OMEN
10-12-2007, 10:26 AM
Preview of a next generation Web media browser
Everyone thought the browser wars were over when Netscape went the veritable way of the dodo and Internet Explorer, contentiously embedded in the ubiquitous Microsoft OS, became the defacto winner. But it seems peacetime celebrations were premature and the past years have seen a plethora of browsers spring up eager to steal some of IE's share by capitalizing on IE's numerous short-comings and inadequacies.
Firefox obviously has made the most impact with an open-source fast, efficient browser packed with very functional features (many of which IE took a couple years to finally copy). Also worthy of mention is Safari from the Mac platform which is now cross-platform and offers a robust toolset. And then there's the never-say-die Opera which still has a wide user-base.
Rather than a simple repeat of the browser war we now have a real and viable landscape of browser options. It is into this market that we now have a new player, but one not just content with status quo of casual browsing but rather conceptually a different tact that seeks to embrace the computer and the Internet as a personal, multi-platform, publishing system.
The tools that Flock offers aren't particularly revolutionary but they are packaged in such a way as to create a very effective platform for users not simply content with reading and watching the Web but who are proactively contributing to it.
http://images.digitalmedianet.com/2007/Week_41/ow7h8rkv/story/flock2_mediabar.jpg
As a browser, Flock is built off the Mozilla API which powers Firefox, so in simple terms Flock is Firefox with a major set of add-ons; kind of like buying a bare-bones PC and performing a whole range of tweaks and upgrades.
Flock shifts the onus of the browser paradigm, putting the personal and the proactive front and center. Flock has what might be referred to as a type of home page, known as My World, but in truth it goes beyond the simple First Page you see. Flock's My World is the central portal from which your personal media is engaged.
http://images.digitalmedianet.com/2007/Week_41/ow7h8rkv/story/flock1_overview.jpg
Dead center is an over-size search bar (Google of course for most people, but assignable and switchable to any search engine you want). The rest of the interface is made up of three large column fields - Favorites, Feeds and Media Favorites. Unlike the usual Browser/Home Page paradigm, Flock places the emphasis on the Home Page as control panel and hub of all information coming in and going out rather than a singular page as starting point.
The shift in emphasis is simple but remarkably seductive. Your on-line session in Flock doesn't start with an outward looking page, it starts with a hub of bi-directional information flow.
Where Flock really comes into its own is its tight integration with Web 2.0 tools and ideas of consumer co-creation and participatory culture. Flock shapes the Browser as a vehicle of creating and disseminating media arrangements and creations as much as a window to view them. This begins with an integrated blogging engine. Virtually anything that can be seen in the browser can be Blogged directly from Flock - text, links, videos and images. Flock's built-in account manager facilitates automatic logins. This and a very functional system for writing and uploading blog entries makes the process of creating blog entries directly from the Flock interface remarkably efficient.
http://images.digitalmedianet.com/2007/Week_41/ow7h8rkv/story/flock4_blogging.jpg
This engine for direct blogging from the Flock interface extends to virtually all your on-line resources - YouTube, Photobucket, Flicker and most other major hosting and media exchange services can be setup in Flock and centralized from the My World interface. Without having to leave the singular Flock system you can directly access and contribute to all your online accounts.
But beyond this simple functionality, Flock offers two key functions that move it into a much more forward-thinking category of browser system, one that moves beyond just being a window to web pages but rather an integrated tool for engaging with the bigger picture of what the web is.
The first is Flock's tight integration with video media - as objects, as collections and as syndications. A dedicated MediaBar shows thumbnailed icons of all the videos from video channels you are subscribed to. Found someone on YouTube who always has interesting movies in their collection? One click on the Flock Media Bar and you're subscribed and any new videos they post will immediately appear in your media bar. Of course, under the hood this just RSS, but the joy is in the implementation of subscription feeds of media objects in such an effective manner - one that is clear, concise and puts the process of engagement with RSS front and center in a visual way and not some arcane 'reader' system functioning as a browser add-on.
The second key feature of Flock is its Web Clipboard panel. More than just new spin on Favorites and Bookmarks, this feature draws much deeper conceptual connections that can be seen somewhat in the light of Internet pioneer Ted Nelson. Nelson, the inventor of terms and concepts such as Hypertext and Virtuality, has long been an outspoken critic of the way computers and the Internet works arguing that mark-up language and the WIMP (Windows Icons Mouse Pointer) paradigm, (developed by Xerox and adopted my Microsoft and Apple) falls far short of what computer functionality could have been.
http://images.digitalmedianet.com/2007/Week_41/ow7h8rkv/story/flock3_webclipboard.jpg
One of Nelson's particular bones of contention is how the idea of Cut and Paste was bastardized into a one-dimensional system. That 'Cutting' an image, a link, a page removes that cutting to an unseen place and where performing 'paste' conjures it back from the void. While the words themselves, Cut and Paste imply a visual and tangible montage editing, the reality is that computer systems and the WIMP paradigm subverted the real meaning of the words into a very different hidden process where Cut effectively meant “take and hide away.”
It is with some degree of this thinking that Flock's WebClipboard functions - an open 'scrapbook' panel where virtually any item from any webpage can be simply dragged and dropped. Text, images, videos, whole pages can all be gathered together. This is much closer to Ted Nelson's vision of true cut and paste where all elements are viewable and malleable. More than just fancy bookmarks, the WebClipboard allows for a highly dynamic and very web-aware manner of engaging with on-line media.
Flock is still in a beta stage of development but with a full 1.0 release well on its way it is certainly very stable and reliable. Some quirks do however persist - there were some issues with the direct blogging features communicating correctly with certain blog accounts whereby the entry would be un-editable once posted. There were likewise some issues with font size and text display for some on-line tools. But these are relatively minor issues that are presumably easily addressed in the final development stages to full release. Certainly its Mozilla/Firefox core makes it a very reliable platform with long term viability.
Flock is a browser with lofty ambitions and seemingly very much focused on what the Internet is quickly becoming rather than what it has been. With a focus on dynamic media, personal proactively, rich media aggregation and exchange Flock presents as a new breed of browser in touch with the cultural shift that is taking place among users.
IBN
Everyone thought the browser wars were over when Netscape went the veritable way of the dodo and Internet Explorer, contentiously embedded in the ubiquitous Microsoft OS, became the defacto winner. But it seems peacetime celebrations were premature and the past years have seen a plethora of browsers spring up eager to steal some of IE's share by capitalizing on IE's numerous short-comings and inadequacies.
Firefox obviously has made the most impact with an open-source fast, efficient browser packed with very functional features (many of which IE took a couple years to finally copy). Also worthy of mention is Safari from the Mac platform which is now cross-platform and offers a robust toolset. And then there's the never-say-die Opera which still has a wide user-base.
Rather than a simple repeat of the browser war we now have a real and viable landscape of browser options. It is into this market that we now have a new player, but one not just content with status quo of casual browsing but rather conceptually a different tact that seeks to embrace the computer and the Internet as a personal, multi-platform, publishing system.
The tools that Flock offers aren't particularly revolutionary but they are packaged in such a way as to create a very effective platform for users not simply content with reading and watching the Web but who are proactively contributing to it.
http://images.digitalmedianet.com/2007/Week_41/ow7h8rkv/story/flock2_mediabar.jpg
As a browser, Flock is built off the Mozilla API which powers Firefox, so in simple terms Flock is Firefox with a major set of add-ons; kind of like buying a bare-bones PC and performing a whole range of tweaks and upgrades.
Flock shifts the onus of the browser paradigm, putting the personal and the proactive front and center. Flock has what might be referred to as a type of home page, known as My World, but in truth it goes beyond the simple First Page you see. Flock's My World is the central portal from which your personal media is engaged.
http://images.digitalmedianet.com/2007/Week_41/ow7h8rkv/story/flock1_overview.jpg
Dead center is an over-size search bar (Google of course for most people, but assignable and switchable to any search engine you want). The rest of the interface is made up of three large column fields - Favorites, Feeds and Media Favorites. Unlike the usual Browser/Home Page paradigm, Flock places the emphasis on the Home Page as control panel and hub of all information coming in and going out rather than a singular page as starting point.
The shift in emphasis is simple but remarkably seductive. Your on-line session in Flock doesn't start with an outward looking page, it starts with a hub of bi-directional information flow.
Where Flock really comes into its own is its tight integration with Web 2.0 tools and ideas of consumer co-creation and participatory culture. Flock shapes the Browser as a vehicle of creating and disseminating media arrangements and creations as much as a window to view them. This begins with an integrated blogging engine. Virtually anything that can be seen in the browser can be Blogged directly from Flock - text, links, videos and images. Flock's built-in account manager facilitates automatic logins. This and a very functional system for writing and uploading blog entries makes the process of creating blog entries directly from the Flock interface remarkably efficient.
http://images.digitalmedianet.com/2007/Week_41/ow7h8rkv/story/flock4_blogging.jpg
This engine for direct blogging from the Flock interface extends to virtually all your on-line resources - YouTube, Photobucket, Flicker and most other major hosting and media exchange services can be setup in Flock and centralized from the My World interface. Without having to leave the singular Flock system you can directly access and contribute to all your online accounts.
But beyond this simple functionality, Flock offers two key functions that move it into a much more forward-thinking category of browser system, one that moves beyond just being a window to web pages but rather an integrated tool for engaging with the bigger picture of what the web is.
The first is Flock's tight integration with video media - as objects, as collections and as syndications. A dedicated MediaBar shows thumbnailed icons of all the videos from video channels you are subscribed to. Found someone on YouTube who always has interesting movies in their collection? One click on the Flock Media Bar and you're subscribed and any new videos they post will immediately appear in your media bar. Of course, under the hood this just RSS, but the joy is in the implementation of subscription feeds of media objects in such an effective manner - one that is clear, concise and puts the process of engagement with RSS front and center in a visual way and not some arcane 'reader' system functioning as a browser add-on.
The second key feature of Flock is its Web Clipboard panel. More than just new spin on Favorites and Bookmarks, this feature draws much deeper conceptual connections that can be seen somewhat in the light of Internet pioneer Ted Nelson. Nelson, the inventor of terms and concepts such as Hypertext and Virtuality, has long been an outspoken critic of the way computers and the Internet works arguing that mark-up language and the WIMP (Windows Icons Mouse Pointer) paradigm, (developed by Xerox and adopted my Microsoft and Apple) falls far short of what computer functionality could have been.
http://images.digitalmedianet.com/2007/Week_41/ow7h8rkv/story/flock3_webclipboard.jpg
One of Nelson's particular bones of contention is how the idea of Cut and Paste was bastardized into a one-dimensional system. That 'Cutting' an image, a link, a page removes that cutting to an unseen place and where performing 'paste' conjures it back from the void. While the words themselves, Cut and Paste imply a visual and tangible montage editing, the reality is that computer systems and the WIMP paradigm subverted the real meaning of the words into a very different hidden process where Cut effectively meant “take and hide away.”
It is with some degree of this thinking that Flock's WebClipboard functions - an open 'scrapbook' panel where virtually any item from any webpage can be simply dragged and dropped. Text, images, videos, whole pages can all be gathered together. This is much closer to Ted Nelson's vision of true cut and paste where all elements are viewable and malleable. More than just fancy bookmarks, the WebClipboard allows for a highly dynamic and very web-aware manner of engaging with on-line media.
Flock is still in a beta stage of development but with a full 1.0 release well on its way it is certainly very stable and reliable. Some quirks do however persist - there were some issues with the direct blogging features communicating correctly with certain blog accounts whereby the entry would be un-editable once posted. There were likewise some issues with font size and text display for some on-line tools. But these are relatively minor issues that are presumably easily addressed in the final development stages to full release. Certainly its Mozilla/Firefox core makes it a very reliable platform with long term viability.
Flock is a browser with lofty ambitions and seemingly very much focused on what the Internet is quickly becoming rather than what it has been. With a focus on dynamic media, personal proactively, rich media aggregation and exchange Flock presents as a new breed of browser in touch with the cultural shift that is taking place among users.
IBN