Don’t ask what the title means. I have no idea. No, really.

I probably don’t talk about as much as I should (there’s not even a link to it on the site), but I really like the RUWT? Beta Projects page. If you’re interested in seeing code I’m working on before it gets launched, it’s the place to go. Here are a few projects that have recently graduated to full-fledged site features.

River
A few months ago I launched the RUWT? River, a feature inspired by Techmeme, my favorite Tech site these days. It took a little while, but I finally had a “duh!” moment when I realized it was really just the Bleachers on steroids—it has a slider! Click on any “more…” link at the bottom of any “From the Bleachers” section, or just head to areyouwatchingthis.com/bleachers to check it out.

Beta Scoreboard
The beta scoreboard has been out for a lot longer and needed a little kick in the pants to get it closer to full launching on the site. I haven’t figured out the best way to slam it onto the home page, but that’s still the eventual goal. Kick the tires at areyouwatchingthis.com/beta/scores and let me know what you think.

Dynamic Page Titles
This never hung out in Beta, but cool little feature nonetheless. If you’re looking at a specific game page on RUWT?, the title in your browser will update whenever there score or time left changes. If you can’t use the Toolbar, but you want to keep track of a bunch of games, you can open new tabs while you continue to surf the Internets.

A comment by RUWT? user senorpepr made me realize I forgot to mention a great Google Gadget feature. Yes, RUWT? Sports makes a great addition to your iGoogle page, but you can also embed it on your blog or any other website that allows <script> includes. Just copy and paste the code below and you’re good to go!

<script src=”http://gmodules.com/ig/ifr?url=http://areyouwatchingthis.com/widgets/googlegadget.xml&up_selectedSports=&synd=open&w=320&h=365&title=RUWT%3F+Sports&border=%23ffffff%7C3px%2C1px+solid+%23999999&output=js”></script>

It’s hard to keep a good robot down.

I’m happy to announce that you can now bring RUWT? onto your iGoogle homepage. Modeled after the popular iPhone app, this customizable scoreboard gives you news and scores for the sports you care about, as well as updates as soon as games gets good.

As always, give me a shout if you have any requests.

update: you can also embed this scoreboard on blogs and other websites…

Personally I’m a cable guy but I know there are a lot of DirecTV and DISH fans out there. Local channels are showing up in more and more cities for the satellite folks, so it’s high time RUWTbot started watching them too.

Starting today, for all you guys that have been asking for it, you can pick up your local affiliates along with the standard satellite offerings when you select your lineup. Be sure to unselect the channels you don’t get when you’re done.

As much as I wish it was otherwise, this announcement is directed at da’ Geeks.

Weeks of masquerading as a designer made me feel all dirty so I cleansed myself with some good ol’ hardcore coding. It soft-launched this weekend, but I’m happy to announce that RUWT? now supports OpenID.

I’d love to include a great description or video about OpenID, but it doesn’t exist. Not a single one. Some come close, but then start shilling for some product or website, or tossing out terms like Relying Parties. Talking about RPs in an OpenID video == FAIL.

We all no I’m know wordsmith, but here’s my best shot at it…

Would you like to apply for an Old Navy credit card today and save 20% on your purchase?

Raise your hand if you haven’t heard that or some variation at a store recently. It’s easy to ignore, but what if it wasn’t an offer and was a requirement?

Imagine a mall where every store had it’s own credit card and it was the only form of payment accepted. No cash. No Capital One Visa. Just your Target, Best Buy, or Gap Card. You were more than welcome to come in and window shop, but if you actually wanted to purchase something, you had to whip out your ID, prove that you were who you said you were, and suffer through filling out a boring form. For. Every. Single. Store.

Pretty lame, huh? Remind you of any sites you’ve been to lately? Feel free to click around, but if you want to post, send a message or do anything at all worthwhile, you’re thrown onto to a screen chock full of textboxes, checkboxes, and images filled with squiggly characters that you have to strain to identify. I’m not in Kindergarten! Stop giving me alphabet tests!

So how do we fix this? Some say with OpenID. It’s a young technology and definitely has it’s flaws, but it’s a step in the right direction. Much like your credit card that you can use to shop anywhere, OpenID gives you one identity that you can use to login anywhere.

Before you tear your hair out the next time you see a registration form, check if the site supports OpenID because chances are you already have one. No, I’m serious. All Yahoo, AOL, WordPress, Blogger, Flickr, LiveJournal, Bloglines…(you get the idea) users do. Intrigued? Head over to openid.net to learn more.

So what does this all mean for you, the RUWT? user? Not much really. It may draft more minions into RUWTbot’s army, but the emphasis is on may. Either way, give it a shot and let me know if it gives you any trouble.