recommendations

Peel attempts to revolutionize the channel-surfing experience by serving up television recommendations based on the shows you already watch and don't watch. To get it started, just input a few tidbits of basic information--such as genres you prefer, sports you like--and watch as it delivers its first batch of recommendations. As you vote on these recommendations, much as you would on Pandora, Peel gets a better understanding of your particular tastes, and thus can deliver more targeted suggestions. At least, that's what it's supposed to do.

Peel is one of the more visually stunning apps available to … Read more

Yahoo AppSpot is a recommendation engine for mobile applications. Available for Android and iPhone, it takes inventory of your installed apps and looks at your app-related search history to bring you a personalized list of downloads it suspects you'll enjoy.

Yahoo AppSpot opens up directly to a "Today's Picks for You" page, which consists of three columns of categories and three app recommendations per column. Tap any of the app's icons to get its vital information, with name, description, ratings, price, screenshots, and a link to the Android Market download page. To see more categories (… Read more

Available for Android and iPhone as of today, Yahoo AppSpot (download: Android | iPhone) recommends new apps to download based on the apps you already have and the apps you've searched for in the past. It's a great way to discover new downloads when you don't necessarily want to peruse the hundreds of thousands of listings in the Android Market or the Apple App Store.

For each user, AppSpot provides a personalized daily serving of app recommendations. Trending apps on the Web have the most weight in determining what it serves up, while installed apps and any app-related … Read more

Urbanspoon is a location-aware mobile app that helps the indecisive among us figure out where to eat. Open it up, and the Home screen presents you with a number of ways to receive restaurant recommendations or to simply search for a restaurant in your vicinity. You can Browse via category, see what's Nearby, or look at your Friends' profiles. There's also a built-in tool for booking reservations. If you're more into visual stimulation, the bottom of the Home screen displays a virtually endless slide show of photos from restaurants nearby. Swipe through them, find one you like, … Read more

It always seems like the best concerts are the ones you hear about too late. But who has time to scour the show listings in the local paper or habitually check a band's Web site for tour dates?

There's a better way. In fact, there are so many sites out there promising personalized concert recommendations, I figured a roundup was in order. So here you are, five sites that will put you in tune with the best live music in your area, using data from your favorite music sites and services:

… Read more

After hunting with surprising difficulty last week, I finally ended up upgrading to an iPad 2. As for my old iPad, I packed it up and resold it. Along with it, I sent along some of my favorite cases, since they'll no longer be of use anymore.

Which brings me to my current conundrum. While I'm happy with the improved zippiness of the iPad 2, I'm not as thrilled with its case options thus far.

I played with a number of cases and bags for the original iPad, trying to find the best fit. For me, it … Read more

Facebook announced today some notable updates to its Q&A product, Facebook Questions--updates that knit it tightly into the broader Facebook experience, making it far less of an isolated feature. More specifically, the new Facebook Questions facilitates short, poll-like answers in addition to long-form responses, and also links directly to relevant items in Facebook's directory of "fan pages." That's something that's very relevant if you're asking a question about, say, movie recommendations or a good restaurant to visit.

The new Facebook Questions will be available as a limited beta first, though interested users … Read more

Looking for a restaurant tonight? Start-up Bizzy says you cannot trust your friends, who have different tastes than you. Nor Google or Yelp, which are far too generic. Bizzy's better recommendation engine, CEO Gadi Shamia says, does a Netflix on your tastes, You tell it what you like, and it finds other places you're also likely to appreciate based on hidden signals in your data.

For example, if you like loud restaurants over quiet ones, or if your top criteria for a dining establishment is the attractiveness of the waitstaff, the Bizzy engine will return results that work … Read more

India's stock market is growing into a global force, and investors and market watchers around the world follow it. Gyarsi Systems Network's Smartstock is the first software of its kind, a free investment-planning tool focused on opportunities in India. It can analyze investments, trends, and markets to help advise you in investing, growth, and new prospects in international business.

Smartstock requires the Microsoft .NET framework and an Internet connection for logging in to access Gyarsi's forums and to retrieve up-to-date financial information. It's got a fairly standard tabbed interface, with taskbar items for logging in, managing … Read more