Brand Thunder Launches MLB.com and 30 Club Branded Themes for Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer by Brand Thunder

Themes for Chrome, Firefox and IE

COLUMBUS, OH – June 12, 2012 – Brand Thunder LLC (http://www.brandthunder.com), the browser theme specialists, announced today the launch of Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer themes for MLB.com and all 30 Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The themes are available at MLB.com and each official Club Web site. All available themes can be downloaded at http://MLB.com/browsertheme.

Each theme features official logos, colors and a custom new-tab experience. These interactive browser themes also integrate easy access to the Club Web sites and breaking news.

Read the rest of this page »

Posted in News, Press Releases | Tags: brandthunder, collegehumor, firefox, Internet Explorer, major league baseball, MLB.com, Universal Music Group, WeatherBug, Web browser | No Comments »

Brand Thunder DIY Browser Themes Attracting Thousands of Publishers from Around the Globe by Kevin Dwinnell

COLUMBUS (May 23, 2012) — Brand Thunder LLC (http://www.brandthunder.com), the browser theme specialists, announced today that BT:Engage, the first do-it-yourself browser theme creator for Firefox and Internet Explorer, has surpassed 15,000 publishers in almost 200 countries.

Read the rest of this page »

Posted in Press Releases | Tags: brandthunder, browser theme, collegehumor, firefox, Internet Explorer, Patrick Murphy, theme creator, Universal Music Group, WeatherBug, Web browser | No Comments »

Download Themes in New Gallery by Brand Thunder

Download Themes

Perform a search for “Download Themes” and you’ll find a host of offerings for personalizing your digital experiences.

Sites like Customize.org offers a central destination for Themes, Skins, Wallpapers and Icons. Zedge.net offers themes for your mobile phone. You’ll find options for Windows 7 themes, XP themes and WordPress themes. What’s conspicuous by its absence is the option to find browser theme downloads. Especially with the meteoric rise of the Google Chrome browser and its emphasis on enhancements via its Chrome Webstore.

That’s why a few months back, Brand Thunder updated its browser theme gallery.

Read the rest of this page »

Posted in Commentary | Tags: brandthunder, firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Kelly Clarkson, National Basketball Association, WeatherBug, Wordpress | No Comments »

Conduit Community Toolbar vs. Browser Theme by Kevin Dwinnell

Brand Thunder often finds itself lumped into the category of toolbar. It’s not a comparison I necessarily agree with, but anything that’s a recurring perception is worth a look.

Here’s an overview of toolbars, browser themes and what each can do for your web site, business or community.

Read the rest of this page »

Posted in Commentary | Tags: brand thunder, browser theme, Clients, Conduit, Facebook, Toolbar, WeatherBug, Web browser, YouTube | No Comments »

Brand Thunder Introduces BT:Engage a DIY Browser Theme Creator for Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer by Brand Thunder

Instantly create and share a “wallpaper for the Internet” that is part Persona, part toolbar and all engagement for small and medium businesses (SMB), associations, communities, clubs, families and friends

COLUMBUS, OH – July 27, 2011 – Brand Thunder LLC (http://www.brandthunder.com), Brand Thunder, the world leaders in browser themes and custom interactive browser themes for Firefox, Chrome & Internet Explorer, announced today the launch of the first do-it-yourself browser theme creator that allows anyone to easily design, build and share interactive browser themes for the leading Internet browsers. In less than three minutes, a community manager can have a browser theme that includes a logo, multiple background images, toolbar buttons and news feeds can be shared via an automatically created download page. Overview Video: Build and Share Your Browser Theme at Brand Thunder

Read the rest of this page »

Posted in BT:Engage, News, Press Releases | Tags: brand thunder, browser theme, firefox, Google Chrome, IE, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, WeatherBug, Web browser | No Comments »

Brand Thunder Announces “Theme Thursdays” – Win Prizes for Downloading Browser Themes by Brand Thunder

At BrandThunder.com, we love creating uniquebrowser themesfor Firefox, IE, and Chrome, and we hope you have been enjoying them as much as we have. We’re going to have a little fun each week and would love for you to join us.

Each Thursday, browser theme enthusiasts will be provided a new theme to try out on their browser. In exchange, we will provide a $25 Amazon gift card to one random browser theme fan who downloads the specified theme and shares it on Facebook or Twitter. It’s as easy as that. Download & Share!

Each Thursday, we will announce the theme of the week on our blog athttp://brandthunder.com/blog/with details on where to download it.

How to Enter “Theme Thursdays” from Brand Thunder:

• Visit ourBlogto Find the Featured Theme
• Download the Theme
• Share on Facebook and/or Twitter using our Share button after the download.
• One person will be randomly selected to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card and Brand Thunder will notify within 3 days.
• Remember:Users MUST share in order to be eligible

Good luck and we hope to see you every Thursday for Theme Thursdays at BrandThunder.com!

You’ll find this contest discussed, along with a lot of other fun stuff, at these fine sites:

• http://www.winprizesonline.com/contests
• http://www.sweepsadvantage.com/ – Free Giveaways and Contests
• http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/
• http://www.contesthound.com/
• http://www.contestbee.com
• CashNet Sweepstakes
• ContestGirl.com
• http://sweepstakessniffer.com

Posted in News | Tags: browser theme, contest, Facebook, free themes, Twitter, WeatherBug | 5 Comments »

Thankful for a Stellar Year by Kevin Dwinnell

At this time of giving thanks, Brand Thunder has much to celebrate.

• A vibrant and supportive community in central Ohio with organizations like TechColumbus and TechLifeOhio.
• A great channel partners like Adevia Software and Mackey Marketing, to name a few.
• Supportive business partners like Bing.
• An amazing client list that still includes those premiere brands that took a chance on us when we were just starting out like the Washington Capitals and NASCAR Nationwide Series to those who are joining now like CBSSports.com College Network and the Buffalo Bills.
• A pipeline of partners and prospects that promise a great upcoming year.

And reflecting over the past year shows the huge strides we’ve made from both a business and technology standpoint.  Thanks to an outstanding team.

• First dynamically updating browser theme with The Daily Beast news browser theme.  The featured exclusive story photo automatically appeared within the browser theme when the web site updated the content and prompting users to return 10 times more frequently than their average user.
  
• First browser theme to include an automatic theme switch after a time-based event.  Daytona International Speedway browser theme included a change of theme after one of its four prominent races, a countdown ticker to the next race start and alerts to ticket availability for its races.
• Most dynamic theme available in the market. Weather browser theme powered by WeatherBug changes to reflect the users current weather conditions.  The users location is set either through the browser’s geo-location feature or user data.  The theme also features up to a three-day forecast in the browser. 
• First Internet Explorer themes to premiere on Microsoft’s IE Add-ons Gallery.  Subsequently, Microsoft secured approval to feature a dozen of Brand Thunder’s themes in IE8 Optimized Browsers showcasing the theme capabilities that had previously not existed for IE.
  
• Personas Interactive Firefox extension launched as a new Firefox theme platform that the industry experts at TechCrunch declared “Personas Interactive… Leapfrogged Mozilla.“ 
• Brand Thunder’s progress and promise in the technology space qualified it for $1 million from the Ohio Innovation Loan Fund, a program to help groundbreaking small companies grow and create jobs that remain in Ohio.
  

We’ve still got a lot to do, but reflecting on the accomplishments manages to show the progress that gets made over time even if it’s sometimes missed in the moment.

Posted in Commentary | Tags: add-ons, brand thunder, browser theme, Buffalo Bills, CBSSports.com College Network, Daytona International Speedway, Internet Explorer, Personas Interactive, techcolumbus, TechCrunch, WeatherBug | No Comments »

Weather Forecast Dynamically Updates in Browser Theme by Kevin Dwinnell

I’m going to double dip here and talk about the same thing we issued a press release on this week — the Brand Thunder Weather Theme. I’m doing so because I think the technology behind it and the experience in front of it are simply amazing.

Almost the entire background changes with the weather. This theme creates a new level of opportunity for our partners and users. Think of the implications if you’re in the business of “new.” Whether it’s fashion or celebrity, photo journalism or visual content, the ability to change the theme with the visual elements that keep it fresh and your audience in tune is pretty cool.

It also opens the opportunity to create new themes where the visuals update based on a timed sequence — something like a life-stage theme. It could be as simple as theme of Seasons, so last week’s vernal equinox would have welcomed in the Spring theme automatically. Or maybe an expectant parent theme tracking the changes in the unborn child. The communication channel created with these interactive themes are not left to the content feeds, they are inspired with the visual connection as well.

The Weather theme is a showcase of the functionality and what browser themes can become. We’re modifying your browser experience based on the local weather conditions. Your location is determined by entering your location or by letting the Firefox browser use its location services to determine your location.

For the weather content, we leveraged the WeatherBug API, which gave us a great resource for more weather information than you can imagine. With the API, we had a good foundation to work with for a rich sidebar featuring live weather conditions, radar weather maps and more. Plus, we had all the standard elements needed: current temperature and at-glance-forecast.

A portfolio of stylized weather conditions were designed for the browser theme backgrounds and they meld seamlessly with the forecast icons from WeatherBug. The theme also allows you to set the number of forecast days you want to see. It’s beautiful, interactive and useful on so many levels.

This is the next step in what a browser theme can be and I invite you to try it out at http://brandthunder.com/weather.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Weather Boom by Brand Thunder (kaply.com)

Posted in Commentary, News | Tags: Application programming interface, brand thunder, browser theme, firefox, Temperature, weather, WeatherBug | 2 Comments »

Brand Thunder Introduces Innovative Weather Browser Theme Powered by WeatherBug – Backgrounds Change to Reflect Local Conditions by Brand Thunder

COLUMBUS (March 23, 2010) — Brand Thunder LLC (http://www.brandthunder.com), the browser customization specialists, announced today the launch of its Weather theme for the Firefox Browser. The Weather theme is an advance in browser theme capabilities featuring a background that dynamically changes based on the user’s current weather conditions. The Weather theme also features the full range of weather information from WeatherBug, the leading provider of consumer and professional weather services and operator of the largest weather observing network. The theme can be downloaded for free at http://brandthunder.com/weather.

To experience this break-through browser theme, an end-user downloads an easy-to-install browser add-on. The add-on enhances the functionality of their Firefox browser to include the dynamic theme plus forecasts, temperature, maps and more. It also includes a multimedia sidebar enabling users the ability to monitor live weather conditions while they surf the web.

“We continue to push the boundary of what can be delivered within the browser experience,” says founder Patrick Murphy. “Brand Thunder’s goals are to make the browser more personal, fun and functional. WeatherBug has extensive hooks into their content and a supportive team that enabled us to create a showcase of what a browser theme can be.”

“Brand Thunder has taken toolbars to the next level, utilizing the entire browser chrome to display valuable dynamic content” said Alan George, Director of Business Development for WeatherBug. “We are excited about the development of WeatherBug “Boom!” offered through Brand Thunder. It makes WeatherBug information even more accessible and very interactive for users.”

Brand Thunder’s interactive themes provide an extreme makeover of the Internet browser. They are free, lightweight active customizations that can include themes, toolbars, sidebars and other content or functionality. Users can switch real-time between any installed Brand Thunder themes.

About Brand Thunder:
Formed in April 2007, Brand Thunder creates extreme makeovers for the Internet browser. Brands enjoy a persistent connection to their Internet consumer driving more website visits and increased revenue. Through a software installation, end users change the drab Internet browser into an immersive experience from their favorite sports team, entertainment franchise or Internet site. The interactive browser themes feature official logos, colors, content and functionality, and can also extend capabilities including video, music players or other Internet widgets. Current business partners and clients include Bing, The Daily Beast, Huffington Post, Major League Soccer, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA, NFL, NHL and Universal Music. Samples found at http://brandthunder.com/gallery/.

Contact:
Patrick Murphy, CEO
Brand Thunder, LLC
614-408-8202

###

Posted in News, Press Releases | Tags: brandthunder, browser theme, local weather, Mozilla Firefox, weather, weather alerts, WeatherBug | No Comments »

Brand Thunder Signs with WeatherBug to Bring Integrated Weather Content to Custom Browsers by Brand Thunder

COLUMBUS, OH — August 20, 2009 — Brand Thunder LLC (http://www.brandthunder.com), the custom browser specialists, announced today an agreement to include WeatherBug content within its branded browser experiences.

Brand Thunder reworks the visual style of a browser theme to match the colors, logos and imagery of its partners while also adding content and functionality to the browser. Brand Thunder now includes WeatherBug content as part of its capabilities portfolio enabling clients to better tune their customized browsers to the needs of their end users. Through the WeatherBug API, Brand Thunder can integrate weather into virtually any location on the browser; ensure the appearance works within the unique design of each browser; and provide one-click access to the full extent of WeatherBug content on WeatherBug.com.

“We’re pleased to have a premier brand, like WeatherBug, as our partner,” said Patrick Murphy, founder and CEO of Brand Thunder. “Weather impacts so many daily decisions, from simply deciding what to wear, to whether to act on the browser alert about recently released tickets to the next Major League Soccer game. I’m glad this is now available as an option for our users and clients.”

“Brand Thunder provides a great affinity product for both its users and clients. The inclusion of weather is a logical extension of its value proposition and we’re proud to bring our live local weather to the platform,” said Alan George, Director of Business Development for WeatherBug.

Brand Thunder’s browser Booms! are free, lightweight active customizations that can include themes, toolbars, sidebars and other content or functionality. Users can switch real-time between any installed Booms!, or change from a full Boom! view to a small Boom! (toolbar only), all without restarting the browser.

About Brand Thunder:
Formed in April 2007, Brand Thunder creates custom-browser experiences. Brands enjoy a more persistent connection to their Internet consumer through the custom browser Boom!, which increases website visits and revenue. Through a software installation, end users change the look and feel of their Internet browser into an immersive experience from their favorite sports team, entertainment franchise or Internet site. The custom browser Booms! feature official logos, colors, content and functionality, but can also extend capabilities including video, music players or other Internet widgets. Current business partners and clients include the Huffington Post, Major League Soccer, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA, NFL, NHL, Universal Music and Yahoo!. Samples found at http://brandthunder.com/gallery/.

Contact:
Patrick Murphy, CEO
Brand Thunder, LLC
614-304-1316

###

Posted in News, Press Releases | Tags: brand thunder, Brand Thunder Boom, Branded Browser, custom browser, WeatherBug | No Comments »