Looks like further advances are being made to make the OpenID signin procedure smoother for users, following in the footsteps of previous experiments by Plaxo on this front. The mini-popup actually works surprisingly well, compared to complete browser redirect to the ID provider site, and the two-in-one (signin + approve data sharing) approach certainly is smooth (after testing my Yahoo ID on http://www.mysears.com).
http://developer.yahoo.net/blog/archives/2009/09/yahoo_openid_hybrid.htm...
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Building on their successful experience with Yahoo! OpenID, Plaxo is experimenting with the Hybrid Protocol: A portion of new users who sign up for Plaxo with their Yahoo! account, are now enabled to sign in to Plaxo with their Yahoo! account and to authorize two-way data sharing of their Yahoo! Contacts and Updates via the Hybrid Protocol.
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