Pageflakes Insider

It’s HOT!

allison — Thu, 15 May 2008 21:33:33 +0000

It’s almost 90 degrees in San Francisco today! Now I don’t know about you, but I am genuinely worried about this planet. Last time I checked, wasn’t San Francisco supposed to be pretty moderate? As Mark Twain once said, “The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco…” Um, not anymore Mark! With that said, I think it’s about time we take a good look at ourselves and see what we can do to conserve.

Check out this Pagecast: Go Green! This page provides some excellent information on what can be done to do your part to help this planet. Other Pagecasts with similar topics include: Green Living, Green Sustainability, Green Peace, Green Cars, and various others.

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

I’m leaving on a jet plane….

allison — Tue, 13 May 2008 23:21:49 +0000

Don’t know where you want to go? Why not check out some Travel Pagecasts and get inspired!

Morocco Travel Blog

Paris Escapes

Go Places

Of course you can always make your own Travel Pagecast- all you need is the Weather Flake, To-Do List Flake, Flickr Flake and some great RSS feeds on your location of choice and then you’re all set! Happy Travels!

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

Broadening My Horizons

allison — Thu, 08 May 2008 20:12:06 +0000

I love music, but I wouldn’t consider myself a music guru. I’m in the, “Go with the flow” category. For example, I enjoy channel 1 on Sirus radio because it repeats the top 15 songs over and over again. This way I am at least up to speed with what’s hot right now. I also still love Alanis, Cranberries and Dave Matthews because they performed at my first concert in 7th grade. I guess it’s pretty apparent that I should broaden my music-horizons.

I bought a subscription to Rolling Stone to assist me in my search for new tunes, but that magazine served to be too overwhelming for me. In their “New Band” reviews, they make references to other bands that I haven’t heard of. How am I supposed to know if I’ll like them if I don’t know who they resemble! It’s just a vicious circle. By the time I figure it out, they are already passe or the band has broken up.

Pageflakes to the rescue, obviously! Check out the iTunes Recently Added Albums Flake and Newest Albums Flake. These feeds are great because I can learn who’s new and cool as soon as they hit the site! Maybe, now, I can become a groupie before they land themselves on the PopUSA bandwagon.

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

Mommy Dearest

allison — Mon, 05 May 2008 21:58:07 +0000

FYI: Mother’s Day is this Sunday, May 11th. (Yes, you’re welcome.)

If you need some ideas for gifts, check out the Mother’s Day Pagecast.

For the new mommies, check out the Baby Pagecast. It is a plethora of information about being a new mother.

Enjoy!

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

A Love Affair

allison — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:15:25 +0000

I asked my co-worker, Rachel, what her favorite Flake is and she said to me, “…I have a love affair with the Web Page Flake.” So I thought I would tell the world. The Web Page Flake is for those who need options; sometimes the RSS feed is just not enough. With the Web Page Flake you are able to take an entire site and put it into a Flake for easy access. Enjoy!

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

Summer is almost here…

allison — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:00:01 +0000

…So check out our new Summer themes in the gallery! Press the Menu button, click on “Change Theme” and scroll down to the bottom. We’ve added: Watermelon, Sunflower, Hawaiian Flower, Baseball and Woods. Enjoy!

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

Pageflakes Acquired by LiveUniverse

Dan — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:09:24 +0000

It’s official! All of us here at Pageflakes are absolutely thrilled to announce that we’re being acquired by LiveUniverse. LiveUniverse is a social entertainment company founded and majority owned by Brad Greenspan, the Hollywood-based entrepreneur and founder of MySpace. LiveUniverse is definitely one of the great untold stories of the Web - it’s one of the fastest growing Web media companies in the world, comprised of 35 global entertainment sites (including LiveVideo.com) and visited by over 50 million users.

I’m impressed by the fact that instead of a lot of marketing and hype, LiveUniverse has chosen to focus their energies and resources on growing a world-class business. Their success shows that this strategy has clearly worked.

You can count on the fact that everything that you (and we) love about Pageflakes will remain the same, while the resources Brad and LiveUniverse will be investing in us will help us make it even better. Our entire San Francisco team and headquarters will remain in place, and I’ll remain the CEO of Pageflakes. I’ll also get to work directly with Brad on some cool projects at the LiveUniverse level as an SVP on his team.

We actually started working earlier this year with LiveVideo - one of most well known and successful properties in the LiveUniverse family with over 12 million users. Working alongside Brad Greenspan and his team, we realized that we had lots of things in common, including market vision, scrappy startup nature, and, interestingly (and geekily), that both of us were based on Microsoft’s ASP.NET technology. As we worked through the partnership, we realized that we’d actually both be better off combined – in addition to the other synergies, we’d get all that “business school stuff” like much lower operational costs, and more economies of scale. There was also an incredible opportunity for the Pageflakes team to work on and integrate with something really big, really exciting, and growing fast. Lastly, the Pageflakes team has worked really hard in building a very special product that has been a critical success and very well received by you, our users, and we’re all really excited that a lot more people will get to learn about us.

You can see an example of all of this in our first integration together - the Beta (more like Alpha) implementation of LiveStart on the www.livevideo.com site we just launched today (click on the “LiveStart” tab). LiveStart is a personalized version of LiveVideo based on Pageflakes that enables LiveVideo users to mashup and personalize their video entertainment experience.

In celebration of this momentous occasion, it’s LiveVideo week here at Pageflakes. Pageflakes users will get to experience a lot of the really interesting and entertaining stuff on LiveVideo through all of the new LiveVideo Flakes and Pagecasts that have been added (even Brad has his own Pagecast now).

That’s it for now…stay tuned to this blog for lots more about what’s happening and what’s next. Thanks again for using Pageflakes, and for your loyalty and support. Even more great things are right around the corner.

Dan Cohen
CEO
Pageflakes

Pageflakes- Take As Needed

allison — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:36:35 +0000

Keeping you equipped with the freshest information has always been an objective of ours. I decided here at Pageflakes, we can have another goal, and that’s to keep all our users healthy! Now, I don’t have any special powers to send over the web, and I certainly can’t take all of you to the doctor, but what I can do is tell you to check out the Health & Fitness Section of our Flake Gallery!

With WedMD, eDiets.com, and health journals galore, you are bound to find Flakes that help keep you ticking. Other than maybe having enough servings of fruits and veggies, Pageflakes is a great edition to your daily routine for both your brain and your body!

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

Distract Yourself

allison — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 23:41:39 +0000

To continue my quest of exploring good procrastination tools, I would like to point out the Diversions category in our Flake Gallery. Here you can find all sorts of fun, distracting Flakes for your page. My favorite is the Tree Frog. It is so simple, yet so engaging! Its perfect when you need to look like you’re concentrating on your screen, but really just zoning out.

To get to the gallery, press the big button on the right hand side. Click “Browse Flakes” on the left hand side and scroll to “Diversions.” Enjoy!

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

Dirty Little Secret

allison — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:00:44 +0000

We all have them. The vices that we tend not to share. The everyday things that you think your co-workers would mock. Tabloid Blogs are huge among my group of friends. My friend Erin can not live without TheSuperficial.com. My roommate can’t get enough of Perez Hilton. On my homepage, Chic Geek, I have the blogs that I check out regularly. My homepage really helps me stay up to date on the tech industry and the world of startpages, but with Pageflakes I get to have multiple pages. One being for work, and one defined as my more personal interests. So I have to confess, I am in love with Diggnation. Kevin Rose is such a babe (and founder of Digg.com and Revision3) and I can’t get enough of watching Alex Albrecht and Kevin’s weekly show. For awhile I didn’t have the Flake on my personal page because Chic Geek is a public Pagecast and I wasn’t sure I wanted everyone to know about my secret obsession. Yesterday, however, I gave in and added it to my page because I was more worried I would miss a show. So my secret is out. Now that I have said it, I feel so free! Why not try it yourself. Go ahead, add those silly blogs or funny comics to your page. Tap into your inner procrastinator.

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

Staying Socially Responsible

allison — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 18:55:42 +0000

When I say “socially responsible,” I am not referring to using proper etiquette at your next dinner party. I am talking about educating and staying informed on social causes that affect all of us. There are so many great Pagecasts that do just that! If you can’t find a cause that fits your charity of choice, then make one and share it with the Pageflakes Community! As always, more the merrier!

Here are just a few:

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

No so wimpy…

allison — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:44:42 +0000

Our Podcast Flake (aka Wimpy Player) has some pretty rockin’ interface options! Check it out and get your Podcast on…

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

Search and Yee Shall Find Even More!

Benjamin — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:17:19 +0000

We’ve been super busy here at Pageflakes working on our Flakes, Pagecast, and People search. We think we’ve made some great changes to the way it works that will help you find what you’re looking for quicker and more accurately. Let us know what you think! If you find our upgraded search more helpful and accurate, let us know. And of course, if it’s not working for you, please tell us why not so we can continue to improve it!

See Pageflakes on SeenOn!

allison — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:55:49 +0000

I was given the opportunity to be a guest blogger on the SeenOn! Blog. Here is the post:

SeenON! Guest Blogger: Pageflakes

ALLISON BERDING OF PAGEFLAKES
I am filling some pretty stylish slingbacks today as guest blogger for the SeenON! Blog. As the Product Marketing Associate for Pageflakes, a start-page that’s the easiest way to read, see, discover and share your favorite things on the web, I was asked to suggest some rad Flakes and Pagecasts for fashionistas looking to find out what’s all the rage. I love fashion and learning about new trends, and I like to think of myself as a chic geek. Sometimes my Vogue and Elle are just too big to carry on my commute across the city, but I still have a few secrets that keep me sassy and fresh.

For the latest that SeenON! has to say, I added a SeenON! widget to my Pageflakes page, and it shows me what’s hot and what’s not. My web start-page let’s me add everything that I read or browse daily. It’s great and truly a timesaver! Do yourself a favor and check out the site.

For those start-page virgins, trying to stay current, check out the Pagecast Jenny Zuko created called the Nerdy News Pagecast. She has compiled some very trendy tech content. And of course the one Pagecast that is an absolute necessity for any trend-watcher is the Style Pagecast.

This page contains, not only SeenON!’s blog, but also various other fashion & style guru’s tips of the trade. On top of that, when landing on the page, there is a fantastic runway soundtrack that will have you dancing in your cubicle. Lastly, but certainly not least, here is a list of Flakes to keep you up on all your stylish (and not-so stylish) celebs: TMZ.com, NewsToob, Perez Hilton, TheSuperficial.com, Hollywood Backwash and of course Rumorficial.com! There are a lot more Flakes and Pagecasts to explore, not only for fashion and style, but really anything under the sun. Enjoy!

Yours Truly,
The Chic Geek
Allison Berding

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

What are you doing?

allison — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 22:15:40 +0000

Twittering is pretty easy, and now even easier when you add it to your Pageflakes page! Check out the Twitter Flake! Not only can you update your own status and check on your friends, but you also can see what the Twitter population is up to this very minute. It definitely makes stalking and procrastinating much easier (just kidding- kind of).

-Allison, Pageflakes Team member

Got TIME to kill?

allison — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 23:52:09 +0000

I wanted a snazzy clock for my page. This is when I found the Clock Flake! What is super cool about the Flake, is that it comes in a bunch of different forms. My favorite is the marker watch Clock (below):

If you want even more information, there is the clock with the date and time (or better known as the boring clock).

There are a lot to choose from, so check it out and pick the one that fits you best!

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

Uh huh. Work it out. Pageflakes rocks.

Benjamin — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 02:13:56 +0000

It’s officially official! Pageflakes rocks!

Ok, we’ll put our big egos back into the cubicle drawer where they belong, but we’re pretty proud of PC Magazine’s conclusion that Pageflakes is the best web start page! You heard it right folks, in a roundup with the likes of iGoogle and My Yahoo!, Pageflakes came out looking pretty swell. The words “slick” and “usable” was bandied about!

All chest beating aside, we’re tremendously excited to be recognized by the venerable personal computer publication that started it all. If you’d like to take a look for yourself at what PC Magazine is saying about Pageflakes and other web start pages, just click here: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2276749,00.asp

Until next time, as always, please enjoy.

-Benjamin Keyser, the Pageflakes Team

Snap!

allison — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:53:52 +0000

Do you want some eye-catching material for your Pagecast? Why not try out the Flickr Flake! Just type in either a tag or location and walla- a picture slideshow just for your page! Snap! It’s just that easy.

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

It’s Madness!

allison — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:43:36 +0000

The brackets are out and NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is in full swing. With all those office pools, it’s probably time to research your teams. Pageflakes has a great March Madness Pagecast to help keep you up to date.

If you have a great Pagecast of your own or one that you watch frequently, email editor (at) pageflakes (dot) com and please let us know!

-Allison, Pageflakes Team Member

Love Pageflakes? Vote for Pageflakes!

Benjamin — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:23:41 +0000

Yes! Pageflakes has been selected again this year from among 5,000 eligible entries as a finalist for Webware 100 by editors of Cnet and Webware. We’re excited, and if you love to use Pageflakes, you can speak your mind to the judges by voting for Pageflakes.

Vote for Pageflakes now!

The Webware 100 Awards recognizes the best Web 2.0 sites, services, and applications that are leading the next wave of innovation. Voting will go until March 31. On April 21, the day before the big Web 2.0 expo opens, the winners will be announced!

See and be Seen: Update Your Profile

Benjamin — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 20:05:20 +0000

If you’re a Pagecaster or a Pagecast watcher, you already know how much more fun it is to stumble upon the profile of a Pagecaster you like. Sure, we’ve got some generic icons that will show up, but it’s so much better when you can see a cool profile pic and a little 411.

How to update your profile
Updating your profile is a snap. Just click on the big round Pageflakes button, then choose My Profile from the left hand menu. Profiles are pretty simple to update. Just put in a few words about yourself, upload a cool pic and you’re ready to go! Here’s my profile. You can send me an email, and check out my personal Pagecast.

That’s all for now, and as ever, please enjoy Pageflakes!

-Benjamin, Pageflakes Team Member

Setting Pageflakes As Your Homepage

dreid — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 19:50:33 +0000

It’s great to have Pageflakes at your fingertips when you’re ready to start your day, and setting Pageflakes as your homepage can make that easy. Unfortunately, every browser seems to have a different way of going about it, and that makes it hard for us to provide our users with any easy button click. So, for those that want a quick reference for how to set your browser’s homepage to Pageflakes, just check below for your favorite browser and follow the bouncing ball.

For all of these methods, as long as you don’t sign out or clear your cookies, Pageflakes will come up just the way you left it.

Internet Explorer 7
1. Click on the Tools menu and select Internet Options.
2. Click the General tab.
3. Manually enter Pageflakes.com in the edit box. If you’re already on Pageflakes, just click Use Current.

Safari
1. Click on the Safari menu and click Preferences.
2. Click on the General tab.
3. From here, you can manually enter Pageflakes.com page or click Set to Current Page if Pageflakes is already loaded.

Firefox
1. Click the Tools menu and click Options
2. On the main tab, you can hoose an option for which page to display when Firefox starts as well as select your Home Page.
3. Manually enter Pageflakes.com or click Use Current Page to set Pageflakes as your homepage.

Opera
1. Go to Start menu or double-click on the Opera browser icon.
2. Choose the Tools menu and click on Preferences.
3. On the General tab, type Pageflakes.com or choose Use Current.

That’s all for now, please enjoy Pageflakes!

Benjamin, Pageflakes Team

All new Pageflakes Central—New Stuff, More Stuff, Cool Stuff

Benjamin — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 23:44:23 +0000

We’ve been dropping not-so-subtle hints about the new Pageflakes Central coming, but finally we can stop all that and give it to you! If you’ve got it on your page, check it out (usually in the upper right hand corner)! If not, click here to add it.

What the heck is it?
Pageflakes Central takes up less space on your page but gives you a bigger window (if you will) into new, interesting stuff from all over the Pageflakes community. We get feedback from members all the time (thank you!) about cool stuff they’ve found or Pagecasts they’ve created, but until now, we didn’t have a simple lime-light we could shine on the best and brightest.

If you’re a new user, you’ll find quick start tips. If you’re an old hand at Pageflakes, you’ll find links to new and interesting Pagecasts, tips about advanced features, Flakes and other fun stuff like polls, contests, and more. Keep your eyes peeled!

Some Quick Tips on Pageflakes Central
Each of the items that displays in the Pageflakes Central Flake window links to something else: it could be a Flake you can add, a Pagecast to watch, or a user profile to check out. After a pause, a new item comes up.

The Pause that Refreshes
Pageflakes Central keeps showing new stuff as long as you want it to, but you can also pause it at any time. Just click the pause control under the content area and Pageflakes Central will stand by. When you un-pause, it automatically refreshes to show you some more stuff. You can also skip ahead or backward to see other items.

New Stuff All the Time
As content get created by members, profiles are updated, Flakes are made available by developers, or Pagecasts are published, Pageflakes Central will help you cut through the clutter to show you what’s hot, popular, or just plain neato. Please enjoy this handy little Flake!

And the second winner is…

Benjamin — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:56:55 +0000

As we ready fresh content for the upcoming release of the new and improved Pageflakes Central, we’ve been (i.e., I’ve been) remiss in keeping this blog up to date.

So, finally, it’s time to stop messing around and announce the 2nd theme contest winner. Congrats Teddy Mcquade for “Around the World”!

Teddy, as will anyone who submits a theme deemed gallery worthy, gets
his prized and treasured Pageflakes schwag T. And we all get to enjoy
“Around the World” to help us both spruce up our pages as well as keep
some perspective on history and culture in this first month of the new
year.

It’s kind of humbling, frankly, to see the amazing buildings people
have managed to build over the centuries. Also, Ted’s header image and background totally demonstrate the power of cut
and paste. Work that control-v trigger finger, Ted!

Ted has been a member only since the latter part of ‘07, but frankly, turned in an awesome theme for somebody who just joined. Either it shows Ted is very talented, or that our theme controls are pretty easy. I like to thinks it’s both.

If you’d like to use Ted’s fancy new theme, click the big Pageflakes menu button, select “Change Theme” from the left hand menu and scroll to the bottom of the list. Just click on “Around the World” to enjoy Ted’s handiwork.

Check out the Newsletter!
Before I go, I just wanted to let you know that if you missed our first-ever bi-weekly newsletter, you can get it by clicking here.

The newsletter features a user Pagecast spotlight, a new user highlight, and a brand new editorial feature we’re calling “Pagecastia”. Pagecastia are topic-based Pagecasts made by members or our editorial staff that focus on one topic area like Beer, the Superbowl, or the presidential election. Check them out, they collect together some of the best of the web for their topics!

That’s it for now, and as always, please enjoy!

How To Change Up Your Page Using Themes

admin — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 16:03:25 +0000

Themes are a fun, fast, and simple way to doll up your page. This posting is for folks who’ve never tried to pick a theme for their page, or may even want to create one. If you make a good one, submit it and we may put it in the Theme Gallery for everyone to enjoy!

What’s a Theme?

Themes let you personalize the look and feel of your page, or just switch it up for fun. You can choose one of the ready-to-go themes in our Theme Gallery, or create your own. We’ve already made a few holiday themes. Check them out!

To pick a Gallery Theme, click on the big round Pageflakes button, then choose Change Theme from the left hand menu. Now’s the fun part: start clicking! Your page changes instantly. But don’t worry, nothing will change permanently unless you click the save button in the Theme Gallery.

Where Do I Go To Create a Theme?

Once you’re in the Theme Gallery, right at the top, there’s a large yellow button labeled Create Your Own Theme. Click that button to get started, then take a look around in the Custom Theme building area–you’ll be amazed at how much control you can have over your page’s look and feel.

How Do I Create a Theme?

Custom themes are
private unless you submit if for review to be included in the public
gallery. So don’t worry about making your theme perfect in one sitting.
You can make it a work in progress, or choose just to keep it to
yourself. If you want to share your creation, however, be sure to
submit it before Oct 1 for a chance to win the tee.

Theme Parts

The first tab in the Custom Theme
tool is where you customize your header. Pick a color (far right) or
choose from one of our images in the image browser. Better yet, upload
one of your own images! To prep it, just be sure it’s the right size
(1600 pixels wide by 75 pixels high)–most paint programs let you set
the size precisely.

Fonts, Colors, and MUCH More

If you scan the tabs at the top of the Custom Theme
tool, you’ll see each one corresponds to a chunk of your page,
including: Header, Tabs & Buttons, Page, Flakes, and Advanced. In
each of these tabs, you’ll see options for fine-grained tuning of
almost every element. Play around with the elements to see what you can
come up with. It’s fun!

For example, did you know you can change the color of the your Flake
headers? Or whether or not they’ve got a gradient or a solid color? Or
even the color of the footer text? If you poke around in these settings
and experiment, you’ll be amazed at how thoroughly you can tailor your
page’s look and feel.

Here are a few examples of some cool member Pagecasts with custom themes that they’ve made:

All About Cricket by member sporty
Star Trek by member startrek
Photography for the Rest of Us by member nancypants

And here are a few media ones:
Bravo TV Top Chef
Entertainment Tonight
Read/WriteWeb

How to Submit

Under the advanced tab, there’s a box where you can name your theme. Next to it is a Send
button. Once you’ve given your masterpiece a name, click the button and
we’ll do the rest!

Until next time!
-Benjamin, Pageflakes Team Member