The web has all sorts of data, but it’s sorely missing yours. If you request an account from Daytum, you can change that.

The site lets its users collect data about themselves and share it via beautiful charts. Track your coffee consumption, how often you exercise, or anything else that matters to you.

One of the site’s creators, Nicholas Felton creates a personal annual report each year that shows his year in data. Through gorgeous visualizations, Felton shows off the mundane. And now you can, too.

Felton gave a talk about the history of Daytum at the Future of Web Design. His slides are embedded below:

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Using the site is super easy. You can drop in, add some data, and drop out. There’s also a Twitter submission system, for adding your data on the go.

The site is so simple, yet has a number of options for users. There’s lots of room for improvement, such as an API to allow some automated inclusion of data. Overall, this is a fun, easy-to-use site that’s worth checking out.

See also:

• Google Data Visualization Opens a New Web
• Google Trends Takes on the Flu
• Google Spruces up Spreadsheets
• Mint’s New Investment Graphs Showcase Personal Recessions

Passwords are a little bit more secure now that Google added OAuth support to its iGoogle Gadgets. Developers can now use their gadgets to easily grab data from OAuth-enabled APIs. Using OAuth, users do not have to give their passwords to developers. Instead, if a developer wants data from a service, the user enters the password into the service itself, providing the developer permission to access their data.

MySpace updates, AOL Mail and Google Book Search are the first gadgets to use OAuth. Finding the MySpace gadget via the iGoogle search is difficult, as there are pages of results by non-MySpace developers. Some of these ask for your password in an insecure manner, without OAuth. If you have a MySpace account, try adding the official MySpace gadget.

Adding the MySpace gadget gives a good idea of the user experience provided by the OAuth process. Rather than username/password fields within the iGoogle box, there’s a sign in button. Click it, and an OAuth page pops up providing a MySpace login page. Once you’ve signed in, the popup disappears and the gadget is populated with your MySpace data: updates, status, bulletins, and inbox.

Behind the scenes there is an exchange of keys that ensures the gadget maker really does have your permission to access the data. Those keys are permanent, so the sign in process is a one time deal for each OAuth gadget, not something you’ll have to do every time you visit your iGoogle page. For an example of how OAuth works, check out my FireEagle tutorial.

The update to gadgets is world’s beyond password-sharing, but there should still be phishing worries. Emulating the popup process would be easy and there’s nothing to signify that the page I’m seeing really is MySpace. Luckily, that’s the same problem that many are already trying to fix. A solution to the problem for banking sites, for example, will probably be the same solution for OAuth.

[Photo by Eran Sandler]

See also:

• New Foundation Wants to Bridge the Gaps Between Open Web Tools
• Thanks to OpenID and OAuth, the Open Social Web is Beginning to Emerge
• Say Goodbye to Comment Spoofing: OpenID Goes Live on Blogger

Similar to services from Disqus and WordPress, the new TypePad Connect allows you embed comments in any page using JavaScript. Any user with a TypePad Connect profile can then comment on your page and you get a comment management dashboard that offers spam control, moderation and customization options.

Naturally any of your visitors that don’t have a Typepad account can still comment anonymously or use their own OpenID credentials to leave a comment. Other nice touches include the ability to post replies by e-mail and threaded comments (although the threading is only one level deep).

There are some custom code snippets available that make embedding Typepad comments in WordPress, Movable Type, Blogger, Tumblr and other platforms, a simple cut-and-paste affair. Not using one of those systems? Not to worry, there’s generic JavaScript code that works on any site.

For those commenters that choose to use a TypePad account there’s also a new profile page, which will be linked back to via each commenter’s photo avatar.

If you’re thinking that sounds a lot like Disqus you’re right. TypePad Connect offers many of the exact same features found in Disqus and similar distributed comments systems. In September, rival blog software maker WordPress acquired IntenseDebate, a platform for distributed comments complete with profiles, custom feeds and many features similar to Disqus and TypePad Connect. IntenseDebate will be rolled into the next version of WordPress, due soon, and is now available as a beta plug-in for WordPress users.

So which is better? In my limited testing I liked TypePad Connect and customizing the CSS to fit your site’s look and feel is easier than it is with Disqus. But Disqus offers some nice features like true WordPress integration (the ability to store posted comments in your WordPress database) and a very slick API for pulling out data and storing elsewhere.

In the end, if you’re already using Disqus or other services like WordPress’ new Intense Debate comment system, TypePad Connect probably won’t lure you away. But if you’ve never used either, give them both a look — both are very capable systems and offer some nice features that go far above and beyond what most blogging software offers out of the box.

Also be sure to check out the video on the new TypePad Connect site, which and shows the new commenting features in action.

See Also:

• Intense Debate’s Return Brings Better Comments to WordPress
• Disqus Poised to Rule the World of Blog Comments
• Six Apart’s ‘Blog It’ Turns Facebook Into a Fire Hose

SearchWiki, as the new feature is known, appears to be Google’s answer to Wikia Search and Microsoft’s URank, both of which give you ways to interact with search results, ranking them, leaving notes and viewing comments and notes from other users.

The changes you make using Google SearchWiki are stored and will be reflected in repeat searches. So far, however, unlike Wikia Search, SearchWiki does not incorporate your feedback into Google’s ranking system.

As a result, while the new feature may have “wiki” in the name, SearchWiki in fact is more like a public bookmarking system than a wiki.

Given that, at least for now, your input and ranking affects no one but you, adding comments and rearranging search results is perhaps most akin to saving a page on a social bookmarking site like Delicious — others can see that you liked a page (or didn’t) and read any thoughts you want to add.

Right now the new SearchWiki features are only available on select accounts, but should become available to everyone over the next few days. If you’re logged in to Google, look for two new, very small icons next to each search result — there’s an up arrow and plus sign. Click either icon and a pop up will appear telling you about the new features.

Once you click “enable” you can rearrange search results and comment on pages. Other users will be able to see your rankings and comments by clicking the “All notes for this SearchWiki” link at the bottom of the page.

There’s also an option to see all of your own notes and, perhaps most useful, to add a page to the list. As it stands right now SearchWiki seems primarily like a way to customize results for things you frequently search.

For example, a Python programmer might want a Google search for Python to return some quick links to the documentation, the Cheeseshop (don’t ask) and maybe some frequently used Google Code projects, rather than the default results which include things like links to download Python, an xkcd comic and other pages that are not necessarily useful to a developer.

The monumental flaw in that otherwise appealing scenario is that there doesn’t seem to be a way to turn the new features off. That’s a pretty major oversight on Google’s part — what if you customize a page, but then decide you want to see Google’s rankings? The only way to do that is to log out, which is a pain if you’re logged into Gmail or other Google services. Google has violated the number one rule of software development — always have an undo button.

In addition to that oversight, it’s unclear exactly what Google plans to do with SearchWiki in the long run — what about affecting other people’s search results? Obviously that opens up some serious spamming/gaming concerns, but rest assured that Google is, if nothing else, gathering and storing your preference and search tweaks. Will that someday be a part of the page ranking algorithm? It’s impossible to say for sure, but it certainly seems likely.

Also worth noting is that this isn’t an experimental feature, or a beta release — it’s a live feature on one of the most visited pages on the web. That’s a pretty risky move for the normally conservative company.

While the SearchWiki features certainly look useful, the inability to turn them off makes me hesitate to use them. Hopefully Google will correct that oversight in the very near future.

See Also:

• Wikia Search Launches Wikipedia-Style Search Engine
• Revamped Microsoft Live Search Disappoints
• Yahoo’s New ‘Build Your Own’ Search Engine Nips at Google’s Lead

The experience logging in with Jyte is remarkable. It only takes a few clicks and I’m started using the site. It receives my preferred nickname from Yahoo, so I’m not even asked to fill in anything else.

Plaxo, on the other hand, requires a process that feels like signing up. Requiring info after signing in with OpenID makes moot one of the best things about OpenID for website owners. You can lower the barrier to entry for users by letting them use the site as soon as they arrive from their provider.

To that end, Simple Registration should be able to help solve the double signup issue, assuming sites treat the process like Jyte and not like Plaxo. Other OpenID providers have been sharing user’s profile information, with permission, for some time.

This part of OpenID is important, and it’s good to see one of the big boys on board. Still, it’ll be hard to say OpenID has really made it until I can sign on to Yahoo with any OpenID.

See also:

• OpenID Is Here. Too Bad Users Can’t Figure Out How It Works
• Yahoo Users Befuddled by OpenID
• Yahoo Users, You’ve Got OpenID

Adding beautiful charts to your site does not have to require a hefty server-side process or a third party service. With CSS and a little ingenuity, you can have the lightweight, easy to create visualizations of your data.

The design mavens over at Six Revisions have put together eight examples of CSS charts and graphs. Each one uses little to no images to create snappy bar and column chart. There’s even a scatter plot example and some standards-supporting, accessible sparklines.

Google’s Chart API is an alternative to rolling your own. Passing your data is almost as easy because it goes in an image URL. While you don’t have to pay for the bandwidth of the chart, the API still comes with some strings attached and Google can pull the plug whenever it wants. If you’re looking for 3-D or pie charts, the sort of stuff that can’t be done with CSS, that may still be your best bet.

See also:

• Setting The Tables With CSS
• Someday You Will Not Hate the CSS3 Advanced Layout
• Make Gorgeous Headlines With Only CSS

Yes, that’s right, there’s a new Mac virus lurking out there in the wild, but unless you’re incredibly stupid there’s no need to worry. The virus is technically a trojan, named Lamzev-A, which creates a backdoor for attackers to take over your Mac. At the moment the trojan disguises itself as video codec on what The Register calls “grumble flick” sites — that’d be porn to you and me.

Of course setting the new trojan loose requires quite a few steps on your part, first you need to download the file, then launch the resulting .dmg. Once the disk image is mounted, the hapless victim then launches the app, which proceeds to create the backdoor.

Along the way OS X will alert you that you just downloaded an unknown app and you might want to think twice about running it. Do people really install codec files from porn sites? Probably, but not many. In any case Trend Micro has already updated its software, so if you suspect you’ve been a victim of Lamzev-A try the online scanner.

While this may not a be a serious threat, jokes aside, it should be a reminder that, just because you’re running OS X doesn’t mean you’re totally immune. Just like we have no doubt Google will get around to release Chrome for Mac, there’s also a good change malware authors will get around to writing something truly scary for OS X.

After all, the very first computer virus was written for an Apple machine.

[Awesome iMac virus image courtesy of Trend Micro]

See Also:

• The 25th Anniversary Of The Computer Virus
• Microsoft to Offer Free Virus Protection Software for Windows
• OpenOffice Pseudo Virus Downloads Bunny Porn

We’ve already showed you how to hack YouTube URLs and embed codes to get higher quality video. While those tricks work on most videos, they only bump the resolution up to 480×360px — better, but still nothing close to HD.

Well, good news, as our friends over at Epicenter point out, some videos on YouTube are available in full 720p HD glory — the same format that sites like the iTunes Store and Netflix offer.

It turns out YouTube has been quietly offering HD for some time. The site began experimenting with 720p videos back in May of this year, though the selection was somewhat limited. But now that HD quality videos are more widely available on YouTube, the new option is getting more useful.

The trick to getting the hi-res versions is roughly the same as with the old, um, sort-of-hi-res option. First you have to apply the same URL hack, but this time the magic bit of code is &fmt=22. Tack that on to the end of a normal YouTube URL and, if an HD version of the video is available, then you’ll see it. If it isn’t, YouTube seems to fall back to the 480×360 video and then, if that isn’t there either, it goes back to the pixelated glory that is its trademark.

When it comes to embedding the HD videos things get a little more complicated. Here’s some generic embed code that seems to work:


<object width="480” height=”397“><param name=”movie” value=”(VIDEO EMBED URL)&ap=%2526fmt%3D22“></param><param name=”wmode” value=”window“></param><embed src=”(VIDEO EMBED URL)&ap=%2526fmt%3D22” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” wmode=”window” width=”480” height=”397“></embed></object>


The results can be seen here, starting with the HD embed, then the old “high quality” method and finally the good old default (note that the HD video requires Flash Player 9 or better):

Naturally, our favorite YouTube download solution, the Firefox add-on Video Downloader can grab the HD mp4 files for offline viewing. It also wouldn’t be hard to modify this Greasemonkey script to load HD movies automatically (where available); just download the script and change all the lines with fmt=18 to fmt=22. And be sure to check out the How To Wiki for more YouTube downloading options.

Here’s a shot of the downloaded mp4 file playing in QuickTime:

See Also:

• Watch Higher Quality YouTube Videos
• Find Your Neighbor’s Videos Online
• New Adobe Flash Player 9 Will Bring HD Video To YouTube
• YouTube to Offer Live Video Feeds Later This Year

We’ve been hearing rumors of Gmail themes for some time, but now it’s official. Of course, like most new features in Gmail, themes are rolling out slowly, so if you haven’t seen them in your account yet, be patient.

If your account has been blessed, click the settings link at the top left corner of the screen and then look for the new “Themes” tab.

Most of the new themes are simple color schemes as you can see in the screenshot above, but there are some image-based themes as well — one that turns your inbox into a retro notepad, some nature themes that change scenery over time, weather themes that reflect what’s happening outside, and a couple character themes like “ninja.”

Of course Gmail was already themeable using browser add-ons like Greasemonkey and Stylish, but the new themes are much more pixel-prefect and will work no matter what browser or PC you use to access your account.

The only thing that seems to be missing is a way for designers to create and upload their own custom themes, but we suspect something along those lines will arrive before too long.

See Also:

• Rumor: Are Gmail Themes Arriving June 5?
• Make Google Reader More Mac-like

Even more exciting than being able to easily create an app is getting access to some native iPhone APIs. Currently PhoneGap supports JavaScript access to the user’s location and the device accelerometer. Camera and vibration are still in the works.

There’s talk of being able to use a web form to create your app by submitting only the URL of your website. Currently, it’s a little more work, but easier than creating an app from scratch. You’ll still need to download the SDK and write your app in Apple’s XCode. The PhoneGap wiki has a hello world tutorial that should get you started.

One really cool aspect of the PhoneGap project is that it also supports Android and Blackberry. A write-once approach to mobile development is within grasp of the ordinary web developer.

[via John Resig]

See also:

• Learn the Basics of Building an iPhone App
• Webmonkey Maps iPhone App Developers’ Frustration
• iPhone App Store Exclusivity Is a Big Drawback