MySpace, Flock and Vidoop have developed OpenID for Flock, an implementation of the broader Identity in Browser (IDIB) open source project. OpenID for Flock offers the most comprehensive discovery and management capabilities for OpenID currently available. Internet users can now not only store their existing identity credentials within their browser, but also reap the benefits of better discovery when OpenIDs are made available by the sites they are visiting. OpenID for Flock is now available to all Flock 2.0 users as an alpha extension available for download.

With OpenID for Flock, the process of discovering, configuring and using OpenIDs that allow the user to log onto website accounts and manage their identity is streamlined. Once a relationship is established between OpenIDs and the sites that can rely on them for authentication, an easy, seamless experience is created for users that frequently travel to multiple destinations across the Internet.

MySpace, Flock and Vidoop jointly developed OpenID for Flock because the browser is the common application used by everyone to make the connection between both OpenID providers and sites that support login using the OpenID standard. Vidoop was the catalyst behind the original Identity In Browser (IDIB) project. The collaboration started in October 2008 when Vidoop Labs produced a fledgling prototype of IDIB, shared the code with the community, and blogged about the need for online identity to be solved at the browser level. MySpace became involved because of their commitment to OpenID via the company’s Data Availability Platform and Flock contributed their browser expertise based on their commitment to OpenID and furthering usability.

As advertisers and publishers seek ways to improve performance to compensate for shrinking budgets, new technologies like location-based advertising provide a means of improving relevance and response rates. Real estate site Trulia.com, and media company 1020 Placecast, have announced their partnership, using location information to target specific audiences for advertisers and deliver more relevant messages to them on Trulia.com.

Placecast adds a new dimension to audience targeting by using location information as the key to relevance. In Trulia’s case, the starting points are the real estate locations in which users express interest. Placecast’s proprietary targeting algorithms correlate these with dozens of other demographic, psychographic and geographic data points.

For publishers in categories such as travel, events, tickets, real estate, weather, classifieds and career search, Placecast uses the location information already present on these sites to target audiences and customize messaging. Improved performance results in a dramatic increase in the value of ad inventory for advertisers, transforming remnant ad space into premium CPM real estate for publishers.

One of the first advertisers to take advantage of this approach with Placecast and Trulia is Avis-Budget. Approximately halfway through a three-month campaign, Avis has seen its ads on Trulia perform strongly relative to other publishers. The Avis-Budget campaign is just the first of many in the expanded partnership between Trulia and Placecast.

KickApps announced that the New Orleans Hornets have launched a social network for fans of the team powered by KickApps. The website is a destination for the supporters to gather online with other fans to share their passion for the Hornets and NBA basketball, create, share and discover fan submitted photos, videos and blogs, and interact exclusively with official club content.

Using social media, the Hornets capitalize on an opportunity to increase their connection with fans by extending the Hornets experience beyond the basketball court. The new website features its own social network with video and photo sharing functionality, forums, and the ability for members to take video and photos from the site to other social networks, blogs and websites using Hornets branded video and photo widgets.

To tip-off participation and activity on the site, the Hornets are holding a competition for fans to name the social network. Fans simply join the network and leave a comment with their proposed name and why they chose it. Additionally, the team has uploaded behind the scenes videos of the Honeybee cheerleaders and press conferences, with additional unique programming planned.

The New Orleans Hornets joins the Phoenix Suns’ Emmy Award winning PlanetOrange.net, New York Knicks, Phoenix Mercury, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, New York Rangers and Arena Football League, as teams that have embraced the KickApps Platform.

Userplane, the application provider for online communities, has released its plug-in applications for developers looking for community features for online communities.

Plug-ins for Userplane Webmessenger, Webchat and Webrecorder applications are now available for VBulletin, WordPress, Drupal, Mambo, Joomla and phpFoX. Developers can easily and quickly integrate Userplane plug-in applications into the social networking communities and websites they create with these platforms.

Automatic, the parent company of popular blogging platform WordPress, has acquired WP plug-in series BuddyPress to mark its ambitious move to social networking and perhaps challenge dominance players like MySpace and Facebook.

BuddyPress is a suite of plugins that will completely transform Wordpress MU into a fully functional social network platform. Thanks to its $29.5 million funding raised in January 2008, it has gained some flexibility to explore different areas to sustain its continued growth. WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg explains the rationale for this acquisition:

It’s clear that the future is social. Connections are key. WordPress MU is a platform which has shown itself to be able to operate at Internet-scale and with BuddyPress we can make it friendlier. Someday, perhaps, the world will have a truly Free and Open Source alternative to the walled gardens and open-only-in-API platforms that currently dominate our social landscape.

This is an opportune time to partake in the social networking market for niche sites are expected to boom in the years to come.

via ReadWriteWeb

Answers Corporation, creators of the leading answer engine offering Answers.com and WikiAnswers.com, today announced a partnership with Automattic, Inc., owners of the popular WordPress.com blogging service.

Bloggers using WordPress.com as their blogging platform will be offered an integrated tool to easily link words in their posts to definitions and explanations from Answers.com. The service will also be available as a plug-in for users of the more customizable Wordpress.org service.

“The goal of the integration is to help the blogger maintain the flow of his or her writing, without needing to pause to provide explanations inside the text. It’s also a quick and simple way to keep readers from the distractions that cause them to leave, in search of an explanation for an unfamiliar reference,” explained Answers Chairman and CEO Bob Rosenschein.

Performancing announced the release of Estranged, its Wordpress theme for October.

Created by Thord Daniel Hedengren and produced by TFS Travel Journal, Estranged is a two-column theme that features large, standout headers, and easy-to read body and link text. The color scheme involves subtle shades of grey and red, with a bit of orange, and these add to that simple yet eye-catching look. The proportions of the columns and the headers are just right, making ample use of the rule of thirds popular among those in the visual arts. Contrast is just right–having adequate readability, but not at the cost of being too much of a glare. The theme also makes adequate use of white space, so the blog doesn’t look cramped.

Here’s a preview of Estranged.

Editor’s Note: Performancing is owned by Splashpress Media, the company behind 901am.com

Performancing announced the release of The News Theme for Wordpress. The theme mimics the look and feel of a print magazine and newspaper. The theme was authored by Design Disease and produced by Soccerlens in cooperation with Performancing. Here is a preview of the theme and a download link.

Editor’s note: Performancing is owned by Splashpress Media, and so are we.

On the lighter side of things, Wordpress recently announced the launch of their latest apparel — the new red Wordpress T-shirts, which are now available for purchase outside of the U.S., and anywhere in the world.

Made of high-quality American Apparel material, these limited edition Wordpress T-shirts are screen-printed and are available for both men and women. You can purchase them from Wordpress’ official online shop while stocks last. Grab one for yourself now!

I, however, join some people in asking: why just red? I hope the shirts become available in pink, too.

Barely a week since the launch of version 3.0 of Wordpress Theme Viewer and already, drastic changes concerning cleaning up its database have garnered both applause for a job well done, as well as questions regarding their criteria for keeping and dispatching themes.

This latest development in the popular wordpress theme database aimed to fix site problems which include slow filter and search system, theme quality concerns, and abusive and ethical problems such as theme rip-offs, staged rating and downloading system, and embedded spammy links, as explained here.

Hundreds of themes with embedded links to spam sites were taken out of the database, as well as sponsored themes that were mostly made for marketing and linkbuilding purposes. In this regard, some theme authors were also suspended, and were requested to correct and clean up their codes if they want to resubmit their themes for re-inclusion.

Signing up and uploading themes is suspended at the moment until further notice.