I can't believe it is Friday already!!  This week has just flown by.  I wanted to start off by honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, whose memory we are celebrating on Monday.  What a truly amazing man - we sure could use someone like him right about now... 

I bet it has been a pretty wild ride for the folks over at Slide recently, who just raised a whopping $50 Million dollars from Private Equity funds at Fidelity and T. Rowe Price.  That's at a valuation of $500 Million Dollars, people.  The last big acquisition in the widget space was MySpace's purchase of Photobucket for a reported $350 MM.  Yowzers - things are moving up in the widget world!  Exciting times.

And speaking of MySpace, there are multiple sightings of Rupert Murdoch over at Bebo this past week.  I'm sure Murdoch would love to add this social network on a tear to his suite of internet properties.  And lord knows he could use a little oomph, given the traffic numbers that came out this week.  MySpace is still a giant, to be sure, but Facebook is gaining, and gaining fast.  I'll be curious to see what, if anything, comes of this!

Bebo's apps also seem to be cruising.  They haven't taken off in the same way Facebook's did when they launched, but I suppose that isn't so surprising.  There hasn't been as much buzz for Bebo's apps platform in the press, but at Widgetbox we think it is really slick.  Plus, apps accelerated by Widgetbox are currently 60% of Bebo's gallery, and have been holding steady at that number since they launched.  That rocks!!

The widget monetization game is heating up, with some announcements this week by WidgetBucks and our friends at Mpire, and Gigya.  If last year was the Year of the Widget, this year is definitely going to be the Year of Widget Monetization.  We're hard at work over here on some really cool features for money makin' beyond DevShare, so stay tuned...

Lastly, for all of you who are hitting the road this long weekend, stay on the lookout for signs like the ones you'll find in this "signspotting" widget.  I just about fell out of my chair laughing at these this morning.