7 ms·

OK, this is completely and absolutely inspired. Brilliant, especially the redirect handling. The design needs a bit of polish, but the core concept is just so

OK, this is completely and absolutely inspired. Brilliant, especially the redirect handling. The design needs a bit of polish, but the core concept is just so damn good it's blatantly going to be copied.

gprasanth 13y ago
I have not installed this app, but perhaps this app itself copied "concept" from the facebook messenger?
- dannyr 13y ago
  That is like saying the IPhone is a copied "concept" from other touchscreen devices.
  - andrewmunsell 13y ago
    Well, to be fair, Facebook was the company that created the always open "floating bubble" concept, to my knowledge. Link Bubble behaves very similarly to Facebook Messenger in this way (the way the bubbles move, how you interact with them, close them, etc), and I can't help but think that Facebook was inspiration for the project. This is actually a good thing because I always thought that the Chat Heads were a novel idea, though Link Bubble's implementation of the concept is rougher around the edges than Facebook (e.g. "laggier", not quite as clean in design).
    - jlogsdon 13y ago
      According to the developer, Chris Lacy[1], Link Bubble was in development before Facebook's Messenger was released. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7454918 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7454918
      - JTon 13y ago
        Ehh. I'm not convinced this point really matters. If you ship a great idea first, you shipped it first.. no?
    - dannyr 13y ago
      There are a lot of apps that draw over other apps on Android before Facebook Chatheads.
    - TheCraiggers 13y ago
      >Well, to be fair, Facebook was the company that created the always open "floating bubble" concept, to my knowledge. I believe Holo in Paranoid Android's ROM was first, beating Facebook's app by a few months at least.
EddieRingle 13y ago
> The design needs a bit of polish, but the core concept is just so damn good it's blatantly going to be copied. Chris Lacy (the author) delayed the release because he was encouraged to patent the idea. Looks to me like that was a good move.
- Roritharr 13y ago
  I recommend everyone to check out his Android Launcher: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chrislacy.actionlauncher.pro https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chrislacy.... Im a big fan of it and find it makes my phone faster to use than any other launcher without having to learn new ui concepts.
- oscargrouch 13y ago
  > Looks to me like that was a good move Yeah until a point that nobody will be able to innovate anymore, even being original and inventive, because of patents into nuclear ideas or generic ideas.. Its the difference of "everybody against everybody" to "everybody working for everybody" I hope software patents became a thing of the past soon.. the concept of property and the concept of ideas do not belong to each other
- wmt 13y ago
  Indeed, patenting ideas is an excellent way to prevent free software from usign those ideas while proprietary software can just get the licensing costs from their profits.
  - oscargrouch 13y ago
    Also, if the browser concept was patented, how could someone else innovate over browsers, if theres a need to pay for the privilege of being inventive?
  - cbhl 13y ago
    Patenting ideas is also an excellent way to prevent someone else from doing what you suggest; the patent-holder merely needs to grant a royalty-free patent license to everyone once they have the patent. (See Sections 7 and 8 of GPLv2, for an example.)
27182818284 13y ago
>Brilliant, especially the redirect handling. That was what got me to click the install button just now. And he used my least favorite example, Instagram out of Twitter with the t.co redirects and yada yada—I've always felt like that was super awkward.
- chris_lacy 13y ago
  This, as well as staring a Chrome waiting anywhere up to 5 seconds or more for t.co links to resolve is what largely inspired me to write Link Bubble.
  - lern_too_spel 13y ago
    I've wondered why the Twitter app doesn't automatically replace t.co links with the final destination URL itself.
    - chris_lacy 13y ago
      I assume because they use the t.co link to verify items have been clicked for their ad services, but I can't be sure. Either way, as I user I couldn't stand that wasted time, so I went about trying to fix it.
      - lern_too_spel 13y ago
        My point is that the app can record that click asynchronously. They have full control of everything in the app, and it bothers me in the first world problems section of my brain that they haven't tackled a lot of low hanging fruit for speeding up user interactions.
badman_ting 13y ago
Yeah, I don't have any Android anythings but this concept is immediately compelling and good. One of those things that should have been obvious, really.

gprasanth 13y ago

I have not installed this app, but perhaps this app itself copied "concept" from the facebook messenger?

dannyr 13y ago
That is like saying the IPhone is a copied "concept" from other touchscreen devices.
- andrewmunsell 13y ago
  Well, to be fair, Facebook was the company that created the always open "floating bubble" concept, to my knowledge. Link Bubble behaves very similarly to Facebook Messenger in this way (the way the bubbles move, how you interact with them, close them, etc), and I can't help but think that Facebook was inspiration for the project. This is actually a good thing because I always thought that the Chat Heads were a novel idea, though Link Bubble's implementation of the concept is rougher around the edges than Facebook (e.g. "laggier", not quite as clean in design).
  - jlogsdon 13y ago
    According to the developer, Chris Lacy[1], Link Bubble was in development before Facebook's Messenger was released. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7454918 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7454918
    - JTon 13y ago
      Ehh. I'm not convinced this point really matters. If you ship a great idea first, you shipped it first.. no?
  - dannyr 13y ago
    There are a lot of apps that draw over other apps on Android before Facebook Chatheads.
  - TheCraiggers 13y ago
    >Well, to be fair, Facebook was the company that created the always open "floating bubble" concept, to my knowledge. I believe Holo in Paranoid Android's ROM was first, beating Facebook's app by a few months at least.

EddieRingle 13y ago

> The design needs a bit of polish, but the core concept is just so damn good it's blatantly going to be copied. Chris Lacy (the author) delayed the release because he was encouraged to patent the idea. Looks to me like that was a good move.

Roritharr 13y ago
I recommend everyone to check out his Android Launcher: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chrislacy.actionlauncher.pro https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chrislacy.... Im a big fan of it and find it makes my phone faster to use than any other launcher without having to learn new ui concepts.
oscargrouch 13y ago
> Looks to me like that was a good move Yeah until a point that nobody will be able to innovate anymore, even being original and inventive, because of patents into nuclear ideas or generic ideas.. Its the difference of "everybody against everybody" to "everybody working for everybody" I hope software patents became a thing of the past soon.. the concept of property and the concept of ideas do not belong to each other
wmt 13y ago
Indeed, patenting ideas is an excellent way to prevent free software from usign those ideas while proprietary software can just get the licensing costs from their profits.
- oscargrouch 13y ago
  Also, if the browser concept was patented, how could someone else innovate over browsers, if theres a need to pay for the privilege of being inventive?
- cbhl 13y ago
  Patenting ideas is also an excellent way to prevent someone else from doing what you suggest; the patent-holder merely needs to grant a royalty-free patent license to everyone once they have the patent. (See Sections 7 and 8 of GPLv2, for an example.)

27182818284 13y ago

>Brilliant, especially the redirect handling. That was what got me to click the install button just now. And he used my least favorite example, Instagram out of Twitter with the t.co redirects and yada yada—I've always felt like that was super awkward.

chris_lacy 13y ago
This, as well as staring a Chrome waiting anywhere up to 5 seconds or more for t.co links to resolve is what largely inspired me to write Link Bubble.
- lern_too_spel 13y ago
  I've wondered why the Twitter app doesn't automatically replace t.co links with the final destination URL itself.
  - chris_lacy 13y ago
    I assume because they use the t.co link to verify items have been clicked for their ad services, but I can't be sure. Either way, as I user I couldn't stand that wasted time, so I went about trying to fix it.
    - lern_too_spel 13y ago
      My point is that the app can record that click asynchronously. They have full control of everything in the app, and it bothers me in the first world problems section of my brain that they haven't tackled a lot of low hanging fruit for speeding up user interactions.

badman_ting 13y ago

Yeah, I don't have any Android anythings but this concept is immediately compelling and good. One of those things that should have been obvious, really.