Islamic Crescent?

I don't think the American right gets it. That's fine by me.

Apps

Cupertino based Apropos have just shipped an app that monitors desktop/notebook and  Smartphone usage dedicated to real time profile building that can also parse your social graph to determine the most effective app(s) pertinent to your needs through lifestream and social graph analysis.

That's right an app that figures out what app(s) are best tailored to your needs. It's a quintessential American pedagogic idea that ticks over in the background, surfacing at the point of purchase to either endorse, reject or recommend an alternative during the period of app consideration review including organic search, or as and when needed. 

Genius really. Here's the stats.

Ok I made all that up but the middle man is where it's at. I alluded to this in the pointillist podcast though I don't think I made a very good job of it. In any case. It's very democratic, very bespoke and dare I say it very convenient. Apps are OK.

Samurai.fm

I feel Samurai.fm are worth a plug too. I came across them when the Web 2.0 moniker was a buzz word around 2006 latest. Initially I was blown away with the sheer volume and quality of content. They're a bit different from the other services as it's a curated music service so someone is choosing who does or doesn't make it.

They have pulled a clean interface together since their original layout, and somewhat unusually, have a keen bias towards Tokyo. This minimal set by DJ Camiya works for me.