And the winner is…
The Diggs are in and the winners of the Flash API Contest have been selected.  Chris Alvares, Ryan Robinson, and Hart Woolery came out on top.  Digg labs shows the winning apps.

Windows Live Writer has introduced a new version of its blog editing software which Amit Agarwal calls “a vast improvement over the previous version and a must-have upgrade.”

He also has a post featuring the plugins he finds most useful “that will supercharge your copy of Windows Live Writer.”

 Print Blog Posts, Web pages as PDF Files with HP Printing Widget
From Digital Inspiration (check the post for more info) we learn that HP has introduced a blog-printing “widget” that adds a “Print Posts” button to your blog pages.  The Widget is currently being tested on popular blogs like Dooce, TechCrunch, BoingBoing and may become widely available sometime next month.

Google just released a web-based mashup creator and hosting environment, says O’Reilly Radar.

The editor accepts HTML, CSS, and Google-specific XML tags that provide access to google feeds such as the Google Calendar and Base.  This can be hosted at googlemashups.com or you can make a gadget for iGoogle.

The Mashup Editor is similar in intent but not in focus or implementation to Yahoo! Pipes and Popfly.  Brady Forrest at O’Reilly notes that of the three web-based mashup creators, Google’s is the least graphical and is the most developer focused. “Google has a history of starting with developers and then making things easier overtime,” he says.

Google Gears is an open source browser extension that lets developers create web applications that can run offline.  Google Operating System blog reports that Google launched an open source browser extension for IE and Firefox called Google Gears that enables web applications to be available offline.  Being able to use Google services offline has been an oft-requested capability. 

Here’s what Google says,

Gears is an incremental improvement to the web as it is today. It adds just enough to AJAX to make current web applications work offline. Gears today covers what we think is the minimal set of primitives required for offline apps. It is still a bit rough and in need of polish, but we are releasing it early because we think the best way to make Gears really useful is to evolve it into an open standard. We are releasing Gears as an open source project and we are working with Adobe, Mozilla and Opera and other industry partners to make sure that Gears is the right solution for everyone.

Google Reader is the first Google application powered by Gears.  To enter the offline mode, just click on the small arrow and all the recent feed items are downloaded to your computer.  You can disconnect from the Internet or click on “work offline” in your browser and you will still be able to read your favorite feeds in Google Reader, like in any feed reader installed on your computer, except that Google Reader doesn’t download images or other multimedia files embedded in the posts.

Google Gears will enable you to read the most recent messages from Gmail while offline or to edit your documents in Google Docs even without a network connection.

Links to various Google Gears sites:
Getting started with Google Gears 
End-user download Early beta.
Google Gears API Developer’s Guide (Beta) 
Gears blog 
Google Gears Developer Foroum for discussion of issues and problems
Google Gears site that contains the source code, issue tracker, and wiki for Google Gears.

I’m all in favor of reading and different things work for different folks.  DailyLit, a free service, seems to have found a market for those who want their books in small bits — or bytes. 

Their line is, “Too busy for books? Read them by email or RSS.” 

The books in question are in the public domain or have Creative Commons licenses, and are served up on about one computer screens’ worth a day.  You can browse the selections by category, title or author.  And you can start receiving your five minutes worth of screen reading without registering unless you wish to participate in one of their forums.

Since I don’t crave to have more stuff arriving in my email box, I was rather intrigued by the idea of RSS. 

As they say, “there are a few different reasons why you might want to subscribe via RSS. Unlike email, RSS is not blocked by spam filters so you might try RSS if you are having difficulty receiving emails from DailyLit (RSS might, however, be blocked by web filters at work).  Another reason to use RSS would be if you do not want to give out your email address despite our strict Privacy Policy.  Finally, you may already be using RSS to read blogs and news, making a DailyLit RSS subscription the perfect complement.  Our RSS subscriptions give you the same ability to suspend/resume delivery, change the frequency of delivery or request immediate delivery of the next installment as our email subscriptions.”

You can also add a book roll to your blog if you want to show what you are reading on DailyLit.  You need to register to do that.

If you are interested in some classics no longer under copyright and want to take it slow and easy, you might try out DailyLit.  Check out the FAQ for more information.  I’ll stick with my library and bookstore.

In a deal announced Wednesday, reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, MySpace and sister sites under News Corp.’s Fox Interactive Media will have access to Photobucket Inc.’s photo and video technologies, while Photobucket gets Fox’s resources to accelerate development of its tools.  The acquisition will bring together two of the Internet’s most popular hangouts for an estimated price of $300 million. 

Fox Interactive also acquired Flecktor, Inc., which represents a coup for that site, open to the public for only a month.  Flektor will remain a stand-alone site, but Fox already has concrete plans to incorporate into MySpace its Web-based tools for creating slideshows, video mash-ups and other interactive presentations.

Photobucket is expected to remain a stand-alone operation within Fox, and users of rival social-networking sites such as Facebook could continue to incorporate Photobucket content in their profiles. For now, Photobucket will continue to offer basic services for free.

“Together, they represent a powerful combination, and we are thrilled for them to join our network,” Peter Levinsohn, president of Fox Interactive, said.

Google Blogoscoped has a detailed post on Google maps new Street View and Mapplets, which is updated as new developments become known.  I’ve seen other blogs talk about these in the last day or two and Blogoscoped has some links included, along with a lot of graphics and maps illustrating the new features.  There is also a video grab showing Street View in action.

At the moment, Street View is only available for Silicon Valley, Las Vegas, Miami, Denver and New York, but it is expected to expand into other metropolitan areas.

Another new feature, Mapplets is described in a Google press release:

“Mapplets enables third party developers to create mini applications that can be displayed on Google Maps, much like Google Gadgets are displayed on iGoogle. These Mapplets contain a variety of information, from housing listings to crime data, and tools like distance measurement. Users can select from a wide range of Google and third party Mapplets to display on the Map, essentially creating their own “mashup of mashups” directly on the Google Maps site, while still enjoying the built-in functionality of Google Maps, such as local search and driving directions. A number of our partners, including WeatherBug, Booking.com and Platial have already created Mapplets.”

Here are some Mapplet gadgets that can add content to Google Maps. 

Upgrade Flickr with the Better Flickr Firefox extension
Gina Trapani has rolled together several scripts to create Better Flickr.

The extension adds a menu of optional extra features to Flickr.  After you download it, view the enabled features and get more information on each in the Firefox Add-ons dialog box.   Click on Better Flickr’s options to see that the choices.  Get all the details and instructions at Lifehacker.

Lee Lefever at Commoncraft has developed a video that explains basic whys and hows of wikis, including links to some sites where you can get a wiki if you need one. This is a great follow-up to his cool — and popular –video about RSS which we pointed out earlier.

The audio is not always smooth in this video, but otherwise it is nicely done and accomplishes its goal of a “plain English” explanation of wikis, — and in less than 4 minutes. [via O’Reilly Radar]

Choosing the right Web Stats and Traffic Analysis Program for your Websites
Digital Inspiration features a round-up of options for tracking and analyzing visitors to websites.  His conclusions include recommendations for low or high traffic sites, or for those hosted by services such as DreamHost or Media Temple. 

I use WordPress hosted by DreamHost and just started using WordPress.com stats.  I also have a Google Analytics account.  Between the two of them, I get lots of interesting information.

Audio Guide to WordPress Hosting
Mitchelaneous shares a guide in the hope that it helps folks with getting WordPress installed and configured right.

Photo editing with Picnik
TechCrunch tells us about Picnik, which they call a user friendly service. It’s also free. It appears to be quick, clean, easy to use and comes complete with built in support for Flickr, Picassa Albums and Facebook albums.

One commenter likens it to Photoshop Elements “lite.”

Forget Photoshop: 15 Online Graphics Generators
Mashable features online Web 2.0 graphics generators. Includes button makers, loaders, logo generators, backgrounds, and more.