Archive for the 'Insight' Category

Is Instagram the next big start up?

Ulysse Sabbag | November 9, 2010

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Instagram is the new, hot start-up everyone is talking about nowadays.

Today, the blogosphere is abuzz because of its exponential increase of users (maybe more than a million now) and for other reasons.

Why is everyone talking about it?

First of all, Instagram may be the first international, social mobile experience.

You might ask me about Foursquare. Well, I’ll tell you that, unfortunately, Foursquare isn’t great. I can’t understand why so many people are talking about it and can’t find what is its utility. Foursquare seems to be mainly used by Americans and not by many Europeans (I live in Paris). And I also think that there is a problem with geolocation applications in general. Anyway, a recent Pew Study everyone was talking about the other day explains that only 4% of adults are “checking-in”.

Let’s be honest; I’m on Facebook, I don’t mind about rigorous privacy and my problem with geolocation isn’t about that. I agree that geolocation might be the future but there’s a disease striking the valley. Everyone is building a geolocation service: Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook and the stranger one? SCVNGR. Dude, recheck your start-up’s name. Stop this madness.

Places will be a moderate success. Facebook did not “educate” us on geolocation, their communication for this feature was disastrous and I feel like nobody’s using it—if they implement innovative features and thoroughly teach people how to use it, it may become mainstream. I’m not inducing that people are stupid nor that Facebook users are stupid. How we can measure the success of Places really depends on how Facebook defines success for Places. Must everybody who owns a smartphone use Places? However, it may be too soon to tell.

Let’s come back to Instagram.

Instagram will succeed for a few but vital reasons. I think that although Foursquare has the lead, Instagram will quickly come back.

  • The first of Instagram’s advantages is that it appeals to another sense and stimulates it. I’m not going to dig deep into psychology’s role, but I think that the fact that we see actual photos of our friends is more interesting that seeing that he (or she) checked-in at the mall. It may need another social layer but my hopes are becoming reality. They are building a feature that could allow you to follow a friend, comment on photos and have a profile.
  • Instagram has a very simple goal. Photo sharing. Sharing photos is way more explicit than checking-in to someplace because you might get a discount and a virtual badge. What do you do after checking-in? With Instagram, you share your enhanced (through filters) photos with your friends. Showing-off plays a huge part in this success. I understood Instagram’s goal directly. I’m still figuring out why Foursquare will ever be useful.
  • Instagram is beautiful. This is undeniable. The quality of the application is incredible and the filters are just great.
  • Finally Instagram has a wider range than any other application on the iPhone. Potentially everybody already took a photo with the iPhone and any Facebook user probably has shared a photo. Anyone would be up and going with Instagram in no time. People would already have photos in their Photos app and would upload a photo very easily. It’d be fun and entertaining.

But is Instagram useful? Foursquare may give you the opportunity to find deals at local businesses. But Instagram doesn’t have to be useful in the sense of productivity or matters of money. It just has to be entertaining in order to be successful. Ever heard of Zynga?

Now, how could they be successful?

In the first place, they have to open up a little. I mean they have to create profiles, allow more control over the web. Add more filters, stay beautiful.

Yet there will be a time when they will also have to find how to be profitable—but as we all know, becoming profitable means to kill the cool factor and that, ladies and gentlemen, would be a shame.

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RockMelt: is the social browser a good idea?

Ulysse Sabbag | November 9, 2010

RockMelt is a browser customization based on Chromium, the project behind Google Chrome. It has its own application. But do we really need a social browser?

Why did they create RockMelt?

With RockMelt, we’ve re-thought the user experience because a browser and should be about more than simply navigating Web pages. Today, the browser connects to your world. Why not build your world right into your browser?

Yes, indeed, this is a great idea. You should be able to do things you do on your browser much more efficiently. Sharing a link to Facebook and Twitter would be quicker with RockMelt. But do you really need it?

Are you really active on three different social networks? Do you tweet every two seconds and update your Facebook status every minute? If sharing a link, updating a status and upload a photo is what you do all day long, you might like RockMelt.

However, I think that RockMelt may find a path towards a mild success. The UI work is appreciable but putting too much options just blurs the simplicity of the browser. RockMelt will appeal to social media freaks but not to a regular Web surfer. And frankly, I’d rather have a minimalistic browsing experience than a rich—yet cluttered one.

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Blekko launches

Ulysse Sabbag | November 2, 2010

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Blekko has launched Sunday and people are wrongly wondering whether it is a Google killer.

This summer, I wrote a tiny article stating an important fact (concerning Blekko). It does not want to kill Google. It does not want to compete with Google, it is trying to improve search.

Henry Blodget, from SAI thinks it is doomed. It may be but his arguments are false.

1. For the most part, search isn’t broken.

Blekko is not meant to fix it.

2. When search IS broken, the problem is usually not Demand Media content. It’s because the question you’re asking generally isn’t well-suited to being answered by algorithmic search.

Man or Ash? People ask what they feel is the most intuitive query. Yes, they adapt their questions to algorithms but anyway, this argument is wrong.

3. Normal people haven’t the faintest idea what “slashtags” are or why they would ever want to use them.

Normal people want to ask Google: where is my grandson? If change is innovative, people will adapt.

Now, what does doomed mean? Doomed like Cuil?

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What to think about the new MacBook Air

Ulysse Sabbag | October 30, 2010

Since it seems that Apple wasn’t clear enough while unveiling the MacBook air and explaining its purposes, if you feel curious today, here’s a batch of interesting reads to clearly understand its raison d’être.

Gizmodo thinks (and rightfully so) that the new MacBook Air is the death of the MacBook Pro.

No, I’m not trying to attract visitors by saying this (it’s not my headline) but I think that in the future, there will be a clear separation between portable Macs. We will have portable workstations and light notebooks. The 13-inch MacBook Pro will be radically changed and the 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pros will become the aforementioned workstations.

Marco Arment has another vision.

And if you want to know everything about these notebooks, just follow AppleInsider’s exhaustive review.

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On Samsung and design

Ulysse Sabbag | October 25, 2010

There is something they have to understand rather quickly.

Attention to detail is essential. I am deeply sorry, but I have to make the connection with Apple. It seems that Apple has no problem in designing things; what they produce is widely as being at the edge of industrial design. And what they produce is bought by millions. Although Apple is growing, day after day, this attention to detail continues to be one of the brand’s signature.

Samsung does not know how to design stuff. Let’s not talk about how they name their products—before the Galaxy S, they named the Player: SGH-F480—and talk about the way they design their products.

This is the Samsung Player. It was released in June 2008. One year after the iPhone. Why am I talking about this?

 

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Let’s it rotate it and place the iPhone 3G next to it.

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Ok. Now, let’s view their invitation to their November event.

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What’s with the stocks? This is such a flawed invitation I can’t even talk about it.

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Motorola Droid Pro: game-changing device?

Ulysse Sabbag | October 8, 2010

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Three days ago, Motorola unveiled the Droid Pro. And why is this important?

Finally, Android surpassed Apple in the U.S.

I strongly believe that we can foresee what will happen between the iPhone and Android. Android will definitely surpass the iPhone and the iPhone will become the Mac of smartphones but it will still have its intrinsic shininess—with advantages related to this position.

Now, Motorola takes the first step in the right, new direction, attack RIM. And apparently, they did well.

 

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Instapaper becomes a start-up, it may be a bad idea

Ulysse Sabbag | October 8, 2010

After leaving the responsibility of being the lead developer for Tumblr, Marco Arment decided to spend his time working for his own projects. And the most famous one is surely Instapaper, one of the greatest service ever.

Instapaper does one thing in such a great manner, it is quite incredible.

You place a Read Later bookmark in your bookmarks bar on your browser and when you’re on a web page, say, a long article, you click Read Later and it saves it in your bookmarks directory on Instapaper’s website.

Instapaper is a simple tool to save web pages for reading later.

Now, Marco will dedicate his time to updating, maintaining and enhancing Instapaper and this could be a bad idea. Sometimes, things are useful the way they are and success makes you think that change will make things even better.

You may say I’m not open-minded but I truly cannot see what could Marco do to make it better. No, I’m lying. I can. He can make an Android app—even though it seems like he does not want to craft one but instead make an HTML5 web-app compatible for all Android phones, which, of course, with the screen resolution proper to each phone, is the best idea. He can update the app to speed things up, on my iPhone, the app is quite slow. But these things are not impossible to make along with a job, say, leading Tumblr’s development.

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Is Android a threat to the iPhone?

Ulysse Sabbag | October 8, 2010

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The blogosphere is all warmed up today because of the latest Nielsen research results. Android is the most popular operating system in the US among recent smartphone buyers.

Though RIM and iPhone OS are close, Android is on the rise.

Now, the very serious Bits blog from the New York Times posted an article stating that the iPhone has a real fight on its hands?

We must ask ourselves, is that true?

It seems that nobody noticed Apple’s policy change. It’s not called iPhone OS anymore, people, it’s called iOS and Apple doesn’t care anymore about iPhone-centric statistics. Apple is surely losing momentum. But they know things happen very fast and they know the iPhone cannot be king forever. Just like for the Mac. So they launch new products.

Please do not forget: Android is available on more than twenty (20) phones. Apple is aware of this fact.

For them, the iPad is the most important device. With billions of dollars in the tablet industry, the iPhone is starting to lose its luster. But it’s OK for Apple.

So, yes, Android is a threat to the iPhone, but right now, Apple has the innovation momentum and not the product momentum. Which is way more important.

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On Stuxnet: what must be said

Ulysse Sabbag | October 3, 2010

Stuxnet is a computer worm that infects industrial-class computers and operating systems. It was designed to provoke chaos in such systems. It is feared to be capable of taking over the system’s brain which would allow it to take total control. It does not steal your personal data, it’s not a baby worm.

Now, many questions remain unanswered. Who created it? Why?

Fortunately, certain events brought light to the situation. We know that Iran and China were attacked.

PhysOrg reports:

The Stuxnet computer worm has wreaked havoc in China, infecting millions of computers around the country, state media reported this week.

Governments fear cyberwarfare. The thing is that they do not possess all the necessary defense infrastructure to deal with it. That is why Stuxnet is not making headlines—not because it is harmless.

“The Stuxnet worm is a wake-up call to governments around the world,” Derek Reveron, a cyber expert at the US Naval War School, was quoted as saying Thursday by the South China Morning Post.

Still, it is important to note something. Stuxnet is not fated to destroy systems. It is fated to prepare them to further attacks. We may be in a state of pure speculation, right now, but to weaken industry computers is to “brace for carnage”—if you play Halo: Reach.

Now, who could have possibly created it? Some say it’s Israel, some say it’s the United States (Western nations were also mentioned).

The IDF has shifted focus to cyberwarfare, earlier this week. Are they using the old technique: saying one thing so big and making something even bigger to make it look like they’re innocent? What I mean is since they have shifted focus to cyberwarfare, could they be behind Stuxnet? Wouldn’t it be too big? They’re probably happy watching a worm spreading chaos in Iran, but did they design it?

The US? Again, it would be way too big. China and Iran. I know they’re not subtle but come on.

But who, then? I suggest to read War in Context for further information and development regarding this story. I’ll also be closely watching it.

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Windows Phone 7 ads are quite clever

Ulysse Sabbag | September 27, 2010

Well, since they’re stigmatizing every single smartphone user, showing you that if you use Windows Phone 7, you’ll be different, effective and still using a smartphone. Quite mad, Bob.

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Twitter’s promoted tweets will fail

Ulysse Sabbag | September 27, 2010

It seems that when it comes to monetization, everybody forgot how Google did it. They own the web search market and propose various solutions such as AdWords or AdSense. And every single robot or human being uses Google.

What are promoted tweets?

Who clicks on promoted tweets? Nobody. Because when it comes to search for something you want to buy, you go on Google. That is because you trust Google and not Twitter, yet. (Also because there are not as many people on Twitter as you think.)

Now, continuing with promoted tweets is not a good idea. Because what they need is many users clicking on the ads, and nobody will, since nobody likes to click on ads. And if you are a greedy geek, you know you do not like the feeling of giving money to someone, just by clicking on a link—in your inner self, of course, otherwise, you are filled with joy and happiness.

This might seem like a rant, it is not.

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Foursquare is building a recommendation engine

Ulysse Sabbag | September 24, 2010

Nowadays, saying that location is the new social networks darling is similar to saying that Bob Dylan is the greatest songwriter ever or than, in summertime, people are happy.

Though Foursquare is rapidly gaining users, I never understood its long-time use nor its day-to-day use. How will is stay alive, why do people use it? They say businesses are beginning to exploit Foursquare’s capabilities—if you check-in several times, you’ll get a discount.

Will this service be perennial? I don’t know, I don’t expected it to until I read that Foursquare is building a recommendation engine. Which of course, you’ll tell me, is the next appropriated and logical step.

If, finally, they arrive to build a decent recommendation engine, users will see a solid interest in using Foursquare actively. It won’t be about odd discounts, mayorships or useless virtual prizes anymore, it will be real. That is why I think that their recommendation engine will be their cash-cow, it they use effectively.

 

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7-inch iPad, FaceTime iPad: the problem is the rumors

Ulysse Sabbag | September 20, 2010

I’m done people, I don’t want to hear about iPad rumors anymore. And since they’re a piece of Apple-related news, iPad rumors pollutes my feeds. We don’t need these rumors for a bunch of simple reasons.

First, Apple is evidently building a FaceTime iPad. This just makes sense. And if they don’t, well, they would contradict their own product expansion policy. This is too irrational, even for Steve.

Second, it would be illogical for Apple to build a 7-inch iPad. Though it may be possible. I’m not helping, right? Actually, we can’t know for sure. Steve Jobs was very clear when he announced the iPad, last January: it fits into a new family of devices. It is not a phone and it is not a computer (nor a netbook, to be precise).

People should have known there won’t be an iPhone nano when the iPhone 3G was released. Then, we knew the iPhone would evolve year after year, generation after generation as a unique device in Apple’s phones family.

Concerning the iPad, we will know if they will build a 7-inch iPad as soon as the second generation is announced. And there’s more: we will know more clearly what is their policy about the iPad family.

When people will start to think about the rumors instead of spreading them like peanut butter, I will feel better.

 

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Why is Twitter so important to politicians?

Ulysse Sabbag | September 11, 2010

(Update: this article is “sticky” because this article is TechAwe.)

Yesterday, I read an article stating that Republicans were more active on Twitter than their Democrat foes.

Nowadays, everybody knows that social networks and social media, more generally, are very important to politicians and that Twitter, as a precise example, has greatly contributed to President Obama’s election.

A question remains, though, why is social media so efficient? The impact range of the political message is thoroughly extended by social media: depending on the time an average person spends on the Internet, an individual will be more exposed to politics.

But, I think there might be another answer. The time you spend in front of your computer is either your work time or your entertainment time. During office hours, your exposition to politics is limited, since you’re not supposed to be on social networks, chatting with your friends or updating your Twitter status.

Your entertainment, more private time is what is important to them. You are alone, in front of your computer. The message you will receive will concern you more directly than if you were standing during a speech. You feel like the message’s only recipient is you.

Kind of the same feeling in the polling station, right? Alone, where you either feel your vote is going to change things or you feel your vote is useless.

The psychological importance of web political activism can not be denied.

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Stop with Ping shitty puns

Ulysse Sabbag | September 3, 2010

Stop guys, seriously. “Apple is being ping’d by spam”, “Apple and Facebook are scrap-ping”. No, please, no.

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