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Flipboard Turns Twitter Into Your Own Magazine

20 points by niekmaas 16y ago

js4all 16y ago
Wow, this is old news. I am using Flipboard for two weeks now.
samratjp 16y ago
I thought that name sounded familiar - Evan Doll used to teach the iPhone class @Stanford (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/education/edlife/18IT-t.html http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/education/edlife/18IT-t.ht...). Sounds like the company has some smarts to make it.
Timothee 16y ago
"This tiny company (19 employees)" "Flipboard has raised $10.5 million" "Flipboard hasn’t worked out a business model yet" From what I saw of Flipboard, it looks very nice. But these numbers seem pretty high for an iPad app. Inherently, an app/service like this doesn't have any network effect, any "virality" besides literal word-of-mouth (you using it doesn't make me know you're using it, unlike services like Twitpic let's say: when you post a picture, it makes me aware of Twitpic) and can be replaced instantly without me losing anything. Again, the app looks great and it got a fantastic start. But I'm curious how it will pan out in the coming months.
- samratjp 16y ago
  I wouldn't be so fast to dismiss it - the money could have gone towards this important acquisition http://www.flipboard.com/press/flipboard-acquires-ellerdale http://www.flipboard.com/press/flipboard-acquires-ellerdale Obviously, iPad may not be the only platform, it seems good enough of a prototype to get Kleiner Perkins attention (remember they've allocated a few hundred mil for iPhone + iPad apps?). I wouldn't be shocked if they've already partnered with Nook and Kindle.
bradgessler 16y ago
Actually, it doesn't. Yet.
- mikeryan 16y ago
  For beta users you can... I installed Flipboard about 2 weeks ago and have been able to use Twitter and Facebook for about a week. They seem to be letting people in to use Twitter and Facebook at a pretty fast clip.
code_devil 16y ago
I got my iPad over the weekend. And this was one of the first apps I installed. So far I have been loving it. Currently you can only have 9 sources. Maybe they will charge for having more than 9 sources or maybe they are trying to keep the ui nice and simple, since Evan Doll is a former apple employee and instructor for the iPhone classes at Stanford.
csmeder 16y ago
Isn't this essentially scrapping content from other web sites with out their permission, removing all the ads, and then presenting them in a nice way. I always assumed this was not allowed?
- ThomPete 16y ago
  Well it's my information that they are scraping so I guess that is ok.
  - random42 16y ago
    Even though, users may tweet a link, they are not the owner of the content of those links. IANAL, but I have a feeling, its NOT OK (both legally and ethically) for a commercial to redistribute the content (without taking prior permission/licensing, that is), deviating the original creators from revenue/traffic et al.
    - algebra 16y ago
      Article explains how they only redistribute teaser text and and that reaction from media companies has been positive— they all want to get in on Flipboards's recommendation engine.
      - random42 16y ago
        Ok. I should have done a basic study before making a comment. My bad!
  - niekmaas 16y ago
    Quote from the article: "...what the company is doing might not be legal, since its software works by “scraping” content from other Web sites. But McCue insists there is no problem because Flipboard displays only a small part of an article, not the entire thing, and then embeds a link that takes a reader to the original." But I'm not sure if this is true. Scraping is scraping, regardless whether or not you link to it. In the last paragraph you can find this though "Flipboard hasn’t worked out a business model yet, but plans to put ads next to articles and then share some advertising revenue with publishers." Which indicates they do acknowledge the publishers for the content and want to share (potential) revenues with those publishers.
callmeed 16y ago
While I like Flipboard, I have to admit: I still use Instapaper much more. And, yes, I think they are comparable.
- wazoox 16y ago
  Interesting. That's what I'm using delicious for, I didn't know of instapaper... Thank you.
- dugmartin 16y ago
  Same here. The first couple of days it was out I used it a lot - especially the HN feed. However, I realized I missed the comments and I switched back using HN via the web. Also, the endless "RT by @blahblah" list of users on the right column for each story is basically useless clutter. I use Read Later instead of instapaper, same thing, I just like the FF plugin it offers: http://readitlaterlist.com/ http://readitlaterlist.com/ Its funny, when I built LookLater a few years ago the Instapaper/ReadLater use case is I guess really what I had in my mind.
blasdel 16y ago
After using it for a few days, I’ve concluded that Flipboard is designed for people that want to “read” but are annoyed with words getting in the way. That sounds insulting but it’s actually a rather brilliant insight. — http://trenchant.org/daily/2010/8/5/ http://trenchant.org/daily/2010/8/5/

20 points by niekmaas 16y ago

Wow, this is old news. I am using Flipboard for two weeks now.

I thought that name sounded familiar - Evan Doll used to teach the iPhone class @Stanford (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/education/edlife/18IT-t.html http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/education/edlife/18IT-t.ht...). Sounds like the company has some smarts to make it.

Timothee 16y ago

"This tiny company (19 employees)" "Flipboard has raised $10.5 million" "Flipboard hasn’t worked out a business model yet" From what I saw of Flipboard, it looks very nice. But these numbers seem pretty high for an iPad app. Inherently, an app/service like this doesn't have any network effect, any "virality" besides literal word-of-mouth (you using it doesn't make me know you're using it, unlike services like Twitpic let's say: when you post a picture, it makes me aware of Twitpic) and can be replaced instantly without me losing anything. Again, the app looks great and it got a fantastic start. But I'm curious how it will pan out in the coming months.

samratjp 16y ago
I wouldn't be so fast to dismiss it - the money could have gone towards this important acquisition http://www.flipboard.com/press/flipboard-acquires-ellerdale http://www.flipboard.com/press/flipboard-acquires-ellerdale Obviously, iPad may not be the only platform, it seems good enough of a prototype to get Kleiner Perkins attention (remember they've allocated a few hundred mil for iPhone + iPad apps?). I wouldn't be shocked if they've already partnered with Nook and Kindle.

bradgessler 16y ago

Actually, it doesn't. Yet.

mikeryan 16y ago
For beta users you can... I installed Flipboard about 2 weeks ago and have been able to use Twitter and Facebook for about a week. They seem to be letting people in to use Twitter and Facebook at a pretty fast clip.

code_devil 16y ago

I got my iPad over the weekend. And this was one of the first apps I installed. So far I have been loving it. Currently you can only have 9 sources. Maybe they will charge for having more than 9 sources or maybe they are trying to keep the ui nice and simple, since Evan Doll is a former apple employee and instructor for the iPhone classes at Stanford.

csmeder 16y ago

Isn't this essentially scrapping content from other web sites with out their permission, removing all the ads, and then presenting them in a nice way. I always assumed this was not allowed?

ThomPete 16y ago
Well it's my information that they are scraping so I guess that is ok.
- random42 16y ago
  Even though, users may tweet a link, they are not the owner of the content of those links. IANAL, but I have a feeling, its NOT OK (both legally and ethically) for a commercial to redistribute the content (without taking prior permission/licensing, that is), deviating the original creators from revenue/traffic et al.
  - algebra 16y ago
    Article explains how they only redistribute teaser text and and that reaction from media companies has been positive— they all want to get in on Flipboards's recommendation engine.
    - random42 16y ago
      Ok. I should have done a basic study before making a comment. My bad!
- niekmaas 16y ago
  Quote from the article: "...what the company is doing might not be legal, since its software works by “scraping” content from other Web sites. But McCue insists there is no problem because Flipboard displays only a small part of an article, not the entire thing, and then embeds a link that takes a reader to the original." But I'm not sure if this is true. Scraping is scraping, regardless whether or not you link to it. In the last paragraph you can find this though "Flipboard hasn’t worked out a business model yet, but plans to put ads next to articles and then share some advertising revenue with publishers." Which indicates they do acknowledge the publishers for the content and want to share (potential) revenues with those publishers.

callmeed 16y ago

While I like Flipboard, I have to admit: I still use Instapaper much more. And, yes, I think they are comparable.

wazoox 16y ago
Interesting. That's what I'm using delicious for, I didn't know of instapaper... Thank you.
dugmartin 16y ago
Same here. The first couple of days it was out I used it a lot - especially the HN feed. However, I realized I missed the comments and I switched back using HN via the web. Also, the endless "RT by @blahblah" list of users on the right column for each story is basically useless clutter. I use Read Later instead of instapaper, same thing, I just like the FF plugin it offers: http://readitlaterlist.com/ http://readitlaterlist.com/ Its funny, when I built LookLater a few years ago the Instapaper/ReadLater use case is I guess really what I had in my mind.

blasdel 16y ago

After using it for a few days, I’ve concluded that Flipboard is designed for people that want to “read” but are annoyed with words getting in the way. That sounds insulting but it’s actually a rather brilliant insight. — http://trenchant.org/daily/2010/8/5/ http://trenchant.org/daily/2010/8/5/