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Filed under: Web services, Social Software

Zebo: A social site for ThisNext fans and pack rats

ZeboZebo is a site where you socially share lists of things you own. So anyone on ThisNext, telling everyone what you want, can now come to Zebo to update what you own after you have bought it on ThisNext. I realize that you may find this odd, and do I, but it seems somewhat natural. This site is quite successful (4.9 million users) I imagine because it hits a nerve in people, jealous tendencies. We all have them, and this site will cater to that feeling and also lets you feel good about what you do have and your collective status in society. Go check out Zebo if you want to one up the rest of the world with the cool stuff you have. I don't want to know what Engadget may have to put up on Zebo, I think my puny little Zebo profile next to theirs would be utterly humiliating.

Filed under: Web services, Social Software

ThisNext: Social shopping advice

ThisNext
Trying to figure out what car/TV/fridge/shampoo to buy? Try ThisNext. It's one of the latest entrants in the quickly-becoming-crowded "social shopping" market, and looks to be off to a good start. There are two primary activities on ThisNext: Discover and Recommend. Discover is another word for "go shopping." You can search for items you're interested in and get recommendations, or your can just browse. The recommendations seem to have a very stylish slant to them, so if you're like me the site make you feel a little uncool, or maybe just poor. But it's well-organized with pretty pictures, tags, user comments, and so on. The Recommend side of the site is what you'd expect: You can link to and write about products you like, and you can make Amazon-like themed lists, like Writer Gear or Don't Leave Home Without It. Of course, none of this makes ThisNext any different from Amazon (except that ThisNext doesn't actually the sells the products, it just links to them). It's the social aspect, of course, and like any good social software, ThisNext lets you share recommendations with and get recommendations from your friends. The premise, to paraphrase my boss Jason, is that you trust your tech-savvy neighbor or cousin more than anonymous CNet reviewers or Best Buy employees to tell you what's the, er, best buy. While the premise is convincing, I'm not entirely convinced that the execution will be successful for everyday users who might not have any experience with social networking. However, ThisNext's implementation looks well thought out--Michael Arrington calls it "the best I've seen so far," and its profile in the New York Times doesn't hurt, either. I'll certainly be giving ThisNext at least a cursory glance the next time I'm going through some deliberation on a purchase.

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With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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