Lots of new stuff!

A lot of interesting stuff has turned up in my Net surfing over the past few days. It all started with John Battelle's Searchblog on May 20th. Two items he mentioned caught my interest. One was the new Google Notebook feature that allows you to keep a 'scrapbook' of notes from Web pages. I can see this being very useful for comparing items on different sites at a glance... expecially useful when you like to see connections between various ideas, as I do.

The second item of note was StumbleUpon. Simply put, it is a site that leads you to other great sites that may interest you. This may seem like an ordinary concept, but it really is a newer, smarter approach to Web surfing. You download the toolbar for your Web browser, then create an account listing the topics you find most interesting. Then you click on the Stumble button to be taken to a site related to one of your chosen topics. But these aren't just random Web sites; they have been recommended by other people with similar interests as you. So you end up discovering all kinds of great sites that you never would have known about otherwise. Not only that, but then you can add your own rating to the site, and you are encouraged to add tags that will allow others to discover the site in the future. In other words, StumbleUpon is beginning to do some of the work of creating the Semantic Web.

So, I've been stumbling upon various sites and have discovered some really cool things, such as the 20Q guessing game and the FutureMe site. I think the best site I've stumbled upon, however, has been a portfolio site by a graphic designer named Dave Werner. Showcasing some of his work from graduate school, Dave Werner has created not only a beautiful-looking Web site that combines interactivity with content, but he has also given us a window into his thought process. His work entitled Reflect/Respect is particularly worthy of our attention.