuts are happening in the sales and marketing departments, where Google has over-invested.
Pick Your Five application surges on Facebook — The app from LivingSocial, which asks you to list your five favorite movies, books, and so on, has grown to more than 6 million users since launching a week ago.
IBM laying off 5,000 people — Many of those jobs will be transferred to India.
Opera… Continue Reading
JS-Kit nabs SezWho as blog comment services converge
Blog commenting services have been consolidating over the past year, thinning out a once crowded market. Most recently, JS-Kit, maker of blog widgets for polls, ratings and comments, acquired competing commenting company SezWho — which itself absorbed blog semantic search firm Tejit last May. And just last fall, Wordpress parent company Automattic bought comment provider IntenseDebate. No financial terms were disclosed for any of these deals.
JS-Kit says it will keep the SezWho service live for… Continue Reading
Facebook launches comments widget for web publishers
Facebookâs Connect service already lets users comment on news articles and other web-wide content using their Facebook identities. Now the company is taking another step, by letting web publishers install the actual Facebook comments interface within their own sites. For web publishers who just want their comments tightly integrated with Facebook, this could help drive up interaction on their sites. Connect isn’t just a distributed identity service, it shows your friends on Facebook where you’re… Continue Reading
VentureBeat’s integration of Facebook Connect: Working pretty well so far
We integrated Facebook Connect earlier this week, so now you can sign in and leave a comment on any of our articles using your Facebook username and password. The idea is that Connect will make it easier for you to show off your identity on our site, while letting your friends on Facebook know what you’re up to here.
Once you sign in, you’ll see your Facebook profile picture and your Facebook username appear with any… Continue Reading
FriendFeed says ‘SUP to some new services
We first wrote about FriendFeed working a new Really Simple Syndication (RSS) supplement that it was calling Simple Update Protocol (SUP) earlier this year. The idea was to speed up the way new content is pulled into the social aggregator. Today, FriendFeed has announced several updates to its SUP support.
Services now using SUP on FriendFeed include Disqus, Brightkite, Identi.ca, BackType and 12seconds. “Whenever one of these feeds is updated, the new entry appears on FriendFeed… Continue Reading
Disqus version 2 addresses concerns and improves capabilities
You’ve probably noticed that the comments on this site aren’t your typical WordPress-run blog default comments. Instead, they’re run by a third party startup called Disqus. We use this because not only does it offer nice avatars and threaded comments, but also because Disqus is expanding conversations beyond a simple stand-alone comment on one site into truer interaction throughout the web. A new version launching today is a continuation of that trend.
Disqus version 2 eliminates… Continue Reading
JS-Kit buys Haloscan, bashes Disqus
JS-Kit, best known for its easy-to-add commenting widget, has acquired Haloscan, another comment service, for an undisclosed mix of cash and stock. The acquisition adds 500,000 blogs to JS-Kit’s reach and makes it larger than the rest of the market, which includes Disqus, SezWho, and Intense Debate, combined.
The company made the acquisition in January and will now begin marketing the rest of its widgets, which include a ratings widget similar to the one below… Continue Reading
Because you asked for it (right?): Disqus and Seesmic team up for video comments
Updated
There’s another company jumping on the video comments bandwagon. Disqus, the startup whose system powers comments for more than 13,000 blogs (including VentureBeat), is adding video through a partnership with Seesmic.
You can see the system at work on Fred Wilson’s blog. There aren’t any particularly fancy or groundbreaking features yet — Disqus’ Daniel Ha (no relation to the writer of this post) says the company wanted to keep things fairly straightforward so it would be… Continue Reading
Disqus, a quality commenting system, releases upgrades and raises round
Disqus, a company that provides a commenting plugin for online publishers, has released a range of new features designed to integrate it more tightly with its partner sites.
When I first covered the San Francisco company last August, I was a little skeptical about its ability to differentiate itself. But it has. I’ve found it to have a more intuitive interface than rivals like SezWho and Intense Debate (our coverage) — it provides very obvious threaded… Continue Reading
Disqus and Intense Debate: Sharing comments across the web
Disqus and Intense Debate are two new blog commenting systems going into public beta today. There are many such services, and none of them have really taken off.
However, these latest companies could help connect conversations in new ways, including by aggregating blog comments on popular social networks that are opening to developers.
Some sites, like coComment, offer features such as forums that are focused around generating a conversation on its own site. Meanwhile, sites like SezWho… Continue Reading
Disqus to launch new commenting features
Updated
Disqus is going to launch two features to help blog readers track the most interesting comments on a blog or other web site.
Forum and blogging software has been around for many years, but there’s still no easy way to find the best comments within a web site or from across web sites.
Disqus has a two-part answer to this problem. It provides an advanced commenting system that can be added to a blog article page. Features… Continue Reading