I’ve been playing with Flook, a clever new program that’s now available on Apple’s iPhone App Store. Conceptually, it’s very, very simple: You use it to capture images with your phone and attach brief titles and captions to them. Flook then turns the image, title and caption into a full-screen combo it calls a card, uploads them to its servers, geotags them, and lets other Flook users browse through them.

The most obvious way to browse through Flook cards is to peruse ones that are near your location, in case they give you an idea of something nearby to see or do. But you can also view ones from people you follow, or new ones, or the whole shebango of cards from around the world. Flook also creates some local-information cards of its own, by sucking in content from sources such as Upcoming.org and formatting it. Zipping your way though cards is easy, fun, and addictive–the experience has a StumbleUpon-feel of serendipity to it.

Even more than just browsing other folks’ cards, I like the idea of using Flook for tiny acts of photojournalism. The service can can automatically send out tweets about your new cards. Which means that I can consider using it to tell the world about quirky stuff I run across and photograph as I travel around town, throughout the country, and around the world. (Up until now I’ve just been uploading my pictures to TwitPic.)

Flook (which is also available in a traditional Web-based version for PCs and Macs) is free, and currently free of ads. Like every other company involved in geographically-aware apps, the one behind Flook thinks there’s lots of potential in eventually targeting its users with ads that know where they are. In the case of Flook, one of the company’s founders told, those ads might be in the form of sponsored cards that tell you about things like discounts at stores you’re near.

This service could use something like Facebook Connect integration to help you find friends who are already using it. But it’s entertaining as is–and easier to show than explain. After the jump, some images from the iPhone app.

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I‘m at TechCrunch’s Real-Time CrunchUp, an interesting conference in San Francisco on the booming subject of Web sites and services that move just as fast as the rest of the world does–Twitter, some aspects of Facebook, and lots more. The first session this morning was a conversation between TechCrunch’s Mike Arrington and Twitter’s COO, Dick Costolo. And Costolo said that Twitter is gearing up to add advertising to the service.

We will have an advertising strategy. You will see that from us in the future. It will be fascinating, non-traditional, and people will love it.

[snip]

We want to do something that’s organic, like the way it happened with Google. It will work with the tweets. People will love the ads when they see it.

That would seem to be a significant shift in strategy for Twitter: In the past, its executives have famously dismissed advertising for not being sufficiently “interesting.” Now, Costolo is saying the company’s working on something that isn’t just interesting–it’s fascinating!

There are a million ways ads could go wrong on Twitter. (I’ve mocked up one of them in the fake screen shot to the right.) Costolo is presumably telling us that the advertising wont be anything as conventional as banner ads or Google-style text links, or the mere insertion of tweets that are controlled by marketers. You gotta think it’s something that involves leveraging what Twitter knows about your friends and interests to provide ads that are more theoretically relevant; other than that, I have no guesses about the details.

Facebook’s ill-fated Beacon ads remain a good case study in just how sensitive companies need to be when they meld personal information about their customers with an advertising message. But I’m not instinctively opposed to ads showing up on Twitter–hey, it would be hypocritical–and one way or another, I want the site to figure out a way to make enough dough to stay in business for the long haul.

Your gut reaction, please?

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How to try Chrome OS.

Randall Kennedy derides Chrome OS.

Better Google News for smartphones.

Better Techmeme for smartphones, too.

Refinements for Google Search Options.

New version of cool PogoPlug.

Nook sold out for holidays.

Sony building its own iTunes.

Apple’s Magic Mouse in Windows.

YouTube bans TV box access.

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If you use Windows 7 and haven’t taken our satisfaction survey yet, I beseech you: Please take a few minutes and tell us about your experiences. We’re going to close the survey shortly and can use all the real-world data we can get. Thanks!

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I’m happy to report that I spent Thursday night in the company of a couple of hundred old friends, new friends, people I’ve admired from afar and wanted to meet, and assorted members of the Technologizer community. Our Tech the Halls party in San Francisco was a blast–mainly because the folks who showed up were so darn interesting.

Oh, and the ones who stuck around until the end got to witness something pretty special. After we raffled off some prizes, our friend Dale Larson–who, among other things, was an Amiga engineer–sent a Tweet to his girlfriend Laura La Gassa from the stairs where we’d been giving away stuff:

Laura, you’ll be pleased to learn, replied thusly:

What we all saw wasn’t the first Twitter proposal, but it still felt like a little moment of history. Here’s a Tweetstream from party attendees with coverage of the memorable moment and the rest of the bash. Thanks to our sponsors–SugarSync, Marvell, Eastwick Communications, and Marketwire–for helping to make it all happen.

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When you think about it, every netbook to date has been misnamed: They’ve run traditional operating systems, and worked just fine even when you didn’t have an Internet connection. But netbooks based on Google’s Chrome OS will be different: At best, they’re going to have very limited functionality when you’re not online. Whether they turn out to be wildly popular or a legendary flop, they’re something new. They’re…netbooks!

So let’s keep this T-Poll short and sweet:

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Though not as noticeable as Retweets or Lists, Twitter has stopped asking users the completely uninteresting question, “What are you doing?”

Instead, the social messaging service now asks, “What’s happening?” It’s a simple alteration that could help point new users in a different, less mundane direction. Or, in the words of Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, “maybe it’ll make it easier to explain to your dad.”

Twitter is catching up to its users, who in large part abandoned the literal description of their activities long ago. My feed might not be an indication of everyone else’s, but looking at the last 40 tweets in my timeline, only six are descriptions of what the person is up to. Stone has noticed the same thing. “Between those cups of coffee, people are witnessing accidents, organizing events, sharing links, breaking news, reporting stuff their dad says, and so much more,” he writes.

I wish Twitter had picked up on this shift sooner, because I think a lot of people missed the point of the service during its rise to the mainstream this year. After Twitter traffic ramped up sharply from February to April, it took an 8 percent dive in October, according to comscore. Anecdotally, I’ve got a lot of professional contacts and colleagues using Twitter in cool ways, but my actual friends tend to broadcast their activities a few times, get bored, and quit.

Some companies have missed the boat, too. Look at the integration of Twitter into Xbox Live and the launch of TwitterPeek, a bare-bones tweeting device. Neither are well-suited to what Twitter has become, because you can’t upload photos or look at videos, and TwitterPeek has a minimal Web browser while the Xbox 360 doesn’t have one at all. Users of these tools are pushed towards a “What are you doing?” mentality, and they’ll get tired of it.

Harry has said there’s no right or wrong way to use Twitter, but hopefully this small change in wording will steer people towards a usage that they’ll actually enjoy.

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Four months ago, Google announced it was working on an operating system for netbooks called Chrome OS. Today, at a press event at the Googleplex which I attended, the company demonstrated it in public for the first time and provided more details about its plans.

Nothing Google had to say came as a great revelation–it largely confirmed and expounded upon the goals laid out in the initial blog post on the project. Chrome OS will emphasize speed, simplicity, and security; it’ll store everything in the cloud; it’ll come preinstalled on netbooks. And it’s an open-source product with a Linux heart beating deep inside.

After the jump, my first stab at collecting known and unknown details about the OS–additions, corrections, and questions welcome.

What’s the interface like?

That’s easy: It’s like Chrome the browser. Remarkably so. Pretty much, it looks like a version of Chrome that sprung little nubby legs and crawled out of the primordial ooze.

Chrome OS does have some interface aspects that Chrome lacks, such as a list of apps, the ability to pin apps in tabs so they stay around, and widget-like “Panels” that pop up in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. (Actually, that last feature reminds me of how the Tasks list works in Gmail.)

Google says that everything about Chrome OS is subject to change before the first netbooks using it ship, but for now, what’s most striking about Chrome OS’s interface is how unstriking it is. It’s Chrome.

When will Chrome netbooks appear?

About a year from now.

What’ll the specs be like?

Well, for one thing, these machines won’t have hard drives. They’ll use solid-state disks, which is one reason why Google can reasonably be telling folks that Chrome OS machines will boot in a few seconds. (Solid-state storage is expensive, but if Chrome OS systems store everything in the cloud, they should be able to get away with tiny disks.)

Google says it’s working with hardware companies to determine spec guidelines for Chrome OS PCs–and that it would like to see them have at least somewhat larger screens and comfier keyboards than most current netbooks.

How much will Chrome OS machines cost?

Don’t expect any news until well into next year. They’ll clearly be low-cost portables, but here’s one question: Since Google, unlike Microsoft, won’t charge for the operating system, will they be strikingly cheaper than similar Windows 7 systems?

Who’ll make Chrome OS netbooks?

Google didn’t talk about hardware partners today, but it has in the past. Acer, Asus, HP, and Lenovo are all involved with the project and will presumably offer Chrome OS machines.

I want to buy a Chrome OS desktop.

Um, that isn’t a question. But Google said today that its focus for 2010 is on netbooks. Chrome OS on other types of computers might come later.

Will I be able to install Chrome OS on my own computer?

Officially, the answer we got to that today was “no.”  But at the same time, Google talked about developers installing it right now on netbooks. My guess is that nerds will create Hackintosh-like unofficial Chrome OS netbooks, sharing their knowledge about how to do the job. Google may not help, but it won’t stop them, either.

Will you be able to use a Chrome OS system when you don’t have an Internet connection?

Yes. Maybe. At least sort of. Google says that Chrome OS PCs will be meant principally for use when you’re online, and that local storage is there mostly to cache data until the OS can push it up to the cloud. But there will be at least some capability to store local media such as music, and Google said that it’ll support new HTML5 features designed to enable offline use.

I’m still hazy, however, about whether Google’s Gears offline technology will be part of Chrome OS–if so, it’ll be a boon, since Gmail and Google Docs will have some degree of capability when you’re not connected–or whether a Chrome OS laptop would go into doorstop mode when you were on a plane without Wi-Fi.

One thing we do know: Google has no plans to let Chrome OS use traditional client apps, although, as a Linux variant, it could presumably do so.

What are the benefits of data living in the cloud?

It’s available from any Chrome OS netbook, for one thing. And assuming that Google takes good care of it, you don’t need to worry about backups. (I’m not clear on whether Chrome-the-browser will have access to a Chrome OS netbook owner’s personal workspace, but it would be pretty neat if you could log into your Chrome OS desktop from a browser on a PC or Mac–especially since Google says it sees Chrome OS machines as secondary computers.)

What makes Chrome OS so secure?

Apps are sandboxed, so they can’t interfere with each other. The root system is read only. All user data is encrypted. And code is signed: The OS checks itself at boot time, and if anything looks fishy, it downloads chunks of itself on the fly and reinstalls them.

Will Chrome OS support Flash?

Yup.

Silverlight?

No comment.

Will Android apps work?

No–they’re client software. Chrome OS doesn’t run client apps.

Will other browsers run on Chrome OS?

Depends on how you look at it, and how things transpire. Chrome OS won’t support local applications, so you won’t be able to download and install Firefox. But Chrome OS is an open-source project, so there’s nothing stopping a Firefox fan from attempting to build a Chrome OS that somehow encompasses Firefox.

Will I be able to tweak my Chrome OS setup? I’ve made so many changes to my Windows machine it’s unrecognizable.

Well, I assume Google will give you some ability to fiddle with color schemes, wallpaper, and the like. But as far as I know, you won’t be able to install utilities that let you fiddle with the interface in ways that Google didn’t intend or permit. That would be running local applications, and Chrome OS doesn’t run local applications.

Will there be a Chrome OS app store?

Google said it’s still figuring out the best ways to help users find useful tools they can use on Chrome OS netbooks. But the company did point out that when all your apps are Web apps, you’ve got millions of items to choose from–not the iPhone’s 100,000 programs.

Will my printer, scanner, phone, MP3 player, EVDO adapter, external hard drive, USB TV tuner, and smartpen work with Chrome OS?

Good question! Google made cryptic references to a non-traditional plan it has to let Chrome OS netbooks work, and says it’s working with hardware companies to draw up a list of devices that Chrome OS will support. It seems like it’s a given that a lot of stuff won’t work, especially at first. And we don’t yet know whether Chrome OS will be so wildly popular that Canon, say, will champ at the bit to write drivers for all its gadgets that let Chrome OS users buy and use ‘em.

Who is Chrome OS meant for, exactly?

You know, Google didn’t quite articulate that today. But it would seem that it’ll target users who (A) want an inexpensive second computer; (B) find Windows too complicated, slow, unsafe, and/or unreliable; (C) rarely go anywhere where they can’t get online; (D) are comfortable with a machine they can’t customize the heck out of; and (E) don’t have any traditional client applications that they absolutely, positively can’t live without.

Is the world ready for a 100% cloud-based computer?

That’s the big question, right? I want you guys to discuss it in the comments. But my take is this: The idea will make more sense a year from now, but it’ll still be very early to consider cutting yourself off entirely from local apps and storage. And Google was vague enough today that I’m still unclear about just how useful (or useless) a Chrome OS system is when the Internet is unavailable.

More thoughts to come. I’m already curious whether there’s any chance I can figure out how to install the Chrome OS code that went public today on my own personal netbook, which happens to be an Asus EeePC 1000HE…anyone else out there contemplating trying to get the OS up and running?

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I’m at the Googleplex this morning, where Google is showing off Chrome OS for the first time. More details to come, but I’m tweeting the news fast and furious at the moment–follow me at Twitter to see the news as fast as I learn it.

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God, no: Apple tablet delayed.

Courts: Verizon’s AT&T ads OK.

AT&t’s snarky anti-Verizon ad.

How to improve Office 2010.

Flips to get Wi-Fi soon?

Pre for $80; Pixi, $25.

Trillian for iPhone now available.

ThinkPad Edge: hey, what’s that?

Blu-Ray for $78? That’s tempting.

AOL to shed mucho employees.

Michael Arrington annoys Lance Ulanoff.

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