BetaKit: a new online publication covering emerging tech trends and startups | Hacker News Reader

BetaKit: a new online publication covering emerging tech trends and startups

betakit.com

31 pointsvduquette29 comments

There does not seem to be a working RSS feed for this website. Apart from a couple of websites like HN that I directly navigate too on a daily basis - If I cant add it into my google reader I will never remember to come back to your website.

Totally agree, and we'll be adding RSS ASAP. It's on the launch day list of to-dos. Thanks for checking it out!

great. hope you post again when you do. That's what's also limiting my interest in your site.

another vote for the RSS feed. Without it, it won't be on my reading list either.

Just as a note to future publishers: RSS is not a feature to add AFTER the fact but ought to be a launch readiness item if you're publishing content.

http://betakit.com/feed

RSS is added (as noted above), and we're adding social sharing options to the homepage. Appreciate the feedback, and thanks for reading.

Lots of TechCrunch competitors launching recently, but I do like this one. It's sort of like a simplified Verge for startups. Hopefully they remain objective.

Trust me, objectivity will remain.

Thanks for checking it out!

Nothing like a subjective "Trust me" to inspire trust in objectivity.

There are advantages and disadvantages to this but as they aren't based in San Francisco they will probably remain more objective.

I always welcome another news site bringing a new touch to the scene.

Using colors for categories is nice and I enjoy the visuals but white on yellow is IMHO not the best choice. (partnerships)

Beside that I can only second what others said. - RSS feed or chances that I visit the site more often is nearly non existing - Showing who is writing those stories is IMO essential

I wish you luck and success.

http://betakit.com/feed

Needs a link to your Twitter feed from the homepage. Had to guess that it was http://twitter.com/betakit. That's my preferred method of subscribing to new sites these days.

Good luck! Looking forward to reading.

Wow, I clicked it expecting something half-baked.

Not so, it's a bit The Verge like but cleaner. I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes.

Thanks - feel free to email any feedback to erin[at]betakit.com.

Beautifully visuals, but unfortunately very very rough UX. Sooo much text and moving graphics on the page, my eyes don't know where to focus.

The logo looks pretty "heavily inspired" by this: http://www.betascape.org/

Hmmm...

Those look nothing alike.

..how? Betascapes logo offers an optical illusion showing a third dimension. Betakit uses colour as an indicator to the different news sections that they offer.

If anything, EGEA cosmetics has a similar logo to betascape http://logopond.com/gallery/detail/65824

The team running BetaKit is sharp and really plugged in. Can't wait to see what happens.

Thanks Ryan, glad we're in the same building :)

I wish it said on the site who the team is. If you're running an editorial site, somewhere it should at least say who the editor in chief is, no? That's part of the site's credibility.

(But overall I do like what they are doing.)

Hey, the About page is being updated right now. The site is an initiative of Sprouter.com.

@SarahPrevette - Editor-in-chief @erinbury (me) - Managing Editor @drizzled - Senior Writer

(Plus a team of global contributors)

Hey, just an update - our about page is up with a list of all staff & contributors at betakit.com/about

Thanks!

Interesting, how often can we expect to see new articles?

Hey, we're aiming to post several new articles every day. We have an in-house editorial staff (I'm managing editor, former GigaOM writer & editor Darrell Etherington is senior writer) and a group of global contributors.

But we're more focused on quality analytical pieces that press release rewrites - quality over quantity. Thanks for checking it out!

If you can stay true to the quality over quantity goal, BetaKit could very well become one of my most read sites. But I suspect it would be very hard to do so — everything I've experienced with online journalism suggests that quantity of posts is what pays the bills.

Best of luck to you though!

Thanks Chris - I hope you'll keep reading so we can show you we're committed to quality.

And get in touch anytime at erin@betakit.com, happy to hear your feedback.

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