Jeannette
Xobni brings Twitter to your inbox
Twitter, email, IM, meeting requests, RSS feeds, information overload. There’s always a discussion going on somewhere that you’d really like to be a part of, but maybe you don’t have the time to launch TweetDeck or visit Twitter’s homepage or even read the popups within your browser. Xobni is here to help you.
Xobni has an Outlook plug-in that shows your Twitter stream inside your email. But it does it in an intelligent way. It shows you only the most recent Tweets of the person whose email you’re currently viewing. The idea is to help you learn more about the person you’re corresponding with. The plugin also brings up info from that person’s Facebook, LinkedIn, or Skype profile. Too much information? Or a handy way to make conversation with people you’re emailing?
Matthew L
Sporcle
Sporcle.com, while not new (it has been around since 2007) is still the most addictive and entertaining way to procrastinate. This online trivia hub allows users to race a clock and fill in blank slates, trying to name all the US States (the site’s most popular game), members of the 500 homerun club, Pop Tart flavors, and over 2,000 other games. Games include topics in sports, music, movies, TV, history, geography, language, religion, and more. So why am I writing about this now, if it’s been around for 2 years? Last month the ability to create quizzes was opened to all users! Enjoy…but don’t blame me if you get fired for not completing a stitch of work all day.
Alli
Jan Chipchase Presentations
I'm a big fan of Jan Chipchase, Nokia's resident "mobile anthropologist." Chipchase is essentially an ethnographer with a keen eye for observation and opportunity. He travels around the world observing human behaviors--such as "carrying" and "commuting" behaviors, or mobile phone hacker culture--and reports findings back to Nokia's designers and developers. I was able to see him present at PSFK's Good Ideas Salon last night and, lucky for the rest of you, he's put some of his presentations on slideshare. I highly recommend checking them out, as well as his blog, Future Perfect.
Matthew R
ZipCar for iPhone
My staff pick for this week is the highly anticipated ZipCar App for iPhone. It allows users to find cars around their area and the times that they're available. The coolest part to me is actually interacting with the car, because you can honk the horn of your car to find it in a crowded lot, and unlock the door as well, all through your iPhone.
Lynn
Monopoly City Streets Design Contest
Check out the biggest monopoly game ever with Monopoly City Streets--a new, real-world monopoly game using Google Maps! A "Design Your Own Building" contest was just announced that will allow users to create your own 3D building. The winner's building will show up in the game. For all the rules, click here!
Michael
BlackBerry Desktop Software for Mac
BlackBerry launched desktop software for (drum roll)...Macs? We know other third-party software that already made it possible to sync your iTunes, address book, iCal. But this is no third-party folks. These are two main players at the party (3rd parties are running valet outside). The players spotted each other across the room, gave each other a quick nod, and diverted back to their separate conversations. Sounds to me like someone's getting soft.
Valerie
Dvorak vs. Qwerty vs. ?
Just a few short years ago, the biggest decision that most people had to make when it came to cell phone design was “candy bar” (i.e.,rectangular and non-flip, like the once ubiquitous Nokia 3-series of phones) or “flip?” No matter which form or brand one chose, everyone had basically the same, old-fashioned numerical keypad and was forced to “triple text” (a phrase that described the number of times one may have had to hit a key for the desired letter, number or symbol).
However, with the proliferation of smart phones, we interchangeably use “qwerty” and “full keyboard” to describe the computer keyboard-like array of keys on these mobile devices. Thus, I found this recent article in The Wall Street Journal about the push for the Dvorak keyboard configuration on smart phones really interesting. It got me to thinking that perhaps the argument should not be about Qwerty vs. Dvorak. Instead it should be about allowing the end user greater flexibility to customize more of their experience, to make the form followhow they function.
Caleb
Fever RSS Reader
The web is a big place and there is an endless amount of information being added to it on a daily basis. This can be both good and bad, as we don't want to be overwhelmed but we do want to find content that is relevant to us. In comes Fever, a paid RSS reader that packs on a few features that Google Reader does not. The most powerful is its ability to scrape your feeds and generate a "Hot" list, where related posts are bundled together and rated in Fahrenheit or Celsius (your choice). There are a lot of other very minor improvements like an iPhone web app, cached favicons, slick interface, search, and loads of hot keys. While the need for your own domain and hosting to setup is bothersome, if you're at all serious about getting through those feeds fast its worth it.
