Opening Pandora’s box

We’ve told you about pandora.com, the site that figures out what music you like then fashions your own personal playlist of songs you’ve never heard of but are likely to enjoy based on your preferences.

Now there’s a site that applies the same principal but to general topics of interest.

Stumbleupon.com is a free application that runs within the Firefox Web browser. If you take an interest inventory, a small toolbar is installed which then allows you “stumble” onto Web sites and blogs that will appeal to your interests.

“The next time you want to wander the Web,” the Wall Street Journal recommends, “forget about Googling it. Stumble it.”

Does it really work? We tried it, entering interests such as cars, arts and travel. We stumbled upon some sites featuring artists’ online galleries, foreign car companies and maps of the subways in New York. It’s a cool program for those who care to spice up everyday surfing.

“It’s not intrusive,” says Eric Cantrelle, senior art director at X Design, who pointed us to the site. “This Web site works the same way as pandora.com, but this site caters to your interests.”