Well, it makes sense: no one has come up with the magic formula to deal with the over abundance of information available today. (Disclaimer: see my submissions for my own ongoing attempt).
Meh - bookmarks and the browser are, IMHO, a terrible platform for clipping information, knowledge, and data.
I used to maintain an enormous bookmarks list with Delicious but ever since I matured my use of Emacs with org-mode that
habit has changed.
I now maintain a number of well-organized files with org-mode and remember-mode. It's not just the "files" though, it's
also the process, org-mode, org-agenda, and remember-mode (now org-capture) is fluid and stays out of my way while being
highly expressive. Because Emacs is always open and I'm practically always using it moving all of it into Emacs with
org-mode has made my life much more streamlined when clipping/capturing the information I encounter throughout daily
life.
(I've got more files than that, but they are less relevant to this discussion than those listed)
I keep ALL of my org-mode files in my ownCloud directory (like DropBox but I own it) - which syncs with my ownCloud
server on Rackspace which backs up all the data daily.
Prospectus is an org file that contains all of my project ideas. I use a remember-mode template for this so all I do
is hit M-F1 select [p] and it pops up a template for the project idea prompting me for the name, keywords, and
description - it also auto-fills the date and time I created it. I then type C-c C-c and it's automatically saved into
prospectus.org. Any project idea is captured here, electronics, carpentry, startups, opensource, whatever.
Spark is an org file for capturing pithy sayings, great comments on Reddit/Hacker News that I like, blocks of text
that are important or memorable from anywhere (books, email, web, etc...). I capture conversations, inspirational stuff,
anything that I've discovered from other people. I have a remember-mode template for this one too.
Grimoire is like my personal recipe/potion book - I use it to capture a unique and interesting process I've figured out;
novel solutions to anything from cutting an X leg for my desk to software. Meditation and life-process; my own personal
anecdotes; relationships; psychology; pretty much anything that I've discovered, experienced, or figured out on my
own. This is NOT a journal though, it's restricted to process, knowledge, and observations. I have a remember-mode
template for this one too.
Dreams when I remember my dreams I capture them in there with remember-mode.
Fashion any interesting styles I find on the internet, clothing/apparel makers I find, shoe makers, tips, etc... This
has its own remember-mode template.
Food recipes (my own and others) and restaurants. Remember-mode template.
Music any artists/tracks I find that I like.
Bookmarks any websites that are interesting to me with description as to WHY it is interesting to me and a set of
keywords. Remember-mode template.
Software any interesting software that I discover and that I'm using - I often times find neat little scripts or
utilities that I install in the moment and use, but tend to forget about what it is named and where I found it.
Recreation I capture all of my own ideas and other people's ideas/activities for fun things TO DO. Specific locations
for hiking/camping; science museums; etc... Remember-mode template.
calendars/parnell is my personal calendar synced with ownCloud, org-agenda, and my Android phone - pretty obvious why
and what, but the system is remarkably smooth and really stays out of my way while still being highly
accessible. Calendar TODO and EVENTs have their own remember-mode templates too; because it syncs with my Android phone
through ownCloud from org-agenda; it means I can quickly insert new TODOs or EVENTs and still get the helpful calendar
reminders on my phone.
Seems like it might be up your alley if you don't have a system already. You should ping @ginatrapani with a link to your comment - I imagine she'd be interested...
Well, what's great about WebDav and org-mode is that there's http://mobileorg.ncogni.to/ which is open-source and works with my org files.
The problem with Gina's solution and any other solution is that the code is proprietary. I don't know what the data-format is used (sounds like it's just text, which is good) but I like that org is all text based.
Gina's solution also doesn't include highly customizable remember-mode templates (I have quite a few of my own elisp extensions to remember-mode).
Another thing that I can do right in emacs with org-mode: Spaced Repetition. Every day I run a spaced repetition routine using org-drill that runs through thousands of vocabulary words I've collected over time that I didn't know at that time (a remember-mode template, of course); I have org-drill cards for math, logic, science, &c... Anything factual that I want to remember I keep in org-drill and run through it every morning.
One of the core features I've wanted from a bookmarking service was the capability to store the actual /content/ of the bookmark indefinitely. I want to recall having read an article or paper years later in conversation, say "Let me find the citation for you", and then actually follow up! And still have the original content even if the URL was taken offline, which happens an unfortunate amount.
Luckily, Pinboard (pinboard.in) has this capability, including full text search, with an archival account ($25/yr). As does Evernote, but I find Evernote a bit heavy weight for solely bookmarks. (Note: Pinboard is not Pinterest.)
I save hundreds of bookmarks per month - basically everything interesting that I read and might want to reference later. I reference my bookmarks less than I had expected, but I'm still happy and getting definite value from it.
To be honest, my ideal bookmarking system would record and index literally /every/ website I ever visit. Then I don't need to take any action and can't accidentally fail to find something I viewed before. I've considered implementing this scheme for myself but have not yet followed through, since Pinboard works pretty well, and is easy to activate using a bookmark.
My one complaint about Pinboard is that I found it difficult to obtain support. I contacted them through their advertised support channel about a problem I initially encountered during the signup process, and never heard back.
I used to use Furl for the content-saving feature. Its eventual shutdown has made me wary of any bookmarking or other archival service that I can't host myself.
No one's come up with the magic formula yet but I do believe there's one out there. It's a matter of who finds the magic formula. I've created a website with a friend that saves the text that people want to keep. You can check it out at http://www.quotered.com
One question: do you intend to make browser extensions? I understand that bookmarklets are simple and fairly universal, however the bookmarks bar is inconvenient for me, as opposed to a button to the right of the address bar.
Hey Zikes - I've fooled around with extensions a bit, but I didn't want to get deep into the "supported browsers" game at this point. There's enough under the hood work left to be done in the core application to keep me busy for a bit.
Extensions are definitely in scope for the future though - not just to bookmark things, but sync your browser bookmarks/folders with your LinkThing content etc. Any thoughts or suggestions you have would be appreciated!
Do you have any thoughts about open sourcing it at some point, or charging money? Either way, I'd feel more confident putting my data in there. Otherwise, it looks awesome.
I haven't thought of charging for it, because honestly if you want to spend money on it, I think there's better solutions out there (at this point!) - like Pinboard. The other side of the coin is that it costs me very little to run, so there isn't really a fire lit under monetization.
My roadmap, if you will, is to keep building out core functionality, particularly around unique ways to create value in the bookmarking space - like the embryonic "Subscriptions" feature you'll notice in the black menu bar. I'd also like to build out "table-stake" options like full-content archiving. Once I've got some unique value to market, and a baseline level of functionality to match the competition, I would consider charging for it.
Open sourcing it: honestly, I don't think I know enough about the process to do so successfully - i.e.: I don't want to just create another dead github project, but I don't know enough about the community side of it to create something "living," so to speak. Would welcome your thoughts on it though.
In regards to getting your data out- you can dump it at any time to a CSV file under your username menu in the upper right-hand corner. Its not a rich export, but its simple and parseable, so your data is never trapped, per se.
There's nothing wrong with selling to the right suitor but completely shutting down the product?
Is anybody building a company for the long-haul these days, or has the home flipping bubble just moved over to the startup world?
We need to start a trend / honor system for startups to sign so users know they won't be shafted down the road.
I'm going to start a startup that has some standard legal docs that says you won't shut the company/product down even if acquired (disregarding business failure). You get a quality-mark type badge for your site.
Honestly, I doubt almost any of the aqui-hire deals happened because the team didn't care about or want the product to work out. I assume this is more often a soft-landing for failure.. companies that aren't working out, finding their model, or gaining enough traction.. so the team ends up taking a signing bonus to jump somewhere together.
Is there much evidence people are really starting shops just to prove their team is worth hiring?
Another note: a reasonable sign that you're at risk of getting 'shafted' as a user is that the company is relatively new, definitely not profitable, and you're not paying for the product.
I admired their innovative way of clipping, DOM manipulation, one of the best engineering teams of our time! Well, this must be a team-hire.
Pinterest did pinning with just images, these guys did for grabbing any web content! Amazing. A great blogger tool. But once you start grabbing web content it starts to look like a bookmarking service. That's were they headed to.
I would have paid them an yearly subscription. And I don't like to bookmark URL's, rather save interesting tit-bits of web-content to my Board. ( grab those useful HN comments and add to my Clipboard)
Clipboard could have emerged as content-grabbing, content-management with collaboration, had they rolled out some paid-service model. They never even tried to speak to their users!
Founders need to be accountable for such drastic shutdowns.
And if such shutdown's happen often, don't users lose trust? Users kinda lose confidence to invest their energy and time on early-starup products. Right?
I was sad about the shutdown, calling stupid names and all that. But then I tried the export feature and it is great. Now I have complete offline copy of all my clips.
Clipboard's great for clipping all sorts of things from pictures to articles and text. If you use Clipboard primarily for saving text and are looking for a replacement, you might be interested in a website called QuoteRed (http://www.quotered.com) which I built with a friend.
I consulted for Clipboard very early on. Gary Flake is a really smart, talented and drive engineer. I'm glad he got a chance to see this through. Sorry it didn't gain the kind of traction I'm sure the team was looking for. I hope some of their tech can be worked into the salesforce stack and will continue to live.
Salesforce.com has some ridiculous domain names: work.com, data.com, force.com, do.com, database.com, desk.com, social.com, etc.
I've never seen a corporation go after so many and so generic domain names... I'm assuming GP just meant that "clipboard.com" is yet another trophy domain name on their shelf.
Not sure what there is to elaborate on. It's a 9 character, properly spelled dictionary word, one that resonates highly with anyone who has ever cut-and-pasted something on a computer.
Did they really just sign their shut-down notice with the words 'peace out'? I don't know why im surprised. Those two words sum up quite compactly the i-tell-myself-and-my-customers-i-give-a-shit-about-them-and-my-product-but-when-it-comes-down-to-it-i-honestly-could-care-less-ness that seems so prevalent in startup culture right now. What happened to genuinely giving a shit? I could actually summon a degree of respect for their decision if they had at least been real enough about it and added 'suckers' to the very end.
damn! now what I'm I supposed to do now with all of my cooking recipes?
Seriously, I think I will go back to the old school word document for storing stuff, you can't trust services like this to last. Does anyone have a recommendation of a paid alternative that won't close?
"Pinboard also offers a personal web archive, at a cost of $25/year. Users who choose archiving get a permanent, cached copy of every bookmark they save, and can search the full text of their saved links. (The one-time signup fee counts towards the first year's subscription.)"
Not sure how much more of a guarantee of permanence you get from them, but the fellow behind Pinboard has a great track record of business model innovation.
Bookmarking services are the new stock market it would seem. Feels like there have been numerous acquisitions and shutdowns of bookmarking services in the last 12 months. A good talent acquisition on Saleforce's part in the form of Gary Flake. He's regarded as one of the best engineers in the industry, he's really smart and will no doubt bring a lot of value to Salesforce.
I understand a lot of people are frustrated, but at the end of the day, you're using a free service and to be honest not many start-ups are in it for the long-haul. Clipboard never quite got the traction it deserved.
This is a bummer but I admire how they've handled the acquisition. I was an avid user of Punchfork until its acquisition and was bummed with the way they handled user data (More info here: https://github.com/fictivekin/openrecipes#the-story)
I'm really glad they're giving users complete control to acquire their data and, even better, that they're encouraging developers to use their data and import it into other tools.
Yes, but calling it an "acqui-hire" probably makes it look less good.
>Why payoff the VCs?
Because they're probably interested in the executive/founding team, and they can't leave without placating their investors. Wouldn't be surprised if the employees got shafted/walked away with a mild bonus.
As far as I can tell, this sort of thing basically acts as a shareholder wealth redistribution scheme to people who have demonstrated social proof.
One key bit here is Gary Flake, the founder/CEO of Clipboard is a industry legend and is a key hire (I believe he's going to become VP of Engg at Salesforce). If a talent acquisition, Salesforce is getting great talent.
How as clipboard differentiated from Pinterest? From what I can see, the difference is that it archives whatever you've clipped. Is there a proprietary technology element to this that has value for Salesforce?
Going on one limb here - The vision of Clipboard per Gary William Flake (who is an awesome guy, btw) was laid out while he was working on similar ideas at Microsoft. There were already a few prototypes which I am sure, Microsoft (patent generating machine) would have patented. So, either Clipboard folks have filed a ton of patents as Gary continued to pursue relevant ideas at Clipboard, and are sitting on valuable IP, and SalesForce is buying IP + Gary + Team or just Gary + Team. Acquisition price would be higher in the former scenario (not sure by how much % though)