Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Love at first Stumble

When I first went online back in 2002 (and never knew about the existence of the Internet before that being a lame computer noob that I was.), I was lead by the leash of Google search, typing in search query after search query in vain effort to get lucky and find the info I am looking for. I knew no other option for exploring the net except by typing the actual URL, which is also lame since I was never really good at remembering them. I wanted to explore the whole Internet and all that there is to it (save porn). It was as if the Net was the well that can quench my thirst for knowledge: fact, fiction, or lies. And I wished there was another way. A faster way...

6 years later, I found the answer. It was named StumbleUpon.com.

Now that I have access to the fast Internet connection that I was deprived of six years ago (even up to now at my home PC), and working in the Internet industry as well, I "stumbled upon" it and fell in love at first "stumble!". It was so amazing that I found myself signing up and downloading the toolbar. It was instant Internet exploration/bookmarking at the same time, and I love it.

I is not gonna show you my account name there! Harhar! Stumble Upon me!

One of the downfalls of the site is that sometimes it generates the same results at every stumble. Meaning if you tagged "environment" as a favorite, one of the sites, say, Environment.com (I don't know if this exists. Nudge me if it does.) will have a tendency to reappear as a stumble answer to that tag every single time. So you don't have to be surprised to have explored every single page in your favorite website. Furthermore, the results are on a per page basis. You don't really see the homepage unless the item is in the homepage. This can be a downside especially if there was a picture (this usually happens in pictures) that you like and would like to see more from that website, but there are no homepage buttons around, or you'll have to manually crop the URL on the address bar. But those aside, Stumble Upon is a great way to experience the web. It's fun, easy, and you can also find people with similar interests as you do and chat with them. Half the sites I will be posting here would be recommended by Stumble Upon too, so don't be surprised if you already had "Stumbled" into that site before I did or Stumble upon it afterwards.

*pushes the Stumble! button* Hey, here's another cool site...

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