MSNBC has a new widget. My favorite part: You can adjust if you want more national news or less weird news, etc. Some of the colors are a little weird, but it continues MSNBC’s “fuller spectrum” theme. Clicking on the headlines in the widget brings up a the lead of the story and a button [...]

Google Maps is celebrating St. Patrick’s Day today. (OK, since Friday.) The street view icon is a leprechaun (or at least dressed in a green top hat, jacket and pants) and he’s standing on a shamrock. I wonder if he’ll be a rabbit for Easter … Speaking of St. Patrick’s Day, the Chicago Tribune did [...]

The Indianapolis Star has been working on a redesign for awhile; now the site is in beta. They’re also answering questions readers have about the redesign. Gannett is following the move Tribune Co. made last year, and making all of its sites similar. Poke around, see what you think. I especially like that I can [...]

Washington Posts’s Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. and Managing Editor Philip Bennett sent a memo to staff members outlining changes to their editing system for A-section stories. The gist: • Some assistant editors will have earlier shifts • The national and foreign copy desks will be combined (I was surprised they hadn’t done that already, [...]

Have you downloaded PicLens yet? It’s a fun little application that works with your browser — Firefox, Internet Explorer and, for Macs, Safari — and creates a 3-D(ish) photo slideshow. You can even blow them up to full-screen, and they still look sharp. Download it, and try it with photo sites, social networks or image [...]