> Receivd - beautiful, fast filesharing for everyone
Everyone who has a Mac? Or everyone? I only see screenshots of a Mac app. There are sketches of other apps, but I'm guessing those do not exist yet.
“Real time file sharing” as a tagline seems kind of meaningless. Two reasons I don't like it: a) real-time seems overly technical, and b) real-time is implied. No one expects that there would be a delay (beyond the amount of time it takes to send the file.)
Finally, this seems like it occupies a weird grey area between dropbox and email. All the examples you give are things that I can easily do with email. If email proves to be too much of a hassle, I have to convince people to use something else, and teach them how it works. Between this and dropbox, why do I choose this?
Minor point: To look at all 4 screenshots in large-o-vision, I have to first click one, then close it, click the next, and so on. Arrows within the lightbox would be appreciated.
Also, I realize this sounds kind of harsh, but I don't mean it too—I'm just putting out there the first things that come to mind. I think there actually is room between dropbox and email, but you're going to have to work a little bit on positioning your product properly to define that space.
We're opening up Receivd to users slowly. If you'd like to get VIP access, please tell people about Receivd on Twitter and Facebook using the buttons below.
I got this message when signing up for access and I have to ask: Why would I tell people on Twitter and Facebook about this if I haven't gotten a chance to use it yet?
Do what I did: post to Facebook, and put in your message that you're testing it out and this is just a test post, not an endorsement. Then wait for the email (mine took ~30 mins).
Do this at late at night (like I did) and delete your FB post after you get the email (like I did).
Alternately, you can go the whole +hn route described below. It took longer than the FB route, but at least you're not participating in marketing of a sight-unseen web service.
Others feel differently and are compelled to share just to get access since they like the concept enough. We did think about it quite a bit, which is why we removed the 'share to get bumped up in the queue based on your referrals' to 'just the act of telling your friends makes you important to us, and you're marked as a VIP in the db'.
Anyway, [email protected] gets you access today without having to share.
Sorry to be Debbie Downer, and a little bit off topic: when will the trend of dropping vowels from names end? Googling for "Receivd" autocorrects, and I doubt they're going to be expedient in fixing that. Domain names are now responsible for devolving English...
I need someone to hate for this. Was Flickr first?
I've been involved with several projects that did this.
The motivation wasn't to sound hip and cool, but rather to find a domain name that some squatting piece of trash wasn't asking eleventy million dollars for.
Are they not also easier to trademark? You're likely to be the only person using them and made up words don't tend to have any prior usage or meaning assigned (thus avoiding the sort of battle Apple is going through with "App Store" right now).
Uhm. So what is the difference here? The ability to easily share with pre-configured lists of people? The rest of what's outlined on a linked page does not strike me as something that wasn't successfully done before.
Genuine question. Consider it a lead for how to change the landing page for more clarity discussion.
We're optimizing the landing page as we go along. The difference is the ease-of-use, and the ability for non-technical folks to pick it up really quickly and get started with sharing files with the people they care about in a few minutes. Not sure if you noticed, but the current landing page is not designed with hackers in mind (we understand we're posting on HN, but technical folks are not our primary audience).
From what I can tell after signing up, it seems like it lets you essentially seed ("share" in non-hacker speak) your photos to a selected group of peers ("family/friends"). Pretty cool idea if those peers also become seeds, a la BitTorrent...
I'm sure that it exists, but could someone describe for me the main point of differentiation between Receivd and a shared folder on Dropbox?
That is, what should be compelling me to download another application to do that which I can (seemingly) accomplish with one already installed?
I'm not trying to be simply critical, but rather just pointing out that, at least from the landing page, there isn't anything necessarily motivating me to sign up. (That said, as it's on HN, I'd love to sign up, if only to provide feedback!)
We built Receivd to not just share files with our friends and family, but to have them share back photos and other stuff with us. Our parents and our friends', for example, cannot understand Dropbox's shared folders, but they're using Receivd to share photos they took with their kids. That's a big win for us.
We love Dropbox and use it everyday, but we feel that Receivd does sharing the way that most consumers understand. For example, people move stuff out of shared folders all the time, which deletes it for everybody else - just a consequence of the tech. We do know that Dropbox is killing it, and as loyal customers we're very happy for them and wish them well.
Been using the Alpha for the past few weeks, and the product is super slick and polished for the first release.
I'm not sure why people are talking about the landing page, domain name, and other irrelevant stuff. Dropbox is really good at syncing files across systems, but not that great for sharing files quickly and effortlessly. Receivd in my opinion is trying to solve this problem.
The Mac app feels unfinished — connections, files, etc. aren't draggable, reshare doesn't work (can't even select the files), but all of that is stuff you'll obviously get around to.
I'm using it now, and it's so close to being exactly what I need, with two necessary pivots that seem almost predestined to happen from your current position. The current basis of it being an inbox for files is already on the right track, and something I haven't seen attempted before, but it needs a little more verisimilitude to email:
1) The requirement to invite / induce signup / confirm "connections" needs to be ruthlessly optimized out — I should be able to just send a file to any email easily, forming a 'weak' connection. Maybe they have to do a 3 second signup to download the file, but it needs to be all in one motion. This obviously brings up a ton of issues like how to display the now 4 types of connections and unsolicited files, but it's essential to you getting traction.
2) 'sent' files need to behave like a outbox — remember that one of the biggest uses of email attachments is just sending stuff to yourself. Really you should just implement that straight up, it's the biggest use I'd have, and one I think you would find yourself as soon as you get the iOS client going. The dropbox iOS app's UI is terrible for it (pick one photo at a time and wait), plus really the filesystem metaphor is all wrong anyway! I actually want the transactional inbox feel of email here. If you don't explicitly support this I'm just going to end up using it with a computers account and an iPhone account.
Hmm, all of those things you described up top are working well for us - can you tell us what version of OSX you're running on? Also what version of Receivd are you using?
1. You can send a file to any email right now - once you invite an email, they'll be greyed out in the sidebar, then drag any files to them as you would with a confirmed user. They don't even have to signup to download the file. You can even add those folks to a list.
2. Interesting point. We'll think more about this.
Thanks a lot for your comments. Can we reach you directly somehow to figure out why you're seeing these issues?
Hmmm mac only for now. I'd be able to try this out with Linux and Windows versions. I have a mac, but it usually sends files to non-macs.
What's the advantage over Dropbox? Does your service go through a central server, or is it more p2p? Or both? Are my files encrypted on your server? Storage or bandwidth caps?
I've been hurting since drop.io shut. This sounds like a good replacement.
EDIT: Functionality is quite different than drop.io and less anonymous in terms of sharing (though powerful for sharing with small groups or individuals). It would be great to get a private URL for each item shared, a la google docs.
After 5 seconds on the site, I'll share my first impressions before they fade, because I think they could be useful.
In my nominal browser view, all I see above the fold is a logo the size of an elephant, a blank field labeled "Submit", and what looks like screencaps from iTunes.
You need to label your input field better....all it is is an input field with a button that says submit. It's not very clear to people that they need to enter an email address
Have signed up! Waiting for the invite. My bro is tech averse and hence Dropbox averse. I always find it difficult to share docs with him. Hope receivd solves it for me!
Thanks for your interest, excellent comments and support! We're still giving quick access to HN users - append +hn when you signup (ex: [email protected])
[+] [-] notJim|15 years ago|reply
> Receivd - beautiful, fast filesharing for everyone
Everyone who has a Mac? Or everyone? I only see screenshots of a Mac app. There are sketches of other apps, but I'm guessing those do not exist yet.
“Real time file sharing” as a tagline seems kind of meaningless. Two reasons I don't like it: a) real-time seems overly technical, and b) real-time is implied. No one expects that there would be a delay (beyond the amount of time it takes to send the file.)
Finally, this seems like it occupies a weird grey area between dropbox and email. All the examples you give are things that I can easily do with email. If email proves to be too much of a hassle, I have to convince people to use something else, and teach them how it works. Between this and dropbox, why do I choose this?
Minor point: To look at all 4 screenshots in large-o-vision, I have to first click one, then close it, click the next, and so on. Arrows within the lightbox would be appreciated.
Also, I realize this sounds kind of harsh, but I don't mean it too—I'm just putting out there the first things that come to mind. I think there actually is room between dropbox and email, but you're going to have to work a little bit on positioning your product properly to define that space.
[+] [-] statictype|15 years ago|reply
I got this message when signing up for access and I have to ask: Why would I tell people on Twitter and Facebook about this if I haven't gotten a chance to use it yet?
[+] [-] officemonkey|15 years ago|reply
Do this at late at night (like I did) and delete your FB post after you get the email (like I did).
Alternately, you can go the whole +hn route described below. It took longer than the FB route, but at least you're not participating in marketing of a sight-unseen web service.
[+] [-] skyfallsin|15 years ago|reply
Anyway, [email protected] gets you access today without having to share.
[+] [-] jedsmith|15 years ago|reply
I need someone to hate for this. Was Flickr first?
[+] [-] crikli|15 years ago|reply
The motivation wasn't to sound hip and cool, but rather to find a domain name that some squatting piece of trash wasn't asking eleventy million dollars for.
[+] [-] Tyrannosaurs|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nollidge|15 years ago|reply
[Citation needed] on three counts:
1. What does language "devolution" even mean?
2. Is English actually "devolving"?
3. Are domain naming trends in any way related to that?
[+] [-] brendanlim|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dstein|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] huhtenberg|15 years ago|reply
Genuine question. Consider it a lead for how to change the landing page for more clarity discussion.
[+] [-] skyfallsin|15 years ago|reply
We're optimizing the landing page as we go along. The difference is the ease-of-use, and the ability for non-technical folks to pick it up really quickly and get started with sharing files with the people they care about in a few minutes. Not sure if you noticed, but the current landing page is not designed with hackers in mind (we understand we're posting on HN, but technical folks are not our primary audience).
[+] [-] rgarcia|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zachallaun|15 years ago|reply
That is, what should be compelling me to download another application to do that which I can (seemingly) accomplish with one already installed?
I'm not trying to be simply critical, but rather just pointing out that, at least from the landing page, there isn't anything necessarily motivating me to sign up. (That said, as it's on HN, I'd love to sign up, if only to provide feedback!)
[+] [-] skyfallsin|15 years ago|reply
We love Dropbox and use it everyday, but we feel that Receivd does sharing the way that most consumers understand. For example, people move stuff out of shared folders all the time, which deletes it for everybody else - just a consequence of the tech. We do know that Dropbox is killing it, and as loyal customers we're very happy for them and wish them well.
[+] [-] brendanlim|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] avinashv|15 years ago|reply
Your product is slick. I can see myself convincing a customer to use this, which is not something I could say for Dropbox.
[+] [-] tomrod|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] amahadik|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sidvis|15 years ago|reply
I'm not sure why people are talking about the landing page, domain name, and other irrelevant stuff. Dropbox is really good at syncing files across systems, but not that great for sharing files quickly and effortlessly. Receivd in my opinion is trying to solve this problem.
[+] [-] blasdel|15 years ago|reply
I'm using it now, and it's so close to being exactly what I need, with two necessary pivots that seem almost predestined to happen from your current position. The current basis of it being an inbox for files is already on the right track, and something I haven't seen attempted before, but it needs a little more verisimilitude to email:
1) The requirement to invite / induce signup / confirm "connections" needs to be ruthlessly optimized out — I should be able to just send a file to any email easily, forming a 'weak' connection. Maybe they have to do a 3 second signup to download the file, but it needs to be all in one motion. This obviously brings up a ton of issues like how to display the now 4 types of connections and unsolicited files, but it's essential to you getting traction.
2) 'sent' files need to behave like a outbox — remember that one of the biggest uses of email attachments is just sending stuff to yourself. Really you should just implement that straight up, it's the biggest use I'd have, and one I think you would find yourself as soon as you get the iOS client going. The dropbox iOS app's UI is terrible for it (pick one photo at a time and wait), plus really the filesystem metaphor is all wrong anyway! I actually want the transactional inbox feel of email here. If you don't explicitly support this I'm just going to end up using it with a computers account and an iPhone account.
[+] [-] skyfallsin|15 years ago|reply
1. You can send a file to any email right now - once you invite an email, they'll be greyed out in the sidebar, then drag any files to them as you would with a confirmed user. They don't even have to signup to download the file. You can even add those folks to a list.
2. Interesting point. We'll think more about this.
Thanks a lot for your comments. Can we reach you directly somehow to figure out why you're seeing these issues?
[+] [-] p09p09p09|15 years ago|reply
What's the advantage over Dropbox? Does your service go through a central server, or is it more p2p? Or both? Are my files encrypted on your server? Storage or bandwidth caps?
[+] [-] makmanalp|15 years ago|reply
What? Whose email client does this?
[+] [-] amahadik|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thekevan|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lars512|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jlesk|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brendanlim|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] skyfallsin|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] scottshapiro|15 years ago|reply
EDIT: Functionality is quite different than drop.io and less anonymous in terms of sharing (though powerful for sharing with small groups or individuals). It would be great to get a private URL for each item shared, a la google docs.
[+] [-] brendanlim|15 years ago|reply
You can actually get a shareable URL for each item you share. Just right click on a file and select Copy Public Link.
[+] [-] khafra|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Animus7|15 years ago|reply
In my nominal browser view, all I see above the fold is a logo the size of an elephant, a blank field labeled "Submit", and what looks like screencaps from iTunes.
[+] [-] wildmXranat|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] baltcode|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dglassan|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nithyad|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] skyfallsin|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sceadu|15 years ago|reply
Seems like the functionality could be copied pretty quickly...
[+] [-] skyfallsin|15 years ago|reply