Filed under: Audio, Business, Internet, Text, Podcasting, Blogging, Web services
Newsvine testing and interview
Last week Jason Calacanis did a little
Newsvine testing. A very interesting read from someone who has played with a lot of web toys just like that one...
I tried Newsvine, and found it to be a little lacking. Not in features necessarily (although not being able to link to
your own post is wack), but in polish. The UI is a bit cumbersome. The buzzword for cumbersome, so you know, is
"rich" or "deep." Mike D., from Newsvine, comments on Calacanis's blog the interface is designed to
reveal more features over time. That's true of most software, which doesn't make it better. At any rate, another
channel, Disinformation, has an interview with Calvin
Tang, co-founder of Newsvine available as a podcast. They even talk about scuba diving. Anyone out there using
Newsvine on a regular basis? Mine's superpixel.newsvine.com.[Thanks to Willy for the link]
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Steve said 3:44PM on 4-05-2006
Strange review. Misses the point of newsvine.
An hour or two to figure out the interface? lol
First, it is about reading the news (the reviewer forgot to mention this).
My favourite feature is simple but powerful. I have a few tags of subjects I like to follow. Everytime I log on i see how many new articles under each subject exist and i can reach them in one click in a nice useable interface. EASY. Powerful.
The conversation tracker mentioned in the review is COOL. A tiny box helps you track and reach in one click any article that you have written or commented on or are watching that has new activity. Neat. You can comment on articles and follow comments over the next few days painlessly.
That alone does it for me, but as the community grows the seeding (adding by users) of interesting artciles improves. Discussion of articles can (occasionally) be interesting. And every now and then an interesting user appears that writes articles worth following ... yes you get your own blog here.
There are lots of other features. Like chat rooms for really hit issues, etc. Its slick and a good way to follow mainstream news.
Web 2.0 techcrunch memeorandum geeks will be dissappointed as Dave Winer rants don't feature.
I'm not that into the social aspects that much but still find it a great way to follow the news on the 5 or 6 subjects that matter to me plus the headlines.
The review you featured seemd mainly interested in AJAX and getting his own articles featured instantly.
Lame review.
Reply
'Orrible Cabbage said 2:46AM on 4-06-2006
I have been using Newsvine for a little while now, and I love it.
I wrote a kind of review/article about it on my blog, for anyone who's interested.
http://orriblecabbage.wordpress.com/2006/03/10/web-service-spotlight-newsvine/
Reply