Kevin Rose’s idea for a new blogging platform called Tiny | Hacker News Reader

Kevin Rose’s idea for a new blogging platform called Tiny

thenextweb.com

53 pointsdatacog55 comments

I don't see how it necessarily offers a "window" into someone's soul to have a blurry webcam running on them. The webcam probably won't add anything to the context of a post, and more likely than not the image is either going to be someone staring into the screen or an empty chair when they're not there.

The process of watching a writer write is not as insightful as, say, watching an artist paint.

There may be something to combining video and text into some kind of blogging system - because I could almost see it working on mobile with pictures of just about anything else. You write a post, you take some video, it just goes.

But this just seems superficial and even a bit vain. Also potentially dangerous. Digital blurs can be removed after all, can't they?

It would probably work better if it only played a replay of the video captured while they were actually writing their post.

The only way I would find this interesting is for authors who blog on mobile devices — seeing them blog as they move through the world would be kind of unique (and then probably get boring once the novelty wore off).

>and then probably get boring once the novelty wore off

You might need something to augment that novelty. Maybe instead of a blogging platform, some kind of PostSecret like app where people post anonymously with video backdrops instead of cards. This would be better than a blogging platform as well because it would encourage (or perhaps even limit) small blocks of text which would fit into a small space without needing a scrollbar.

But anonymously posting secrets in the form of videos with a small caption would make the videos look rather 'not like secrets'. I would rather prefer it as a microblogging platform than a secret sharing platform with video snippet captured while the text was being written, in the background...

I agree but I think it could morph (dare I say pivot) into something cool–possibly on mobile. I could see letting someone blog from their iphone while the camera on the back is capturing the environment.

I wish more people would share ideas like this. Rose said he isn't building this as a product any time soon, rather that he had a new idea about what a blog is/could be and just shared that idea with the world. In doing so, he's starting a valuable conversation and challenging the status quo.

I'm not a fan of the actual prototype, but the idea or new philosophy about blogging that Rose is introducing here is absolutely thrilling.

Philosophically, yes its a very thrilling concept that you could look into the world of the blogger. But, as far as what the prototype demoed, it seems very distracting visually to be reading and seeing a person moving behind the text. As someone pointed, this could rather be some plugin for wordpress/tumblr and not an actual platform.

Kevin seems to be just testing out his hypothesis here and not really planning on building a product out of it (as mentioned).

Wouldn't any motion distract the user from focusing on the content? I mean this would be interesting for a twitter blog, but if you're adding any material with any substance I would find it distracting. The static image aspect is better in my opinion.

It would be kind of neat in a multimedia, "Snow Fall" like article, but I'm not sure if it would be actually useful.

I've often thought of using eye tracking software to introduce more visual/text information while viewing something. I'm sure we're a long way away from the ability to make something like that seem serendipitous rather than just annoying.

Useful perhaps to someone enamored with the idea of they themselves being the story, instead of their words. None of the people whose work I admire would go near it.

This is retarded. There... I said what everyone is thinking but too scared to say.

It's ok people we don't have to get all philosophical and say "but oh, the ideas that no one understands are the world changing ones!".

No, just no.

I understand this just fine. It's retarded.

I think it's retarded as well. Though I also said the same about Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram & Snapchat when I first came across them. So what the hell do I know, it might catch on.

Come on, folks. I feel like it's pretty well accepted that using "retarded" to describe something you don't like—or don't think highly of—is offensive.

This is a pretty tiring argument.

"Retarded" to me doesn't mean what you may think it means to me. When you call something "dumb" do you realize that the word was originally used to refer to mute people? No? Well, neither does anyone else. Words evolve, and I'm sure that no one uses "retarded" because they want to make fun of people with real medical issues. They use it because it evolved to mean something completely different.

Stop being such a girl!

No, wait, you see, it now means something entirely different! It doesn't mean anything to do with gender, it means you should have a thicker skin. So it's not actually offensive, right?

I think that was a poor example, especially since it was phrasal rather than lexical.

Let's take the word "bitch". It is deemed "offensive" but it's original connotation was just simply "female dog". However it evolved into the meaning it has today.

You just miss the point. "Retard" "evolved" by being used as an insult, because mentally handicapped people were looked down upon. Because being likened to was an insult (just like "bitch" [1]). For those affected, and those who caring more for them than for those who can't be arsed to expand their vocabulary into other directions, it still means "mentally retarded", and it being used to mean something else, something derogatory, is still hurtful and thoughtless. Exactly like saying "being a girl" when meaning being squeamish etc. Whoever downvoted that either didn't get the sarcasm or the point.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitch_(insult)

Regardless of how you feel about the word, or how you use any word, there are a few facts to understand.

1) Some people are legitimately hurt by the use of the word retarded in a derogatory manner (eg. http://www.r-word.org/r-word-effects-of-the-word.aspx).

2) You are choosing to use it and offending them.

Argue all you want, but the fact remains, you have no doubt offended someone. Is using whatever word _you_ want (ie. being a bit selfish) worth hurting someone else? Would it be that much trouble if you used another word, was still able to make your point, and not hurt someone's feelings?

It's one thing to accidentally stumble upon something that might offend someone, but it's quite another when you ignore the fact that your actions hurt someone and continue to engage in that activity willingly.

I don't mean to single you out as others below have used similar language, but it's something to think about.

where can i state that i am _offended_ -- extremely! -- by people who _choose_ to "be offended" unnecessarily, when absolutely no intention to offend is even apparent?

did you really, truly, honestly believe that that comment was a roundabout drive-by on mentally-challenged people?

because frankly, that kind of uncomplimentary inference impugning someone else with unsavory motives is repugnant.

i came here to say a dirt-simple "no thanks" to the idea, without commenting on it, because its stupidity was simply too obvious to require any statement. but that doesn't mean i believe kevin rose is "stupid", because i certainly don't.

i can separate the idea from the person who suggested it.

and if somebody else calls it a "retarded" idea, which is simply another way of saying that it is a _stupid_ idea, then i don't think they're criticizing kevin rose either, let alone a class as _remote_ as the mentally-challenged.

retarded people can use lots of help. so give them some, instead of engaging other people in pointless semantics.

because you're _not_ helping, or making anyone "think"...

-bowerbird

5 minutes to the first downvote. why you so slow today?

-bowerbird

I kind of like the premise, but I agree, the idea is quite dumb. There's no way this would work as a casual, real-time sort of thing. Especially considering the fact that many people probably blog without clothes on, while on the toilet, etc.

A simpler as well as potentially better idea might be to just make it easier for bloggers to attach small animations or videos, of any length, to their posts. A way of sort of merging Youtube vlogs with regular text blogs. A GIF or MP4 of the author could maybe make gestures/facial expressions at certain things on the page as you scroll down, and perhaps you could just have a static one waving in the background. Probably audioless as well.

I'm not sure my alternative would be very useful either, but I think it would be a little less "retarded".

it is an interesting effect, but I don't see how it will ever add anything to the experience for either the writer or the reader. I guess you are supposed to imagine yourself watching some captivating writer craft a brilliant post and feel some inspiration as you peer into the surroundings that inspired such vivid thought. But who would ever want to watch someone else write? Especially when 'watching' them is just seeing some set of fuzzy colors drawn from their forehead and walls. The only time I can imagine this becoming interesting is when they can convince some upper shelf write like <insert contemporary novelist here> to participate, and at that point you are basically just turning them into a zoo animal.

I like Kevin Rose, but I wish he - and most of the other great minds that have already hit it big once or twice - would learn to think a bit out beyond pictures, blogs, and aggregating news sites. There is still so much that can be improved through creative thinkers pushing the boundaries of how we use the internet; blogs, picture sharing, etc... though are quickly approaching the limit of how immersive they can currently be.

Back in the day we had these things called webcams and bloggers would set them to take snapshots every few minutes and automatically upload them to their blogs. As an example, Kottke had his running for a long time: http://kottke.org/cam/

Gamers stream themselves practicing and playing matches live on Twitch so regularly that fans can sponsor or make donations and its become a form of income for them. Podcasters often run a live stream while they're recording and have open chatrooms for live discussion in the moment.

It seems like we've found ways to peak behind the curtain in some media forms already. The desire for this type of interaction has been there for a long time and in some communities is already being met with different technology solutions. For blogging, what is old is new again.

What I want to understand is why this is such a compelling concept that I'd want to blog using it (or read a blog on it) vs all the other options out there. I'm just not seeing the allure.

To me it seems more like a feature rather than a platform. Can't see why this couldn't be a plugin/service for Wordpress.

The only allure is that it's Kevin Rose attached to it. The idea is terrible and will flop.

Not only do people not want to watch the very boring process of content creation, but the content creators will not want people watching their (as viewed) awkward, stop & start, process of generating. We're all pretty weird when put under a microscope, and not many people like to be under a microscope. There is no doubt an extraordinarily small market for this, as some will go for it, but it's the equivalent of watching paint dry.

Well said! I used to think that he could really manage to pull off great products. He just stayed long enough to be a HIPSTER.

I guess I just don't get it. It's mostly just going to be a bunch of people sitting with a vacant look on their face, right? I want to see a blurred version this because??

This seems to me like it would distract me from writing, and distract me from reading -- both are things that seem pretty relevant to my information consumption and production habits.

I produce content that's read by people who you have to wear a tie to meet with. I hate wearing that damned tie, and the last thing I want to do is have to start wearing it for my blog.

From 2011's "People Staring at Computers" http://web.archive.org/web/20110708060121/http://peoplestari...

Might be a whole lot of this. Vacant staring/etc. Doubtful that when I write (or most) have any sort of engaging expressions, except for... sprinting, like NanoWrimo [2] or some such (so its more of a "game" on writing).

Note the actual Tumblr is down/he may face charges for his shenanigans. [1]

Sounds interesting as a thought experiment for new content consumption, but the wrong target (writers/bloggers).

[1] http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/07/people-staring-at-c...

[2] http://nanowrimo.org/

I really like this idea and especially like the idea of making it more of a "live event"

At a recent hackathon I was documenting how I was feeling and rough progress reports on the hack but that's just text with a time stamp. If Tiny could use my webcam to record what i'm doing and then create a cinemagraph-like loop of myself it would create much more of an acceptable reading for family and friends than just a markdown file.

Where I really see Tiny shining is the mobile aspect though. Tiny seems like it will be a vine competitor in the future where you can access posts and see a quick video in the background of a concert or travelling through some landscape. While reading you'd see the blurred movie in the background and you could click out of focus of the post the movie would come in focus.

Agree, that it sounds like a feature. Not a platform. I like an idea: would be interesting to see few real blog posts with such background. Can imagine relaxed person with a cup of tea, leaving workspace, coming back.

However such background videos can be quite long. Much longer than average reading time.

This is not new. When doing literary analysis, it's often key to take into account information about the author and their setting, particularly to abstract subtle meaning from the text. It would be really compelling if there was a streamlined way to provide the text in context of the author and their world, therefore giving the text greater meaning. What Kevin Rose has presented grossly falls short of this idea, unless I'm underestimating the value of a blurred selfie.

To provide an alternative solution, consider a blogger that writes frequently. As a start we could probably use some basic data analysis to find most frequently used words, entities, and similar features.

A different solution that doesn't rely on previous writings could instead rely on the author's schedule. We could look at the schedule to provide interesting anecdotes. For example, say the author is writing a review on a Duke Dumont concert. We could use their schedule to show to that they've been to X related concerts with the last Y days. Or even slightly less related information, such as the author just finished a work out before writing and could be tired, or checked in at Chipotle frequently within the last week, so they have quesodillas on their mind. These are fairly abstract examples, but I hope they get the point across.

These are the types of brainstorms that sharing such a nascent idea can create. There are a lot of potential new contexts and emotions that we can still bring to plain text bc of the digital medium and data.

You should def have some form of contact info in your profile btw!

This isn't an idea for a platform, but rather an idea for a feature you could bolt on to Wordpress or Medium. It's an okay idea, but to be honest, the whole premise of video seems distracting. The world does not need more blogging platforms; Wordpress, Medium, Ghost, Tumblr, Google+, Typepad, etc.

What if you like to write blog posts in your underwear or write them naked? I doubt that would fit in with the context of the article you are writing. Rose is a smart guy, but this idea however is not a smart idea and I know Rose is a lot smarter than that. Tiny needs to offer more to justify calling itself a blogging platform other than the ability to have a video of the author penning the post.

As a blogger myself I sometimes write posts over the space of weeks and months before I publish them, I rarely sit down and write a post from start to finish then hit publish in the space of a day or few hours. I'm not saying Tiny is a bad idea, but I'm not saying it's a great idea either.

If you guys want an unorthodox approach to blogging, check out my friends' platform - http://newhive.com - they are like MySpace meets Tumblr meets MS Paint :) There's been some cool, albeit very "unique" content published on their site. </shameless plug>

I loaded the page and scrolled for half a second, and noticed it was slow. Developer Tools shows 109 requests, 23,023kb, 46.13 seconds.

Perhaps I could offer your friends some unsolicited advice that in order for their website to scale, they should focus on reducing the number of HTTP requests and increase image compression, as a start. =)

Fair point. I will let him know.

But people act differently when a camera is running and it won't represent the true moment they are trying to capture. I think it is a fun idea for a new type of interactive content though. If the person you watch is a slow typer that would be a quick viewing.

I think most interesting blogs are written in the most boring setting - when author is not distracted, just crafts content for hours in the comfort of their living room. So this may be fun for sharing shortlived experiences, but likely worthless for good reads.

I would be more distracted if I was watching an actual video of the author as they were typing. I could see still images being cool (for each piece of content) but I would hate if I had to sway with the author just to view his words.

Summary: Fair at best concept bc it's not a far stretch from what is out there. Not cool bc I don't want to see the author "in real time". Maybe something where it would allow me to read the authors' post as he is writing it, but not their video.

This is fun idea. It's like this

http://paulgraham.com/stypi.html

plus a blurred head on the background.

An interesting idea with almost no appeal to readers or writers.

I sort of like the idea of a photo of the blogger, but animated moving background? Seeing the hems and haws?

No thanks.

Interesting concept...which got me thinking, are there any Adult sites that use this method of obscuring the image/video until you pay?

I don't see how the name 'tiny' is fitting. This blogging platform would require relatively large amounts of HTTP traffic.

Interesting concept. It will definitely help with readership loyalty as readers will be more emotionally engaged with the author.

As people have noted, it would make a great feature, rather than a whole new platform.

Please create this for Wordpress! :) I am happy to donate some money to help build this.

Bandwidth is still a precious resource. It would take a lot of storage, processing, transmission, and energy to make a live video happen in the background of a blog entry.

The premise of an asynchronous portal is interesting, though.

I would probably forget the webcam was on sooner or later and broadcast myself doing something I'd regret to the whole internet. So it's probably not great for people working at home…

HN should have small videos next to every post showing the author during the writing process. That would fit in quite well with its minimalism.

I see where Kevin is wanting to create a connection between the reader and the blogger. In my opinion this platform seems distracting.

I feel the sudden urge to wear a Max Headroom mask, inject this into blogs, and then just wave my arms in the background. I am sorry.

That concept would be interesting for status updates. Like having a blurred background image of you when you posted the update?

Kevin Rose is the worst thing to happen to the internet. He is the most distilled form of hipster. He is a douche.

I don't think Stallman would go anywhere near this, given his aversion to invasion of privacy.

I dont know why this getting so much hate. This is WAY more creative than most things that get released through HackerNews/YCombinator.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com