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WeatherBug(R) Labs Debuts: WeatherBug Widget for Yahoo! Widget Engine, WeatherBug Plug-in for Firefox, Dashboard Widget for Mac OS X, a User-Submitted Photo Screensaver With Live Temperature Readings And WeatherBug Maps

Posted on: Thursday, 9 February 2006, 09:00 CST

Mac Lite "Graduates" Labs into Product Development After Favorable Response from Mac Market

WeatherBug(R), the leading provider of live, local weather information services, today announced the debut of several new innovations to WeatherBug Labs. Located at labs.weatherbug.com, WeatherBug Labs launched November 1, 2005 as a public forum for WeatherBug product development and ingenuity between WeatherBug employees and WeatherBug users. Here, WeatherBug engineers, researchers and other employees showcase their "pet projects" to solicit feedback and collaboration from consumers and the developer community. The online forum enables participants to discuss and explore ideas that can leverage the proprietary network of 8,000 WeatherBug Tracking Stations, which stream live, neighborhood-level weather.

User-submitted ideas, comments, suggestions and innovations are sent to labsproducts@weatherbug.com. Feedback on these prototypes is a crucial and valuable step of the development process.

Favorable user responses have led to the integration into WeatherBug's product portfolio, including WeatherBug RSS and this week, WeatherBug Lite Mac. While some projects may move on to official product development, others may be dropped due to lack of interest or traffic and production issues.

"Response to WeatherBug Labs has been overwhelming and universally positive," said WeatherBug Senior Vice President and CTO Chris Sloop. "The Mac community embraced WeatherBug Mac Lite, resulting in its graduation to a released product. As the market migrates towards widgets and gadgets and other 'lite' applets, WeatherBug and our creative 'family' have cultivated our own innovative adaptations. We are eager to see how the 'early adopters' and developer community react to our latest additions to WeatherBug Labs."

WeatherBug Labs Debuts

-- WeatherBug Lite Mac, the Mac version of WeatherBug Lite, recently graduated from labs into a released product after receiving a favorable response from the Mac community. To learn more or to download the application, visit http://mac.weatherbug.com/mac_landing/. Check back frequently to learn about new additions to the WeatherBug Mac family.

-- WeatherBug Local Weather Dashboard Widget for Mac OS X (10.4 or Later) places detailed forecasts, radar, news and severe weather alerts from WeatherBug's proprietary network right on the Mac Dashboard. Widgets are mini-applications that let users perform common tasks and provide fast access to information. With a single click, Dashboard (and widgets) appear or disappear quickly and easily. Visit http://widget.weatherbug.com/

-- WeatherBug Local Weather Widget for Yahoo! Widget Engine (3.0 or Later) places detailed forecasts, radar, news and severe weather alerts from WeatherBug's proprietary network on the desktop with the WeatherBug Widget for Yahoo. The Yahoo! Widget Engine (formerly known as Konfabulator) is a JavaScript runtime engine for Windows and Mac OS X that lets users run Widgets. Visit http://widget.weatherbug.com/

-- WeatherBug Plug-in for Firefox delivers detailed forecasts, radar, news and severe weather alerts from WeatherBug's proprietary network to the award-winning Firefox web browser. Firefox has gone from relative obscurity to being the second most popular browser in the world. Visit http://firefox.weatherbug.com/

-- WeatherBug User Photos Screensaver features some of WeatherBug's most popular user- submitted photos, including: nature, storms, and animal themes plus live, local weather conditions on your screensaver. Visit http://screensaver.weatherbug.com/

-- WeatherBug Maps enables users to view individual WeatherBug Tracking Stations, WeatherBug Cameras and non-WeatherBug weather station locations as color-coded icons, superimposed over Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth via the Internet. Visit http://maps.weatherbug.com/

About WeatherBug

WeatherBug (weatherbug.com) ensures that individuals, schools, businesses and government agencies receive the most precise live weather information, the most relevant weather reports, and the earliest weather warnings to safeguard property, lives and to plan with confidence. With 8,000 WeatherBug Tracking Stations and over 1,000 cameras primarily based at neighborhood schools and public safety facilities across the U.S., WeatherBug maintains the largest exclusive weather network in the world. The live, local weather conditions are delivered to millions of consumers via the Internet and mobile devices, more than 100 state and local government agencies, including the National Weather Service, and to broadcast television stations, schools, and businesses. WeatherBug's data is unique as it is the only live, neighborhood weather available anywhere. WeatherBug is a brand of AWS Convergence Technologies, Inc. (www.aws.com).

Source: Business Wire

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