yourminis has been selected by the editors of Webware, a CNET site, as a finalist in this year’s “Webware 100” Awards for "Browsing". The Webware 100 Awards recognize the best Web 2.0 sites, services, and applications that are leading the next wave of innovation. Finalists are selected by the editors of Webware, but the ultimate winners will be picked by the public. Winners will be announced on Monday, April 21, 2008.

Webware (www.webware.com) provides the latest information on Web 2.0 sites, services, and applications. Its timely and relevant blog entries about hundreds of web-based services, such as wikis, blogs, and social networking sites, help users determine the best products for them to use in their daily lives. Webware is led by veteran tech journalist and CNET Editor-at-Large Rafe Needleman, with additional entries from the CNET editors. Webware editors received and reviewed thousands of entries. Voting is open to the public beginning Monday, February 25, 2008 at noon PACIFIC and closes on Monday, March 31, 2008 and can be accessed at http://www.webware.com/100

yourminis (www.yourminis.com) is an enterprise widget platform which simplifies the development, syndication, and measurement of widgets for content owners & 3rd party developers.

The ten categories include Audio (music, podcasts, and audiobooks); Browsing (browsers, start pages, RSS readers, widgets, and runtime engines); Commerce and Events (retail, auctions, travel, real estate, concerts, and conferences); Communications (e-mail, chat, and voice); Productivity (app suites, to-do lists, and groupware); Publishing and photography (blogging, content management, and photo sites); Search and Reference (search engines, encyclopedias, and mapping); Social (social networking, family sites, recommendations, online worlds, and contests); Utility and Security (infrastructure providers, storage, and online protection); and Video (video storage, playback, streaming, editing, and animation).

Winners will be invited to celebrate at Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco (http://www.web2expo.com/) held April 22-25 at the Moscone Center West in San Francisco. Web 2.0 Expo is the official partner of the 2008 Webware 100 Awards.

More than 480,000 votes were cast in the 2007 Webware 100 Awards. Last year’s winners can be seen here: Http://www.webware.com/html/ww/2007.html.  As you may know, we were a winner last year, and we'd be honored to win again this year.  Please vote for us with the link below:

We have been working closely in partnership with AOL since early 2007. During this time, we've had an opportunity to see AOL grow and evolve as a company. For this reason, among others, we're thrilled to announce that AOL has acquired Goowy. We are all incredibly excited about the opportunity to be part of the AOL team.

AOL's vision and focus on consumer engagement, content and advertising align directly with our suite of products.  As a part of AOL we will have access to an amazing array of resources, which will enable us to continue the advancement of our syndication and analytics platform, while creating more dynamic widget experiences for our clients and end users.

We have had so many great conversations with AOL about enhancing the user experience, delivering relevant content, increasing engagement and breaking glass, which we can't wait to share with you over the coming months. We could not be more excited about the opportunity in front of us to be part of the continued success of a leading global company.

When we first started Goowy in 2004, we wanted to do something that would have scale; that would touch lots of people; that would deliver new and exciting experiences. With the acquisition we are confident that our dream will be achieved. Stay tuned to see what's next.

A few parting promises…

•  We will not become suits (or wear them unless it's a wedding)
•  We will continue to innovate and build great products
•  We will remain focused on our users
•  We will make a difference

 Thanks for all of your support!

CBS PARTNERS WITH LEADING COMMUNITY SITES AND SOCIAL APPLICATION PROVIDERS TO ADD NEW LAYER OF INTERACTIVITY TO THE CBS AUDIENCE NETWORK

Agreements Empower Users to Embed CBS Clips into Their Profiles, Websites, Blogs, Wikis, Widgets and Community Pages

New Partners Signed with Automattic, Clearspring, DAVE Networks, Goowy Media, meebo, MeeVee, Musestorm, Ning, RockYou!, Slide, VideoEgg, Voxant and vSocial

Expanded Deals Signed With Existing Network Partners Including AOL, Brightcove, Netvibes and Veoh

New York – May 24, 2007 – CBS Interactive announced today that it is partnering with leading community-building websites and social application providers to add greater user functionality to the CBS Audience Network.  Today’s announcement includes deals with new companies as well as expanded relationships with existing CBS Audience Network partners. Through these online properties and social application providers, users can easily incorporate CBS clips into their profiles, websites, blogs, widgets, wikis, and community pages. This enables them to discover and personalize CBS content and to use it to communicate with others. At the same time, CBS gains promotional value online while learning about its audience.

"Today, we are taking the CBS Audience Network directly to the user," said Quincy Smith, President, CBS Interactive. "In launching the CBS Audience Network we solidified our position as the most widely distributed professional content provider on the Web thanks to our great video distribution partners. We now want to empower our audience to be creative and deepen their experience with our content by allowing them to share and embed CBS-provided clips to their blogs, wikis, widgets, community sites and whatever else gets thrown our way.  We are delighted to have so many quality partners — established and start ups — helping to bring CBS content to the online community."

The online partners that currently make up the syndication side of the CBS Audience Network, as announced last month, include AOL, Microsoft, CNET Networks, Comcast, Joost, Bebo, Brightcove, Netvibes, Sling Media and Veoh. CBS also has distribution deals with Amazon, Apple and Yahoo, among others.

New online partners adding increased functionality to CBS Audience Network include:

• Automattic — Automattic's flagship product is WordPress, the highly popular blogging software used by millions of the best bloggers and top media publishers: www.wordpress.com/notable-users. Automattic also operates Akismet, the leading anti-spam service for blogs, social networks, forums and wikis.
• Clearspring — Clearspring is the leading provider of cross-platform widget services. They make it easy to use content and services from across the Internet to weave personalized experiences. With their flagship service, digital content and service providers can easily package, distribute, and analyze the performance of widgets via a single platform.
• DAVE Networks — DAVE Networks, Inc. is the first provider of an integrated video distribution and social community platform designed to ignite brands. Boasting a robust set of software features, DAVE empowers brands to build digital ecosystems through interactive video social community portals that function as a public hub where customers, fans, and users can develop dynamic personalized profiles, upload and share content, blog/video blog, comment on message boards, and much more.
• Goowy Media — Goowy develops innovative online products and services including yourminis, a widget platform that simplifies widget development, syndication and measurement for content owners and 3rd party developers. In addition, yourminis.com offers a destination gallery that allows consumers to discover Widgets for your Blog, website, personalized startpage, or desktop.
• meebo — meebo is a website for instant messaging (IM) that lets you IM from any computer and access all of your existing buddies in one place. meebo recently announced 'meebo rooms,' places where users can chat and view media live with their friends. Meebo is based in Mountain View, CA, and is funded by Sequoia Capital and Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ).
• MeeVee — MeeVee Inc. is the leader in helping consumers indulge in and discover TV and video based on their interests. Through its patented technologies, MeeVee is the first service to integrate traditional TV listings, online video, and TV news and gossip from hundreds of sources.
• MuseStorm — MuseStorm's flagship service, the MuseStorm Content Syndication Platform (CSP), is an end-to-end professional solution for publishers. It provides an authoring environment, syndication to multiple distribution channels (Web, Desktop, IM and Mobile), analytics and monetization.
• Ning — Ning is a platform that allows anyone to create their own social network about anything.  The free service allows anyone with an idea for a social network to choose a combination of features (videos, blogs, photos, forums, etc.) from an ever-growing list of options and customize their social network in any way they want to.
• RockYou! — RockYou! is the leading provider of widgets on the web. The company serves over 150M widgets viewed per day to over 200 countries on social networks like MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, and Bebo. RockYou! widgets include photo slideshows, glitter text and voicemail accessories that are simple to use and enable people to frequently refresh their online style. RockYou!’s widgets enable advertisers to connect to an established online community that embraces viral user generated content and is one of the first sites to offer revenue sharing opportunities for partners.
• Slide — Slide, the largest online personal media network in the world, helps people express themselves and tell emotionally engaging stories through personalized photos and videos created on Slide.com and viewed anywhere on the web or desktop. Slide's web applications are viewed by tens of millions of people every day.
• VideoEgg — VideoEgg is the leading video solution for online communities, supported by the largest video ad network – The Eggnetwork. The network is currently comprised of more than 70 online communities including ten of the top 20 social networks in the world. A video advertising innovator, VideoEgg was the first to introduce interactive advertising overlays onto video, an approach that has been widely adopted by the industry.
• Voxant — Voxant, the Viral Syndication Network (VSN), syndicates news and advertising to thousands of Web sites and blogs that make up the “long tail” of the Web through VSN’s online site, TheNewsRoom™ (www.thenewsroom.com). Using its unique viral mashing™ technology and a true viral distribution model, VSN distributes news from more than 175 credible, licensed content sources. All content is free and supported by advertising, which provides revenue to sites and blogs that publish the content.
• vSocial — vSocial, powered by vCONNECT, is a social networking for video platform that enables content owners, site operators and online marketing organizations to custom brand, target, virally distribute and monetize their message via video.

Following the announcement of the Network last month, CBS content is now available on select partner websites and over the coming months more content will be added leading up to the official launch of the Network. As previously announced, CBS content is advertiser supported and free to the consumer. All content will be available domestically with select clips and full-length sports programming distributed worldwide. 

CBS Corporation is a mass media company with constituent parts that reach back to the beginnings of the broadcast industry, as well as newer businesses that operate on the leading edge of the media industry. The Company, through its many and varied operations, combines broad reach with well-positioned local businesses, all of which provide it with an extensive distribution network by which it serves audiences and advertisers in all 50 states and key international markets. It has operations in virtually every field of media and entertainment, including broadcast television (CBS and The CW – a joint venture between CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment), cable television (Showtime and CSTV Networks), local television (CBS Television Stations), television production and syndication (CBS Paramount Network Television and CBS Television Distribution), radio (CBS Radio), advertising on out-of-home media (CBS Outdoor), publishing (Simon & Schuster), interactive media (CBS Interactive), music (CBS Records), licensing and merchandising (CBS Consumer Products) and video/ DVD (CBS Home Entertainment). For more information, log on to www.cbscorporation.com.

yourminis.com has been nominated as a Webware 100 Finalist in the Browsing category.

The “Webware 100” Awards recognizes the best Web 2.0 sites, services, and applications that are leading the next wave of innovation.

There are 10 different categories with 25 finalists in each category. There are only 10 spots available in each category, and we're up against some pretty huge names, so we need your help. Voting is now open and we need you to go out and vote for us!  Make sure to get all your friends to vote for us too!

The link to vote for us is: http://www.webware.com/html/ww/100/2007/browsing.html

Thanks!

The SEOmoz team reviewed hundreds of Web 2.0 sites, in 41 different categories.  They announced their award winners on May 9th, and we're very proud to say that we took home top honors in the widgets category.

We're also very proud to say that goowy.com also won, in the online desktop category.

The yourminis.com desktop widget implementation has just been added to the Adobe Labs Showcase Site.  It's great to be selected as a featured implementation of the Apollo platform.  Stay tuned as we keep working with the very talented folks at Adobe to continuously improve our implementation.

 The 10th Annual SXSW Web Awards finalists were just announced and yourminis was selected as a finalist in the "Technical Achievement" category.  The SXSW Web Awards uncover the best new websites and celebrate those who are building and implementing tomorrow's online trends.

Hundreds and hundreds of innovative web designers and developers from across the globe submitted websites in this year's competition, all sites that have been launched or completely redesigned in 2006.

Winners in all categories (ranging from "Amusement" to "Blog" to "Music" to "Technical Achievement") will be announced at the 10th Annual SXSW Web Awards Ceremony // Presented by Adobe on Sunday evening, March 11.

You can see all of the finalists by visiting - http://2007.sxsw.com/interactive/web_awards/finalists/

There will also be a people's choice award.  Please vote for us if you have a chance.  Thanks for all of your support in helping us grow.

Michael Pick performed a thorough review of yourminis.com:

YourMinis' success lies in its marriage of the start page and web widgets formulas to create feature-packed virtual online desktops that can serve as an instant portal to web content, providing you with a jumping off point to the rest of the Internet, or else a portable desktop that travels with you wherever you surf.

Read the entire review at MasterNewMedia.

Michael Arrington, of the incredibly popular TechCrunch has written up an initial review of yourminis.com.

YourMinis is a Flash-based customizable homepage product that will compete for users with a number of similar products that use Ajax - Netvibes, Pageflakes, Google, Live.com and more. This was launched by a startup called Goowy, which created a flash-based productivity suite (email, calendar, IM, etc.) last year - see here for our Goowy coverage.

Read the entire review at: http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/11/11/the-yourminis-do-it-all-flash-homepage/

Eddie Codel and Irina Slutsky sit down with Alex Bard of Goowy Media at the Web 2.0 Conference in San Francisco. Alex takes us on a tour of yourminis, a rich desktop and browser based widgets application. You'll never think of the desktop in the same way again.

See the entire video at PodTech.