Pip.io Plowed Under As Seeds For Harvest Are Sown

I was stumbling my way around on Quora and saw a link to Pip.io, which I used, for a period, as it was a promising alternative to Friendfeed. I decided to click the link to see how the service has changed since my last use, and discovered a message saying it had shut down. The message is embedded below.

Dear Pip.io Members,

Thank you very much for your guys’s support! We couldn’t have done it without all of you!

I have decided to shutdown Pip.io and pursue other dreams.

When I started Pip.io, I dreamed of a social web that was more than just what Facebook and Twitter offered.

I dreamed of a social service that could unify and simplify the social experience people have on the internet.

However, even though I will be shutting down Pip.io, I have not given up on those dreams.

The best way to stay up to date with what I’m doing is on my blog at http://www.leoshimizu.com

Thank you members and hopefully we’ll meet again!

Sincerely,

Leo Shimizu
Founder & CEO

After reading, I had two questions, the first, “When did it close,” and the second, “What is he working on now?” So first I checked out the link he posted, but there wasn’t much there, but the Twitter widget on the side was interesting; it was pushing a link, http://ha.rve.st/, multiple times. Checking it out, from as close as I could get, it is reminiscent, in look and style, of Pip.io,  but the copy on the homepage, is intriguing.

Harvest is an easier and better way to consume the social web. Harvest is a communication platform that not only gathers your posts into one stream in real-time but lets you be you. Experience the social web in a way you never have before!

It lets you be you, by at least, discussing the concept of social circles, or “Personas,” where the problem is you only want to share with certain groups selectively.  It also, appears to manage imaginary connections across services, though I don’t completely understand their solution there. It also appears to be a cross-client and aggregation tool. You can check out a few public pages of the interface at http://ha.rve.st/leo/ and http://ha.rve.st/matt/, most others appear to be private. Image at bottom.

As for the other question, when did Pip.io close, I had to travel through Leo’s twitter feed. On May 16th, he discusses the possibility of a Pip.io mobile app coming soon. His next tweet, on May 18th, pushes http://ha.rve.st/ to a user quoting the phrase, “I have decided to shutdown Pip.io and pursue other dreams.” So I assume that means the Pip.io was shutdown on May 17th.

Best of luck to Leo and his partners, on this new project.

Harvest Acount for Leo

Processing The End

The Emptiness…

It is a lack of fulfillment, both metaphorically and in actuality. It is the knowing that something should be done, how it could be done, but stressing out over how it will be done. It is the ever present NEVER.

Never finished.

Never shown.

Never critiqued.

Never. Never. Nev…

Many Endings…

With many starts, there also comes many endings. And while all things eventually end, there is a period in the middle that can be seen as an end, temporarily. That middle, however, doesn’t contain the finality of an ending. It could, but it often doesn’t. An end: Must be declared. Must be defined. Must include some sense of finality.

To not have those, you have many threads. These threads are silent, until ruffled. They are known, but not seen. They are ready to be wove together, to be knotted. The knot is the end, but…

…Never Seen

Process Undefined

Without a solid process, with an ending. One that can be declared complete. There will be no final solution, though there may be a solution along the way.

Fighting against an end, is natural. It is nostalgia. It is delusion. There has to be a process that demands a sacrifice of resistance. Fighting the end is futile. Fighting the resistance to the end is key.

A well defined process removes friction. It makes the end have definition. It bears the path to follow. Thought can consume a process as process removes thought.

Destroying the Habit

Forget what you know. Remember what you know. Fight. Fight for your freedom. Freedom from yourself. Freedom from your habits.

Your freedom depends on the destruction. The destruction depends on how well you fight. Your tools are the ability to think and the ability to act.

Think of a process. Act on the process. Repeat the process. Think. Act. Repeat. Process. Process.

Habitual Creation

Finality in the process.

 

Why I’m Not Hoppy With The Cloud (Particularly Music)

When it comes to my opinion on the cloud, it comes from personal experience, over the past few years. I tend to heckle people who have shifted towards the cloud over the past year or two, and mock the cloud. In most cases, their choice is probably valid, because they don’t live in the same environment that I do, living last mile. However, even when I didn’t live last mile, I had issues with services that were based in the cloud, that have solidified my views. Just to note, when I’m talking about the cloud, I’m referring to the consumer side, it has different use case than that of using the cloud from a business perspective, which I’m mostly behind.

One of the people I tend to mock, quite often, is Louis Gray, who just wrote a post titled, “While Amazon Chokes on Lady Gaga, Spotify Flows“. In it he tries to promote Spotify, to US consumers (who can’t even use it), in the face of Amazon’s issues with users, trying to download Lady Gaga’s latest album for $0.99. The fact is that I would rather own the music, that rely on someone else’s right to license the music to consumers. If the service falters, I lose access to the music, and possibly my playlists.

To many, a failure might seem unlikely, but I doubt most of them have suffered through a failure in the service, or even a complete shutdown of the service. I happen to have experienced this on more than one occasion with since fallen services: SpiralFrog and Ruckus. I still remember how I waited patiently for my beta invite for 9 months, to get into Spiral Frog, I finally received my invite into the private beta on 8/31/07. Now I wasn’t much of a music fan, up to that point, only listening to VH1 in the mornings, and various metal bands in school. However, after I started getting acquainted with Spiralfrog, my library ballooned to 6000+ tracks in a few months.

The first failure came around January 2008, when I decided to reformat my system back to just Vista, rather than the dual-boot (Vista/Ubuntu) I had been running for my CS coursework. In the process, I managed to screw up and invalidated all the files, because of how the DRM worked. So I had to start downloading them all over again, at the same time I picked up on Ruckus, and started using them, again my collection ballooned upwards of 4000+ between them. In April of 2008, I moved home, where we were still using dial-up. So over time, the files either expired, or I didn’t feel like re-downloading the updated keys, to keep them going. Eventually, I just stopped using them, because it wasn’t worth the time or effort to keep up with, and they both went under, permanently invalidating any files I might have had left.

So towards the end of 2008, I started purchasing the media I wanted to listen, too. Originally, from iTunes, and then from Amazon, over the past 6 months or so. I like it this way, because I don’t have to worry about the service ending, access being invalidated, or some other circumstances where I don’t have control over them. I have little trust of the cloud, because of my experience of using it before, and how freaking annoying it is when it does fail. It’s wonderful when it works, but there are no guarantees, about it.

Spotify, is profitable in Sweden, but is operating at a loss, across all of it’s markets, and still hasn’t come to the US. As I’m sure other companies are dealing with similar circumstances, of managing the label contracts, as well as the stiff competition. Cloud music is a reality, but not if you expect long-term reliability, at least for the next few years. I expect Amazon, Google, iTunes, or one of the others to be the leader of the pack, but not Spotify, at least in the US. Amazon’s solution and Google’s solution, uploading files to their service, don’t thrill me, because of the tendency for low upload speeds on consumer networks.

The Game Can Change In A Blink

…Or how dreams go can go down the sink.

Earlier, this evening I found out that my cousin was pregnant, but she’s like a little sister, so I feel like I’m going to be an uncle. I’ve been having a hard time trying not to judge and just be happy, but it’s hard. She’s known for years what she wanted to do, and has had it all planned out, and then out of nowhere a surprise that’s going to shake her life. The unexpected turn that can derail even the best laid plans. Now I’m trying to fight myself off, I know she’ll be a great mom, but I can’t help but wish there was another way.

I’m fighting myself over being judgmental, but also fighting my own hypocrisy; when I was 16 my girlfriend got pregnant, it wasn’t mine but that didn’t matter to me. I offered to help her raise it, and be the father that the child would need, and started prepping for it. A few weeks later, after having discussed it, but without telling me until it was done, my girlfriend had an abortion. I understood the reason, fully, but it still hurt, then as it does now. My girlfriend, was trying to get rid of a bad dream for her, and open back both of our opportunities for the future.

During those few weeks, I felt invigorated, filled with more passion than anything before. During those weeks, I realized I had to fight, not for me, but for the child’s future. I’m not a fighter, when it comes to myself, I do what I do to survive, but I don’t really try harder than that. It’s unnatural to me. Tonight, that passion was revived,  this time I’m fighting for not just my ‘niece/nephew’ but also for my cousin’s future. I really don’t want to see her end up on the same path, I’ve gone down. I don’t want her dream to die.

It’s time to drop my humble approach towards life: Allow life to happen. It’s time for me to grab the bull by the horns and take this life for a run. The only thing that could happen is that I fall, and have to get back up. Infinite Upside. I’ve got nothing to lose, and so much to give.

…Or why business plans stink.

So far this post has been pretty personal, now let’s talk about business; business plans to be exact. The idea of a business plan is to provide some guidance about the market, your growth, competition, and strategy to achieve that growth. It used to be that the plans were long-term, 5-10 years. The problem with this, is that as our world becomes ever quicker to adopt new changes, your strategy can be invalidated. You very well may be stuck playing checkers, while everyone else plays chess, if you stick to the business plan.

If you want to stay alive, you have to change your strategy to fit the new rules of the game, otherwise you will lose. This means that you need to constantly be on the ball, and willing to change as you get new data, which requires that you actually acquire, analyze, and adapt to some set of data. And you need to be constantly aware, but also have some lag on decisions, so that you don’t get stuck working on a fad. Business plans have become near useless, for long-term prediction.

The important things now, aren’t the plans, per say, but that you understand your market and competition, can do what you say, and are willing to keep going with the feedback you get. You have to preempt competitive maneuvers and always be on the look out for new competition. The game is now not just about who gets there first or who does it better, but who does most of what I need, how I want

If you do everything according to plan, you will be beat, there is no doubt in my mind. You become predictable, you have to change the game that’s being played, and adapt to the new rules, when others change the game. If your plan is invalidated, don’t fight to save the plan, take that information and adapt to it. If you can’t stop there, then maybe you should go hang out with the telecom and cable giants, they’ll keep clawing to keep their duopolies on the market, but the casket will close on them if they aren’t careful. The status quo is deadly.

Be prepared to go to the brink, for what you believe.

You’ve got to take everything you’ve got and just go headlong into the fray. Life doesn’t stop because you want it to;  don’t try to stop it. Enjoy it, all of it, even hardships. What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, after all. Make your moves with patience and diligence, but do make your moves before the clock stops.

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

Learn Along The Way

Over the past month and a half, I’ve been working on a new project, one which is a composition of several smaller projects. One thing I’ve noticed is that I’ve learned more in that month and a half, than I have in quite a while, out of a necessity to fulfill my wants. Some of the things I’ve learned, or are learning, I had previously avoided do to my distaste for having to deal with them; now that I understand them, I actually try to help others get on board. OAuth is a good example, I’ve been avoiding this for over two years, just because I thought it was a messy annoyance, but now that I’ve implemented it in several libraries, I actually don’t mind.

The true inspiration for this post though, was actually a compounding of thoughts from various things I’ve read recently, and thinking upon things I’ve read in the past. The recent thing that really kicked it off was a presentation by the people at Skillshare, embedded below. While looking through it, I had an epiphany, “Learning shouldn’t be the goal, it should just happen naturally on your way to some practical goal, with real results.” Maybe it was because I’ve been steeped in such things and that I have a distaste for the ‘general’ waste that is higher education, but the thought really struck a chord.

“Today the pinnacle of education is getting into college.” – Skillshare Presentation, Slide 8

That is really my issue with higher education. Once you get in, there are many ways to subvert the system, so what good is it. The only real boundary presented is making that initial pass through the gates. Once there, it’s more business as usual, where you can skim your way through the majority of it, most of it is a waste of time. I find practical learning to be much more enthralling, and it can be done on a just in time basis.

Why waste 4 years learning what will be mostly stale by the time you leave; if you can learn it as you go, while it’s still fresh? Because, everyone says that college is the key to being successful. Sounds a whole lot like the story of the fisherman and the businessman, to me.  If you’re already doing something, you’ll gradually learn how to do it better, but they ask you to pause what you’re doing for a few years, and do it and other things so that you can be better.

So be practical, focus on what you want, and when you have trouble, focus on understanding the issues you’re having. Understanding is way better than rote memorization. Understanding allows you to expand on the concept, in ways that rote memorization wouldn’t allow. If you have too much trouble find a mentor, and prove that you’re willing to try. In the end, all that should really matter, is if you can actually do what you say you can do. That’s it. So learn along the way, that way you have not just your education, but lots of other things to show for it.

Nerds ‘n’ Verses

Today, Slippy, a friend on Friendfeed, and I got a bit wild and started dropping free verses in a bit of a rap-battle, except we were using our keys instead of our lips. All in all it was just a little bit of fun, but you can definitely see the geekery. Also with a few one liners are, Steve C, Alex Scoble, and Mark J. So not quite on the same topic of normal posts here, but it’s fun, maybe I’ll get around to actually writing something more serious one of these days, but for now, this is what you get.

Proof and Eminem Freestyle *Very Rare* – http://www.youtube.com/watch… ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
This is awesome. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Heard some of Shady’s freestyle over the years. I freely admit the man is a lyrical genius, seen us, throwing out words I ain’t never heard, word, making sense since I don’t know when. ~ Slippy #teamfondue
then ~ Slippy #teamfondue
rhyming like orange with a four-inch reflector ~ Slippy #teamfondue
defector ~ Slippy #teamfondue
why you wanna go and call yourself Hector? ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Hector? Who the fuck is Hector; call me Dr. Lector. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Eatin’ your brains in the primary sector ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Like a zombie wearin’ abercrombie and fitch, bitch, still running round like y’all don’t itch ~ Slippy #teamfondue

Dammit, Jimminy, now I’m reading everything in a hip-hop tempo and my brain is trying to rhyme everything I read. ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Sweet, what a treat, you must be dancing in your seat. ~ SteVe C
So elite, like a Lotus when you know I can’t focus ~ Slippy #teamfondue
DAMN! It happened again! ~ Slippy #teamfondue
And again, but for without pain there is no gain. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Must resist! Please desist, my rhymes are falling like rain ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Drip. Drip. This will be a trip. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Like a bum dropping acid in the drain. ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Welcoming Wonderland, through the rabbit hole. Down. Down. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Deep underground, deep in slumberland, not so mainstream, got my training, like a fix-gear hipster when it’s raining. ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Got my wheels on, can you see, son? Your rabbit hole got twisted, so, like inception, recollection, we gotta go deeper on reflection ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Through the seeing glass, well on our way. Grass so green, on the other side, let us go and play. Nothing snide. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Let it slide, like a mirror, silver’d on one side across the river, where the other side is mine. ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Fine fine. Let it be, that today this day in May, we see to it, that others get bit. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Like the hand that feeds, smokin’ weed, Imma sign you over my deeds, no shit, y’all be tryin to quit, but this type monster havin’ none of it. ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Type ‘monster,’ with a long stir stick. Pull out my bic and take a quick hit. We got the green, so lets not end the scene. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
See your green, turn it brown while I turn it around. You ain’t quittin’ so I’ll keep spitting, playing this scene like a teen. ~ Slippy #teamfondue
The best shit in town. You and I keep hitting like Ali rope-a-dope. Ain’t if fittin that neither of us ready to cope. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
I’ll take your Ali, and your soap on a rope, when you called him Clay, had that dope on the ropes, name of Cooper, no play, back in ’63 was the day, what you say? ~ Slippy #teamfondue
You shot one through the hoop there. It’s getting expensive and I can’t pay. Back in ’63 my parents weren’t even a thought to be, let alone me. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
See? Cooper’s name was Henry, and I weren’t even Slippy-to-be. Still nought but a twinkle, while old men were wrinkled, the man was a Brut, don’t you see? (I guess you have to be English to get that one) ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Okay I’m done taking a tinkle. We just made history, it ain’t no mystery. Fighting five wide and five strong. I’m truly surprise that we lasted this long. But see now I’m lost, so I guess you’re the boss. We done talked movies, music, boxing, introduced some Lewis Carroll. Farewell. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Well that’s swell, ain’t no blame, no shame now you’ve dragged me through hell, ring that bell, you ain’t throwing the towel when you battled so well. ~ Slippy #teamfondue

Slam the cages, through the ages. Rhymes flow, free to blossom and grow. Slippy why must you protest so? ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
I protest so, I’m the best though, like an uncaged beast in a vest when I’m rhyming, Slimer’s sliming, can’t help but keep opining with mages ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Rages. This is it, before I have a fit, I shall let you be with your opining and rhyming, being and seeing. Your brain be mine, found upon the B-Line. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Sweet rhyme, ride your A-train, straps a-hangin’ like there’s no pain. Peace. ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Verily, I hath quit. Your fortitude in providing statements with much verisimilitude have me beat, so now I must retreat. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
In admitting defeat, guess you win, I got nothin ‘cept these two feet, marching me off the stage, while you get paid. ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Me get paid, while you get made? The key hangs low, so you may know. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
So, turn it in the lock when my mac is cocked, safety off and I’m drawing the ace of spades ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Look at the clock, I’m not trying to block, but soon everything fades… to black and back. Now it is your turn to take another crack. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Smack! When you pave your way to a cock-block, time to rack this track, take up the slack ~ Slippy #teamfondue
I must bow, I don’t have shit, so lets just shelve it, and be done with this, now. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Wow, you still callin’ quits? So be it, I ain’t sore, let’s call it a draw.
~ Slippy #teamfondue
Maybe too soon to end, but this one is on the bend. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Bending time? That’s sublime, did you guess yet, I only got six rhymes? ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Do not fret, because I too only have six rhymes. *Flicks sticks* Pick up some chicks, and party when you hear the chime. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
I got time, nuthin’ but, got lyrics flowin’ outta my butt like monkeys, dancin’ on your grave while I’m funky ~ Slippy #teamfondue
You monkeys have not wings. So I can’t bring a straw man, a tin man or a lion. Flings Toto. (because I can’t sing Toto) http://www.youtube.com/watch… ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Back in Zion, I’ll make you extinct like the dodo. You may bring complex, but son, I ain’t vex this ain’t Gattaca. You must think I’m some kind of Hobo feelin’ pain like the rain I bless down in Africa ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Jacking in, red pill, blue pill. The machines will never win. Judgement Day will never come to those who board the Nebuchadnezzar. You can check my blood for vodka, and you might think it’s odd cause it’s clean. I kicked the habit, and checked it twice. I even made sure I didn’t have lice. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Nice, like Trinity, my only vice. Affinity. Don’t need no jack, ridin’ out this Agent attack, I got skills that’ll make you think twice. ~ Slippy #teamfondue

Time ebbs, as this message crosses the web. Let these words not end in rhyme. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
One more time? 😀 ~ Slippy #teamfondue
friendfeed is so sublime ~ Alex Scoble Has A J-O-B
Once more, for sure? ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
*A new challenger appears* ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Like deBeers, bringing diamond lyrics that are fine ~ Slippy #teamfondue
A dropping the rhymes to play with subtle ties, no lies. This is your victory for a diamond lyric that was truly slick. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
like Rick Moranis, what the time is, when I say it with a Texas accent, outta traction, can’t rhyme with orange, that’s a fact, son. *drops keyboard* ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Honey I shrunk the kids, they went from four foot to four inch and orange. *Slams lid* ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Orange like your tan, riding four inch rims in your van, I’ll shrink your money, don’t care if it’s funny, coz in Texas again I done found a new rhyme ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Pulling out my abacus to count the number of times you’ve tried to drop hexes by using Texas. The amount is many, but if all it costs is a penny for every time, it still be free. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Guess you’ll need them beads to count to three, which is one more than the times I’ve claimed rhymes you can’t see, when the only rhyme I can think of for "van" is pronouncing "rhyme" like it were spelled "rahm" ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Damn. ~ Slippy #teamfondue

Two white guys rap-battling on FF, each declaring the other the victor. Only on FF, amiright? 🙂 ~ Slippy #teamfondue
As a kite flys high. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Sigh. 😉 ~ Slippy #teamfondue
We be bad here in the FF hood! #sorry #genewilderSilverStreakimitation ~ MarkJ
C-C-C-COMBO BREAKERRRRR! 😀 ~ Slippy #teamfondue
oh was this stand off battle feild > http://friendfeed.com/jimminy… ~ Peter Dawson
Peter, the field was more, I believe there were four. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
And each one, declared a draw! ROFL! ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Soon one will thaw, there is no law, that says it must be win, lose, or draw. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Sore? This ice be frozen while you just be dozin’ I got rhymes comin’ through by the score ~ Slippy #teamfondue
No sore, the phone be ringin’ so I had to stop flingin’. I’ll rick it, pick it, and stack the shit so high. Your score should say bye. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
High? Your score be finite, while I ride the twilight, somewhere ‘tween here and the sky, I can wait til tomorrow is nigh. And if you ain’t sure, tho the battles were four, we added one more, now it’s five. ~ Slippy #teamfondue

This is so much fun, I fear for when I must run. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
🙂 ~ Slippy #teamfondue
My face hurts from smiling, with our four-time simultaneous rhyming ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Piling on, let us not stop until this results in subcutaneous wounding. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Bringin’ doom in, I force rhymes like I’m zoomin ~ Slippy #teamfondue
We be boomin’ lets kick it up, pick it up, jump back in the game, we can build some fame. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Fame that’s fleeting, ain’t just bleating, I got words that’ll hurt like a bee sting ~ Slippy #teamfondue

Well that train has run out of steam. What a dream. Hope y’all enjoyed the show. The next one will be a ball, ya know! ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Word. And yes, we really are finished now. ~ Slippy #teamfondue
What’s funny, is it started out as me trying to troll you. I didn’t want you breaking away from the tempo. 😛 ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Really? I never noticed. I guess I must be immune to trolling 🙂 [edit] Or was it the troll got caught in his own trap? ~ Slippy #teamfondue
I think I got caught, that’s why I kept trying to end them. 😛 ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Same here, dude. Same here 🙂 ~ Slippy #teamfondue

Dude! We should cut a record or something 🙂 ~ Slippy #teamfondue
LMAO ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Information break: British boxer Henry Cooper knocked out Cassius Clay back in 63 (9 years before I was born) with a most awesome left hook. In their next match (66 I think) Clay beat Cooper to a bloody pulp. Both remained firm friends for many years. Cooper actually passed away yesterday. He was also widely known in the UK for advertising Brut 33 aftershave, one of the two best-known gentlemens grooming products of the seventies. The other being, of course, Old Spice. 🙂 ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Ah, now it makes sense, I think we have Brut over here, but it’s extremely pungent, if memory serves. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Very much so. Vile stuff. ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Also….dude, that was epic. We’re done now, right? ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Yeah, I think we’re done. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Thank fuck. I’m exhausted! ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Me too, the phone rang three times, and I’ve had to get up and use the restroom as well. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Well, my phone didn’t ring, but I’ve had five bladder-breaks and half a bottle of vodka during all that! ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Heh. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Do you mind if I take screen shots or scrape the text of these, to preserve them? ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF
Hell no I don’t mind, I was thinking along the same lines. <<<unintentional rhyme <<<and that one 🙂 ~ Slippy #teamfondue
Heh. ~ Jimminy, CoG of FF

Ideas For Making Color More Vibrant

Disclaimer: I haven’t tried Color, and am decidedly against mobile in my personal life. This is my analysis, having only watched an overview and read several of the articles.

The recent hubbub about Color, by Scoble and the other’s, discussing the poor first experience and “Bubble Welcomes Color”, is partially on the mark, is also partially off. I won’t deny that the execution and even idea may have been weak, but I think it was mainly a chicken/egg problem. They also walked into a problem with the buzz around their funding, it being so abnormal they had mass’s attention, to the point of possibly being a detriment. For both of these negatives, they have some very intriguing aspects, some that will certainly be surfacing in other products, over the next few months – years.

In today’s world, with several large pre-built social networks, it is extremely possible to piggy back, at first. to build your market usage to help reduce the chicken/egg issues.  As far as I can tell, they did nothing to  mitigate the chicken/egg issue, and may have actually made it more prominent with their decisions to only offer the sharing in  a small area and time period. Those two features, are great in an active environment, but in this one, that is new and empty, it provides a negative experience lacking true interaction. Why would anyone want to use it if there is very low level of interaction?

The funding news helped to promote Color to a larger audience, because of the discussion that was caused by the abnormally high investment of $41 million. $41 million for a company that was on the dawn of releasing it’s first public product. Assuredly absurd, or is there something there that everyone was missing; there are varying opinions on this. In light of the bubble speculations, of the past few months, many are leaning toward the absurd, and point back at Color as evidence that there truly is a bubble. The extra attention, which was exposed to the poor interaction, and the negative connotations of the bubble, are overshadowing what could be a great product.

The public introduction to implicit networks, even as an idea represented in the video demo for the product, is what I find most interesting about the service. The use of creating one based on vicinity to other users is brilliant, if they had an active user base, of course. The whole idea that you can interact with strangers to embrace the moment, is the key to the idea of “you had to be there,” and makes it easier to create real-world memes. I can definitely seeing this being an amazingly fun experience, in sharing and creating images/videos  with strangers, it could generate games like ‘I Spy’ on the fly. There is something to this product, and I’m a little worried that it will be missed, because of the previous reactions.

I’ve said a few times over the past week, “If Color was a Twitter Client, then it would have been really impressive. Images, not so much,” and even joked that it was Twitter’s new anti-client stance that ruined the app. I might take back my comment about images, now, as I think it is a good fit, but maybe not for the introduction. In my opinion, it may have been more useful if it was a fully, or mostly, functional client for Facebook or Twitter, and provided the feature of sharing posts made through Color, with others in the vicinity, as is present in the current version. A decent client, with this bonus functionality, in my opinion would have been amazing, because it lets you engage those directly around you, when you want, and could create a virtual icebreaker. The major benefit of a client would have been, that the app is usable even when nobody else is nearby.

They could also widen the vicinity, 150 feet seems like a very small area and would probably be better suited to 300-450 feet, so that there is a little bit of room to play with it. If they widened the vicinity, it could also open up the service to a nice little  promotion network, with ideas for people to get together and do. I think this may be their biggest issue currently, the area just sounds too small to be effective; they need to open it up.

Overall, they made plenty of mistakes out of the gate, but I think they are definitely in redeemable territory, particularly with the numbers in the bank. What they can do immediately is expand the  vicinity, add some other types of media (besides just images and comments on them), and create some sort of larger interaction outside of the small ‘global’ area. Right now, it’s all about creating some active audience, so they should focus on specific areas to promote it, as Scoble mentioned about focusing on SF and NYC, and some introductory use cases, such as games like ‘I Spy.’ Ultimately, I do see Color as a company that will succeed, even with their current stumbles, but they do need to pick it up and start running with something that will boost interaction. It’s all about interaction and engagement.

I wish them the best of luck.