Bored?
There have been times at work and at home I have been just bored. Maybe the better word would be ennui. Not able to do what I would like because I am work, broke, don’t know what else to do, etc. The only access to anything is the Internet. Long as you are actively typing and clicking you can look busy and product. Have you ever done this? Just type in domains names, like sex.com, needmoney.com, ugh.com, and finally, bored.com. Upon doing that I did come across bored.com but even that got boring. Perhaps, part of it is that it is so mindless, nothing to engage you.
Now, let me introduce you to StumbleUpon. StumbleUpon started as and still is a web site review site. That is one finds a web site they like, think other people should visit, and then they list it (much like del.icio.us). Other functionalities are the ability to vote it up or down, write comments and review on the sites submitted (much like Digg), and join with friends. There are many such sites, some new, some old, like Yahoo Buzz, Technorati, Reddit, Propeller, etc.
However, with a free account and adding the toolbar, there is the opportunity to Stumble. That is based upon your preferences, it will give you a web site that you may like. You can view it and say if you like the site or don’t (voting up or down). Or say nothing at all and Stumble again. Just click the Stumble button and StumbleUpon will present you with another web you may like. As you vote and submit sites, StumbleUpon learns which web sites/web pages you like, improving the type of pages it submits to you.
This is a great service, there have been “give me random pages” since the coming of the Internet, but they were limited in scope. They were not focused on you. StumbleUpon tries to give you what you want, getting better each time.
So, one does not have to be truly bored to enjoy StumbleUpon, just a moment of free time. Time for discovery. The trouble with most boredom sites is that they are shallow, full of mindless activities. Where StumbleUpon succeeds, is that it does not try to solve the issue of boredom but wants to give you real web sites of substance and interests. Depending on mood, you can also choose to watch by interest such as photos (really amazing stuff), videos, news, or categorical interest. Regardless of mood, you will find your immersed in the world at-large.
StumbleUpon is free, so is the toolbar. There is no reason not to explore StumbleUpon today. We would be proud to be one of your first StumbleUpon friends and please remember to return to Vote Up this page.
