Quickly: Social networking...

If you want to see it taken to a pretty ridiculous level, have a look at the new "Kin" phones from Microsoft.

This video in particular sums it up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8rqSN34Zmk&feature=player_embedded

There are others, but the "ohmigawd why do you need to be able to do this from your phone?!" factor is the highest in this one.

Quick summary:

It integrates all sorts of social networking services to a frightening degree. You can post to your Myspace, Twitter, Facebook, and whatever else all at the same time. Your friends from each of these services is consolidated into one big list... um...

Fuckit. I'm way too confused to properly describe it. Just watch the damn video.

I wonder if this is a sign that I'm getting old. Technology that I'm being lead to believe is quite popular, is leaving me completely confused, and wondering what it's actually for. If I ever want to fill my friends in on anything, a simple e-mail (which you can send to more than one address!) does the trick pretty well. And it's far more private. Maybe I don't have enough friends. Or maybe the friends I do have aren't nearly interested enough in the sandwich I just ate... what the hell, guys?!

Edit: I also feel like I need to comment on that interface. That has to be the biggest, but best looking mess I've ever seen. Just looking at it and trying to make sense of what's going on on the screen makes me go cross-eyed. What's wrong with an alphabetized grid or list? There's a reason accountants, clerks, and receptionists put pages in organized piles, or binders, or folders, instead of just throwing things in some general direction. You can actually find things again like that, and you can process the contents of the arrangement exponentially faster. Maybe this interface is designed for people who have no sense of order... the kind of people who have their desktops covered in random, completely unorganized icons, and can never seem to find anything.