Currently the Orkut directory includes only a limited number of applications but one thing that Orkut has is the ability to congregate people into interactive sessions (like a physical chatroom of sorts - think network gaming).
One such app that I stumbled upon today is called TypeRacer - a typing game that lets you race your Orkut friends, in real-time, using your hard-earned keyboard skills and compare your typing speed with other Orkut friends in real-time. The faster you type, the sooner your car will hit the finish line. I’ll be honest - at first I thought this was a terrible idea. Until I used it. It’s fun and kinda addictive! What’s more, it kinda teaches you to type a helluva lot better than that Mavis Beacon crap back in the day. My own speed went up in the 5 minutes I was messing with it.
You start with a little car on the left side of the screen, and you type the given text to make your car move all the way to the right as quickly as possible. Your score will be saved, and your Orkut profile will show how you rank among all of your friends. You know, so they can know how fast you type I guess.
It seems you can add a maximum of 25 apps to your profile. Unlike Facebook, where you can clutter your own profile page beyond recognition with “It’s Brittany Bitch!” iconography. :)
Oh yeah, and if you’re like the rest of North America and not on Orkut, just head to typeracer.com to play for yourself.