Method and apparatus for selectively sharing and passively tracking communication device experiences

Abstract

The present invention includes methods and devices for passively tracking and selectively sharing user experiences with communication devices, including computers, web-enabled telephones, and PDAs. User rating or comments on their experiences can be captured. Particular aspects of the present invention are described in the claims, specification and drawings.

We claim: 
     
       1. A computer-implemented method of sharing computer user experiences, including:
 communicating with a registration server to register a user, for automatic client-side collection of computer usage experiences for future sharing, wherein the computer usage experiences include one or more of browsing URLs or visiting a location with a location-aware device that records the visited location; 
 accessingenabling access to one or more of the user's messaging buddy lists and selectingselection of one or more buddies with whom to share the automatically collected computer usage experiences; 
 definingenabling definition of categories of computer usage experiences to be shared with particular selected buddies; and  
 tracking automatically on the client-side at least a portion of the user's computer usage experiences and reporting information indicating the user's computer usage experiences to a tracking server to be published to the particular buddies in accordance with their defined categories of sharing to enable sharing of the computer usage experiences with the particular selected buddies in accordance with the defined categories. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the registration server and the tracking server are a single server. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the registration server and the tracking server are distinct servers. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein registering the user excludes collection of the user's e-mail address. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein registering the user excludes collection of the user's actual name. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein registering the user excludes collection of the user's physical address. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein registering the user excludes collection of any information that identifies a the user in a manner adapted to direct marketing. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , wherein registering the user further includes establishing an anonymous unique identifier for the user. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8 , wherein reporting the tracking data information indicating the computer usage experiences to the tracking server includes reporting the anonymous unique identifier. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the messaging buddy list is maintained by AOL's Instant Messenger software. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the messaging buddy list is maintained by MSN Messenger software. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the messaging buddy list is maintained by Yahoo! Messenger software. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the messaging buddy list is maintained by America Online's ICQ software. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the messaging buddy list is maintained by Odigo's instant messenger software. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the messaging buddy list is maintained by Jabber's instant messenger software. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the rights of the buddies are defined by content category of the user's computer usage. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the rights of the buddies are defined by URLs viewed by the user are categorized into categories of computer usage experiences based on the appearance of one or more keywords on pages corresponding to the URLs viewed. 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the rights of the buddies access rights of the particular selected buddies include the categories of computer usage experiences to be shared with the particular selected buddies and are further defined by activity type of the user's computer usage. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user utilizes a computer and tracking is carried out by a module resident on the computer. 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the tracking is carried out by a device placed between a computer utilized by the user and an access point to the Internet. 
     
     
       21. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the computer usage experience experiences tracked is are filtered before it is being reported to the tracking server. 
     
     
       22. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the computer usage reported is filtered after it is reported to the tracking server and before it is posted for the buddies to access. 
     
     
       23. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more messaging buddy list is lists are maintained by an instant messenger software. 
     
     
       24. The method of  claim 1 , further including sending tracking data regarding the information indicating one of a user's computer usage experiences to one or more buddies. 
     
     
       25. The method of  claim 1 , further including categorizing at least a portion of the tracking data user's computer usage experiences by content and sorting the tracking data information indicating the user's computer usage experiences reported to the tracking server by content category. 
     
     
       26. The method of  claim 1 , further including categorizing at least a portion of the tracking data user's computer usage experiences by content and making the tracking data information indicating the user's computer usage experiences reported to the tracking server searchable by content category and date range. 
     
     
       27. The method of  claim 1 , wherein posting further includes providing annotation tools for associating notes with individual tracking data entries. 
     
     
       28. The method of  claim 1 , wherein posting further includes providing annotation tools for associating ratings with individual tracking data entries. 
     
     
       29. The method of  claim 1 , wherein posting further includes indexing text portions of at least a portion of pages reported from tracking the user's Internet usage. 
     
     
       30. The method of  claim 29 , wherein text indexing is limited to pages reported from tracking as having been annotated or forwarded by the user. 
     
     
       31. A method of sharing Internet browsing experiences, including:
 tracking automatically with a client-side application at least a portion of a user's Internet usage and reporting the tracking data to a server;   categorizing at least a portion of the reported tracking data by content category;   presenting to the user a history of the reported tracking data, with tools for searching and forwarding the tracking data;   receiving from the user data identifying of one or more persons on the user's buddy lists and authorizing the persons to receive tracking data;   responsive to a user request, sending one or more entries from the history of the reported tracking data to the authorized persons.   
     
     
       32. A method of sharing computer user experiences, including:
 registering a user with a registration server to collect and share visited location data using a client-side application collected while visiting a location with a location-aware device that records the visited location;   accessing one or more of the user's messaging buddy lists to identify one or more buddies with whom the tracking data may be shared;   defining rights of the buddies to access the visited location data;   posting at least a portion of the user's visited location data for the buddies to access according to their defined rights.   
     
     
       33. The method of claim 1 wherein the computer usage experiences further include rating a geographic location. 
     
     
       34. The method of claim 1 wherein the computer usage experiences further include commenting on a geographic location. 
     
     
       35. The method of claim 1 wherein the computer usage experiences further include assigning an emoticon to a geographic location. 
     
     
       36. The method of claim 1 wherein the computer usage experiences further include connecting to another user at a geographic location. 
     
     
       37. The method of claim 1 wherein the computer usage experiences further include sending one or more items from the user to one or more other users. 
     
     
       38. The method of claim 1 wherein the computer usage experiences further include general messaging between the user and one or more other users. 
     
     
       39. The method of claim 1 wherein the computer usage experiences include browsing URLs. 
     
     
       40. The method of claim 1 wherein the computer usage experiences include visiting a location with a location-aware device that records the location. 
     
     
       41. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
 enabling receipt and display of advertising information.   
     
     
       42. The method of claim 1 wherein certain computer usage experiences are shared after the user selectively enables sharing. 
     
     
       43. The method of claim 1 wherein the user selectively enables or disables sharing. 
     
     
       44. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software for instructing a controller of a computing device to:
 communicate with a registration server to register a user for automatic and passive client-side collection of computer usage experiences for sharing, wherein the computer usage experiences include one or more of a group consisting of: listening to songs, viewing videos, purchasing items, browsing URLs, and visiting a geographic location with a location-aware device that automatically records geographic information for the geographic location;   enable access to one or more lists of other users and selection of one or more other users from the one or more lists of other users with whom to share the computer usage experiences;   enable definition of categories of computer usage experiences to be shared with particular selected other users among the one or more other users selected from the one or more lists of other users; and   track automatically and passively on the client-side at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user and automatically report information indicating the at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user to a tracking server to enable sharing of the computer usage experiences with the particular selected other users in accordance with the defined categories.   
     
     
       45. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein the registration server and the tracking server are a single server. 
     
     
       46. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein the registration server and the tracking server are distinct servers. 
     
     
       47. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein registering the user excludes collection of the user's e-mail address. 
     
     
       48. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein registering the user excludes collection of the user's actual name. 
     
     
       49. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein registering the user excludes collection of the user's physical address. 
     
     
       50. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein registering the user excludes collection of any information that identifies the user in a manner adapted to direct marketing. 
     
     
       51. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein registering the user further includes establishing an anonymous unique identifier for the user. 
     
     
       52. The computer-readable medium of claim 51, wherein the information indicating the computer usage experiences reported to the tracking server includes the anonymous unique identifier. 
     
     
       53. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein at least one of the one or more lists of other users is a messaging buddy list. 
     
     
       54. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein at least one of the one or more lists of other users is an e-mail contact list. 
     
     
       55. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein at least one of the one or more lists of other users is a contact list maintained by a software application. 
     
     
       56. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein at least one of the one or more lists of other users is a network registry. 
     
     
       57. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein URLs viewed by the user are categorized into categories of computer usage experiences based on the appearance of one or more keywords on pages corresponding to the URLs viewed. 
     
     
       58. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein access rights of the particular selected other users include the categories of computer usage experiences to be shared with the particular selected other users and are further defined by activity type of the user's computing device usage. 
     
     
       59. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein the computing device is a device placed between a device utilized by the user and an access point to the Internet. 
     
     
       60. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein the computer usage experiences tracked are filtered before being reported to the tracking server. 
     
     
       61. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein at least one of the one or more lists of other users is a messaging buddy list maintained by an instant messenger software. 
     
     
       62. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein the software further instructs the controller of the computing device to send the information indicating one of a user's computer usage experiences to one or more of the other users identified by the one or more lists of other users. 
     
     
       63. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user is categorized by content and the information indicating the computer usage experiences of the user reported to the tracking server is sorted by content category. 
     
     
       64. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user is categorized by content and the information indicating the computer usage experiences of the user reported to the tracking server is searchable by content category and date range. 
     
     
       65. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein reporting further includes providing annotation tools for associating notes with individual entries of the information indicating the at least a portion of the computer usage experiences. 
     
     
       66. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein reporting further includes providing annotation tools for associating ratings with individual entries of the information indicating the at least a portion of the computer usage experiences. 
     
     
       67. The computer-readable medium of claim 44, wherein reporting further includes indexing text portions of at least a portion of pages reported from tracking the user's Internet usage. 
     
     
       68. The computer-readable medium of claim 67, wherein text indexing is limited to pages reported from tracking as having been annotated or forwarded by the user. 
     
     
       69. The computer-readable medium of claim 44 wherein the computer usage experiences further include rating a geographic location. 
     
     
       70. The computer-readable medium of claim 44 wherein the computer usage experiences further include commenting on a geographic location. 
     
     
       71. The computer-readable medium of claim 44 wherein the computer usage experiences further include assigning an emoticon to a geographic location. 
     
     
       72. The computer-readable medium of claim 44 wherein the computer usage experiences further include connecting to another user at a geographic location. 
     
     
       73. The computer-readable medium of claim 44 wherein the computer usage experiences further include sending one or more items from the user to one or more other users. 
     
     
       74. The computer-readable medium of claim 44 wherein the computer usage experiences further include general messaging between the user and one or more other users. 
     
     
       75. The computer-readable medium of claim 44 wherein the computer usage experiences include listening to songs. 
     
     
       76. The computer-readable medium of claim 75, wherein the software further instructs the controller to receive information indicating quantified relative influence of at least one user on other users. 
     
     
       77. The computer-readable medium of claim 44 wherein the computer usage experiences include viewing videos. 
     
     
       78. The computer-readable medium of claim 44 wherein the computer usage experiences include purchasing items. 
     
     
       79. The computer-readable medium of claim 44 wherein the computer usage experiences include browsing URLs. 
     
     
       80. The computer-readable medium of claim 44 wherein the computer usage experiences include visiting a geographic location with a location-aware device that automatically records geographic information for the geographic location. 
     
     
       81. The computer-readable medium of claim 44 wherein certain computer usage experiences are shared after the user selectively enables sharing. 
     
     
       82. The computer-readable medium of claim 44 wherein the user selectively enables or disables sharing. 
     
     
       83. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software for instructing a controller of a computing device to:
 communicate with a registration server to register a user for automatic and passive client-side collection of computer usage experiences for sharing, wherein the computer usage experiences include one or more of a group consisting of: browsing URLs and visiting a geographic location with a location-aware device that automatically records geographic information for the geographic location;   enable access to one or more lists of other users and selection of one or more other users from the one or more lists of other users with whom to share the computer usage experiences;   enable definition of categories of computer usage experiences to be shared with particular selected other users among the one or more other users selected from the one or more lists of other users; and   track automatically and passively on the client-side at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user and automatically report information indicating the at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user to a tracking server to enable sharing of the computer usage experiences with the particular selected other users in accordance with the defined categories.   
     
     
       84. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein the registration server and the tracking server are a single server. 
     
     
       85. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein the registration server and the tracking server are distinct servers. 
     
     
       86. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein registering the user excludes collection of the user's e-mail address. 
     
     
       87. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein registering the user excludes collection of the user's actual name. 
     
     
       88. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein registering the user excludes collection of the user's physical address. 
     
     
       89. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein registering the user excludes collection of any information that identifies the user in a manner adapted to direct marketing. 
     
     
       90. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein registering the user further includes establishing an anonymous unique identifier for the user. 
     
     
       91. The computer-readable medium of claim 90, wherein the information indicating the computer usage experiences reported to the tracking server includes the anonymous unique identifier. 
     
     
       92. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein at least one of the one or more lists of other users is a messaging buddy list. 
     
     
       93. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein at least one of the one or more lists of other users is an e-mail contact list. 
     
     
       94. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein at least one of the one or more lists of other users is a contact list maintained by a software application. 
     
     
       95. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein at least one of the one or more lists of other users is a network registry. 
     
     
       96. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein URLs viewed by the user are categorized into categories of computer usage experiences based on the appearance of one or more keywords on pages corresponding to the URLs viewed. 
     
     
       97. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein access rights of the particular selected other users include the categories of computer usage experiences to be shared with the particular selected other users and are further defined by activity type of the user's computer usage. 
     
     
       98. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein the computing device is a device placed between a device utilized by the user and an access point to the Internet. 
     
     
       99. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein the information indicating the tracked computer usage experiences are filtered before being reported to the tracking server. 
     
     
       100. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein at least one of the one or more lists of other users is a messaging buddy list maintained by an instant messenger software. 
     
     
       101. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein the software further instructs the controller of the computing device to send the information indicating one of a user's computer usage experiences to one or more of the other users identified by the one or more lists of other users. 
     
     
       102. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user is categorized by content and the information indicating the computer usage experiences reported to the tracking server is sorted by content category. 
     
     
       103. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user is categorized by content and the information indicating the computer usage experiences reported to the tracking server is searchable by content category and date range. 
     
     
       104. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein reporting further includes providing annotation tools for associating notes with individual entries of the information indicating the at least a portion of the computer usage experiences. 
     
     
       105. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein reporting further includes providing annotation tools for associating ratings with individual entries of the information indicating the at least a portion of the computer usage experiences. 
     
     
       106. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein reporting further includes indexing text portions of at least a portion of pages reported from tracking the user's Internet usage. 
     
     
       107. The computer-readable medium of claim 106, wherein text indexing is limited to the pages reported from tracking as having been annotated or forwarded by the user. 
     
     
       108. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein the computer usage experiences include listening to songs. 
     
     
       109. The computer-readable medium of claim 108, wherein the software further instructs the controller to receive information indicating quantified relative influence of at least one user on other users. 
     
     
       110. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein the computer usage experiences include viewing videos. 
     
     
       111. The computer-readable medium of claim 83, wherein the computer usage experiences include purchasing items. 
     
     
       112. The computer-readable medium of claim 83 wherein the computer usage experiences further include rating a geographic location. 
     
     
       113. The computer-readable medium of claim 83 wherein the computer usage experiences further include commenting on a geographic location. 
     
     
       114. The computer-readable medium of claim 83 wherein the computer usage experiences further include assigning an emoticon to a geographic location. 
     
     
       115. The computer-readable medium of claim 83 wherein the computer usage experiences further include connecting to another user at a geographic location. 
     
     
       116. The computer-readable medium of claim 83 wherein the computer usage experiences further include sending one or more items from the user to one or more other users. 
     
     
       117. The computer-readable medium of claim 83 wherein the computer usage experiences further include general messaging between the user and one or more other users. 
     
     
       118. The computer-readable medium of claim 83 wherein the computer usage experiences include browsing URLs. 
     
     
       119. The computer-readable medium of claim 83 wherein the computer usage experiences include visiting a geographic location with a location-aware device that automatically records geographic information for the geographic location. 
     
     
       120. The computer-readable medium of claim 83 wherein certain computer usage experiences are shared after the user selectively enables sharing. 
     
     
       121. The computer-readable medium of claim 83 wherein the user selectively enables or disables sharing. 
     
     
       122. A method of operation of a registration and tracking server for sharing computer usage experiences, comprising the following computer-implemented steps:
 receiving, at the registration and tracking server, a registration of a user for automatic client-side collection of computer usage experiences for sharing, wherein the computer usage experiences include one or more of browsing URLs or visiting a location with a location-aware device that records the location;   enabling access to one or more of the user's messaging buddy lists and selection of one or more buddies with whom to share the computer usage experiences;   obtaining defined categories of computer usage experiences to be shared with particular selected buddies;   receiving, at the registration and tracking server, tracking information for the user from a client-side application that automatically tracks the computer usage experiences of the user, the tracking information comprising information indicating at least a portion of the user's computer usage experiences; and   publishing the at least a portion of the user's computer usage experiences to the particular selected buddies in accordance with the defined categories of sharing.   
     
     
       123. The method of claim 122 wherein the computer usage experiences include browsing URLs. 
     
     
       124. The method of claim 122 wherein the computer usage experiences include visiting a location with a location-aware device that records the location. 
     
     
       125. The method of claim 122, wherein the registration and tracking server comprises at least two distinct servers. 
     
     
       126. The method of claim 122 wherein certain computer usage experiences are shared after the user selectively enables sharing. 
     
     
       127. The method of claim 122 wherein the user selectively enables or disables sharing. 
     
     
       128. A method of operation of a client-side application to share computer usage experiences, including:
 communicating with a registration server to register a user for automatic client-side collection of computer usage experiences for sharing, wherein the computer usage experiences include one or more of browsing URLs or visiting a location with a location-aware device that records the location;   enabling selection of one or more buddies with whom to share the computer usage experiences from one or more of the user's messaging buddy lists;   enabling definition of categories of computer usage experiences to be shared with particular selected buddies;   tracking automatically on the client-side at least a portion of the user's computer usage experiences; and   reporting information indicating the at least a portion of the user's computer usage experiences to a tracking server to enable sharing of the computer usage experiences with the particular selected buddies in accordance with the defined categories.   
     
     
       129. The method of claim 128 wherein the computer usage experiences include browsing URLs. 
     
     
       130. The method of claim 128 wherein the computer usage experiences include visiting a location with a location-aware device that records the location. 
     
     
       131. The method of claim 128 wherein certain computer usage experiences are shared after the user selectively enables sharing. 
     
     
       132. The method of claim 128 wherein the user selectively enables or disables sharing. 
     
     
       133. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software for instructing a controller of a user device to:
 communicate with a registration server to register a user for automatic and passive client-side collection of computer usage experiences for sharing, wherein the computer usage experiences include one or more of a group consisting of: listening to songs, viewing videos, purchasing items, browsing URLs, and visiting a geographic location with a location-aware device that automatically records geographic information for the geographic location;   enable the user to select one or more other users with whom to share the computer usage experiences from one or more lists of other users;   enable the user to define categories of computer usage experiences to be shared with particular selected other users among the one or more other users selected from the one or more lists of other users; and   track automatically and passively on the client-side at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user and automatically report information indicating the at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user to a tracking server to enable sharing of the computer usage experiences with the particular selected other users in accordance with the defined categories.   
     
     
       134. The computer-readable medium of claim 133 wherein the computer usage experiences include listening to songs. 
     
     
       135. The computer-readable medium of claim 134, wherein the software further instructs the controller to quantify relative influence of at least one user on other users. 
     
     
       136. The computer-readable medium of claim 134, wherein the software further instructs the controller to receive information indicating quantified relative influence of at least one user on other users. 
     
     
       137. The computer-readable medium of claim 133 wherein the computer usage experiences include viewing videos. 
     
     
       138. The computer-readable medium of claim 133 wherein the computer usage experiences include purchasing items. 
     
     
       139. The computer-readable medium of claim 133 wherein the computer usage experiences include browsing URLs. 
     
     
       140. The computer-readable medium of claim 133 wherein the computer usage experiences include visiting a geographic location with a location-aware device that automatically records geographic information for the geographic location. 
     
     
       141. The computer-readable medium of claim 133 wherein certain computer usage experiences are shared after the user selectively enables sharing. 
     
     
       142. The computer-readable medium of claim 133 wherein the user selectively enables or disables sharing. 
     
     
       143. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software for instructing at least one controller of a registration and tracking server to:
 receive, at the registration and tracking server, a registration of a user for automatic and passive client-side collection of computer usage experiences for sharing, wherein the computer usage experiences include one or more of a group consisting of: browsing URLs and visiting a geographic location with a location-aware device that automatically records geographic information for the geographic location;   enable the user to select one or more other users with whom to share the computer usage experiences from one or more lists of other users;   obtain defined categories of computer usage experiences to be shared with particular selected other users among the one or more other users selected from the one or more lists of other users;   receive, at the registration and tracking server, tracking information for the user from a client-side application that automatically and passively tracks at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user; and   publish information indicating the at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user to the particular selected other users in accordance with their defined categories of sharing.   
     
     
       144. The computer-readable medium of claim 143 wherein the computer usage experiences include browsing URLs. 
     
     
       145. The computer-readable medium of claim 143 wherein the computer usage experiences include visiting a geographic location with a location-aware device that automatically records geographic information for the geographic location. 
     
     
       146. The computer-readable medium of claim 143, wherein the registration and tracking server comprises at least two distinct servers. 
     
     
       147. The computer-readable medium of claim 143, wherein the software further instructs the controller to display advertising information. 
     
     
       148. The computer-readable medium of claim 143 wherein certain computer usage experiences are shared after the user selectively enables sharing. 
     
     
       149. The computer-readable medium of claim 143 wherein the user selectively enables or disables sharing. 
     
     
       150. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software for instructing a controller of a user device to:
 communicate with a registration server to register a user for automatic and passive client-side collection of computer usage experiences for sharing, wherein the computer usage experiences include one or more of a group consisting of: browsing URLs and visiting a geographic location with a location-aware device that automatically records geographic information for the geographic location;   enable the user to select one or more other users with whom to share the computer usage experiences from one or more lists of other users;   enable the user to define categories of computer usage experiences to be shared with particular selected other users among the one or more other users selected from the one or more lists of other users;   track automatically and passively on the client-side at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user; and   automatically report information indicating at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user to a tracking server to enable sharing of the computer usage experiences with the particular selected other users in accordance with the defined categories.   
     
     
       151. The computer-readable medium of claim 150 wherein the computer usage experiences include browsing URLs. 
     
     
       152. The computer-readable medium of claim 150 wherein the computer usage experiences include visiting a geographic location with a location-aware device that automatically records geographic information for the geographic location. 
     
     
       153. The computer-readable medium of claim 150 wherein certain computer usage experiences are shared after the user selectively enables sharing. 
     
     
       154. The computer-readable medium of claim 150 wherein the user selectively enables or disables sharing. 
     
     
       155. A method of operation of a server to share computer experiences, comprising the following server-implemented steps:
 receiving at the server a registration of a user for automatic client-side application collection and sharing of computer usage experiences of the user for sharing, wherein the computer usage experiences include listening to songs;   enabling access to one or more messaging buddy lists of the user and selection of one or more buddies with whom the computer usage experiences may be shared from one or more messaging buddy lists of the user;   obtaining defined rights of the one or more buddies to access the computer usage experiences; and   posting information indicating at least a portion of computer usage experiences for the one or more buddies to access according to the rights defined for the one or more buddies.   
     
     
       156. The method of claim 155, further comprising:
 quantifying relative influence of at least one user on other users.   
     
     
       157. The method of claim 155 wherein certain computer usage experiences are shared after the user selectively enables sharing. 
     
     
       158. The method of claim 155 wherein the user selectively enables or disables sharing. 
     
     
       159. A method of operation of a server to share computer experiences, comprising the following server-implemented steps:
 receiving at the server a registration of a user for automatic client-side application collection and sharing of computer usage experiences of the user for sharing, wherein the computer usage experiences include viewing videos;   enabling access to one or more messaging buddy lists of the user and selection of one or more buddies with whom the computer usage experiences may be shared from one or more messaging buddy lists of the user;   obtaining defined rights of the one or more buddies to access the computer usage experiences; and   posting information indicating at least a portion of the computer usage experiences for the one or more buddies to access according to the rights defined for the one or more buddies.   
     
     
       160. The method of claim 159 wherein certain computer usage experiences are shared after the user selectively enables sharing. 
     
     
       161. The method of claim 159 wherein the user selectively enables or disables sharing. 
     
     
       162. A method of operation of a server to share computer experiences, comprising the following server-implemented steps:
 receiving at the server a registration of a user for automatic client-side application collection and sharing of computer usage experiences of the user for sharing, wherein the computer usage experiences include purchasing items;   enabling access to one or more messaging buddy lists of the user and selection of one or more buddies with whom the computer usage experiences may be shared from one or more messaging buddy lists of the user;   obtaining defined rights of the one or more buddies to access the computer usage experiences; and   posting information indicating at least a portion of the computer usage experiences for the one or more buddies to access according to the rights defined for the one or more buddies.   
     
     
       163. The method of claim 162 wherein certain computer usage experiences are shared after the user selectively enables sharing. 
     
     
       164. The method of claim 162 wherein the user selectively enables or disables sharing. 
     
     
       165. A method of operation of a server to share computer experiences, comprising the following sever-implemented steps:
 receiving at the server a registration of a user for automatic client-side application collection and sharing of computer usage experiences of the user for sharing, wherein the computer usage experiences include Internet browsing;   enabling access to one or more messaging buddy lists of the user and selection of one or more buddies with whom the computer usage experiences may be shared from the one or more messaging buddy lists of the user;   obtaining defined rights of the one or more buddies to access the computer usage experiences; and   posting information indicating at least a portion of the computer usage experiences for the one or more buddies to access according to the rights defined for the one or more buddies.   
     
     
       166. The method of claim 165 wherein certain computer usage experiences are shared after the user selectively enables sharing. 
     
     
       167. The method of claim 165 wherein the user selectively enables or disables sharing. 
     
     
       168. A method of operation of a computing device, comprising:
 communicating with a registration server to register a user for automatic and passive client-side collection of computer usage experiences for sharing, wherein the computer usage experiences include one or more of a group consisting of: listening to songs, viewing videos, purchasing items, browsing URLs, and visiting a geographic location with a location-aware device that automatically records geographic information for the geographic location;   enabling access to one or more lists of other users and selection of one or more other users from the one or more lists of other users with whom to share the computer usage experiences;   enabling definition of categories of computer usage experiences to be shared with particular selected other users among the one or more other users selected from the one or more lists of other users; and   tracking automatically and passively on the client-side at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user and automatically reporting information indicating the at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user to a tracking server to enable sharing of the computer usage experiences with the particular selected other users in accordance with the defined categories.   
     
     
       169. The method of claim 168, wherein the registration server and the tracking server are a single server. 
     
     
       170. The method of claim 168, wherein the registration server and the tracking server are distinct servers. 
     
     
       171. The method of claim 168, wherein communicating with the registration server to register the user excludes collection of the user's e-mail address by the registration server. 
     
     
       172. The method of claim 168, wherein communicating with the registration server to register the user excludes collection of the user's actual name by the registration server. 
     
     
       173. The method of claim 168, wherein communicating with the registration server to register the user excludes collection of the user's physical address by the registration server. 
     
     
       174. The method of claim 168, wherein communicating with the registration server to register the user excludes collection of any information that identifies the user in a manner adapted to direct marketing by the registration server. 
     
     
       175. The method of claim 168, wherein communicating with the registration server to register the user further includes establishing an anonymous unique identifier for the user. 
     
     
       176. The method of claim 175, wherein the information indicating the computer usage experiences reported to the tracking server includes the anonymous unique identifier. 
     
     
       177. The method of claim 168, wherein at least one of the one or more lists of other users is a messaging buddy list. 
     
     
       178. The method of claim 168, wherein at least one of the one or more lists of other users is an e-mail contact list. 
     
     
       179. The method of claim 168, wherein at least one of the one or more lists of other users is a contact list maintained by a software application. 
     
     
       180. The method of claim 168, wherein at least one of the one or more lists of other users is a network registry. 
     
     
       181. The method of claim 168, wherein URLs viewed by the user are categorized into categories of computer usage experiences based on the appearance of one or more keywords on pages corresponding to the URLs viewed. 
     
     
       182. The method of claim 168, wherein access rights of the particular selected other users include the categories of computer usage experiences to be shared with the particular selected other users and are further defined by activity type of the user's computing device usage. 
     
     
       183. The method of claim 168, wherein the computing device is a device placed between a device utilized by the user and an access point to the Internet. 
     
     
       184. The method of claim 168, wherein the computer usage experiences tracked are filtered before being reported to the tracking server. 
     
     
       185. The method of claim 168, wherein at least one of the one or more lists of other users is a messaging buddy list maintained by an instant messenger software. 
     
     
       186. The method of claim 168 further comprising sending the information indicating one of a user's computer usage experiences to one or more of the other users identified by the one or more lists of other users. 
     
     
       187. The method of claim 168, wherein at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user is categorized by content and the information indicating the computer usage experiences of the user reported to the tracking server is sorted by content category. 
     
     
       188. The method of claim 168, wherein at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user is categorized by content and the information indicating the computer usage experiences of the user reported to the tracking server is searchable by content category and date range. 
     
     
       189. The method of claim 168, wherein reporting further includes providing annotation tools for associating notes with individual entries of the information indicating the at least a portion of the computer usage experiences. 
     
     
       190. The method of claim 168, wherein reporting further includes providing annotation tools for associating ratings with individual entries of the information indicating the at least a portion of the computer usage experiences. 
     
     
       191. The method of claim 168, wherein reporting further includes indexing text portions of at least a portion of pages reported from tracking the user's Internet usage. 
     
     
       192. The method of claim 191, wherein text indexing is limited to pages reported from tracking as having been annotated or forwarded by the user. 
     
     
       193. The method of claim 168 wherein the computer usage experiences further include rating a geographic location. 
     
     
       194. The method of claim 168 wherein the computer usage experiences further include commenting on a geographic location. 
     
     
       195. The method of claim 168 wherein the computer usage experiences further include assigning an emoticon to a geographic location. 
     
     
       196. The method of claim 168 wherein the computer usage experiences further include connecting to another user at a geographic location. 
     
     
       197. The method of claim 168 wherein the computer usage experiences further include sending one or more items from the user to one or more other users. 
     
     
       198. The method of claim 168 wherein the computer usage experiences further include general messaging between the user and one or more other users. 
     
     
       199. The method of claim 168 wherein the computer usage experiences include listening to songs. 
     
     
       200. The method of claim 199, wherein the software further instructs the controller to receive information indicating quantified relative influence of at least one user on other users. 
     
     
       201. The method of claim 168 wherein the computer usage experiences include viewing videos. 
     
     
       202. The method of claim 168 wherein the computer usage experiences include purchasing items. 
     
     
       203. The method of claim 168 wherein the computer usage experiences include browsing URLs. 
     
     
       204. The method of claim 168 wherein the computer usage experiences include visiting a geographic location with a location-aware device that automatically records geographic information for the geographic location. 
     
     
       205. The method of claim 168 wherein certain computer usage experiences are shared after the user selectively enables sharing. 
     
     
       206. The method of claim 168 wherein the user selectively enables or disables sharing. 
     
     
       207. A method of operation of a computing device, comprising:
 communicating with a registration server to register a user for automatic and passive client-side collection of computer usage experiences for sharing, wherein the computer usage experiences include one or more of a group consisting of: browsing URLs and visiting a geographic location with a location-aware device that automatically records geographic information for the geographic location;   enabling access to one or more lists of other users and selection of one or more other users from the one or more lists of other users with whom to share the computer usage experiences;   enabling definition of categories of computer usage experiences to be shared with particular selected other users among the one or more other users selected from the one or more lists of other users; and   tracking automatically and passively on the client-side at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user and automatically reporting information indicating the at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user to a tracking server to enable sharing of the computer usage experiences with the particular selected other users in accordance with the defined categories.   
     
     
       208. The method of claim 207, wherein the registration server and the tracking server are a single server. 
     
     
       209. The method of claim 207, wherein the registration server and the tracking server are distinct servers. 
     
     
       210. The method of claim 207, wherein communicating with the registration server to register the user excludes collection of the user's e-mail address by the registration server. 
     
     
       211. The method of claim 207, wherein communicating with the registration server to register the user excludes collection of the user's actual name by the registration server. 
     
     
       212. The method of claim 207, wherein communicating with the registration server to register the user excludes collection of the user's physical address by the registration server. 
     
     
       213. The method of claim 207, wherein communicating with the registration server to register the user excludes collection of any information that identifies the user in a manner adapted to direct marketing by the registration server. 
     
     
       214. The method of claim 207, wherein communicating with the registration server to register the user further includes establishing an anonymous unique identifier for the user. 
     
     
       215. The method of claim 214, wherein the information indicating the computer usage experiences reported to the tracking server includes the anonymous unique identifier. 
     
     
       216. The method of claim 207, wherein at least one of the one or more lists of other users is a messaging buddy list. 
     
     
       217. The method of claim 207, wherein at least one of the one or more lists of other users is an e-mail contact list. 
     
     
       218. The method of claim 207, wherein at least one of the one or more lists of other users is a contact list maintained by a software application. 
     
     
       219. The method of claim 207, wherein at least one of the one or more lists of other users is a network registry. 
     
     
       220. The method of claim 207, wherein URLs viewed by the user are categorized into categories of computer usage experiences based on the appearance of one or more keywords on pages corresponding to the URLs viewed. 
     
     
       221. The method of claim 207, wherein access rights of the particular selected other users include the categories of computer usage experiences to be shared with the particular selected other users and are further defined by activity type of the user's computer usage. 
     
     
       222. The method of claim 207, wherein the computing device is a device placed between a device utilized by the user and an access point to the Internet. 
     
     
       223. The method of claim 207, wherein the information indicating the tracked computer usage experiences are filtered before being reported to the tracking server. 
     
     
       224. The method of claim 207, wherein at least one of the one or more lists of other users is a messaging buddy list maintained by an instant messenger software. 
     
     
       225. The method of claim 207, further comprising sending the information indicating one of a user's computer usage experiences to one or more of the other users identified by the one or more lists of other users. 
     
     
       226. The method of claim 207, wherein at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user is categorized by content and the information indicating the computer usage experiences reported to the tracking server is sorted by content category. 
     
     
       227. The method of claim 207, wherein at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user is categorized by content and the information indicating the computer usage experiences reported to the tracking server is searchable by content category and date range. 
     
     
       228. The method of claim 207, wherein reporting further includes providing annotation tools for associating notes with individual entries of the information indicating the at least a portion of the computer usage experiences. 
     
     
       229. The method of claim 207, wherein reporting further includes providing annotation tools for associating ratings with individual entries of the information indicating the at least a portion of the computer usage experiences. 
     
     
       230. The method of claim 207, wherein reporting further includes indexing text portions of at least a portion of pages reported from tracking the user's Internet usage. 
     
     
       231. The method of claim 230, wherein text indexing is limited to the pages reported from tracking as having been annotated or forwarded by the user. 
     
     
       232. The method of claim 207, wherein the computer usage experiences include listening to songs. 
     
     
       233. The method of claim 232, further comprising receiving information indicating quantified relative influence of at least one user on other users. 
     
     
       234. The method of claim 207, wherein the computer usage experiences include viewing videos. 
     
     
       235. The method of claim 207, wherein the computer usage experiences include purchasing items. 
     
     
       236. The method of claim 207 wherein the computer usage experiences further include rating a geographic location. 
     
     
       237. The method of claim 207 wherein the computer usage experiences further include commenting on a geographic location. 
     
     
       238. The method of claim 207 wherein the computer usage experiences further include assigning an emoticon to a geographic location. 
     
     
       239. The method of claim 207 wherein the computer usage experiences further include connecting to another user at a geographic location. 
     
     
       240. The method of claim 207 wherein the computer usage experiences further include sending one or more items from the user to one or more other users. 
     
     
       241. The method of claim 207 wherein the computer usage experiences further include general messaging between the user and one or more other users. 
     
     
       242. The method of claim 207 wherein the computer usage experiences include browsing URLs. 
     
     
       243. The method of claim 207 wherein the computer usage experiences include visiting a geographic location with a location-aware device that automatically records geographic information for the geographic location. 
     
     
       244. The method of claim 207 wherein certain computer usage experiences are shared after the user selectively enables sharing. 
     
     
       245. The method of claim 207 wherein the user selectively enables or disables sharing. 
     
     
       246. A method of operation of a user device, comprising:
 communicating with a registration server to register a user for automatic and passive client-side collection of computer usage experiences for sharing, wherein the computer usage experiences include one or more of a group consisting of: listening to songs, viewing videos, purchasing items, browsing URLs, and visiting a geographic location with a location-aware device that automatically records geographic information for the geographic location;   enabling the user to select one or more other users with whom to share the computer usage experiences from one or more lists of other users;   enabling the user to define categories of computer usage experiences to be shared with particular selected other users among the one or more other users selected from the one or more lists of other users; and   tracking automatically and passively on the client-side at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user and automatically reporting information indicating the at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user to a tracking server to enable sharing of the computer usage experiences with the particular selected other users in accordance with the defined categories.   
     
     
       247. The method of claim 246 wherein the computer usage experiences include listening to songs. 
     
     
       248. The method of claim 247, wherein the software further instructs the controller to quantify relative influence of at least one user on other users. 
     
     
       249. The method of claim 247, wherein the software further instructs the controller to receive information indicating quantified relative influence of at least one user on other users. 
     
     
       250. The method of claim 246 wherein the computer usage experiences include viewing videos. 
     
     
       251. The method of claim 246 wherein the computer usage experiences include purchasing items. 
     
     
       252. The method of claim 246 wherein the computer usage experiences include browsing URLs. 
     
     
       253. The method of claim 246 wherein the computer usage experiences include visiting a geographic location with a location-aware device that automatically records geographic information for the geographic location. 
     
     
       254. The method of claim 246 wherein certain computer usage experiences are shared after the user selectively enables sharing. 
     
     
       255. The method of claim 246 wherein the user selectively enables or disables sharing. 
     
     
       256. A method of operation of a registration and tracking server, comprising:
 receiving, at the registration and tracking server, a registration of a user for automatic and passive client-side collection of computer usage experiences for sharing, wherein the computer usage experiences include one or more of a group consisting of: browsing URLs and visiting a geographic location with a location-aware device that automatically records geographic information for the geographic location;   enabling the user to select one or more other users with whom to share the computer usage experiences from one or more lists of other users;   obtaining defined categories of computer usage experiences to be shared with particular selected other users among the one or more other users selected from the one or more lists of other users;   receiving, at the registration and tracking server, tracking information for the user from a client-side application that automatically and passively tracks at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user; and   publishing information indicating the at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user to the particular selected other users in accordance with their defined categories of sharing.   
     
     
       257. The method of claim 256 wherein the computer usage experiences include browsing URLs. 
     
     
       258. The method of claim 256 wherein the computer usage experiences include visiting a geographic location with a location-aware device that automatically records geographic information for the geographic location. 
     
     
       259. The method of claim 256, wherein the registration and tracking server comprises at least two distinct servers. 
     
     
       260. The method of claim 256, wherein the software further instructs the controller to display advertising information. 
     
     
       261. The method of claim 256 wherein certain computer usage experiences are shared after the user selectively enables sharing. 
     
     
       262. The method of claim 256 wherein the user selectively enables or disables sharing. 
     
     
       263. A method of operation of a user device, comprising:
 communicating with a registration server to register a user for automatic and passive client-side collection of computer usage experiences for sharing, wherein the computer usage experiences include one or more of a group consisting of: browsing URLs and visiting a geographic location with a location-aware device that automatically records geographic information for the geographic location;   enabling the user to select one or more other users with whom to share the computer usage experiences from one or more lists of other users;   enabling the user to define categories of computer usage experiences to be shared with particular selected other users among the one or more other users selected from the one or more lists of other users;   tracking automatically and passively on the client-side at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user; and   automatically reporting information indicating at least a portion of the computer usage experiences of the user to a tracking server to enable sharing of the computer usage experiences with the particular selected other users in accordance with the defined categories.   
     
     
       264. The method of claim 263 wherein the computer usage experiences include browsing URLs. 
     
     
       265. The method of claim 263 wherein the computer usage experiences include visiting a geographic location with a location-aware device that automatically records geographic information for the geographic location. 
     
     
       266. The method of claim 263 wherein certain computer usage experiences are shared after the user selectively enables sharing. 
     
     
       267. The method of claim 263 wherein the user selectively enables or disables sharing.