Retrievr

By Sean Fisher
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

If you ever played Mario Paint on the SNES, you will feel right at home with the web-based Flickr app Retrievr. Draw a picture on the site with their somewhat crude, yet immensly fun, painting tools and Retrievr will fetch Flickr images that have similar shapes and colors to those that you provide. So do you get back images similar to your sketch? Well, sometimes. Retrievr is described as an “exploration” tool instead of a pure “search” tool, so the focus is not on exact representation. Taking this into account, simple sketches will still give you some of what you are looking for and some surprises to boot. All-in all, very clever and very amusing. Source: MetaFilter via A Whole Lotta Nothing

We Say: Caution: Do not try Retrievr if you have imporant work to do. It is already easy enough to waste time flipping through Flickr images, and the interactivity of Retrievr makes it even easier. Get ready to be unproductive!