bnl lead the way

it's great to see the Canadian Barenaked Ladies being innovative leaders and release their new Christmas Album as a USB stick called Barenaked on a Stick. It has an mp3 version of the album, cool artwork (which I'm assuming is iPod compatible) and other features (I think it may be helpful to think of dvd v. vhs - in that the dvd version usually has a whole bunch of cool extras and stuff). Plus the USB drive is reusable (so you can transfer other contents to it aswell). The one downside is it's price at $35. I don't usually listen/buy BNL but maybe I'll get it to get me in the christmas groove and check out how the usb thing works. I think that it would be cool if other artists headed in this direction - I think this adds more then just getting the tracks on iTunes since this way you get a whole bunch of extras and album artwork). Plus the stick has NO DRM


I also came across this cool web application called "Stumble Upon". It is a neat way to come across new websites - at first you enter the sorts of sites you are interested in and then "stumble" to a site that falls within those parameters. Think of personalized channel surfing for the net. When you see a page you like (either discovered on your own or something you "stumbled upon" then you can give it a thumbs up (same goes for a page that you don't like). This reviewing system will tailor the "stumble" pages and refer sites that you like to others with similar interests. Also when you are on a website you click a button on your browser and all the reviews for the site will come up - check who else liked it or disliked it.

I would really love to see how the algorithm works (ie: what factors are taken into consideration when deciding which page to return and how these factors are considered). Either way it is a great way to come across some gems. I just downloaded firefox 1.5 and it is the best. That is how I figured out about Stumble Upon - since firefox allows you to personalize your browser page with cool extensions. So I have my Stumble Upon thumbs right in my browser - which makes using the program super easy when browsing. If you want you can check out my stumbles -the pages I like and dislike- at Miss Moose's stumbles.