Oops, what did I just...STUMBLE on?

Have you ever came home after a long day of classes, went straight to the internet to look up more information about that wonderful discussion you had in class? If not, you must be one of those people who goes to www.dictionary.com just to learn new words, right? Ha, if only that were the world today's kids lived in today, we'd probably already have the cure for cancer or something. Well instead of your typical Myspace or Facebook, how about something that leads you to websites cued by your interests? Huh huh?! I got you guys at the edge of your seats right?!

Well, our commonly known web browser, FireFox, has recenrecently added a new tool bar, and what better name to call it other than STUMBLE? We all know that the best way to procrastinate is the internet, so instead of goggling for the coolest new site or trying to see what goggle comes up with when you type in 'Old Lady Wearing Funny Hats in Milwaukee'
in the image search bar, why not go and download stumble which can bring the sites to you!

Alright, so enough of the tease, stumble is a tool bar based application that you can download right on your Firefox tool bar. It takes up no more than 209 KB (for your non-computer goers, that's not a lot ;). With this application, you are able to first, fill out an interest section, which fliters through a different websites based on what you clicked. Since I'm already a member, however, I'm not able to get you going on what interest they have, BUT you can sign up yourself here. Once you get all signed up and ready to go, you can start to stumble.

Though I'm no expert on this subject matter, I have did my research. Since we all know Firefox to be as innovative as the next guy, we know that they're always looking for ways to make their website browser more user friendly and attachable (meaning you have everything right there on your browser page). They have recently added stumble upon to facebook, youtube, ebay and wikipedia (just to name a few). With these sites, once you download stumble upon, you can go to common search engines like google or yahoo, type something in the search bar, and see whether or not people rate it as a good site or not. Is that cool or what?

Although this may sound like an amazing idea, not every one agrees to it. According to a blog by the stumbler creator Geoff Smith, not every one is enjoying how the great new application is being destroyed by the Firefox updates. "Well, the latest compulsory Firefox update, has declared Stumble Upon tool bar incompatible for Firefox and simply deleted it for me!" Says member 'plplouise.' The issue at hand here is that Firefox needs to make sure that their updates do not mess with any of their previously added applications. Though this maybe a great application to have, if you can't use it with the new Firefox, it isn't worth much any more.

But, that's expected to happen with any new technology, I mean look at the iPhone (thanks Dan!). Though they may have gotten bad blogger post, Firefox has been in the news about this new application. Recently in the Wall Street Journal, an editor writes, "Next time you want to wander the Web, forget about Googling it. Stumble it." We all know how creditable the Wall Street Journal is and with that type of publication backing you, you stand to be creditable. But that's not all, according the BBC World, "Stumble Upon is a brilliant downloadable tool bar that beds into your browser and gives you the chance to surf through thousands of excellent pages that have been stumbled upon by other web-users."

So with over 2 million users to date, Stumble upon has been used and website have been browsed. But, with it's new add-ons, you can now share websites with your friends, search video games, videos, and other amazing things, and even a blog (this is all you professor VanDyke), Stumble upon has thought of it all! I think they hit a very good audience with the new wave of web 2.0. It also has linked itself with very popular sites such as ebay, facebook, myspace, and others, which has increased its awareness. Though their plan may not have been completely outlined, It's difficult giving you too much information without taking away from the great distraction it will and can be. So go ahead, sign up, and STUMBLE!