While the popularity of tablets portends the future of publishing, the integration of social news apps demonstrates that readers often desire to share their literary interests with their online friends. In a manner similar to the interactive restyling of text books, the next evolution of e-books features a new rash of applications that support more inherently social reading experiences.
Subtext: Subtext is the first app to use gaming cues in an interactive online reading community. The app allows authors, experts and community members to embed notes directly into the pages of their e-books, and then rewards them with points based on their contributions. Created for the iPad and integrated with Google Books, Subtext positions itself as a ‘retailer agnostic’ platform for comments, quizzes, questions, polls, videos, and images to enrich the e-book experience. It’s akin to the special features section on a DVD, but with the added bonus of connecting its users to a network of likeminded bibliophiles.
After Cyber Monday’s success (and the subsequent Cyber Week), it’s evident that the web is the hot channel for shopping this holiday season. However, knowing which option is best when sorting through countless sources can be overwhelming to indecisive consumers. To streamline the process, shoppers are beginning to look to curated retail newsfeeds for recommendations.
Lyst: Fashion startup Lyst is a website that aggregates products from multiple retailers into a Twitter-like feed. Users can ‘follow’ friends, stylists, designers, stores and trendsetters to gain real-time insight into the most desired items of the moment. Once compiled, the “lyst” can function as a shopping cart, eliminating the hassle of purchasing from various websites. Also, the stream can be used as a notification system for when an item goes on sale or popular runway attire becomes available for in-store purchase. Shunning algorithmic recommendations, the Twitter-inspired format provides a personalized platform for shoppers to create their own customized content while discovering new brands and products.
The Web was once a playground for those seeking escapism, but now it’s the cornerstone of self-constructed identity. For people with active digital lives that run deeper than the quest for farm coins, performing digital tasks, whether sorting through social media chatter or archiving one’s favorite online finds, require assistance that not even Siri can provide. Enter a new arsenal of personal content management tools.
ifttt: Anyone who’s ever taken the LSAT likely feels a tightening of the chest at the mere thought of logic games. ifttt, a new web app that’s based on the premise of “if this, then that,” may soon have the opposite effect (albeit, on a smaller scale) on stress levels. The service allows users to program tasks to perform automatically based on another action across 23 channels—ranging from Facebook and Twitter to RSS and SMS—in the digital sphere. Tasks can be as simple as posting Delicious bookmarks on Twitter or as strategic as programming a rescue phone call to interrupt an uncomfortable blind date.
The popularity of adult leagues proves that after-work sports have become just as vital as the after-school variety, while the success of Meetup shows that like-minded strangers enjoy networking in the flesh. These two trends converge with the arrival of new location-based apps that connect recreational athletes and ensure that they may never again have to mount an elliptical or treadmill, solo, to get in their cardio work.
Sportaneous: This website and free iPhone app collects information about public recreation areas, providing real-time information about games being organized in users’ vicinity. With competitive activities ranging from baseball and basketball to boot camp and yoga, it’s easy to find social sports gatherings that range in location, schedule, skill level, and players’ preferred competitive intensity. As the name suggests, anyone can use the app to spontaneously initiate a game, for which the app will help find available players. It could prove to be a fitting training tool among those looking for companions with whom to prepare for a certain upcoming marathon.
In a world where most interactions occur behind computer screens, people are increasingly inclined to immerse themselves in the finer details of human nature. Whether through online advice columns or a social network based on shared life experiences, we are using technology to connect with each other on a more emotional level. As such, simulation technology and apps that allow us to walk a digital mile in another’s shoes are becoming more common.
What Do You See?: Making silly faces may elicit giggles from a newborn, but how do infants perceive these displays of affection? Blixt & Dunder created an app, based on medical research on developmental moments in human vision, to demonstrate what a child sees the first few years of its life. To experience a kid’s POV, enter their birthday into the app and hit the camera activation button. This generates a filter that mimics their vision, taking age into account. At six months or less, the screen has a brown fuzzy layer, but becomes clearer every few months—not unlike a night of a few too many cocktails.
