Being technologically adventurous in this "Age of The Beta" we live in is a lot of fun. I love checking out new web-based services as they make their way on to the scene. In fact this post is coming to you via Posterous (a service I happen to be checking out for the first time right now) written with an app that's in beta (Gmail, the perpetual beta). But the level of trace info which it leaves scattered across the internet is beginning to make me paranoid. Each social service, website, mailing list, etc. that I've signed up for has a small thumbprint of me- usernames I've selected, bookmarks I've liked, email addresses, people I've communicated with, etc. These user accounts will likely live on as long as the service stays in business. They'll likely even live on much longer than I do.

I can't tell you why this bothers me. It's not like anyone could siphon value out of my hijacking my dull life. But just having the loose end hanging there bugs me. Which is why I love services which allow you to try them out, and then walk away cleanly if things don't go well. One prime example of this is Delicious. I recently tried it out, and while it's a nifty service, I couldn't fit it in to my daily internet groove. Instead of just abandoning the site hoping that someone someday deletes my data, Delicious allows you to delete your account. This little feature not only makes me feel more comfortable, but it leaves me with a positive impression of the service- a service that I didn't even like much to begin with. I might try it again some day, simply for how easily they let me leave.

So if you're designing a new service or open beta, give your users the option to walk away cleanly. If they do leave, they'll leave with a smile.

One of the main reasons I use Songbird over other media players was integrated Last.FM scrobbling + radio streaming. The latest Last.FM plug-in requires a paid subscription to stream radio. More 3rd party apps which stream Last.FM could soon follow. 
$3 isn't much, but with other free services available (not to mention my own digital library), do I really need Last.FM and yet another monthly charge?

I've been disappointed by several recent product betas & launches, which is making me wonder if I might be expecting a bit too much from technology these days. I'm willing to follow along, but this had better be leading somewhere. Some examples:

• iPhone 3GS: Welcome upgrades, but not enough there to get many people to break their existing 3G agreements.
• iPhone 3.0 OS: When you have to search the UI 15 mins. looking for the new stuff, chances are it's not an earth-shattering update.
• Apple Snow Leopard: See above. And Apple actually has the stones to mock Windows 7 as "Vista R2"?
• Firefox 3.5: I love you Firefox, but you're boring. I pretty much already had all this stuff in Chrome i.e. Speed, private browsing, HTML 5, etc.
• Wolfram Alpha: Google killer? Boy was that overhyped. A neat stats calculation engine that most of us have little use for.
• Opera Unite: If you're going to claim to reinvent the web, you had better have something amazing up your sleeve.

Did I miss any?

Now I know that each of these upgrades introduce much-needed and welcome improvements, especially under the hood. Except Opera. I can't explain that one. But "under-the-hood" rarely shifts units, so I'll wait with much anticipation at what these companies do with these new product capabilites.