Straight-up simple JetCityOrange script displays random Fortune Cookie message. All totally unique.

Once installed on you blog, LineBuzz provides the ability for users to highlight text in a blog entry and post an inline comment.

LineBuzz recently went Beta.

No plugins, browser extensions or bookmarklets are required.

A working sample is available on their blog at http://blog.linebuzz.com/

The Google AJAX Search API team [blog] have created several wizards for generating the required code to include Google search “widgets” on your website

I think the wizards were also intended to kick-start developers into a more advanced assault on the Google AJAX API. It got me poking around.

Current wizards include Map, Video, News, Book and Blog.

A sprinkling of Community Samples are also available.

Seems like all big widget news starts life at TechCrunch. Today AuctionAds launched a new advertising option for websites. After sign-up, you place a <script> block into your website which displays current eBay auction items.

The auction items displayed in the ad widget are related to keywords/tags added during the new ad code creation process.

The ads have a clean look and are very Google AdSense like.

Commission is paid to you if someone buys an item.

Over the last 2 weeks I’ve been contacted by several companies looking for web widget developers. They want specialists who have built widgets before. I don’t know required functionality, technology platform, delivery method (flash, <script>, etc) or really anything about the projects, but thought I might be able to connect up a few parties.

If you are a web widget developer/expert and want to be contacted, please make yourself heard in the comments.

The Wink search engine searches social network profiles, like myspace, for your term.

A search for the term ‘widget‘ returned a pile of myspace profiles with the screen name ‘Widget’. Makes sense I guess.

The other day Wink quietly launched a new widget for organizing all your social network profiles into one widget.

After creating a profile on the Wink site, you add links to online profiles like myspace, Flickr, YouTube, MyBlogLog, Facebook, Last.fm, LinkedIn, etc, etc, etc.

It’s not hard these days to have a dozen or more profiles, so the Wink widget is a wicked way for summarizing links to all. Use the widget to promote all your various profiles and/or to just keep things organized.

Available in three flavors - HTML/JavaScript, Flash and as an Image

This is one of the few widgets that I actually find useful and provides some value, if just for the fact it helps keep a list of all our profiles organized and accessible from one spot.

Answers.com released a new widget for bloggers today called AnswerTips.

Site owners drop a <script> block into their page and then whenever a visitor double-clicks a piece of text a bubble with information opens up.

Try it out right now. Double click on any text.

“AnswerTips are small information bubbles that define any word when double-clicked. An AnswerTips-enabled site or blog means visitors get fast facts on 4 million topics provided by Answers.com when they double-click on any word, without opening a new browser or following outbound links. AnswerTips deliver instant definitions, explanations and facts including biographies, tech terms, geography, pop culture and much more.”

I did a quick hallway test and reactions were positive but the bubble tips are unexpected. I’m not sure how many users actually double-click on text, rather than click-and-swipe to highlight. Thoughts?

I’m a constant clicker-double-clicker to highlight text to copy into the clipboard and the bubble does not interfere with that process. Clicking back on the page closes the bubble, which is nice.

ClockLink provides embeddable Flash clocks.

Digital, analog, themed, you name it.

It’s nice to be able to give my brain a rest and work with a good old fashion widget. No email required, no account to create and a simple config.

A relatively useless widget, but whatever. Good for some bling I guess.

Speaking of yourminis.com, yesterday we got a bit of inside info…

“We [yourminis.com] are working on a big release right now that will include public APIs, desktop widgets (leveraging the Apollo platform), and a redesign of the yourminis site and community….stay tuned! :)”

… excellent.

The Apollo platform is being developed by Adobe Labs and from what I can tell seems like next gen Flash, but runs on the desktop (OSX & Win) like an operating system. More Apollo Q&A.

The yourminis “public API” certainly caught my attention as well. Maybe a little “build your own” widget kit? Who knows, but they got me wanting more.

An interesting change in the widget space recently is the ability to ‘export’ widgets from the dashboard sites and drop into your blog. About a month ago the personalized dashboard service yourminis.com pushed out functionally for users to export their widgets (Flash based) and embed into their “online identities” including social site like myspace and Facebook, your blog or any other website.

To export a yourminis widget, mouse-over the widget and a “copy me” link should appear in the top-right corner.

Yesterday we used a yourminis.com widget to display a Yahoo!pipes mashup called YouTunes.