TwitKu is a new site that is sort of a Meebo (web instant messaging) for the Twitter and Jaiku “presence blogging” services. The site brings your Twitter and Jaiku accounts onto one screen and adds a posting interface that allows you to post just to one of the services, or to both. The benefit for many people that use both services religiously is obvious. Very simple and very useful for some people. Both Twitter and Jaiku have APIs, making this possible (or at least manageable). Clones/similar products like Pownce and the new Yappd don’t have APIs. When and if those services release them, I’d expect TwitKu to quickly add those services as well. And that would save those of us who want to use all of the services but refuse to choose a lot of time. And since Twitter and Jaiku are all about presence and status updates of friends, there’s no reason not to add Facebook status right away, too. → Read More
Here’s a me-too service that won’t last long. Yappd, a Twitter clone, launched today. In their email to us they describe themselves as “Twitter with picture messaging,” and that pretty much sums it up. It is a service that allows you to quickly tell the world what you are up to. You can add content via their website, email or sms. So while we debate whether Kevin Rose’s Pownce, another recent entrant to this space, is different enough from Twitter to become successful, yet another hopeful young gun enters the space with little to differentiate itself except the addition of a photo to your status messages. Unless Yappd has a brilliant marketing strategy up their sleeve, I don’t expect them to get much traction. I do like the photo feature, though. Hopefully Twitter will add it soon. My Yappd account is here. Don’t even think about adding me. → Read More
Pownce has announced the launch of a group that will work towards the implementation of a public Pownce API. As Pownce puts it so well on their blog “the lack of an API has been a major criticism levelled against Pownce from day one.” Desktop interaction is Pownce’s Achilles heal; the Pownce Desktop AIR client has been defective from day one. An open API will allow third party developers to create new and improved desktop clients, browser add-ons and any other interface they feel like, as many already have for Twitter. Apparently though, it’s not as simple as simply providing a public API; the public part of the Pownce API requires consultation, design, development, more consultation, and last but not least a “community review” with a potential release date of September. All good things comes to those who wait, but the longer Pownce waits to release a public API, the bigger the risk that the mostly positive momentum behind the application will wither away. → Read More
Proving that everything has a market, invites to Kevin Rose’s P2P service Pownce are up for sale on eBay. Bidding on Pownce invites start at 1c with buy it now prices at $5. It wasn’t that long ago when Gmail invites were available for sale on eBay, although I’d suggest there is a world of difference between the wildly innovative email platform (at the time) and a P2P platform such as Pownce. The question then becomes, for those desperate for an invite: Yes or No, Thank You; the exact options on the error message Pownce Desktop Client users get to see at least a dozen times a day. (via Paris Lemon, image credit LOLcats) → Read More
So I’ve had a week now to play around with Pownce, Kevin Rose’s (the founder of Digg, pictured left) newly launched Twitter killer. Twitter, which launched a year ago, was obviously used as the initial inspiration for the Pownce. They both allow users to sign up, add friends, and broadcast quick notes to people. The main differences: Twitter is mobile-ready, allowing users to receive friend requests and new messages via text message. And Pownce gives users more flexibility in communicating by allowing messages just to friends. Pownce also allows different kinds of messages – file transfers, events, links and plain text messages (Twitter allows text and links only). There’s no reason, though, that users will use both. They’ll go with one or the other, or neither. So is Pownce good enough to beat Twitter? The early adopter crowd is going to be torn on this one. (Just about) everyone loves Kevin Rose, and anything he launches is going to get serious attention – on Digg, tech blogs and mainstream press. But a lot of people like Twitter, too, and that application has already reached the “network effect” stage of its business cycle. It continues to grow fast. And Evan Williams, the co-founder of Twitter (and Odeo and Blogger), is also well liked in Silicon Valley. A breakdown of the basic features is in the chart to the right. Pownce also provides a few other bells and whistles not included in the chart. For example, it lets you forward a message to others (and also allows you to exclude those that have already received it). And they also give basic stats on messages, like how many people have received it. Pownce has an AIR desktop application, although there are similar apps for Twitter, too. Another thing to consider that’s not on the chart – Twitter has had, and continues to have, massive performance issues. It is slow or down way too often. Services like Twitter and Pownce (and there are others, too – Jaiku, Kyte and many more) are highly viral and benefit from the network effect. People want to join the service that all of their friends already use, and so each new user adds value to the network as a whole. By that measure, Twitter is far ahead of Pownce. Frankly, unless you really like the mobile aspect of Twitter, there isn’t a whole lot of difference between the → Read More
There have been rumors that Digg’s Kevin Rose has been working on a new startup for some time, but he wasn’t talking. I spent a good amount of time this last weekend at FOO Camp trying to get some of the details out of him, but all he would say is that he’d be contacting us soon. Today he’s made a bit of a public announcement about the project. It’s called Pownce, and he wrote about it a bit on his tumblr blog. The founding team of the company also includes Leah Culver, Daniel Burka, and Shawn Allen. Pownce looks to be a web based sharing network with an optional desktop client (built on Adobe Air) for advanced features. Without having had the opportunity to test it, it looks to be overlapping with AllPeers and Pando, and possibly others. It also clearly has basic social networking features – see Rose’s profile page for the service here. Right now, there are four basic things you can send: messages, links, files, and events. You might send an event out to a dozen of your friends letting them know you’re hosting a party this Friday. They could easily get the event details you entered, respond with questions or comments and then quickly rsvp. Say you had a great photo you wanted to share with all of your friends. Just add the file and all of your friends will get it right away. They’ll be able to reply and tell you if it’s cool. You could even post songs you recorded in your home studio to share with your friends. It’s in private beta currently, but you can request an invitation on the home page. Kevin’s been on a bit of a roll lately. Digg continues to grow, and his other startup, Revision3, just raised another round of financing. → Read More
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