4 ms·

Loom (YC W12) Is Building A Better iCloud

56 points by ukd1 13y ago

ukd1 13y ago
I was lucky enough to get in the alpha of this; I was super skeptical until I tried it - it's now replaced iPhoto for me completely...plus I never sync my phone. Win.
Mazer23 13y ago
Cool. It looks like they're trying to solve a lot of the same problems we are at Pixite. Unbound is our solution for this: http://unboundformac.com/dropbox.html http://unboundformac.com/dropbox.html I'm interested to see where they go with it and how they approach the problem differently.
peterevans 13y ago
"I'm Bobbin Threadbare. Are you my mother?"
- vanni 13y ago
  [OT] :) My mind too went to that Loom!
johnrob 13y ago
How do they upload all the data? An avid photo shooter who uses an iPhone5 can create a lot of data on a regular basis.
- gummify 13y ago
  you can upload data over wifi or cellular network. It won't take up space on your device, i.e. 10GB of photos/videos from your library will just be 300mb on your iPhone.
- jansen 13y ago
  Hi, cofounder of Loom here. We upload all of your photos and videos and want to make that experience as easy and transparent as possible. We have especially focussed on being able to manage uploads/syncing for a lot of data since many people have libraries north of ~100GB.
  - eyko 13y ago
    Does this mean we will be able to import our existing libraries in a painless (or at least not too painful) way? I haven't tried Loom, but from the description it sure sounds like exactly what I've (we've?) been waiting for... I don't want this to look like a feature request (wink wink) but if you coud have a way to sync some collections with other services (flickr in my case, for example) then you've hit the jackpot...
    - jansen 13y ago
      Yes exactly, that's the goal. Both things you mention (seamless upload/integration of existing libraries and importing your favorite photo apps) are on top of our list.
      - eyko 13y ago
        ok take my money: ££ :)
dxt78 13y ago
Well that was awkward..
anxman 13y ago
This shouldn't be too hard to do. The iPhone's marriage to iCloud holds the phone back.
- HNSucksAss 13y ago
  Apple's ignorance, fear, and lack of common sense hold the iPhone back. Take this, for example: http://goldmanosi.blogspot.com/2012/06/will-apple-ever-fix-iphones-biggest.html http://goldmanosi.blogspot.com/2012/06/will-apple-ever-fix-i...
alttab 13y ago
I'm not a photographer or anything, so take this with a grain of salt: why is there yet-another-startup tackling the cloud photo "problem"?
- gummify 13y ago
  The bigger problem we're solving is not just photos, it's being able to access and edit content fluidly and seamlessly across devices and on any screen. We're starting with photos and videos as they take up most space on your devices/computer.
- arkonaut 13y ago
  I've actually tried DropBox for photos, and it's actually pretty awful on this front. Our company just switched from Box to DropBox (because of DB Teams issues), so I have little reason to stay on DB outside of my photos... Someone will come along and do this better (and they'll win this space starting mobile first). Don't know if the winner will be Loom -- But the "why is there yet-another?" could've been the exact same question for when DB launched. "...Because people feel like the problem is still not solved."
- stcredzero 13y ago
  The short underlying answer is that it turns out that this is hard.
ajaymehta 13y ago
Have been looking for an iPhoto replacement like this for years. Almost nothing excites me more than getting out of the Apple photo ecosystem...
jemeshsu 13y ago
How will Loom upload those photos captured during offline on iPhone? I suppose Loom will upload the full resolution pictures to their cloud. Since third party app is not able to do background task unlike Photo app/Photostream/iCloud, that means Loom app needs to be on in order to perform the upload? In that case it would not be seamless as I need to consciously 'upload' my photos before I can access them on the web.
- jansen 13y ago
  Yes, we're aware of Apple's restrictions and they make things difficult for developers. However we have found and applied some tweaks to make the experience of getting your photos and videos into the cloud easy, transparent and 'unconscious'. We're also building Loom to be better at browsing, managing and sending photos than Apple's Photos app - once you use Loom as your primary photo library, things fall into place.
will_brown 13y ago
2 days ago I posted a "ask HN" about what opportunities they thought lay in the cloud (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5745230 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5745230). So it is really cool to consume this article and see companies figuring it out. I currently use DropBox to store my iPhone photos, but I could always use more space and why not one dedicated to my camera roll. I know I should not nit-pick but I thought it was a nice article except the following sentence: "Loom, a cloud storage and syncing service that’s like a better alternative to iCloud." Is it "like a better alternative" or is it "a better alternative".
orangethirty 13y ago
Discussion from about an hour ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5758064 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5758064
ywang0414 13y ago
I don't ever plug my iPhone into my mac anymore these days after icloud sync came into existence. My question is, can I use this just on my phone and sync it with my other iDevices? The great thing about icloud for me is that I take a picture and never need to worry about when it'll get synced to the cloud. will Loom be able to run seamlessly in the background like icloud?
HNSucksAss 13y ago
I don't see how this is an alternative to iCloud, when it's specifically for photos.
timmes 13y ago
I'm happy to be an alpha tester from the beginning of Loom. I wasn't a big fan of iPhoto. The handling haven't felt comfy for me and also the sync sucked at the beginning (deleting was not possible). So I managed everything by Dropbox. I was sceptic if Loom can replace my Dropbox-Photo-Upload-Workflow but it does! The design could be a little bit cooler but upload, sync, space and the mac & iOS app are quite good developed. So, now I can use my Dropbox for other things than photos ;))

56 points by ukd1 13y ago

ukd1 13y ago

I was lucky enough to get in the alpha of this; I was super skeptical until I tried it - it's now replaced iPhoto for me completely...plus I never sync my phone. Win.

Mazer23 13y ago

Cool. It looks like they're trying to solve a lot of the same problems we are at Pixite. Unbound is our solution for this: http://unboundformac.com/dropbox.html http://unboundformac.com/dropbox.html I'm interested to see where they go with it and how they approach the problem differently.

peterevans 13y ago

"I'm Bobbin Threadbare. Are you my mother?"

vanni 13y ago
[OT] :) My mind too went to that Loom!

johnrob 13y ago

How do they upload all the data? An avid photo shooter who uses an iPhone5 can create a lot of data on a regular basis.

gummify 13y ago
you can upload data over wifi or cellular network. It won't take up space on your device, i.e. 10GB of photos/videos from your library will just be 300mb on your iPhone.
jansen 13y ago
Hi, cofounder of Loom here. We upload all of your photos and videos and want to make that experience as easy and transparent as possible. We have especially focussed on being able to manage uploads/syncing for a lot of data since many people have libraries north of ~100GB.
- eyko 13y ago
  Does this mean we will be able to import our existing libraries in a painless (or at least not too painful) way? I haven't tried Loom, but from the description it sure sounds like exactly what I've (we've?) been waiting for... I don't want this to look like a feature request (wink wink) but if you coud have a way to sync some collections with other services (flickr in my case, for example) then you've hit the jackpot...
  - jansen 13y ago
    Yes exactly, that's the goal. Both things you mention (seamless upload/integration of existing libraries and importing your favorite photo apps) are on top of our list.
    - eyko 13y ago
      ok take my money: ££ :)

dxt78 13y ago

Well that was awkward..

anxman 13y ago

This shouldn't be too hard to do. The iPhone's marriage to iCloud holds the phone back.

HNSucksAss 13y ago
Apple's ignorance, fear, and lack of common sense hold the iPhone back. Take this, for example: http://goldmanosi.blogspot.com/2012/06/will-apple-ever-fix-iphones-biggest.html http://goldmanosi.blogspot.com/2012/06/will-apple-ever-fix-i...

alttab 13y ago

I'm not a photographer or anything, so take this with a grain of salt: why is there yet-another-startup tackling the cloud photo "problem"?

gummify 13y ago
The bigger problem we're solving is not just photos, it's being able to access and edit content fluidly and seamlessly across devices and on any screen. We're starting with photos and videos as they take up most space on your devices/computer.
arkonaut 13y ago
I've actually tried DropBox for photos, and it's actually pretty awful on this front. Our company just switched from Box to DropBox (because of DB Teams issues), so I have little reason to stay on DB outside of my photos... Someone will come along and do this better (and they'll win this space starting mobile first). Don't know if the winner will be Loom -- But the "why is there yet-another?" could've been the exact same question for when DB launched. "...Because people feel like the problem is still not solved."
stcredzero 13y ago
The short underlying answer is that it turns out that this is hard.

ajaymehta 13y ago

Have been looking for an iPhoto replacement like this for years. Almost nothing excites me more than getting out of the Apple photo ecosystem...

jemeshsu 13y ago

How will Loom upload those photos captured during offline on iPhone? I suppose Loom will upload the full resolution pictures to their cloud. Since third party app is not able to do background task unlike Photo app/Photostream/iCloud, that means Loom app needs to be on in order to perform the upload? In that case it would not be seamless as I need to consciously 'upload' my photos before I can access them on the web.

jansen 13y ago
Yes, we're aware of Apple's restrictions and they make things difficult for developers. However we have found and applied some tweaks to make the experience of getting your photos and videos into the cloud easy, transparent and 'unconscious'. We're also building Loom to be better at browsing, managing and sending photos than Apple's Photos app - once you use Loom as your primary photo library, things fall into place.

will_brown 13y ago

2 days ago I posted a "ask HN" about what opportunities they thought lay in the cloud (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5745230 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5745230). So it is really cool to consume this article and see companies figuring it out. I currently use DropBox to store my iPhone photos, but I could always use more space and why not one dedicated to my camera roll. I know I should not nit-pick but I thought it was a nice article except the following sentence: "Loom, a cloud storage and syncing service that’s like a better alternative to iCloud." Is it "like a better alternative" or is it "a better alternative".

orangethirty 13y ago

Discussion from about an hour ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5758064 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5758064

ywang0414 13y ago

I don't ever plug my iPhone into my mac anymore these days after icloud sync came into existence. My question is, can I use this just on my phone and sync it with my other iDevices? The great thing about icloud for me is that I take a picture and never need to worry about when it'll get synced to the cloud. will Loom be able to run seamlessly in the background like icloud?

HNSucksAss 13y ago

I don't see how this is an alternative to iCloud, when it's specifically for photos.

timmes 13y ago

I'm happy to be an alpha tester from the beginning of Loom. I wasn't a big fan of iPhoto. The handling haven't felt comfy for me and also the sync sucked at the beginning (deleting was not possible). So I managed everything by Dropbox. I was sceptic if Loom can replace my Dropbox-Photo-Upload-Workflow but it does! The design could be a little bit cooler but upload, sync, space and the mac & iOS app are quite good developed. So, now I can use my Dropbox for other things than photos ;))