A New & Improved Pling is here!

Today we rolled out a new version of Pling with new features and a cleaner, easier interface. Probably one of the first things you’ll notice is that we have improved the search and browse experience with filters and the possibility of ordering projects alphabetically and by popularity.

Distribute and Fund

You can now upload any kind of file to Pling for users to download. This means that if you have self-contained app, music file, comic or video you want to fund, you can distribute it directly from Pling. If your files are really big, consider uploading a torrent file so your community can use BitTorrent clients to share the load.

We have also added Dwolla as an alternative donations platform to PayPal. Dwolla has a flat fee of only 25 cents, and that only applies to transfers of over USD$ 10. Anything lower, and the transfer is free.

Note that Dwolla is a service only available in the US for now

Improved Widgets

Pling widgets, buttons and lists have been improved across the board. It is now possible for other people to insert widgets and buttons into their sites and blogs to show their support for your project.

Plus the new Pling widget is smart and classy and will look good on any website. It contains a progress bar for visitors to see how you’re doing, a section showing the avatars of your supporters, and another that shows the latest comments from your fans. If you want to customise it, you can change the colours and add and remove sections until you’re happy with the design.

Things to Come

But if you think our developers were busy over the summer, get ready for what’s coming in September: Coming up we have an online player for creators who upload their music, and an Android app to stream their songs directly to you phone from Pling. You will also be able to donate from your mobile device as soon as you find a tune you like.

We are also working on the back end, the Pling admin interface, which will allow us to weed out projects that do not conform to the Pling guidelines, keep our users and creators safe, and make helping our community more agile and efficient.