Spread OpenID needs some updates! Blog post on new services, articles on recent developments in the OpenID community, tutorials, and much more. However I don’t have the time - and probably a lack of motivation as well - to provide those articles. OpenID is gaining attention even outside of the tech blogosphere, it is becoming more user friendly, and also more secure. So it deserves some more, and especially regular coverage on this blog. Cutting a long story short, Spread OpenID needs some dedication and enthusiasm, it needs a new editor.
There are not much requirements for the job:
- You have some basic knowledge about the technical details of OpenID
- You are enthusiastic about it
- You read tech blogs, especially OpenID related ones regularly
- You enjoy blogging
- You like to share your knowledge
- You have some ideas to improve Spread OpenID
- You know English
- You know WordPress
That’s all basically. We can’t pay you but the OpenID community will love you for your efforts. Really! 
So if you’re interested, get in touch by email: admin@spreadopenid.org
Many websites let users log in with an OpenID already, and numbers are still growing. Those sites have understood users’ demands for convenient and secure logins. If you use your OpenID regularly, you have noticed that OpenID provides more features than simple single sign-on on various websites across the web. You are able to circumvent boring and repetitive registration processes because you don’t have to provide required profile information anymore. You’re OpenID provider does it for you, if you have allowed it to do so, of course.
However there are still good chances that your favorite website isn’t supporting OpenID yet. Admittedly I know some people who don’t want to sign up for an OpenID because their daily used web service isn’t supporting it. Well, then make those sites aware of your wishes now. JanRain has launched a small project called Demand OpenID! to make your opinion heard. Just sign in with your OpenID, drag a bookmarklet to your browser and whenever you come across a website that you want to be OpenID enabled, just click it.
Demand OpenID! could be improved a little bit (see Marshall Kirkpatrick’s post on it) but it’s a nice little application to make your voice heard.
While adoption of OpenID is growing steadily, some people have still doubts about its security and usability. Not all of the concerns are unfounded and we highly encourage you to read about the technology, compare it to other existing login practices and make an independent decision if you want to use it. If you decide to try OpenID, make a list of what’s important to you and find an OpenID provider that fits your list best. We hope Spread OpenID can provide some assistance.
Fortunately the OpenID community is aware of most concerns and companies are constantly improving their products, websites, and even build new tools to make the OpenID experience more convenient and secure.
ID Selector
In April JanRain has launched ID Selector. ID Selector is a widget that relying parties can add to their existing login forms. It shows a list of some well-known OpenID providers. Users who wish to log in to the relying party don’t have to provide their full OpenID anymore; the username part of their OpenID is sufficient. ID Selecor takes care about the rest. That’s rather convenient as users don’t have to remember the URL pattern of their provider. Is it https://username.openidprovider.com/ or is it https://openidprovider.com/username? Providers listed in the widget can be customized by relying parties, so it might look slightly different on the various websites.
The example below is from OpenID login, please!
RecognitionAUTH
Unlike ID Selector RecognitionAUTH is not about usability but about security. It’s a an authentication method by ConfIDent Technologies which aims to make logins at OpenID providers more secure. Instead of typing in always the same password at provider logins, users have to remember some image categories they choose. Each time they login images are displayed in combination with a letter. People who use myVidoop as their OpenID provider know the technology already.
Besides image categories RecognitionAUTH also offers authentication by SMS, email, and voicemail. Currently ClaimID, Clickpass, and ooTao have also implemented it.
New Provider Added
Last week we also added a new provider to Spread OpenID - Beemba. Admittedly we have never heard about Beemba before but it looks quite interesting. It supports both OpenID 1.1 and 2.0 and also offers content aggregation from various web services.