Calling All Kyles!
As you may have guessed by now, my blood stream is actually hooked up to the internet. As such, it causes me to stumble across sites like kyledensity.com. It appears, for the moment, that there are only 5 Kyle's in the whole world, but it's still a pretty cool concept (or at least website). So, if you know any Kyle's out there, or you happen to be one, head on over there and contribute to the Kyle-mapping process. I'd actually be interested in finding out the number of "Kyle's who are interested enough to submit their location, and the population density and concentration of those persons".
It's a fairly nicely done website too. Simple, easy to understand, and a great use of a google map application. It's really great to see people making creative use of Google's crazy large volume of otherwise seemingly useless apps. While it's not a terribly important use (although one day we may have to know the exact number and location of Kyle's on the planet in order to save the universe...) it does show that there is room for user development with the tools that Google supplies. For instance, you can keep track of any number of news stories, weather systems, your mail, etc. on the Google dashboard. As a mac user, I have my own dashboard. I find, however, that Google's dashboard is a bit easier to use and has a wider range of useful applications that require very little operator knowledge. For those who aren't tech savvy, it means avoiding a lot of user errors. (my new favorite video, by the way, make sure to check out that link)
As I've mentioned before, I use Google analytics, but I also regularly use google maps and gmail, and quite frankly it's entertaining to stalk people with street level view on google maps. If you haven't tried it, check it out. I actually found one of my friends walking on the sidewalk in front of the apartments I lived in last year. And there are certainly design and marketing applications for this software. Imagine mapping out arbitrary promotional locations, and the only way that people know when you update the site is through twitter? Or maybe some of them are false locations, and they only know because you tweet the real locations? The point is that there is a whole world of creative possibilities for the new wave of web apps, and I'm pretty entertained by the way this site is using them. I encourage you to participate and enjoy as well.