I recently tried a silicon oracle called GetGlue. I’m genuinely impressed at how racks of CPUs can quickly navigate through an enormous knowledge graph and grab a suggestion node that matches some characteristic of my preferences. Great searching capabilities, but I’m less than excited about the results.
Like other recommendation software (say, Hunch), you register preferences by initially rating a sample list of movies, books, TV shows, and music. I told GetGlue that I liked The Breakfast Club, Goodbye Columbus, The Great Gatsby, and Nina Simone. GetGlue quickly responded with a list of predicable tips: lots of Philip Roth novels, Catcher in the Rye, American Beauty, and Sara Vaughn.
I suppose if I had lived in vault, then some of these suggestions would be novel. One quibble for the GetGlue crew: how about adding a “like, but already know about” classification.
On the plus side, GetGlue deserves credit for bringing swing band leader Jimmie Lunceford, who I hadn’t heard known about, to my attention. Thanks.Continue reading
Kikin is a NYC startup that, as their web copy says, “brings you more relevant posts, tweets, videos, and other cool stuff from popular sites,” by automatically displaying interesting links on your browser page. Its proposition is that you trust your social network, so the Kikin software trolls your Twitter and Facebook streams for relevant content that has been contributed by friends, family, and co-workers.