Sucks to be Jason Calacanis right now, who JUST launch "Inside" app that basically tries to do this - http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/27/inside-mobile-news-launch/
Introducing Paper
251–260 of 291 posts
Re: Introducing Paper
#252Man, that video, typical marketing bullshit. First scene shows a guy writing on a typewriter, next scene shows someone hanging up Polaroid pictures. Seriously? Show me why this app is useful and why I need it, instead of trying to lull me into a world that doesn't exist.
I don't think you can get away with this type of marketing when you're a little know startup. Perhaps because the Facebook name is there they can, because that's made me interested enough to sit through the video. Otherwise, just tell people what you do in a few seconds.
I disagree. A startup's goal is to share their mission and product in a way that is shareable. A pitch video that is pure product features is nothing more than boring advertising.
Re: Introducing Paper
#253I don't understand why this is some big, ground shaking app. This is what the Facebook app itself should be. Instead of improving their terrible news feed, they make this.
Facebook will always need a home page if for no other reason than to manage who you friend and what you are reading. They are interested in creating more stand alone apps ala Messenger. Paper is just another stand alone facebook app - and looks to be a very good one to me.
Re: Introducing Paper
#254Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree, I hardly use Facebook anymore. But I'm still open minded enough not to disparage everything the company does on some kind of misguided principle.
Based on what they present, the concept highly depends on the content. This poses an issue that is not touched upon at all in their presentation. So mentioning / discussing it on HN is in my opinion relevant.
Are you expecting them not to show the product in its best light with pictures of somewhat attractive people and good content?
Re: Introducing Paper
#255According to The Verge not only is this iPhone only - it's US ONLY! Seriously a news reader app limited by location. Can anyone come up with a half sane reason they are doing that?
They have news sources in the app that are US-centric.
Re: Introducing Paper
#256I wonder what 53 will make of Facebook's choice of App name? http://www.fiftythree.com/paper
I don't think anyone will ever refer to this app as simply "Paper"..that already exists with 53's app. My guess is that people will refer to it as "Facebook Paper" as they have with "Facebook Messenger".
Re: Introducing Paper
#257Sucks to be Jason Calacanis right now, who JUST launch "Inside" app that basically tries to do this - http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/27/inside-mobile-news-launch/
Yeah, he's actually talked quite a bit about how Facebook constantly takes out startups and you never know when you're going to be next. What tragic luck! Hope he pulls through.
Re: Introducing Paper
#258I'm not sure why so many are describing this as a "news" app - it's pretty obviously a refresh of the Facebook design, and a much-needed one at that. At the given time 25% of Facebook is taken up by various buttons and controls; there's a lot you can do and a lot of places you can navigate to from Facebook's homepage. It was obviously designed for desktop, and then ported over to mobile. After a couple refreshes the…
If it's an upgrade, people rant, if it's a new app, it's hype.
Re: Introducing Paper
#259Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Who knows, they might even try to take over Google's search function. FB's graph search? Then there is Google's knowledge graph So at the end, we as consumers are winners :-)
If only FB graph search worked as advertised. However, it's far cry from Google search and knowledge base.
Graph search is a solution in search of a problem.
Re: Introducing Paper
#260What a bunch of grumpy old men. I bet everybody sitting here taking shots at this app 1) have never created anything nearly as cool 2) would not have understood Apple in its hayday 3) spend too much time reading and taking shots at other people's work. I'm all for being cynical and questioning what's out there but you have to let the good stuff through. The design here is first class. The Facebook guys have outdone t…
Yeah, it's getting kind of old scrolling past 1200 pixels of cynical foot stomping and grumbling before getting to anything relevant to the post. Yes, we needed all of that insightful talk about how bad hipsters suck and how marketing grumble grumble grumble . I'm not convinced that I like Facebook or any of my friends content enough to want ANOTHER channel of absorbing it. However, the app seems to be beautifully ex…
Unrelated comment, but why is it becoming a design trend now to hide the scrollbars on websites? Luckily I accidentally hit the space bar, so I saw there was more content there, but without that I would have had no idea there was more information. I've seen this happen on a number of sites, so I don't think it's just Chrome failing to render the site. I just don't understand what possible reason there could be to deliberately hide the scroll bar.