Instagram talks a good game, but I find this to be more unimaginative dreck. Look, I get it, you need to clone Vine to stay competitive, but it's not new or a re-imagining of the video paradigm.
Most of these social startups promise unique experiences based on new forms of social interaction, but really only deliver more ways to watch cats dance on the internet.
Bring on the hardcore technology like better Ethernet Switching, Less Apps please.
Since you brought it up, there are great things happening in the Ethernet Switching space, just nothing that makes it to the front page of a site like Hacker News. I'm an engineer at Arista Networks, where I get to work on some really impressive "hardcode" technologies: ridiculously scalable protocols, very distributed systems, really interesting uptime/redundancy requirements, and much more.
However, let's not start idolizing the networking field so quickly. This in an industry with a lot of entrenched interests, which, like in all B2B businesses, leads to a lot of FUD being spread around and glacier-paced rates for adopting new technologies. There's plenty that I envy about the consumer app space.
In any case, if you guys are interested in learning more about some of the hard technical problems being tackled in the networking space, I'd be happy to do a couple of writeups exploring the non-consumer world of tech. (And, if that stuff tickles your fancy, we're hiring!)
Just another recycled, cloned feature from an existing application. Consumers simply don't care about "hardcore technology" - Ethernet switching? That's like telling a consumer that Bob Metcalfe invented Ethernet - they'll look at you and say "Facebook is the Internet."
I couldn't agree more with the "less app please" statement - but we live in a very skewed reality these days. Apps like Vine take off in weeks from people posting the dumbest, worst, lowest quality videos of their cats and themselves eating food. Instagram destroyed photography by making an 8MP smartphone camera <1MP with a square polaroid-like frame and the worst destructive filters of all-time. It's just a vicious cycle of bullshit. When will it end?
The state of technology, rather consumer technology, is indicative of the consumer - and unfortunately, the average consumer isn't very bright.
Look, I get it, you need to clone Vine to stay competitive, but it's not new or a re-imagining of the video paradigm.
Why does it have to be? And besides, by adding video, Instagram just put its boot on the throat of Vine. I already deleted Vine from my phone -- I went from seldom using it to having absolutely no need to use it.
Less Apps please.
They added video capability while maintaining the exact same user flow to take a photo. That's how you add a feature. It's a huge win for users.
Maybe this is me projecting, but I feel like it's way more difficult to create a good video than it is to create a good photograph. I see lots of great images on Instagram and a lot of terrible videos on Vine. I hope my Instagram feed doesn't fill up with terrible videos.
Good point. Instagram's killer feature was that it made amateur photographer's photos look better, but the answer for video can't be just apply filters again, right? Could it be transitions (like how Vine has hard cuts in and out now)?
The videos I've seen so far are kind of an artsy fartsy super-8 b-roll look. Doesn't seem any worse than the photos. Of course it depends on who you follow. Not necessarily looking forward to seeing video from my family members who mainly post screengrabs of motivational slogans or their dogs.
So, expectedly, we will hear a lot of criticism that Instagram is copying Vine. In some ways, it is - but with its own spin and one that I think will emphasize beauty in video, much like it has done with photos and whereas I see Vine personally as one that lets you share moments as they are or some kind of quirky videos. Technologically, the difference is arbitrary (filters vs. no filters) but, as the saying goes: the medium is the message - and Instagram has created a community based on those filters - and that community will invariably transform the new technology into something extraordinary.
What I'm interested in is what will happen to Vine. Vine was meant to be this great sharing solution for moments recorded in video. It had its moment when it first launched, then dipped in popularity, and only recently started getting popular again. Its use has not skyrocketed (I could be wrong). My belief is that it's because taking a good video is hard, harder I think, than taking a good picture.
So, it's likely that Instagram will able to bullishly leverage its existing and talented user base to take full advantage of the video feature. What about the majority? I'm worried that most Instagram users won't use the feature as actively because they are too intimidated. I mean I looked at the cafe latte example and it was practically cinematic. Is the Average Joe expected to take a video like that?
I think this is the right step for Instagram but I'm not sure whether they've solved the essential problem in sharing these video moments.
It used to be pretty natural for me to use this in product announcements (along with other catchy words: 'innovative', 'game-changing', 'amazing', etc...). "Why not, I think it's beautiful, so will everybody else!!"
My manager taught me that it was far, far better for my users to discover the beauty themselves. "Under promise, over deliver." Let the user get excited about the functionality - the most beautiful or easy to use products don't need to list 'beauty' as a feature.
Gone are the days of "It just works!" because, well, people expect that it will just work. All the major platforms, at their core, all work the same and all just work. The visual appearance is the differentiation now.
Today we are here to announce our new feature, it's called "Beautiful". Beautiful is the most...crap guys we didn't think through the naming of this feature very well.
I wonder how Vine will fight back. Will they now also include pictures ? ;)
Anyways, I feel I'm being played by all the media attention that this got. Since when an app update gets all this attention ? Are we getting so superficial that this stuff really gets so many spotlights ?
It's not even a new app or anything disruptive, it's just Vine on Instagram with edition mode.
Well the 'Cinema' feature is something brand new that Vine doesn't have -- stabilizing videos like this is mind boggling to me at least and should be interesting to see how it plays out.
Now the Play Store page is saying "CURRENT VERSION:
Varies with device"
I haven't seen that before. It's not letting me install it on my Galaxy Nexus as of yet. Is there a list of devices that the latest version of Instagram works on?
Edit 2:
Looking at Instagram in the Play Store app on my phone, the description is saying that it's supported on devices with Jellybean (4.1) and above. My Galaxy Nexus is rooted, and I'm running a custom ROM of 4.2.2.... but it is still not allowing me to install v4.0 of Instagram. Strange.
To be fair, it's really not like Instagram had never considered doing video up until Vine came out. Hell, I'm sure every high schooler had the idea of "Instagram for video"; it's a very accessible, logical progression from Instagram-style photos.
Cinema stabilization. What utter bullshit. Apple created this class in the iOS SDK (AVCaptureConnection Class) that enables stabilization.
Do you think for a second that IG/FB devs sat there writing an image stabilization algorithm? No chance.
Instagram going video is the RIGHT MOVE for the product, 100% - but, it's just another regurgitated copy of another app, which was a copy of another app, and so goes the cycle of bullshit.
I think people are missing the point here if we're judging Instagram on the grounds of innovation alone. What's exciting about this is that Vine seems to be the only startup that got the formula of "Instagram for video" right, and now we're seeing them being surprise-attacked by a relatively unexpected competitor that has a far bigger user base and launches on Android and iOS at the same time. I don't even think there are that many people interested in crafting short video clips using these apps so I'm personally thrilled how Vine's going to thrive now that the ball's in their court. There's a lot to be learned from this developing story if you're an entrepreneur.
I don't mind that Instagram has video now, because that does seem logical for them to add. However, they really need to make videos separate from the pictures somehow. Either by having separate feeds for video content and the classic picture feed or a way to filter by type in the feed.
It is nice that there is an option for videos to not play automatically, but I would still rather just not see videos all together.
I can tell you now that there is going to be a lot of "unfollowing" in the near future with this new feature.
Aside from the actual product announcement... I'm interested to see that they created an Android and iOS version at the same time. For the past several years, Android apps were typically pushed off a month (or years, in Instagram's case).
I wonder if their Android app drove much of their adoption in the past year or so, and as such, they decided to make sure they could launch feature-complete apps on both platforms on day one?
If so - will Android finally start getting apps on pace with iOS?
I'm not crazy about this. Will videos just automatically appear in my feed- and start playing? If they play with the volume up that's going to get irritating (and bandwidth heavy).
My reaction in general is the same as the tagging feature- I'd prefer it didn't have it, as I like Instagram as a service for almost taking abstract photos (landscapes, patterns) than of me and my friends on nights out. But I also realise that it is inevitable, what with them being owned by Facebook.
Personally I like the limited "editing" capabilities of vine, where you hold a button and "fill up" part of the 6 seconds of video. It creates some really interesting possibilities that this simply won't have.
This does have filters but I don't think that'll make up for it
Have you tried instagram's video feature yet? It totally has that same thing. Only with this you can undo your last shot, instead of re-starting if you mess up. Undo is an improvement on the formula, not a corruption.
Tried it this morning whilst waiting for my train to arrive.
#1: Wasn't obvious that you had to press and hold to record, and removing your finger from the record button pauses the recording.
#2: The app seems to crash a fair bit. And when it crashes, your video disappears. Basically, I finished recording, and was trying to select a location.
It'd be a better experience if videos that you haven't posted yet are saved somewhere (ie: camera roll) so you can post it later.
To be honest, video is not something I'm going to be doing a lot of. Maybe once or twice, here and there (if I even remember it's there).
When I'm sitting on the subway and bored, I love to flick through Instagram. Over the years, we got cinemagram and vine and they were fun but when zooming between stations they were so slow to load. Instagram, though, was pretty quick and offered me quite a bit to look at.
I worry that, with video, Instagram will now be slow to load. I can't set aside time for "Instagram surfing"; it was a fun distraction during otherwise boring times—check in with your friends while you are stuck somewhere else.
[+] [-] josh2600|12 years ago|reply
Instagram talks a good game, but I find this to be more unimaginative dreck. Look, I get it, you need to clone Vine to stay competitive, but it's not new or a re-imagining of the video paradigm.
Most of these social startups promise unique experiences based on new forms of social interaction, but really only deliver more ways to watch cats dance on the internet.
Bring on the hardcore technology like better Ethernet Switching, Less Apps please.
[+] [-] mrmaddog|12 years ago|reply
However, let's not start idolizing the networking field so quickly. This in an industry with a lot of entrenched interests, which, like in all B2B businesses, leads to a lot of FUD being spread around and glacier-paced rates for adopting new technologies. There's plenty that I envy about the consumer app space.
In any case, if you guys are interested in learning more about some of the hard technical problems being tackled in the networking space, I'd be happy to do a couple of writeups exploring the non-consumer world of tech. (And, if that stuff tickles your fancy, we're hiring!)
[+] [-] psbp|12 years ago|reply
Relevant: http://adage.com/abstract?article_id=242165
[+] [-] dakrisht|12 years ago|reply
I couldn't agree more with the "less app please" statement - but we live in a very skewed reality these days. Apps like Vine take off in weeks from people posting the dumbest, worst, lowest quality videos of their cats and themselves eating food. Instagram destroyed photography by making an 8MP smartphone camera <1MP with a square polaroid-like frame and the worst destructive filters of all-time. It's just a vicious cycle of bullshit. When will it end?
The state of technology, rather consumer technology, is indicative of the consumer - and unfortunately, the average consumer isn't very bright.
[+] [-] onedev|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] atacrawl|12 years ago|reply
Why does it have to be? And besides, by adding video, Instagram just put its boot on the throat of Vine. I already deleted Vine from my phone -- I went from seldom using it to having absolutely no need to use it.
Less Apps please.
They added video capability while maintaining the exact same user flow to take a photo. That's how you add a feature. It's a huge win for users.
(Edited to make more sense.)
[+] [-] badclient|12 years ago|reply
It's called marketing.
[+] [-] dopamean|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] minikites|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fxthea|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rdouble|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joebeetee|12 years ago|reply
15 seconds of video with 13 custom filters
You can choose the cover frame.
Available for Android/iOS.
Can view on web as well.
New feature - 'Cinema' - cinematic stabilisation.
[+] [-] rozap|12 years ago|reply
That's the most important part. Beautiful.
[+] [-] psbp|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tsurantino|12 years ago|reply
What I'm interested in is what will happen to Vine. Vine was meant to be this great sharing solution for moments recorded in video. It had its moment when it first launched, then dipped in popularity, and only recently started getting popular again. Its use has not skyrocketed (I could be wrong). My belief is that it's because taking a good video is hard, harder I think, than taking a good picture.
So, it's likely that Instagram will able to bullishly leverage its existing and talented user base to take full advantage of the video feature. What about the majority? I'm worried that most Instagram users won't use the feature as actively because they are too intimidated. I mean I looked at the cafe latte example and it was practically cinematic. Is the Average Joe expected to take a video like that?
I think this is the right step for Instagram but I'm not sure whether they've solved the essential problem in sharing these video moments.
[+] [-] lotso|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] buster|12 years ago|reply
Am i the only one who doesn't think those filter app pictures look nice? I don't understand how so many people find it beautiful...
[+] [-] fletchowns|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ngoel36|12 years ago|reply
My manager taught me that it was far, far better for my users to discover the beauty themselves. "Under promise, over deliver." Let the user get excited about the functionality - the most beautiful or easy to use products don't need to list 'beauty' as a feature.
[+] [-] acoleman616|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] freehunter|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] codereflection|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] spdy|12 years ago|reply
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZS8HqOGTbA Apple Keynote by Steve Jobs in 180 sec.
[+] [-] zachgersh|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aw3c2|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] morganwilde|12 years ago|reply
add a sarcastic voice to this message
[+] [-] phatbyte|12 years ago|reply
Anyways, I feel I'm being played by all the media attention that this got. Since when an app update gets all this attention ? Are we getting so superficial that this stuff really gets so many spotlights ?
It's not even a new app or anything disruptive, it's just Vine on Instagram with edition mode.
[+] [-] s3r3nity|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] moskie|12 years ago|reply
EDIT:
Now the Play Store page is saying "CURRENT VERSION: Varies with device"
I haven't seen that before. It's not letting me install it on my Galaxy Nexus as of yet. Is there a list of devices that the latest version of Instagram works on?
Edit 2:
Looking at Instagram in the Play Store app on my phone, the description is saying that it's supported on devices with Jellybean (4.1) and above. My Galaxy Nexus is rooted, and I'm running a custom ROM of 4.2.2.... but it is still not allowing me to install v4.0 of Instagram. Strange.
[+] [-] schiang|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cuttooth|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 91bananas|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MaxScheiber|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mikek|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dakrisht|12 years ago|reply
Do you think for a second that IG/FB devs sat there writing an image stabilization algorithm? No chance.
Instagram going video is the RIGHT MOVE for the product, 100% - but, it's just another regurgitated copy of another app, which was a copy of another app, and so goes the cycle of bullshit.
[+] [-] gokhan|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mattquiros|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] LAMike|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bluetidepro|12 years ago|reply
It is nice that there is an option for videos to not play automatically, but I would still rather just not see videos all together.
I can tell you now that there is going to be a lot of "unfollowing" in the near future with this new feature.
[+] [-] hospadam|12 years ago|reply
I wonder if their Android app drove much of their adoption in the past year or so, and as such, they decided to make sure they could launch feature-complete apps on both platforms on day one?
If so - will Android finally start getting apps on pace with iOS?
[+] [-] dannyr|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] untog|12 years ago|reply
My reaction in general is the same as the tagging feature- I'd prefer it didn't have it, as I like Instagram as a service for almost taking abstract photos (landscapes, patterns) than of me and my friends on nights out. But I also realise that it is inevitable, what with them being owned by Facebook.
[+] [-] schiang|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] johnrob|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] agscala|12 years ago|reply
This does have filters but I don't think that'll make up for it
[+] [-] kennywinker|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] s3r3nity|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] simondlr|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wluu|12 years ago|reply
#1: Wasn't obvious that you had to press and hold to record, and removing your finger from the record button pauses the recording. #2: The app seems to crash a fair bit. And when it crashes, your video disappears. Basically, I finished recording, and was trying to select a location.
It'd be a better experience if videos that you haven't posted yet are saved somewhere (ie: camera roll) so you can post it later.
To be honest, video is not something I'm going to be doing a lot of. Maybe once or twice, here and there (if I even remember it's there).
[+] [-] adregan|12 years ago|reply
I worry that, with video, Instagram will now be slow to load. I can't set aside time for "Instagram surfing"; it was a fun distraction during otherwise boring times—check in with your friends while you are stuck somewhere else.
I always felt video wasn't ready for prime time.