Get Glue is a social app that allows a user to let others know what arts and entertainment they’re consuming. Log in to this service, and you can let strangers and friends alike know what book you’re reading, TV show you’re watching, video game you’re playing, etc. There’s also a wine ‘check-in.’ Based on your check-ins, you get recommendations for other content you might enjoy. 

Miso is a similar app, but focusses on television consumption.  The TV show “Bridezillas” partnered with Miso to provide a unique badge and an opportunity to win a book to those users who checked in while watching an episode of the program.

Clicker is getting a lot of press – (ed note: I’m impressed they managed to get a .com account that’s a real word – not clickr.) The app works pretty much the same way – check-in, favourite shows, follow your fave shows, get recommendations on other shows and movies to watch. This app is getting particular attention because:

• It shows you how to access episodes online by free or pay (in the U.S.)
• It was used as an example of the applications that could be used when Google TV launches

These apps make it very simple to see what early tech adopters are watching, liking and recommending. Also to note - they’re great for people like me who don’t have cable to know what’s popular and trending.

If you love television, keep an eye on these apps. If you create television, these apps might end up on your marketing plan.

Better yet – sign in – become a part of the experience of turning your passive TV watching into a activity. Let me know what you think.

But if you really want to take it step further, you can enter your own website, and that of your competitors, to see top liked content.

If you’re into content analysis, this is pretty awesome.

The free trial was a great idea because now I want to buy buy buy.

So, if you’re lazy like me, try it out. Have a better way to clean your computer? Let me know!

On first visit, I’m left wondering what to do after I input my dream: to find more time to update this website (lame dream, yeah). I’m taken to an overview page (called a dreampage – very Oprah-esque) that looks similar to what I would find if I typed “I want to find time to update my website” into a Google search: I see online articles, videos pulled from You Tube and Vimeo, photos and links to blogs that I think have the “update website” phrase within their copy. Since it seems to work by automatically pulling keywords (even though the site says “We’ve abandoned key words and moves beyond traditional semantics to develop an implicit understanding of what you’re interested in,”) I wonder if this blog entry you’re reading now will eventually show up in this Dorthy feed about updating websites? Vouldn’t that be Veird?

When I click on the community tab, it takes me to other members who have entered similar goals and I can subscribe to their dreams so my own page is updated with their updates. From what I can see, there’s no way to contact the person, which the introvert in me likes but may have helped create a virtual “cheerleader” squadron to the user’s goal achievements. The site uses Facebook Connect, which could translate that community support from Dorthy onto a Facebook page, I suppose.

Snooping around, I see someone entered a dream to run a marathon in Maui. This opens a dreampage that’s a little more focussed than my vague goal but again, I don’t see anything I wouldn’t have seen without entering the same dream into a search engine.

This isn’t to say the site doesn’t have potential… As more people subscribe and enter data, perhaps the algorithms will improve and my Dreampage will be more relevant and less vague.

Maybe I’ll set a goal on this site to review Dorthy in 6 months to see what’s changed on the site.

Let me know what you think and what sites you use to keep on track of your goals.

I use it, however,  to remind myself of all the social media sites I have signed up with and have subsequently forgot about using. I tend to jump into any social media network and sign in with my preferred user name to maintain my online identity in case that service takes off. Quite often, though, I end up never visiting that site again. 

This site is also good to keep abreast of some of the social networking sites you  may not have known about existing.

Watch this amazing video to give you a sense of the world we’re working in today and tomorrow. Five minutes well spent. And you can bop along to Fatboy Slim while you ponder. It’s a win-win.

And a large number of people want to see companies on social networking sites… or so it may seem. Social networking is a very broad term. Personally, I’d be happy to stop receiving ads for celebrity dieting techniques while I’m on Facebook. 

I have tried to cancel these ads (you can click a thumbs down on each thumbnail advertisement and let Facebook know why you don’t want to see it) but so far, their technique isn’t working too well. I regularly see a Rachael Ray diet beside my profile, despite regularly telling Facebook it’s irrelevant. I don’t want a Rachael Ray diet! I don’t want to start calling everything yummo.

This argument  makes a lot of sense. It says there’s this great divide between educational games and ‘fun’ games and this can be solved easily through more thoughtful development. It totally makes sense to me. People want to learn things they’re interested in – not things that are rammed down their throat. Video games can act as a conduit to that information. 

I’d like to think I’m trying this angle with the games I help write with my coworkers. For example, whenever I use a phrase such as Firewall or Verbosity, it’s sometimes suggested to me that “kids don’t know that term.” I’ve always believed that those kids who want to learn what that means will ask an adult or look it up themselves. Those who aren’t interested won’t absorb the content anyway.

Are there any educational games out there that are more about the fun? Let me know!

The first is the announcement its new web browser of Google Chrome. Just like its Google Docs application, Chrome is easy to use. It’s a great way to view websites if you’re using Windows. There’s a free beta that should be available right about… now.

This is cool because if one site crashes, the other tabs won’t be affected. No more canceling and restarting your browsers.

Google has also created a video service for the business set.  If you want to create a training video for employees, spend $50 for a premier business version of Google Apps.  It will work like YouTube, with comments and videos.

Web Monkey studies the six reasons why the iPhone will deliver where Android won’t.

There’s also some talk that it’s more than just a mobile device and might reach TV sets. The iPhone already acts as a universal remote for the Apple products, so this isn’t too big of a surprise.

This is pretty big because it’s Google, a company that offers free usage on products that have traditionally gone with a paid-for model. For example, they have a free-to-use documents path that leads users to services that work just like Word and Excel. Its Analytics service is used by many companies (and me!) as a free way to monitor website usage. Did I mention all this is free? Perhaps this phone is another device that may, or may not, shift how business is done.

Bring this up next time someone asks you why you don’t have an iPhone yet.