Embedding Flickr into Websites - FlickrSlidr vs PictoBrowser vs Plug in

I've recently had some success embedding Flickr into websites and blogs and found that there are many ways to skin this cat.

The easiest is online services, of which there are two main ones ... FlickrSlidr and PictoBrowser. Both generate code which you can simply copy and paste into your website HTML.

FlickrSlidr is the easiest and has some basic configuration options. However its limitations is in end users browsing pictures.

PictoBrowser is more of a traditional gallery and also supports Picasa, however the builder uses Flash and although the interface looks simple it is in fact clunky and just about crashed my PC.

However there is a simple way, using a direct Flickr API and iFrames using a piece of code supplied on this site. The code can also be made to be standards compliant.

I'm not sure about slideshows though, and I'd prefer to randomise static Flickr images. There are plugins available to do that too.

Interested to hear any other ways people have been able to achieve it.

YouTube goes Google with Insight video analytics and Google Maps integration

Logging into YouTube recently I first became aware of some new features I've had on my personal wishlist for some time.

Probably the most significant is Insight, which provides a Google Analytics type view of who is watching your videos. It has some great statistics including daily view charts, referrals (such as from related videos, YouTube searches or embedding) and even which countries the viewers are from and even some basic demographic information. All this is fantastic and really improves the experience for video uploaders.

The other features I've discovered is that you can now set a date and Google Map location for your videos. While I'm not sure how this benefits the video uploader in terms or exposure or how it will affect the search (I suspect they intend to add a whole range of new end user features around this), it is certainly refreshing and the whole interface now has more of a Web 2.0 feel than ever.