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Digg Labs quietly launches BigSpy

Digg launches a new visualization tool in Digg Labs, updates another.

Josh Lowensohn Former Senior Writer
Josh Lowensohn joined CNET in 2006 and now covers Apple. Before that, Josh wrote about everything from new Web start-ups, to remote-controlled robots that watch your house. Prior to joining CNET, Josh covered breaking video game news, as well as reviewing game software. His current console favorite is the Xbox 360.
Josh Lowensohn

Digg's Labs section launched last year with new ways to visualize Digg activity. Last week BigSpy, a new visualization tool that's eye candy in the purest sense of the word, quietly popped up. New stories appear at the top of the page, which offsets the rest of the stories in a wavelike motion. The more popular a story, the larger it is and the bigger the "wave" it causes on other stories. It's a mesmerizing effect.

One of the other Digg Labs' tools, Stack, was also updated. Stack essentially shows the popularity of a story with columns of various heights. Each new Digg contributes to a story's height. With the update, you can now see newly submitted stories and easily see which ones are gaining in popularity. Neat.