More on Picaboo

October 26, 2005 By

So, yesterday I visited Silicon Valley startup Picaboo. They are doing a photo sharing and book making service. Their first office is the famous office on University Ave where Google, PayPal, Logitech, and a few other famous companies started up.

They showed me their next version. It was most impressive. Fun, easy to use, graphic, creative.

One of the naysayers in my comments yesterday made the point that having a download and install app is “so yesterday.” Yeah, that certainly is a belief that’s very popular one here in Silicon Valley.

But, sorry, you simply can not do what they’ve done on the Web.

What I find interesting is that they do both an application for creating photo experiences, and they have a Web component for sharing those experiences.

That’s very powerful. Use the right tool for the job.

By the way, they are already heavily using Visual Studio 2005 (which isn’t even released yet). They said that’s their competitive advantage because they can add more features faster than their competition can.

For a Silicon Valley startup that’s very important. Why? Cause startups don’t have unlimited cash. They have a small window in which to get a product out or they go out of business and join the pile of many many Silicon Valley failures.

Filed Under: entrepreneurs, Microsoft Office, Web
  • Neema Agha

    Robert, Picaboo is just a rehash of Apple’s iPhoto (with some iDVD thrown in for photo DVDs). The only new thing they bring to the party is the social networking aspect (which is quite cool).

  • Neema Agha

    Robert, Picaboo is just a rehash of Apple’s iPhoto (with some iDVD thrown in for photo DVDs). The only new thing they bring to the party is the social networking aspect (which is quite cool).

  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ scobleizer

    Can you create photo books on iPhoto?

  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ scobleizer

    Can you create photo books on iPhoto?

  • http://www.b5media.com/ Jeremy Wright

    “But, sorry, you simply can not do what they’ve done on the Web.”

    … We’ve been hearing that quite a bit lately. But more and more those boundaries are being pushed. Nothing is “impossible” on the web, but some things are just less practical then others.

  • http://www.b5media.com Jeremy Wright

    “But, sorry, you simply can not do what they’ve done on the Web.”

    … We’ve been hearing that quite a bit lately. But more and more those boundaries are being pushed. Nothing is “impossible” on the web, but some things are just less practical then others.

  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ scobleizer

    Jeremy: sorry, that simply is not true. There’s no way to do a Flight Simulator on the Web. There’s no way to do an Adobe Photoshop. There’s no way to do a Skype.

    Why not? The APIs simply aren’t there.

  • http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ scobleizer

    Jeremy: sorry, that simply is not true. There’s no way to do a Flight Simulator on the Web. There’s no way to do an Adobe Photoshop. There’s no way to do a Skype.

    Why not? The APIs simply aren’t there.

  • pwb

    “Can you create photo books on iPhoto?”

    Yes:
    http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/books/

    But I do agree with Scoble that client apps are definitely “today”. Much of the cool stuff that’s being done today is in the app world, like Skype, Slide/Picaboo/Picasa, iTunes, FeedDemon/NetNewsWire, etc. The Ajax thing is little over-blown.

  • pwb

    “Can you create photo books on iPhoto?”

    Yes:
    http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/books/

    But I do agree with Scoble that client apps are definitely “today”. Much of the cool stuff that’s being done today is in the app world, like Skype, Slide/Picaboo/Picasa, iTunes, FeedDemon/NetNewsWire, etc. The Ajax thing is little over-blown.

  • http://www.mathies.com/weblog/ Jim Mathies

    I have to agree with Scoble on this one. Browsers are not designed for rich user interaction and experiences. Just adding asynchronous communications through AJAX doesn’t overcome this limitation. The browser as a whole really is the same app people were using 10 years ago. There’s very little innovation going on there and in the web when it comes to improving the browsers ability render content and the user’s ability to interact with that content. I doubt Microsoft will be leading the way in this space any time soon, and other browser vendors don’t seem willing to break from old standards to force change. (Which is fine by me, I’m a desktop guy by trade.:)

    As for Picaboo - really nice app!

  • http://www.mathies.com/weblog/ Jim Mathies

    I have to agree with Scoble on this one. Browsers are not designed for rich user interaction and experiences. Just adding asynchronous communications through AJAX doesn’t overcome this limitation. The browser as a whole really is the same app people were using 10 years ago. There’s very little innovation going on there and in the web when it comes to improving the browsers ability render content and the user’s ability to interact with that content. I doubt Microsoft will be leading the way in this space any time soon, and other browser vendors don’t seem willing to break from old standards to force change. (Which is fine by me, I’m a desktop guy by trade.:)

    As for Picaboo - really nice app!

  • Christopher Coulter

    Oh brother, this thing is so DOA. Zillions of photoish and photo-sharing sites that have bit the dust. Sprinkle some social-software P2P pixie-dust and it’s the new new thing. Man, sure some Web 2.0 doozers. The Friendster clones all half dead, Myspace only survivor, so the shift is per photos + social. Hype up iPhoto, Allpeers, Imageshack, Flickr, Shutterfly, Webshots, Fotolog, Smugmug, Buzznet, Heypix, Ofoto, Snapfish, PhotoWorks, PBase, Sony’s ImageStation, ClubPhoto, PictureTrail, ImageEvent, Yahoo! Photos and Hello (and more if I could recall), and pitch as the 7th or 8th tier alternative to some dupe. Pre-fab prints, pre-fab DVD, pre-fab Bound scrapbooky volumes. Heavy ventured, Odyssey, NEA, Camp and IDEO, which spells doom. And HP snapped up Snapfish and offers Walgreen’s photo services. Plus Walmart has a whole center too. So lotta big guns in these waters, they won’t make it on own. It be a pitch to upsell off, with the Venture vultures drinking all the blood. Fallout city.

  • Christopher Coulter

    Oh brother, this thing is so DOA. Zillions of photoish and photo-sharing sites that have bit the dust. Sprinkle some social-software P2P pixie-dust and it’s the new new thing. Man, sure some Web 2.0 doozers. The Friendster clones all half dead, Myspace only survivor, so the shift is per photos + social. Hype up iPhoto, Allpeers, Imageshack, Flickr, Shutterfly, Webshots, Fotolog, Smugmug, Buzznet, Heypix, Ofoto, Snapfish, PhotoWorks, PBase, Sony’s ImageStation, ClubPhoto, PictureTrail, ImageEvent, Yahoo! Photos and Hello (and more if I could recall), and pitch as the 7th or 8th tier alternative to some dupe. Pre-fab prints, pre-fab DVD, pre-fab Bound scrapbooky volumes. Heavy ventured, Odyssey, NEA, Camp and IDEO, which spells doom. And HP snapped up Snapfish and offers Walgreen’s photo services. Plus Walmart has a whole center too. So lotta big guns in these waters, they won’t make it on own. It be a pitch to upsell off, with the Venture vultures drinking all the blood. Fallout city.

  • anon

    You got the clever sentence Scoble by mentioning Visual Studio 2005 and this installable software in the same post. Cause that’s exactly my point.

    Visual Studio 2005 is the appropriate tool you need to use in order to make such software. Is such software desirable to make online sharing, something happening online? You decide. Visual Studio 2005 is coming out the doors and is already obsolete.

    Sure, you need to install INFRASTRUCTURE software (base protocols, editors, renderers, …), but that’s what you get with an operating system already. To compete with the web, you need to 1) provide seamless upgrades without any noticeable glitch (read:no reboot, no admin privilege, …) 2) provide software that works with all platforms at once. That’s why GoogleTalk, GoogleDesktop success have been less than stellar so far. In fact, Google is even improving your Windows cash cow…

    That Flight Simulator is not being streamed through a Flash Movie (for instance) is anecdoctical. Nobody thought that would provide an interesting ROI, that’s all.

  • anon

    You got the clever sentence Scoble by mentioning Visual Studio 2005 and this installable software in the same post. Cause that’s exactly my point.

    Visual Studio 2005 is the appropriate tool you need to use in order to make such software. Is such software desirable to make online sharing, something happening online? You decide. Visual Studio 2005 is coming out the doors and is already obsolete.

    Sure, you need to install INFRASTRUCTURE software (base protocols, editors, renderers, …), but that’s what you get with an operating system already. To compete with the web, you need to 1) provide seamless upgrades without any noticeable glitch (read:no reboot, no admin privilege, …) 2) provide software that works with all platforms at once. That’s why GoogleTalk, GoogleDesktop success have been less than stellar so far. In fact, Google is even improving your Windows cash cow…

    That Flight Simulator is not being streamed through a Flash Movie (for instance) is anecdoctical. Nobody thought that would provide an interesting ROI, that’s all.

  • http://www.b5media.com/ Jeremy Wright

    Scoble: Of course you could do photoshop in the browser. Just that all the graphics processing would happen on the server instead of the client.

    I worked on an AutoCad replacement (for basic engineering stuff) for the web, at my last job. Skype? And why not? We do InstantPresenter online, which is Skype + PowerPoint Presentations + screensharing, all through Flash.

    The API’s aren’t there? What a copout. The API’s were there for Skype, Napster, etc before they came out.

    And, no, I dont’ see games being done totally online through the browser, because there’s no need for a new delivery mechanism.

    But I don’t believe it would be impossible either. Impossible is just you waiting for someone to prove you wrong.

  • http://www.b5media.com Jeremy Wright

    Scoble: Of course you could do photoshop in the browser. Just that all the graphics processing would happen on the server instead of the client.

    I worked on an AutoCad replacement (for basic engineering stuff) for the web, at my last job. Skype? And why not? We do InstantPresenter online, which is Skype + PowerPoint Presentations + screensharing, all through Flash.

    The API’s aren’t there? What a copout. The API’s were there for Skype, Napster, etc before they came out.

    And, no, I dont’ see games being done totally online through the browser, because there’s no need for a new delivery mechanism.

    But I don’t believe it would be impossible either. Impossible is just you waiting for someone to prove you wrong.

  • http://www.johnniemanzari.com/ Johnnie Manzari

    I agree with pwd that you need both. I use Photoshop everyday on 100MB+ files so I’m glad that I can run that locally without having to talk to a server, but I do wish Photoshop had more web enabled features for collaboration. I work on Slide now which is trying to balance the two… we’ll see how it goes.

  • http://www.johnniemanzari.com Johnnie Manzari

    I agree with pwd that you need both. I use Photoshop everyday on 100MB+ files so I’m glad that I can run that locally without having to talk to a server, but I do wish Photoshop had more web enabled features for collaboration. I work on Slide now which is trying to balance the two… we’ll see how it goes.

  • anon

    Jeremy : I agree.

    Here is an example : everybody must have played with MAME (the arcade machine emulator) once in his life. A few years ago, you needed to copy the bits on a machine and then play. What about a zero footprint experience? see for yourself : http://www.everyvideogame.com/

    What about that?

  • anon

    Jeremy : I agree.

    Here is an example : everybody must have played with MAME (the arcade machine emulator) once in his life. A few years ago, you needed to copy the bits on a machine and then play. What about a zero footprint experience? see for yourself : http://www.everyvideogame.com/

    What about that?

  • Innocent Bystander

    Scoble, the apis to replace the desktop are totally there now. Developers are getting more and more comfortable with them. Javascript app development is about where mac development was in 1985 - primitive but improving. Whole video games are being done. Like this one.

    http://janis.or.jp/users/segabito/JavaScriptMaryo.html

  • Innocent Bystander

    Scoble, the apis to replace the desktop are totally there now. Developers are getting more and more comfortable with them. Javascript app development is about where mac development was in 1985 - primitive but improving. Whole video games are being done. Like this one.

    http://janis.or.jp/users/segabito/JavaScriptMaryo.html

  • matt

    Jeremy/Anon/Innocent Bystander you are so off base. You cannot do Photoshop in a browser today. I routinely run terminal server into a machine running imaging apps on a 3Mb/s connection and it’s a horrible experience. Next your going to tell us that the XBox360 and PS3 teams are misguided because they should have just developed their systems as browser apps.

    You guys can link to tons of apps that are pushing the boundaries of what JavaScript can do and they mostly feel like well done comp sci senior projects not real products. Look at me I can develop a spreadsheet in a browser - yeah but who cares it’s not a great user experience. As a developer why would you want to limit yourself to what’s possible in JavaScript? Your customers out there have real horsepower in their clients.

    Next you’ll point to Google Maps. That app was low hanging fruit, it’s perfect for the very limited imaging capabilities present in the browser. Try doing anything slightly more complex with your image than scale/translate and the javascript apis just aren’t there.

  • matt

    Jeremy/Anon/Innocent Bystander you are so off base. You cannot do Photoshop in a browser today. I routinely run terminal server into a machine running imaging apps on a 3Mb/s connection and it’s a horrible experience. Next your going to tell us that the XBox360 and PS3 teams are misguided because they should have just developed their systems as browser apps.

    You guys can link to tons of apps that are pushing the boundaries of what JavaScript can do and they mostly feel like well done comp sci senior projects not real products. Look at me I can develop a spreadsheet in a browser - yeah but who cares it’s not a great user experience. As a developer why would you want to limit yourself to what’s possible in JavaScript? Your customers out there have real horsepower in their clients.

    Next you’ll point to Google Maps. That app was low hanging fruit, it’s perfect for the very limited imaging capabilities present in the browser. Try doing anything slightly more complex with your image than scale/translate and the javascript apis just aren’t there.

  • anon

    Matt, nope! There are descent uses for a desktop app, and Photoshop is one. Note that only a part of Photoshop really justifies to be installed, not everything.

    But online sharing is well, web software. It’s really hard to justify the install.

  • anon

    Matt, nope! There are descent uses for a desktop app, and Photoshop is one. Note that only a part of Photoshop really justifies to be installed, not everything.

    But online sharing is well, web software. It’s really hard to justify the install.

  • http://doug.media451.com/ Doug Cook

    “[Y]ou simply can not do what they’ve done on the Web.” Exactly. Do not count the desktop out.

  • http://doug.media451.com Doug Cook

    “[Y]ou simply can not do what they’ve done on the Web.” Exactly. Do not count the desktop out.

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