Cash or click?
Posted: Saturday, April 05, 2008 3:08 AM by Will Femia
Readers who are familiar with my "technology should come with natural
material cases" complaint will be pleased to see wooden memory sticks
topping the
list of recommendations at ThisNext, a new social shopping site in which users make recommendations to each other (among other things).
By the way, the coolest page on ThisNext is the
Watch People Shop page.
(The site has coined the term "shopcasting.") Thankfully not the video
I was fearing, it's another one of those map apps (mapps?) that shows
online shopping recommendations in real time around the world. The
coolness content is actually high enough that it's watchable as a
recreation in itself. The flow is so consistent that I secretly wonder
if there's something more than the community powering the thing.
Before I go on a string of shopping related segues I'd like to point
out that aside from the technical back-end that makes this real-time
map thing happen, the real reason it works is the ease of bookmarklets.
This may be remedial for some Clicked readers because bookmarklets have
become a standard part of a site's tool set, but before last week I
didn't really appreciate them so I imagine I have a few readers in the
same boat. To me, bookmarklets were for shortcuts to Web pages and
there are plenty of others ways to do that without cluttering up the
browser. Since I've been making an effort to sort my various
categories of online interest to discrete Web services I've come to
understand the utility of the bookmarklet. Bookmarklets are the answer
to the question, "How the hell do you have time to be putting stuff on
all these sites all day long?" The way it works is that while you surf,
you see something you want to note or share, you click the bookmarklet
(a button that says something like "Share on Tumblr" or "post to
delicious" and a little window pops up that tries (with pretty good
success) to intuit what you want to share. You might add a little note
or caption but otherwise you click some version of an "OK" button and
continue along. No keeping an extra window open all day, no leaving
what you're doing to go to a new site. The most successful sites have
figured out that the way to get people to use your service is to make
it as easy as possible to use.
So speaking of shopping, if you're working under the cloud of April showers SheFinds has done a
round-up of odd umbrellas.
Though they all look professionally produced, they each seem like
they'd be pretty easy DIY jobs. I'd like to see how that tandem
umbrella folds. Maybe they're connected with hinge.
The Monocycle is back in the public eye apparently thanks to being offered for sale by
Hammacher Schlemmer ($12,999.95). Yes, of course it's
an easy thing to crash. (I see a few now carry a tiny wheel or stopper on the back to prevent full roll-overs.)
Speaking of creative transportation for sale, how about letting your kid build his or her own vehicle with
Moov?
As long as we're consuming, did you see that Jelly Belly has a new flavor set called
BeanBoozled?
It's a jelly bean version of Russian Roulette because each color has
two associated flavors, one good, one foul. So not only do you have to
distinguish white w/yellow flecks (buttered popcorn) from white with
orange flecks (caramel corn) but even if you get it right you could end
up with their repulsive twins rotten egg and moldy cheese, respectively.
I don't know what I would say if I met a woman wearing an "
I was raped" t-shirt. I mean, are you supposed to say something?
I was pleased to catch the repeat of South Park last night because
everyone's been talking about the "meet the Internet stars" segment.
Don't worry if you missed it because now that's that new
free South Park video database.
Among the many layers of meaning in the scene it's funny to think how
much the lesson that there's no money to be had from being a viral hit
on YouTube is a part of this new South Park site.
Seeqpod search term of the day, Yelle. (I always go for the DJ remixes first.) Reasons:
This new video (no nudity but some wiggly short-short dancing) and being last week's
Mtv artist of the week. Her MySpace is
here.
"
The Congressional Pig Book is CAGW's annual compilation of the pork-barrel projects in the federal budget."
Remember those funny graphs of song lyrics we saw a while back?
GraphJam
seems to be a hub for those (and similar non-lyric graphs). The cool
thing is that if you don't get the joke, you can click the cheat sheet
link and hear they song or whatever they're trying to represent in the
chart.
The actress who was Lonelygirl is starring in a new Web series called
Blood Cell. It's a horror series. (Funny that it's still only "coming soon" but already has an online store selling t-shirts.)
Speaking of low budget videos, here's
a nicely done cardboard Tron.
"
TwitterLocal lets you generate an RSS or XML Feed to filter out Tweets around a certain area."
Can you imagine if the US made a set of coins that
fit together like a puzzle? I imagine we'd have to consult the Freemasons if not the Illuminati themselves.
Couple Sues Google Over "Street View" - My first thought was that they were surely caught doing something bad like
dealing drugs or
peeing in public but it turns out it's just a picture of their
house, pool and garage.
But looking through the lawsuit, the couple claims that's a private
drive, not a public street. If that's the case, sorry Google, stick
with the satellite view.
Related:
How to get off Street View.
Speaking of satellite view, it looks like
the view from 140 stories is just about the point at which mortal views become celestial. (
Photo source)
Nothing short of creepy.
The pdfs of the Clintons' tax forms are linked
at the bottom of this page.
It's pretty crazy to see 7 and 8 digit numbers in the same little boxes
I fill out (which is not to say I fill out all the forms they do. Holy
crap I'd die if my taxes were this many pages (of course, if I had
their numbers I probably wouldn't be doing them myself.)
I'm trying to think of a better name than
Batman bin Suparman but I can't because there isn't one.
The recoil on this gun is like some kind of practical joke.
Finger piano for tappers.
How to speak hip. (What a cool audio player.)
Clicked contest: This one occupied much of our watercooler
energy. Name a sexy alien robot. Not just a sexy alien and not just a
sexy robot and not just an alien robot, all three. In this case we're
defining alien as "of non-human origin." So even if it was made by
non-Earthlings, if it's human-made it doesn't count. So far I only know
of one answer but I'm open to others. I don't know what the prize is
yet, but I'll hit up the marketing lady for a hat or mug or something
with msnbc.com on it. Submissions accepted in the comments, by the
e-mail address there in the left margin, or even try to Tweet it to me
and we'll see if that works. They all produce a time stamp, so I'll
still be able to figure out the first right answer.
