Yahoo has released the prototype of new service called Zurfer, and the oddly named creation is being touted as a location-based photo browser that works with Flickr. But beware: “Yahoo! has warned users to beware of roaming coats, as Zurfer sends many of the photos over a phone’s internet connection.”
That sentence comes courtesy of bigmouthmedia, which is an excellent source of information, and I had visions of Yahoo dispersing men in trench coats throughout the land (perhaps as some sort of foot patrol to counteract the cars of Google’s Street View). At last, it occurred to me that users should probably be worried about roaming costs.
Now that all would-be Zurfer fans have been assured of their physical safety, it seems reasonable to move on with a description of the service. Zurfer has several interesting features, yet Yahoo Berkley Research sums things up nicely by writing, “Access all the world’s photos on the go. Follow friends, explore Flickr, and find any image using Zurfer.”
Elsewhere on the page, an added benefit is named: “Zurfer will make you better looking and socially popular.”
Yet another group of sentences makes me start to wonder just what’s going on at Yahoo Berkley Research. “Zurfer is a research prototype,” a page – the main page – notes. “Last time we checked, Zurfer was running on Nokia S60 phones and Motorola RAZR V3x.”
So, well, there you have it. Yahoo has made a service available that may, depending on your hardware, work with Flickr and have nearly miraculous side effects on your personal life. If this sounds like your sort of thing, then, as the Zurfer site suggests, “Go Zurfing!” But watch out for those roaming coats.
