Mashup the Web (MToaS 40)

Okay, not sure I'll ever use this again, but Polyvore was interesting. Sort of like putting together a wishlist, except more immediately gratifying.

I looked at Pandora.FM, signed up and all, but it didn't have some of my favorite artists (Over the Rhine and Wailin' Jennys were no-shows, but it did have Hem). Also investigated Lunchbox and Wheel of Food, the latter especially is just silly fun. It seems that Lunchbox only adds restaurants with reviews, so their selection (at least for St. Cloud) was limited. Still interesting. Definitely makes me think that if I owned a restaurant (or other small business) I'd be looking for these kinds of mashups as alternative advertising opportunities. Is there a mashup for "cheap family entertainment" to which libraries could be added? I tried to find one, but didn't (admittedly, I'm running on caffeine right now... and sputtering a little, too.)

I tried Visual Headlines, but it took forever to load and I got bored...

Another odd one: Let Me Google That For You. Not sure what the purpose of that is, but, again, interesting. Crime Reports was frustrating because there are so few cities included.

So, in the end, I spent a little time playing with Polyvore. It was super easy and fun. I can so easily imagine my niece and at least a couple of my nephews (the fifteen and thirteen year olds, especially) having way too much fun making visual wishlists with this one. I was happy to see how easy it was to customize Polyvore and add my own objects of interest... their overly fashionista selection wasn't grabbing my interest.

I've just thought of another idea for Polyvore: lately I've been periodically yearning for a dog. Perhaps to dissuade me from that I should make a collage of all the plunder I'd need to buy if we did get Mia (my lovely Gabi said, so innocently, "Let's just go to the Humane Society and take a look," and like a fool I said, "Okay."). It would be a reality check!