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Facebook Slingshot – A new way to share photos and videos

sling.me

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Re: Facebook Slingshot – A new way to share photos and videos

#81
post #47

We live in the age of wonders. The internet and mobile devices create endless possibilities for people to communicate, learn and interact. And at Facebook, a company which can, if it chooses, pick from among the brightest engineering minds and focus their efforts on any problem it chooses, the power to concentrate years of programming knowledge on the capabilities afforded to us by this astonishing bounty of personal…

Did you know there are over 150 varieties of Finches? Each slightly different, maybe color difference or a larger beak or bigger wingspan. They came about by iterating on the Finches that came before. In fact, that's how most advancements come about in nature, poetry, art, and yes, even technology. We take what came before an iterate on it. I'm trying to think of a giant leap that came out of nowhere, but I can't. Ph…

I like this analogy. Silicon valley generates random mutations of existing ideas, without thought or direction, and occasionally lands, by pure chance, on something slightly better, which survives at the expense of other inferior mutations.

I guess that maybe the developers working on "a new way to share photos and video" kid themselves that they're making something different; something that really is revolutionary. But no, what they're really doing is tweaking the shape of a beak thinking it'll make a better finch.

So I do kind of have to ask: is making random tweaks to the genome of the photo sharing application in the hope they'll be successful really the best use of the talents of all those developers?

Re: Facebook Slingshot – A new way to share photos and videos

#82
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well for one, you wouldn't know what his pic was. And two, that's going to be very very normal in this app. I like it because it's a pic conversation app (which i enjoy, with close friends) that forces interaction. For those of us already using similar things, this sort of structures our interaction into a conversation, rather than one person simply sending pics to the other. With that said, i can't help but feel i a…

Why the hell would sending dud pictures to see a picture someone sent you be "normal" for the app? Couldn't we use Facebook, Snapchat, or SMS to get the same effect without literally working around a feature? Fucking retarded. Why would you want to use an app that "forces" interaction? Either the two mutual parties are interested in talking to each other, or they are not. Im sorry, but a photo sharing app like this o…

I'd say Snapchat is the comparison, and yes, you literally could. It's almost as if people and companies create products to compete with other products. Multiple types of bread, what madness is this. I could literally use the same type of bread from this other company!

> "Neat" does not justify the money or engineering talent invested in it. If I was a Facebook share holder, I'd be confused as all hell.

lol i wasn't trying to justify them creating it. I don't give a shit why they did. All i care is that i am a consumer of it, and enjoy it more than Snapchat. Vastly more than sending pictures via SMS/Facebook/etc.

I'd love to continue a discussion, but this feels much less like a discussion about a product and more like i have to try and sell you on the concept, and on the product itself. Frankly, i don't have the slightest care if you like the product.

Funny how Liking something on HN is so often a mind blowingly crazy concept. "But the numbers don't add up!!" they cry. Well, make your own Facebook, become far more successful than FB, and don't make their mistakes. Since you so clearly know something they don't, you should have a serious edge in the competition, right? :)

Re: Facebook Slingshot – A new way to share photos and videos

#85
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you know there are over 150 varieties of Finches? Each slightly different, maybe color difference or a larger beak or bigger wingspan. They came about by iterating on the Finches that came before. In fact, that's how most advancements come about in nature, poetry, art, and yes, even technology. We take what came before an iterate on it. I'm trying to think of a giant leap that came out of nowhere, but I can't. Ph…

I like this analogy. Silicon valley generates random mutations of existing ideas, without thought or direction, and occasionally lands, by pure chance, on something slightly better, which survives at the expense of other inferior mutations. I guess that maybe the developers working on "a new way to share photos and video" kid themselves that they're making something different; something that really is revolutionary.…

I think this is basically what scott adams pivot article said.

Re: Facebook Slingshot – A new way to share photos and videos

#87
post #35

This app brings to mind an excerpt for Larry Page - The untold Story: ... Up front, an executive pitched a new product that helped users find the right offline store to do their shopping. The executive was well into his pitch when, suddenly, Page interrupted him. “No,” Page said emphatically. “We don’t do this.” The room grew quiet. “We build products that leverage technology to solve huge problems for hundreds of mi…

Also called the "toothbrush rule". Larry wouldn't allow a product that you didn't use twice a day to be developed at Google.

I've never heard this before. I like this a lot.

Kinda like the Bezos "pizza rule".

Re: Facebook Slingshot – A new way to share photos and videos

#88

We live in the age of wonders. The internet and mobile devices create endless possibilities for people to communicate, learn and interact. And at Facebook, a company which can, if it chooses, pick from among the brightest engineering minds and focus their efforts on any problem it chooses, the power to concentrate years of programming knowledge on the capabilities afforded to us by this astonishing bounty of personal…

while I have to agree, still, it has a psychological experiment side which is quite interesting. You don't see the picture, you have to be active to reveal it. Will this pull you into being active?

So, it might as well be the virus being tested, not the photo-sharing-app that is infected.

Re: Facebook Slingshot – A new way to share photos and videos

#90
post #2

The catch is a pretty big deal, and by deal I mean a deal breaker for me. Why do I have to share something back with someone in order to see what they've shared back at me? I understand it's great for engagement but who would use this over Snapchat or Instagram.

It's a game, or at least, it's playful.
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