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This week I’m chatting about a web application called Glue . I look at a good number of web applications, and some are useful. Unfortunately, Glue is not one of those.
The premise of Glue is that it “shows you things that you’ll like based on your personal tastes, what your friends like, and what’s most popular on Glue.” In essence, it’s a browser add-on that will allow you to rate certain kinds of things online and to share those likes/dislikes with people who subscribe (same as friend/follow) you.
I started experimenting with Glue several months ago as a beta participant. However, I soon gave up on it for a variety of reasons (which I’ll detail in a bit). Glue was released fully this month, and I decided to give it another go. Alas, I was disappointed–again. Here’s why:
- Glue is a browser add-on, which means you have to add it to every browser on every computer that you might use for surfing.
- It does not support every site on the net that might have books, movies, electronics, etc. I found that Glue worked fine with Amazon, but did not support Thinkgeek. The limited number of places on the web where Glue works was a deterrent for me.
- I wasn’t really sure what problem Glue was trying to solve. I believe it was using the idea that referencing your friends’ tastes would be useful when picking out items, but in practice it didn’t bear out. The issue comes down to critical mass; Glue doesn’t have it (at least, not yet). Only 9 of my “friends” were on Glue, and none of us necessarily have compatible tastes. The reality is that Glue, to work well, would likely need a community the size of Facebook to make it really useful.
Some of my other comments about this app:
- You can earn virtual “stickers” by continuing to favorite items. These icons show up on your Glue profile. However, some stickers showed up on mine with no real explanation of what they were or how I earned them. Additionally, marking just 10 movies gave me a sticker called “Movie Buff.” Really?
- If you spend enough time using Glue, you can eventually become a “Guru.” There is only one of these per category, so you will likely have to fight it out with other Glue users for the title.
- The idea that Glue was tracking what I was looking at and publicizing it made me a tad nervous. The app does give you the ability to manually delete items from your profile, but that assumes you’ll remember to do that. Granted, I’m not surfing porn, but what if I wasn’t looking to advertise my Betsy-Tacy habit?
What does this mean to me, Laura?
- Glue does not have the critical mass in users or supported sites to make this a truly useful application. Lack of community is a real issue.
- A library could theoretically make use of this for readers advisory services but, frankly, expecting users to have to install a browser plug-in to follow the library is unrealistic.
- Overall, this app has a long ways to go, if it ever gets there.
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Talvin Muircastle creates assistive technologies for users with disabilities, for the virtual world of Second Life. The text below is adapted from (with permission) and you can read the entirety of his original post at his blog The ScriptAble Project.
You walk into a casino and put some money in the slot machine. You pull the handle. Odds are, you aren’t going to get anything the first time. Probably not the second, or the third. But casinos know that there is a window of opportunity for them: if you don’t see something line up in front of you, if you don’t hear the ring of coins or chips dropping into the till within a certain span of time, you are going to walk away. They set the odds, therefore, such that within that window of opportunity you probably will get a payout of some amount.
Probably not the Jackpot.
More than likely, not even as much as you have put in.
Still, you have to get some measure of satisfaction and gratification from it, or eventually even the Gambling Addicts are going to walk away–or at least try a different game. The level of payout required is determined, not via any intellectual mathematics, but through a sort of emotional calculus that varies person-to-person.
The same theory applies to developing technology for the End-User: if the User starts using your tech and doesn’t get some sense of satisfaction from it fairly quickly, they will decide it is not worth their valuable time. They will view it as “broken”, and they will describe it as such to others. Given that word-of-mouth is still the most potent form of advertising, this can make or break you.
Microsoft learned this the hard way with Windows Vista. They thought that people not only would not, but could not go back to XP. They did, in droves. Apple recognized this when they released Snow Leopard: while Snow Leopard contains some important stuff for the future of Macs, it’s all under the hood. The average user isn’t going to see much of a “payout”, so they priced it really low: $29.
Now add the challenges of Assistive Technology. Most Software Development (sadly) assumes the hypothetical “Normal Person” as the audience. This person doesn’t really exist, of course. We are too diverse. Perhaps we need to reconsider that whole concept, but that is a post for another time, and probably another blog.
My audience is almost never going to fit the “Normal Person” characteristics. The End-User may not use their eyes. They may not use–or even have!–hands. They may have a high level of intelligence yet have difficulty communicating with me effectively due to dysfunction in one part of their brain. They may have a disability “just like” someone else’s, and yet live their lives and deal with the world in a totally different way. It is my job to create technology that will give them a “payout” in their first hour using it. Sometimes, I even succeed.
The moral of this story? IT students should be sure to get a good liberal arts education. OK, seriously: the code you write may look elegant, efficient, and useful–to another scripter. How does it work for the End-User? If they don’t start getting some coins in their till pretty quickly, they are going to stop pulling the handle, and you wasted a lot of time on a work of modern art.
What does weather have to do with computers? Well, not much, actually. But cloud computing is a term that has gained in the buzz department recently, although it has actually been around for several years.
“Cloud computing” is really just a metaphor for doing your work entirely online. In computer network diagrams, the Internet is typically portrayed as a cloud shape. The concept integrates Web 2.0, Software as a Service (SaaS) and other common technologies that help to meet user needs in the online environment. Typically, this means that users don’t have to be responsible for maintaining the architecture to support their needs; large data centers often house the applications and data, and users merely connect using their PC and the Internet. One of the most famous examples is Google Apps, which provides free business applications that are entirely online (Such as Google Docs, a competitor to Microsoft Word).
Besides not having to pay for the infrastructure, electricity, etc., many cloud computing applications allow end users to only pay for what they actually use (e.g., Amazon Web Services), much like a traditional utility. Some do use a subscription model (e.g., NetFlix’s download-on-demand service).
What does this mean to me, Laura?
- As more applications move online or have online competitors, expect that your patrons will want to access them. This will possibly mean purchasing more powerful computers and upgrading web browsers and/or their plugins more frequently to keep up with application requirements.
- Cloud computing and mobile devices will continue to bond. Powerful smartphones like the iPhone or the Google Android can use the cloud for extended storage as well as applications. This area will continue to grow as phones continue to become even more powerful.
- There are some inherent risks in cloud computing; reputable providers mitigate these and make sure that your data is sufficiently backed up.
One of the most common complaints I’ve heard about using various web services and social networking sites is the need for multiple accounts; multiple user names, multiple passwords, multiple things to forget. Who hasn’t used those handy “Forgot your password?” links at least once (or fifty) times?
The dream of many web users is the idea of having only one account to sign into multiple services. (Nope, you’re not the only one to have thought of it.) One mainstreamed answer to this need has been OpenID. This allows you to sign into multiple web sites with just one set of login information. OpenID is already in use by Google, Microsoft, MySpace, Yahoo, Plaxo and other major players on the social web. But you haven’t heard of it, you say? Unfortunately, OpenID has been tied up by several issues for some time, including branding discussions and poor usability. It’s here, it’s in use, but apparently it can confuse a lot of people.
Another entity has solved the usability problems: Facebook. However, their solution is closed and proprietary, an internal solution that doesn’t use the OpenID platform. This means, firstly, that you have to have a Facebook account to use it and, secondly, that it doesn’t play nice with everyone else using the OpenID standard. However, their solution is much simpler. Sites that are using Facebook Connect for logins just offer up a big blue button that the user clicks, and then signs in with their Facebook login information.
While OpenID is more available (at least for now), it can be confusing because it allows you to login to a site by typing in a URL, rather than a username/password combo. The site then references that URL to get what it needs to log you in. In addition, many people already have an OpenID and don’t know it. Chances are you might be one of them. Already have an account with Flickr, Blogger, Wordpress.com, Yahoo or a host of others? Then you already have an OpenID. Surprise! If you don’t have one but want to get one or start with another identity, go to MyOpenID.com.
Several high-profile web sites will shortly begin using the competing Facebook Connect service, including Digg, Hulu and Discovery.com. There is already speculation that, if OpenID doesn’t work out the kinks, that it may never catch up to Facebook Connect.
What does this mean to me, Laura?
- If you require users to have accounts and login to something that is compatible with OpenID (e.g., a Wordpress or Blogger blog), it would be a good idea to enable OpenID for those users who choose to use it.
- While Facebook Connect is probably easier to use, it is still dependent on the user having a Facebook account. It also is part of a closed ecosystem that does not work with OpenID.
- Keep a close eye on these over the next several months; I’m betting there will be a clear winner by the end of 2009.
- To learn more:
- As Facebook Connect Expands, OpenID’s Challenges Grow
- OpenID is Here, Too Bad Users Can’t Figure Out How it Works
- http://www.webmonkey.com/tutorial/OpenID_for_Dummies
