I just saw news about a new experimental web and Android app called Keen, developed as part of Google's Area120 workshop:

Want to share your passion with the world? Get KeenKeen, the latest experiment from Area 120, helps you curate and share the things you love related to your long-term interests.www.blog.google

The idea behind the app is to support content curation along the lines of Pinterest with Google search and machine learning to provide the best results. Basically, you start by defining a topic or interest that you want to learn more about (the app suggests phrases such as “Go backpacking in Porcini” or “Start a small truffle business”), then narrow down that interest by adding a few Google searches to get you started.

From the list of articles suggested, you can save those you want to read as "gems", which supposedly leads to better results in the future. You can also add own links or text notes, and organize all your gems into sections.

Last but not least, it is also possible to invite collaborators to your collection, or even make it fully public.

There's some overlap with Cake's modus operandi, but I don't see Keen as a competitor that takes away from stuff happening here, more like something that could actually support Cake (and be supported by Cake), because Keen currently doesn't offer a way to have conversations. I added an appropriate Cake topic to a collection I started, and was immediately suggested further conversations from that topic. Think about what this could do for Cake if some of you started public collections that - among other things, of course - contained links to Cake conversations.

(Hint: the blog post contains a way to contact the team to suggest a public collection you created.)

Caveat: as is always the case with Google, and especially with their experimental products, all of this might cease to exist at any point in the future. Still no reason to not at least give it a try.

Thanks for the pointer! I love apps like this. I already use Pocket and Nuzzel a lot, so this should be interesting.

Caveat: as is always the case with Google, and especially with their experimental products, all of this might cease to exist at any point in the future. Still no reason to not at least give it a try.

I added an appropriate Cake topic to a collection I started, and was immediately suggested further conversations from that topic. Think about what this could do for Cake if some of you started public collections that - among other things, of course - contained links to Cake conversations.

Thank you for sharing this idea. There used to be a widget when Firefox browser came out that would allow you to share and upvote links based on your interests. I shared one of the best posts from my blog and it ended up bringing in a ton of traffic.

Interestingly, there may be a “first mover advantage” to creating a public collection before this Google service becomes more popular.

FWIW, I've started a public Keen collection.

I signed up and created a public Keen collection. The interface is incredibly clean design, pleasantly minimalist even. Adding links was simple and the reading suggestions offered, based on each link added, were quite good. If you save one of the suggested links, Keen provides new links based on it. I could see this as useful with research if you used it to quickly refine your search.

The one annoying part was figuring out how to make a collection public—it took a few minutes of poking around to find that option—however, other than that it was a beautiful marriage between Dropbox and Google Search.

For iphone users, it’s only available for the web so I added the web page to my home screen.

FWIW, here’s my public collection: Cooking amazing food!

Cooking amazing food! | KeenExplore, curate and share everything you're passionate about.staykeen.com

<><><>

Further Reading

How to Add Websites to the Home Screen on Any Smartphone or TabletYour smartphone or tablet's home screen isn't just for apps. Whatever platform you're using, you can pin your favorite websites to your home screen so you can quickly access them.www.howtogeek.com

Interestingly, there may be a “first mover advantage” to creating a public collection before this Google service becomes more popular.

This is true - all other things being equal, the first public collection about some topic will likely attract more visitors over time than later ones. At the same time, though, no one is "forced" to join an already existing collection, but can always just create their own.

There is an Android app, but you're not missing much. It is basically just a small wrapper that opens the Keen web app in a web view.

Oh I bet the team that does Keep where thrilled about Keen. :-)

I'm sure about that! :D