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This is such a depressing comment to read. Especially as the top one on HN. Maybe he just wanted to make it? You know, the same reason someone might write a co

by grinich 12y ago

This is such a depressing comment to read. Especially as the top one on HN. Maybe he just wanted to make it? You know, the same reason someone might write a compiler, build a violin, cook a casserole, go jogging? Just the fact that he's getting out of VC and back into making things should be commended. Especially by a community that extols the "maker" attitude so heavily. You could easily replace "share photos" with "look at the world" or "talk with people." Sharing photos is a HUGE part of technology because humans communicate extremely well visually. Of course every new consumer product is going to have the basis of sharing. Also, it's incredibly self-centered to criticize someone else's work as not being "interesting" or "fun." Turns out there are folks in the world with other opinions than yours... At first for us it was just about a lot of fun. In fact, some early critics of Twitter said, 'Twitter is not useful,' to which Evan, my co-founder, replied, 'Well neither is ice cream. Should we ban ice cream? Ban all joy and stop working on Twitter? Absolutely not. We were having fun working on it. — Biz Stone, Twitter co-founder I'm not saying his app is going to become Twitter. I'm saying the way you're criticizing it is a cheap shot.

threeseed 12y ago
Shame you got downvoted for this. Kevin Rose is hardly some brilliant genius that could be off curing cancer instead of doing this. He came from the world of media, it's his passion and he's releasing products that he wants to release. I actually think he is onto something with this. Although I would make the photos bigger. But a dynamically changing wall would be pretty engaging and addictive.
joeguilmette 12y ago
I don't wholeheartedly disagree with you. And I don't mean to come off as implying he should be curing cancer. But this specific app feels very derivative. You're right tho, he made something and that in and of itself is much more challenging, productive and much more deserving of kudos than me sitting on my couch calling it lame.
nmjohn 12y ago
I couldn't agree more, though with one small caveat. > Rather than making you scroll through full-width photos like Instagram, Tiiny lets you get a constantly-updated look at what lots of your friends are up to in a single glance. Essentially they're combining instagram and snapchat. That's a cool idea, I can see it. I also can see both of those companies implementing the exact same thing with only a couple days of dev time to do so. And this is where my caveat lies. I love projects where people make things, maybe useful - maybe worthless, but typically interesting things that they make because they want them. Call it the hacker ethic, or a "maker" attitude, or whathaveyou. I also have no problem with people then turning these into successful businesses. But you've got to be realistic when turning that into a company and this project feels more like a side project than a full-time company to me. If snapchat and instagram didn't already exist it'd be another story - but they do so the project no longer is as novel as they were. So in the end I very much dislike that your parent comment was upvoted as much as it was on hacker news - but at the same time context is important, that this a company and not one person's pet project.

by grinich 12y ago

threeseed 12y ago

Shame you got downvoted for this. Kevin Rose is hardly some brilliant genius that could be off curing cancer instead of doing this. He came from the world of media, it's his passion and he's releasing products that he wants to release. I actually think he is onto something with this. Although I would make the photos bigger. But a dynamically changing wall would be pretty engaging and addictive.

joeguilmette 12y ago

I don't wholeheartedly disagree with you. And I don't mean to come off as implying he should be curing cancer. But this specific app feels very derivative. You're right tho, he made something and that in and of itself is much more challenging, productive and much more deserving of kudos than me sitting on my couch calling it lame.

nmjohn 12y ago

I couldn't agree more, though with one small caveat. > Rather than making you scroll through full-width photos like Instagram, Tiiny lets you get a constantly-updated look at what lots of your friends are up to in a single glance. Essentially they're combining instagram and snapchat. That's a cool idea, I can see it. I also can see both of those companies implementing the exact same thing with only a couple days of dev time to do so. And this is where my caveat lies. I love projects where people make things, maybe useful - maybe worthless, but typically interesting things that they make because they want them. Call it the hacker ethic, or a "maker" attitude, or whathaveyou. I also have no problem with people then turning these into successful businesses. But you've got to be realistic when turning that into a company and this project feels more like a side project than a full-time company to me. If snapchat and instagram didn't already exist it'd be another story - but they do so the project no longer is as novel as they were. So in the end I very much dislike that your parent comment was upvoted as much as it was on hacker news - but at the same time context is important, that this a company and not one person's pet project.