Found a very cool plugin in the Windows Live Gallery that lets you add Polaroid style pictures to blog posts within Windows Live Writer.  You can add drop shadows, captions, and even tilt the photo.  The plugin is available here.

Just finished up building another plugin for Windows Live Writer.  The “iTunes Currently Playing” plugin allows you to insert customizable text from whatever it is you are listening to at any given time in iTunes. Insert the currently playing song including track, artist, and album information via iTunes. Customizable output formatting allows you to create your own text output.  This submission is currently pending approval in the Windows Live Gallery.  Once it is approved, you will find the final link on my Windows Live Writer Plugins page as well as at the Windows Live Gallery. Currently listening to “September Morn” by Neil Diamond Update: You can now find the “Insert iTunes Currently Playing” plugin in the Windows Live Gallery.

I just published my first version of an “Insert File” Plugin for Windows Live Writer. The new plugin allows you to Insert a file attachment into your blog entry. The plugin supports specifying the link caption as well as a link prefix. This is a perfect alternative to having to manually upload an attachment that you want to include with a post. You can download it at the Windows Live Gallery here.

You can find information about my original post topic here. I originally developed the plugin back in September 2006 and am just getting around to updating some of its functionality.  I have had several requests from users to update the plugin to include the Associate ID tag which gives credit to the associate when a purchase is made. I have updated the install package to include the Associate ID functionality.  As I am writing this, I realized that I should’ve wrote in some code to actually remember the Associate ID being used.  I’ll add that in the next iteration to come shortly (hopefully in the next couple of days). The package assumes that you have Windows Live Writer Beta 2 installed.  I haven’t tested the updated package on Beta 1, so I can’t guarantee it will work with Beta 1. Please post any comments with questions or other suggestions for…

I have created my second plugin for Windows Live Writer which is a tool that will do information lookups via the Amazon.com web service.  This is particularly useful if you want to post about a book you are writing.  The “insert” includes the ability to add the title, author, book image, and a link to the book itself on Amazon if you want to read more about it or simply buy it. It looks like this: Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers by Robert Scoble, Shel Israel Read more about this title…   You can simply search for a title or author and you are presented with the results from which you can select the one you are looking for. If you are interested in this plugin, check out the Windows Live Writer Plugin Project over at CodePlex and find other plugins as well.