The AppBrain Stream
The folks at AppBrain (remember them?), those same fellows who brought the original web installer for Android to the masses, today unveiled the AppBrain Stream. It's a lot like Facebook style social networking, but geared towards, and all about, your Android apps. AppBrain has always been a great way to discover and share Android applications, but the new user streams and feeds really take it all to the next level. If you feel a bit overwhelmed by all the other great tools AppBrain gives us, like daily "hot" apps, personalized recommendations, app demographics, and shared user app lists, you're going to love this.
It's genuinely simple -- you now have a couple new entries on your AppBrain page that show your personalized stream of app-related news and events. You'll see things like messages from your friends when they install a new app (or uninstall an app), personalized recommendations for new apps based on what you're currently using, updates to apps you're running, even app reviews from your friends and discussion about them. You can "like", share or add commentary to each of these entries, just like you would at your favorite social networking site. You can also see just your activity in a dedicated list, to keep track of apps you're talking about.
There's no setup involved -- if you follow someone on AppBrain, you'll see their activity in your stream. The guys at AppBrain let us in a bit early to check it out, and I'll have to say -- this has real potential. No more relying on cryptic or less-than-helpful comments in the Market, or using a random Google search to try and find what your looking for. Like the staff picks on the official Android Market, it will be a great way to find new apps that fit you, with the added bonus of goofing off a bit with your friends. We've got a couple screenshots after the break, as well as a link to download AppBrain to your phone so you can join in. And as we've said before -- Google, just buy these guys already.
Comment on any app in your stream
Share stream entries on Facebook, Twitter, or via Email
View a list of your own posts in the "Your actions" section
Reader comments
AppBrain re-invents social app discovery with the AppBrain Stream
nice to see AppBrain surviving and adding new features. :)
If Google bought them they would only mess the whole thing up.