What's so special about embedded software apps anyway? For publishers, they make Web pages stickier. Like a Web page within a Web page, widgets allow users to customize their content. For example, an NBA fan could paste a dynamic scoreboard or game tracker on their Google or Yahoo home page. Theoretically, widgets will enable users to watch live or previously recorded games some day.

Slide.com founder Max Levchin, who also co-founded eBay's PayPal, believes these apps can become money-making machines. Slide currently embeds ads around slide shows and other apps, but Levchin has far grander plans: do-it-yourself product placement. Web users may ignore banners and pop-ups, but they won't ignore ads that they choose for their Web pages. For advertisers, it's still a test, but marketers like Paramount, AT&T and Discovery Channel let users post brand images to their pages through widgets provided by Slide; the widget-maker and the app developer only get paid if someone interacts with the product placement. To be sure, it's a fascinating twist on brand marketing, but will it ever generate enough usage to be worth it to marketers?

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