PicLens is BEST web tool for browsing images and photos

I first discovered PicLens, a cinematic presentation of photos and videos, while attending a session at Stanford University put on by the D School on Creating Infectious Engagement.

The folks from CoolIris gave a demo to us, and even though I didn't have web access (or phone acces for that matter) during the session, I pre-populated my Blackberry browser with the following Tweet:

18:40 found a must get app: PicLens from cooliris.com you'll be blown away

I downloaded and installed the app that night, and I've been enjoying it ever since as it allows me to sift through images and videos so very quickly to find what I'm looking for.

The utility of the tool hit home again last night as I was doing reconnaissance for a race I'm participating in on June 8, the Muddy Buddy here in San Jose. It's a combo ride/run/obstacle course, and I was wanting to see whether folks had cages on their mountain bike pedals and what kind of obstacles they've run in the past.

I navigated over to Flickr to find the MuddyBuddy tag and instead of scrolling page-by-page through the 1,579 results (30 at a time), I fired up PicLens.

Within 5 minutes, I'd seen all the pictures, navigating through them as if they were on a light board like one might have seen Tom Cruise spinning through in the Minority Report.

I've also used the interface to quickly find Creative Commons images for use in presentations and to scout out trail conditions on Mt Whitney at various times of year. In all, great stuff.

Well worth the quick download and install. Do it. Now.