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Tell HN: Our iPhone app, Broadersheet, is now on sale [50% off]

17 points by pclark 17y ago

pclark 17y ago
We'd love feedback on the app or website. Here are some promo codes (US only): 7TA7TR33LNRL XXKT3P9JMAEM HAKMJHK6EF74
- rufo 17y ago
  Just grabbed the last code. Syncing it over now, some impressions in a bit. EDIT: My main complaint so far: No mobilized version of the article? I'm used to Byline and Instapaper, which both cache text-only versions of the page. If it went to the mobile version of the site, I'd be fine with that, or if it ran it through something like Instapaper's Mobileizer[1] that would be nice - with an option to view the original of course. It also crashed on me once while reading a rather meaty article from Engadget[2], and didn't appear to save any of my read/favorite status. I'm not sure there really needs to be the different ways of sorting the news that up-front (Date/Source/Topic), but it does mirror the iPod app and it'll take some using before I'm really sure - maybe I'll like it more than I think. The article selection seems decent, although that'll really take a few days to learn my preferences I assume. Overall I'd say a decent idea that's executed well - a few tweaks and bug fixes would seal the deal for me, I think. [1] http://www.instapaper.com/extras http://www.instapaper.com/extras [2] http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/engadgets-gear-of-ces-2010/ http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/engadgets-gear-of-ces-201...
  - pclark 17y ago
    thank you. we'll look into mobilizing content via instapaper. we really don't want to strip adverts out - wish more providers offered mobile versions of content. We've had lots of feedback about how slow articles are to load, so we might be forced to optimize the content via instapaper or such. thanks for the engadget link, we can totally fix that.
- allenbrunson 17y ago
  must be popular. 15 minutes after you posted the codes, and all three are already used. what the heck, it's only two bucks, so i just bought it. i am always looking for interesting stuff to read on my iphone, so i'll see if this helps. i'll have to use it awhile before having any useful feedback.
  - pclark 17y ago
    can you ping me an email if you have any feedback over next few days or such? peter@broadersheet.com
- nailer 17y ago
  Last time I saw this at FOWA 2009, you stripped all the ads out the sites your app soruced content from, which didn't impress a lot of the crowd. Has this changed?
  - pclark 17y ago
    we don't do this by default, we have a readability esque script that optimizes content for readability. We brought it from the web to iPhone - but only if user taps a button after the article has loaded. :) http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/ http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/
kyro 17y ago
I'm not quite sure if this is a problem with only my computer - I assume that iPhone graphic on the right is supposed to play some sort of animation as when I scroll over it, it takes me through the frames, but at no time did it actually play on its own. Safari 4.04 on Leopard
- Timothee 17y ago
  It's a QuickTime movie, so if you scroll over it, it actually scrubs through the file in Pause mode. To play it, you can click on it and press Space. I think that if you let it load completely, it will start by itself. (which you can't know because the toolbar is absent) I agree that it's a weird UX.
  - kyro 17y ago
    Yeah, that should change.
    - pclark 17y ago
      weird. should stream using the default quicktime thing (eg: asap) will fix - thanks for the heads up.
maxklein 17y ago
I'll be unpopular for saying this, but I really hate this web 2.0 marketing speak. Starting sentences with "Hi" or "Hey", sentences like "Drop me an email", using unneccessary hyper words like "love", "excited", "we can't wait", "sneak peak". Then this fake chuminess like "I'm nursing a hangover", "my cat typed this", "love to hear from you", smileys. And then this self-deprecation: "it's really tough to know if we are on track", "our little app". Guys, get this : this type of language no longer has the effect it had when it was used for the first time. This has become business speak - and real people don't talk that way. I'm not a guy that likes referencing other people on this site, but take a look at the language that patio11 uses on his website. This is a normal way to talk to people. Stop talking to people like they are a bit stupider than you, but to get to their level, you need to self-deprecate. It's not effective. That would be the gripe I have about your website. And apologies for being harsh, but my asthma is acting up.
- credo 17y ago
  good points, btw I suspect that a lot of people wouldn't use this type of marketing-speak naturally (as a marketing tactic). I think they see this marketing-speak as the prevailing trend and just follow it (I'm speaking of the generic case and don't know anything about the specific case that maxklein is referring to)
  - maxklein 17y ago
    I believe you are absolutely right. People are using this kind of language and other people are doing it because everyone else is, but without any clear strategy why they should.
- teej 17y ago
  In the context of a blog, I frankly think you are wrong. I think it's important to remember that the language in their blog doesn't match their marketing message at all - if their front page emulated the same tone, I would be with you 100%. But it doesn't. I don't think broad claims of "effective" really make much sense either. It seems silly to view someone's blog message from an outsiders perspective and make claims to it's effect on sales. Did it turn you off to purchasing their product? Do you know how many people it turned off? Were those people even in the market to buy it in the first place? Patrick also uses vastly different tones in his marketing messages and his blog. His blog is about programming & business topics + the occasional silly thing. His marketing is a rock-solid battle-worn message tested over hundreds of iterations. Do you think that's ineffective? There is plenty of place in the world for companies that act like humans are running it. A blog is an appropriate channel for this to happen. Zappos has shown that a human-sounding company approach can work. You are welcome to your opinions - they very well may be right - but I would rather see the stimulation of discussion instead of brash opinions. Saying "this sucks, don't do it" doesn't get these guys any closer to a better business.

17 points by pclark 17y ago

pclark 17y ago

We'd love feedback on the app or website. Here are some promo codes (US only): 7TA7TR33LNRL XXKT3P9JMAEM HAKMJHK6EF74

rufo 17y ago
Just grabbed the last code. Syncing it over now, some impressions in a bit. EDIT: My main complaint so far: No mobilized version of the article? I'm used to Byline and Instapaper, which both cache text-only versions of the page. If it went to the mobile version of the site, I'd be fine with that, or if it ran it through something like Instapaper's Mobileizer[1] that would be nice - with an option to view the original of course. It also crashed on me once while reading a rather meaty article from Engadget[2], and didn't appear to save any of my read/favorite status. I'm not sure there really needs to be the different ways of sorting the news that up-front (Date/Source/Topic), but it does mirror the iPod app and it'll take some using before I'm really sure - maybe I'll like it more than I think. The article selection seems decent, although that'll really take a few days to learn my preferences I assume. Overall I'd say a decent idea that's executed well - a few tweaks and bug fixes would seal the deal for me, I think. [1] http://www.instapaper.com/extras http://www.instapaper.com/extras [2] http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/engadgets-gear-of-ces-2010/ http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/engadgets-gear-of-ces-201...
- pclark 17y ago
  thank you. we'll look into mobilizing content via instapaper. we really don't want to strip adverts out - wish more providers offered mobile versions of content. We've had lots of feedback about how slow articles are to load, so we might be forced to optimize the content via instapaper or such. thanks for the engadget link, we can totally fix that.
allenbrunson 17y ago
must be popular. 15 minutes after you posted the codes, and all three are already used. what the heck, it's only two bucks, so i just bought it. i am always looking for interesting stuff to read on my iphone, so i'll see if this helps. i'll have to use it awhile before having any useful feedback.
- pclark 17y ago
  can you ping me an email if you have any feedback over next few days or such? peter@broadersheet.com
nailer 17y ago
Last time I saw this at FOWA 2009, you stripped all the ads out the sites your app soruced content from, which didn't impress a lot of the crowd. Has this changed?
- pclark 17y ago
  we don't do this by default, we have a readability esque script that optimizes content for readability. We brought it from the web to iPhone - but only if user taps a button after the article has loaded. :) http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/ http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/

kyro 17y ago

I'm not quite sure if this is a problem with only my computer - I assume that iPhone graphic on the right is supposed to play some sort of animation as when I scroll over it, it takes me through the frames, but at no time did it actually play on its own. Safari 4.04 on Leopard

Timothee 17y ago
It's a QuickTime movie, so if you scroll over it, it actually scrubs through the file in Pause mode. To play it, you can click on it and press Space. I think that if you let it load completely, it will start by itself. (which you can't know because the toolbar is absent) I agree that it's a weird UX.
- kyro 17y ago
  Yeah, that should change.
  - pclark 17y ago
    weird. should stream using the default quicktime thing (eg: asap) will fix - thanks for the heads up.

maxklein 17y ago

I'll be unpopular for saying this, but I really hate this web 2.0 marketing speak. Starting sentences with "Hi" or "Hey", sentences like "Drop me an email", using unneccessary hyper words like "love", "excited", "we can't wait", "sneak peak". Then this fake chuminess like "I'm nursing a hangover", "my cat typed this", "love to hear from you", smileys. And then this self-deprecation: "it's really tough to know if we are on track", "our little app". Guys, get this : this type of language no longer has the effect it had when it was used for the first time. This has become business speak - and real people don't talk that way. I'm not a guy that likes referencing other people on this site, but take a look at the language that patio11 uses on his website. This is a normal way to talk to people. Stop talking to people like they are a bit stupider than you, but to get to their level, you need to self-deprecate. It's not effective. That would be the gripe I have about your website. And apologies for being harsh, but my asthma is acting up.

credo 17y ago
good points, btw I suspect that a lot of people wouldn't use this type of marketing-speak naturally (as a marketing tactic). I think they see this marketing-speak as the prevailing trend and just follow it (I'm speaking of the generic case and don't know anything about the specific case that maxklein is referring to)
- maxklein 17y ago
  I believe you are absolutely right. People are using this kind of language and other people are doing it because everyone else is, but without any clear strategy why they should.
teej 17y ago
In the context of a blog, I frankly think you are wrong. I think it's important to remember that the language in their blog doesn't match their marketing message at all - if their front page emulated the same tone, I would be with you 100%. But it doesn't. I don't think broad claims of "effective" really make much sense either. It seems silly to view someone's blog message from an outsiders perspective and make claims to it's effect on sales. Did it turn you off to purchasing their product? Do you know how many people it turned off? Were those people even in the market to buy it in the first place? Patrick also uses vastly different tones in his marketing messages and his blog. His blog is about programming & business topics + the occasional silly thing. His marketing is a rock-solid battle-worn message tested over hundreds of iterations. Do you think that's ineffective? There is plenty of place in the world for companies that act like humans are running it. A blog is an appropriate channel for this to happen. Zappos has shown that a human-sounding company approach can work. You are welcome to your opinions - they very well may be right - but I would rather see the stimulation of discussion instead of brash opinions. Saying "this sucks, don't do it" doesn't get these guys any closer to a better business.