After all the talk of VCs vs. Founders.
This.
This is the kind of relationship we’re all hoping to build with the founders we back.
Congratulations to all involved.
Superfeedr's tumbling!
Well done Tumblr!
If anything, the #Tumblr team did an incredible and amazing job. Execution outside of the silicon valley ghetto has been flawless. I met with David and Marco (and John) a couple years ago while there were still less than 10 people altogether inside Tumblr and I can only say that that visit still resonates a lot and Tumblr remains a source of inspiration for several projects of ours.
For example, the “Follow” button (top right corner) has been the model for the SubToMe button. Similarly, the dashboard still feels like what a modern and user friendly RSS reader should be.
The folks at Tumblr have also been supporting the open web from very early on: adding PubSubHubbub when few platforms supported it, but also maintaining their RSS feeds all along when other platforms retired them to promote their closed APIs… etc.
I wish they had played the openness ball even further by allowing us to follow blogs outside of Tumblr itself. Maybe that’s on the menu of the Yahoo acquisition?
I am obviously worried too, because I know that the web needs more players, rather than less, because I know what Yahoo did to a lot of the jewels it acquired in the past. I know that David is a very smart and talented entrepreneur and I’m sure he’ll do his best to steer Tumblr (and Yahoo!) in the right direction.
Again, well done Tumblr!
The Gong Show: Google's Social Network: Gmail
Google+ doesn’t make sense as a strategy. Its superfluous to Google’s existing assets. Why did Google need a Facebook-clone-like social network product? They already had an amazing social network in Gmail! I have 10x the social interaction inside of Gmail compared to Facebook.
Facebook has photo…
“ Larry Page, on stage at I/O today: Every story I read about Google is ‘us versus some other company’ or some stupid thing, and I just don’t find that very interesting. We should be building great things that don’t exist. Being negative isn’t how we make progress. Most important things are not zero sum, there is a lot of opportunity out there. Google fans seem to eat this kumbaya stuff up, to really believe it. But Google is the company that built Android after the iPhone, Google Plus after Facebook, and now a subscription music service after Spotify. They entered the RSS reader market, wiped it out, and are now just walking away from it. Gmail? Webmail but better. Think about even web search: Google search wasn’t something new; it was something better. Way, way, way better, but still. Consider maps. Google Maps entered a market where MapQuest and others had been around for years. That wasn’t something great that didn’t already exist. It was a better version of something that already existed. Google is a hyper-competitive company, and they repeatedly enter markets that already exist and crush competitors. Nothing wrong with that. That’s how capitalism is supposed to work, and Google’s successes are admirable. But there’s nothing stupid about seeing Google being pitted “versus” other companies. They want everything; their ambition is boundless. ”
“ Web server - Sir Tim thought that everyone would run a webserver. Everyone. Not just big companies. There was a financial incentive to build centralised internet. We need to build a distributed internet - it may take a while but we’re moving towards it. ”
“ In hindsight, I think David was right and I was wrong. I wanted him to build something that felt more like Wordpress or Typepad (where I blog). He had something different in mind. And to David’s credit, he had the courage of his convictions to follow his own instincts. ”
Digg Blog: We're Still Learning
Two weeks ago, we sent out a second survey to the over 18,000 people who signed up to help us work on our reader. In our first survey, we focused on core discovery and reading features. This time around we wanted to learn about the more ancillary features like read later and sharing….
Finally the truth is out :) Social *IS* overated!
“Believe it or not, oh companies of the web, I know I have the Tumblr app installed. I know that I have the Twitter app installed. But I don’t want to go open those apps every single time I want to view some piece of content. I just don’t. I like the web. Changing apps inside of a mobile device feels more cumbersome to me…
I don’t understand why this is so hard. I want to view the content of least resistance. If I’m in the app, let me stay in the app. If I’m on the web, let me stay on the web. Don’t make me second guess myself.
”
Zachary Forrest, https://medium.com/tech-talk/25a7fde0f19b (via wtf-mobile-web)
