Today, SocialLuxe Lounge announced the winner of the “Get Me to BlogHer contest – Melissa Esplin! Melissa is the winner of a coveted BlogHer entry ticket, airfare, and hotel. She certainly will be a celebrity, or blogebrity, now!!

Thanks to all who entered. And thanks to SocialLuxe Lounge for hosting the contest! We can’t wait to see you all at BlogHer 09!

A little over a month ago, we released Whrrl’s first blog widget –an embeddable widget which auto-updates and features your latest public Whrrl stories on your blog. Many of you are using this widget- for example, Jessica Smith has the widget at the top of her blog to make sure her latest Whrrl stories are easy for her visitors to view.

But one of the things you told us is that you wanted editorial control over exactly what stories you show. Starting today, you can do just that—individual Whrrl stories are embeddable into your blog, just like videos from YouTube.

Here’s what the single story blog widget looks like:

Too large? The new story widget is also available in a smaller size:

The single story blog widget work much like the ones you’ve seen from YouTube and others from across the web. Just look for “Embed this widget” on your story page:

From there, simply copy the HTML, paste it into your blog, and you’re all set. To customize your widget, press “options” and pick the size you want. It’s easy to know what the widget will look like, because we give you the option to preview it before you embed it. If you don’t see the “Embed this Story” option, check the privacy on your story. To protect your privacy, you can only embed stories that are visible to the public.

In addition, you can also embed any public story - not just your own stories. So, if you wanted to write a blog post about Alison Sweeney’s Crazy Day and include the Whrrl story right in your blog, it’s easy and works just like embedding your own stories.
Thanks again for all of the feedback you’ve given us. I’d love to continue to hear from you – feel free to drop me a note at blake@pelago.com.

Blake Scholl, Product Development

Since launching Whrrl 2.0, we have received some great suggestions about ways to make our new product even better. We’ve listened intently to your feedback and are thrilled to announce many of your suggestions have been implemented in our latest release, Whrrl v2.1.

Whrrl v2.1 for the iPhone is available starting today and has several of the most requested enhancements, including:

Easily add people into your stories

• Now you can add friends and family into a story in just seconds from your phone contact list or through networks on Whrrl, Facebook and Twitter.
• Adding people into stories is the easiest way for them to immediately begin posting photos and updates to your shared story. No more tracking down photos after the fact!

Been there? See who else has, too

• When you create a story from a location, you can also see other Whrrl users that have visited that same place.
• What should you order at dinner? No problem. What seats are best at the sports arena? Simple. Check out past Whrrl stories to discover fun, interesting information about the places you frequent and new locations you’re visiting.

More Control – right from your phone

• Stories can now be customized by adding a story title and captions to your photos.
• Whether you’re having a bad hair day or wrote an update you don’t like, simply delete it from your phone.
• We want you to have the control right at your fingertips - and you can continue to edit stories from the Web, too.

Thank you to everyone who provided us feedback, with special thanks to some of our greatest contributors:

@anthonystevens - Anthony Stevens
@anwith1n - An Bui
@bmw - Brian Westbrook
@claidheamdanns - Gavin Anderson
@daddyclaxton – Donald Claxton
@daniellemorrill – Danielle Morrill
@daveschappell - Dave Schappell
@debrauson – Debra Uson
@dm5272 - Diogenes Martinez
@ericmaino - Eric Maino
@firewallender - Cassie Wallender
@HannahS1 - Hannah Summerfelt
@hardlynormal – Mark Horvath
@hsukenooi - Hsu Ken
@jennfowler – Jenn Fowler
@jessicaknows – Jessica Smith
@jessicagottlieb – Jessica Gottlieb
@Lulau - Stephan Noll
@momfluential – Ciaran Blumenfeld
@mulka - Kyle Mulka
@raygsmn – Ray Schiel
@ReneeJRoss – Renee Ross
@skiphunt – Skip Hunt
@spacecowgurl – Amy Devon
@VikDuggal – Vik Duggal

We have an exciting wish list of features planned over the next few months as we continue to make storytelling a part of your everyday life. However, we’re always looking for feedback and I look forward to your continued emails, phone calls, tweets and commentary. You can also feel free to email me personally at johnkim (at) pelago.com.

See the press release here.

Whrrl is excited to partner with SocialLuxe Lounge to host the “Get Me to BlogHer” competition beginning today! “Bloggers are the new celebrities” - so tell us your story on Whrrl about why your blog is famous (or infamous) for a chance to attend the BlogHer conference. The winner will be awarded airfare, 2 nights hotel and a “golden ticket” to the sold-out conference in Chicago next month!

Read more about the contest below from our guest blogger and hostess of SocialLuxe Lounge, Ciaran Blumenfeld. To learn more about the conference and enter, visit: http://groups.whrrl.com/contest/

Win the Chance to Party Like a Celebrity at BlogHer 09

BlogHer 09 is sold out. Due to overwhelming response and space limitations, The SocialLuxe Lounge guest list is now closed. Hotel rooms are getting hard to come by and last minute travel is not in your budget. But are you going to give up on your dream of attending BlogHer 09 and the SocialLuxe Lounge? No way! You are a Rockstar!
Thanks to our sponsors at Whrrl.com we’re pleased as party punch to announce our joint “Get me to BlogHer” contest. We all know that bloggers are the new celebs. And now one of you is going to get the full on star treatment.

Tell us, in your own words and photos, how your blog makes you famous or infamous, and why you deserve to come to BlogHer 09 and the SocialLuxe Lounge.

Entering the contest is simple. Just visit the Whrrl contest page and sign up for Whrrl and start your story. Whrrl allows you to share your whereabouts and activities with your friends via live photo essays that can also update your twitter account, facebook pages, and even your blog. It’s a fun way to share your stories on the go.

Enter today and you may find yourself Whrrl-ing up the red carpet. Hope to see you there!

Whrrl is honored to host a Tweetup for Mark Horvath (@hardlynormal) on Wednesday, June 17th.

Mark is the creator of invisiblepeople.tv, a site that brings awareness to America’s ever-increasing homelessness issues. Whrrl is sponsoring Mark on his InvisiblePeople.tv Road Trip USA where stories of homelessness will be captured and shared using the Whrrl application.

You can view some of Mark’s previous Whrrl stories here:

Come join us on the 17th to welcome Mark to Seattle and hear about the incredible journey he’s already been through, and the one he’s preparing to make!

RSVP here: http://twtvite.com/81iyys

See the blog post on HardlyNormal.com about his trip to Seattle: 
http://hardlynormal.com/blog/2009/06/13/speaking-in-seattle-next-week-gonna-be-a-whrrl-of-a-time/