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At least now we know why Color really got that funding

daringfireball.net

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Re: At least now we know why Color really got that funding

#151

Post by dr_ »

mrshoe wrote: post #58

I remember attending a Startup School talk wherein Max Levchin explained that Slide wasn't a "pimp my MySpace" company, but rather a data mining company using MySpace widgets as the trojan horse. So, Nguyen isn't the first serial entrepreneur to receive loads of funding based on his reputation and attempt to exploit the trend du jour to mine data from the masses. We all saw how well that worked out for Slide. My gues…

I think Slide was acquired more for the talent than for the product itself - although that's an expensive talent buy.

And who knows, maybe in some capacity it works out - I believe the Slide team at Google is responsible for the launch of Disco.

Re: At least now we know why Color really got that funding

#152

Post by MarinaMartin »

If you ignore the photo-sharing capability for a moment, it sounds like they're trying to create a more accurate alternative to GPS. In the 1700s Britain awarded about £100,000 in "Longitude prize" money to people who contributed to the development of [accurate] longitude. I tried to figure out what that is in today's pounds and found a calculator that said it's £147,000,000.00 today. So if Color really can create an alternative to GPS for $41 million, it would be cheaper than what it cost to develop longitude :)

No idea if they can actually pull this off, but thought the Longitude Prize story is cool (thank you, "Stuff You Should Know" podcast, for mentioning it earlier this year).

Re: At least now we know why Color really got that funding

#153

Post by endergen »

lurker14 wrote: post #138
endergen wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are some good PGP type filtersnyouncould do. The more pictures of yourself you take the more likely you are who you claim. You can't reuse an visual identity very well because you can't be in two places at once. If strangers are constantly taking pictures with you then that adds to the validity of your identity. So GPS spoofing would allow you to flood some area with a feed but for how long, you need to fake so…

Why don't you try that last sentence again without so many negatives, and see if you don't like it less?

Ha, thanks for the tips.

Re: At least now we know why Color really got that funding

#154

Post by alphabeat »

KSS42 wrote: post #55
bch wrote: post #20

What a lame commentary. He's surprised why? What about google search, gmail, facebook and twitter? When the "product" is free, YOU are the product.

Gruber's point is that the CEO should not have tried to justify the value of their product by pointing out the data mining aspect. It is not good PR. (BTW, Gruber blogged the "you are the product" last Sept.) http://daringfireball.net/linked/2010/09/11/reece-iad

"Gruber did it" is the new "Simpsons did it"?

Re: At least now we know why Color really got that funding

#155

Post by yakto »

Rariel wrote: post #126
cosmicray wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how exactly will they be able to get trademark exclusivity on this name ? isn't this much more common than windows ever was ?

Apparently it's already trademarked--they have the TM right next to the name when you search it in the app store. I am really surprised by this...

"TM" means nothing in the U.S - anyone can slap "TM" on any product and claim a "common law" trademark, and it'll be up to them to defend against complaints and suits.

A "circle R", on the other hand, means that you have a federally-registered trademark. Which, after a bit of research at USPTO.gov, it appears they have (no surprise):

Word Mark COLOR, Goods and Services, IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: computer application software for social networking services; computer application software to facilitate social networking services by use of camera firmware in mobile devices; computer application software for sending, receiving, storing and organizing audiovisual, videographic and written data by use of camera firmware in mobile devices; computer application software to facilitate social networking services by use of location based data

IC 045. US 100 101. G & S: online social networking services; providing a web site to facilitate social networking services by use of camera firmware and geolocation software in the mobile devices of others

Serial Number 85222392, Filing Date January 20, 2011, Owner (APPLICANT) Jackson Labs, Inc. CORPORATION DELAWARE 201 Hamilton Avenue Palo Alto CALIFORNIA 94301, Attorney of Record Julia Spoor Gard

There are 3 other live trademarks for "Color," in the categories of Hair Color, printed goods, and plastic display racks.

Re: At least now we know why Color really got that funding

#156

Post by yakto »

yakto wrote: post #155
Rariel wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently it's already trademarked--they have the TM right next to the name when you search it in the app store. I am really surprised by this...

"TM" means nothing in the U.S - anyone can slap "TM" on any product and claim a "common law" trademark, and it'll be up to them to defend against complaints and suits. A "circle R", on the other hand, means that you have a federally-registered trademark. Which, after a bit of research at USPTO.gov, it appears they have (no surprise): Word Mark COLOR, Goods and Services, IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: computer…

On March 4, they also registered "MULTI-LENS", Goods and Services, IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: computer application software for social networking services; computer application software to facilitate social networking services and access to news and media outlets by use of camera firmware in mobile devices; computer application software for sending, receiving, storing and organizing audiovisual, videographic and written data by use of camera firmware in mobile devices; computer application software to facilitate social networking services by use of location based data.

IC 045. US 100 101. G & S: online social networking services; providing a web site to facilitate social networking services by use of camera firmware and geolocation software in the mobile devices of others.

That's it for their trademarks, at least under the company name Jackson Labs, Inc. Which leads me to believe that's the only product they've currently got cooking.

Re: At least now we know why Color really got that funding

#157

Post by dsandrowitz »

signal wrote: post #110
Herwig wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Couldn't agree more. Also; people don't want to use the app whether it be because they dont want strangers seeing their pics (I know I dont) and that its yet another photo sharing tool

I think this is the natural reaction of the hacker news (intelligent and savvy) crowd, but I see more and more every day that the average human desperately wants to be seen by anyone. Hence the success of youtube, twitter and facebook.

Is it a reaction to a form of mass social dislocation? Everyone finding acceptable ways to yell and scream for attention, not because they have something useful to share, but just because they are desperate to be part of the meta-conversation.

Re: At least now we know why Color really got that funding

#158

Post by bugsy »

jsb wrote: post #82
danilocampos wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm with you, but stand by my claim that if Adam Lisagor had shot an ad for Color, Gruber's tone would be entirely different. Here's another post about a photo-taking application earlier this week: http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/03/22/everyday

I disagree. Everyday is a part-time collaboration by 4 people that hasn't taken on funding, let alone $41M worth. And Everyday has a business model that doesn't mine data about you: it's $1.99 on the app store. So, I guess it's like Color in that it uses pictures, except that it's different in just about every other way.

Very cool app.

Re: At least now we know why Color really got that funding

#159

Post by bugsy »

baddox wrote: post #61
raganwald wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That had occurred to me, and I was going to suggest that it is semantically equivalent to claiming that John's mother wears army boots. Possibly true, possibly false, but irrelevant and off-topic. However, I assumed (possibly incorrectly) that somebody would suggest that insulting the author in a thread purportedly discussing the author's words is an indirect way of discrediting the words. I could be wrong, in which…

If a comment is not contributing to the discussion, then down-vote it. A non-contributing comment is not the same thing as an ad hominem argument. Also, an attack on someone's character is not the same as an ad hominem argument.

The entirety subthread about "is it ad hominem or not" is useless meta noise that has nothing at all to do with the main post. Folks, please just say no before creating such a subthread, or responding in one. The original very brief comment was related to the main topic and was a fine, if possibly cynical remark. It represented a view that had not been expressed. It was conversational in nature, such as someone might observe during any reasonable discussion of this topic. It did not need several pages of deconstruction. Comment deconstruction and analysis belongs in an academic literary journal, not here. Thanks.

Re: At least now we know why Color really got that funding

#160

Post by gumbo »

mambodog wrote: post #130
flyt wrote: post #11

Don't worry, if Apple acquires them (like they did their last company, Lala) then Gruber will suddenly realize how revolutionary the idea is.

Useless and irrelevant comments such as this one, along with it's many replies, contribute to signal-to-noise degradation of the discussion section of many popular HN posts. Maybe collapsible comment threads would help to mitigate this.

I agree with you. Those comments thread should be collapsible. And we need a way to see only new comments.
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