CoverPad For The iPad Makes Your Blog Feel Like Flipboard | Hacker News Reader

CoverPad For The iPad Makes Your Blog Feel Like Flipboard

techcrunch.com

The co-founder of Flipboard Tweets: http://twitter.com/edog1203/status/28446907171#

"Lazy, uncreative and pathetic."

I was pretty shocked by his reaction. I would think that other people copying a new paradigm his company created would be a complement. At least, that's how I would take it.

Well, being the sole designer/developer working alone and restless for three+ months I can say it wasn't lazy. The other two things are up to you to decide.

The paradigm of the pagination, and the idea of a system for programmatically creating editorial layout is definitely worth stealing and I think it's fully fair to build products that do this.

What would frustrate me if I was at Flipboard is the aesthetic similarity. It actually looks like a Flipboard branded product, due to choices in color, layout, format, and typography. That's not building on the innovation of Flipboard, it's building on the identity of Flipboard. The only real benefits of that:

* Skipping the process of developing a unique identity (lazy)

* Not having to have a vision to develop a unique identity (uncreative)

* Gain unearned associations with Flipboard (pathetic)

Awesome product, but I was shocked at this line:

Baptiste hasn’t actually spoken with anyone at Flipboard about this.

Seriously? You basically rip off of their concept and start charging $50 a pop, without asking for their permission. Isn't this idea infringement or something?

I can see why Evan Doll is pissed (see comment by jamesjyu).

If YC funds someone to clone Photoshop in the browser and run it in the cloud, are they ripping off a concept or are they disrupting an incumbent?

("Yes" is a perfectly acceptable answer to my question, of course.)

Are you serious? Any product involves borrowing hundreds if not thousands of ideas from others. And that's how progress is made; you build upon others' ideas.

There's no such thing as idea infringement, unless the idea is turned into a patent of course.

And sorry for repeating the cliche but...

"Good artists borrow, great artists steal" - Steve Jobs

I couldnt have said it better. If we had to ask for "permission" for everything we build, there would be no innovation.

Congrats, I think it's a great improvement from the first version. I'd love to see a post on your blog about the sales ;)

You know tablets are here to stay when people start offering tablet-specific publishing as a service.

I have no problems with this product -- it seems like an interesting solution to a real problem -- but this is just a ridiculous statement. Whenever a new trend pops up, people try to capitalize on it. It doesn't matter if the current trend is a fad or if it will last, it's about the opportunity right now.

I happen to think "tablets" are here to stay, but let's not get carried away based solely on that.

I figure I might not be the only one slightly confused by the different names and what each does: PadPressed is the WordPress plugin that makes any WordPress blog into something that looks good for the iPad (including homescreen icon, fullscreen and splashscreen on launch), using Apple's special meta parameters for the "original" web-apps.

CoverPad is a new feature of said product that adds the Flipboard-like page flipping and layout.

Neither is a native iOS app.

Technically, PadPressed is a plugin which adds a iPad detection, and a framework to be extended by themes. CoverPad is the second of those themes. We plan to release a lot more.

Pulse has a much better UI, in my opinion.

Kids, take notes: Slipping in that NYTimes.com $50,000/$50 price-point disruption is what turns an otherwise boring PR reword-reprint into a killer article. Too bad TC buried the lede and too bad they wrote YC-backed.

Up voted for Tron. But product looks sweet.

I'd pay $50 just for a WordPress plugin that made the new Tron movie music play when anybody read my blog, period.

Next version. We've partnered with animoto to make photos sync with the music. Konami code obviously.

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