Are You Joining the Flock?

[scrivener]

Have any of you tried the still-in-developer-release Flock web-browser? This Mozilla-based browser bills itself as a "social browser" because of its cool integration with such social services as Flickr, Photobucket, deli.cio.us, Technorati, Blogger, and WordPress. I haven't tried the other stuff, but the Flickr "photo browser" lets you type a user-name and get photos right there in the toolbar. Here's a screenshot of me looking at HawaiiThreads while I also admire my photos of anoles mating, a mop bucket, a rubber duckie, and my messy desk:



I haven't yet figured out how to browse the latest uploads from my "friends" and "contacts," but I'm sure it's in there somewhere. I'm kinda stoked about this fun new app.

Anyone else giving it a try?

[Cameron]

Re: Are You Joining the Flock?

I've heard of it but never got around to testing it. I first learned of it a few moths back on pixel2life, had quite a good review... I guess it's time for to take it for a spin I'll report back with my thoughts later

[scrivener]

Re: Are You Joining the Flock?

I'm still using it and still mostly pleased. Nobody else here is at least curious? You should give it a try.

[Pomai]

Re: Are You Joining the Flock?

I just joined the Flock (of Seagulls?).

I'm not a blogger, but since the tools on Flock are so cool, I think I've just become one. Here's a screen shot of the wordpress text editor and the integrated drag-n-drop photo browser above...


The only drawback with the Flock browser is it seems to be a bit of a RAM hog compared to Firefox, signifantly taxing this particular computer if I attempt to open Photoshop simultaneously.

The Flickr Uploadr works great. Simply drag-n-drop any photo file and hit upload. Sweet.

Scrivener, I typed in your name and was able to browse through your photos too. Diggin' that Dr. Seuss tie! I don't know about the "oofing" lizards though.

I'll certainly dig deeper into this cool app. Thanks Scriv'!

[scrivener]

Re: Are You Joining the Flock?

That's interesting. Flock's coolness inspired me to finally get the Pro account at Flickr. I've never heard of a web-browser making people want to try new things, and now I know of two such cases.

[adrian]

Re: Are You Joining the Flock?

Flickr Uploadr

Okay, what ever happened to using vowels? I guess that's where Motorola got their phone names (rokr, razr, slvr, etc)

Anyway, I'll try it out. Isn't this the third browser from Mozilla foundation? (Mozilla Browser and FF are the other two, a third if you count Netscape)

[scrivener]

Re: Are You Joining the Flock?

Flock is not a creation of the Mozilla Foundation. It is one of several browsers using Mozilla open source technology, however. One thing that makes something open-source is the freedom of others to modify, adapt, and even market and sell the software. Whether or not the development team at Flock plans to keep its browser closely lined up with its source material or to take it in a completely different direction from here is something that's perhaps easily found out but I'm too lazy to go look it up.

One major complaint I have so far is that Flock tends to have the occasional VERY LONG PAUSE that drives me crazy. I get a spinning pinwheel of doom every few hours, especially near the beginning of a session. For this reason, I've kept Safari open too, so that when Flock starts misbehaving I can just click over to Safari and keep going. Except for its early (and still sometimes recurrent) problems with Javascript, Safari has been the most reliable browser I've ever used, Firefox included.

[pzarquon]

Re: Are You Joining the Flock?

I've been curious about Flock, but generally I like my browser lean and simple. The "social browser" angle is great, but as with any software that wants to integrate, aggregate, and automatically authenticate everything for me, I'd worry about feature boat, memory leaks, and basically putting too many eggs in one basket.

Reminds me, unfairly I know, of when Netscape decided its browser was going to do everything. That sucker ballooned to the point of being simply unusable.

But hey, if it was enough to get Scrivener over into the "Pro" camp at Flickr, or get Pomai publishing on the web, I'm all for it!

[scrivener]

Re: Are You Joining the Flock?

All valid concerns and normally I'd agree. In fact I totally agree. But then, you're still using a web-browser, right? I mean, you're not lynxing the web, are you? As for too many eggs in one basket, as long as you still know how to accomplish this stuff right at the appropriate websites, I think there's not a lot to worry about.

I'm not totally sold on Flock, but it's a fun little app and I think it's worth checking out.

[pzarquon]

Re: Are You Joining the Flock?

Now may be as good a time as any to try Flock, as they've just bumped the software up from an alpha/developer preview to a beta release. Here's a detailed blog post about the upgrade, and here's a thorough review. The comments to both may offer additional insights.

[scrivener]

Re: Are You Joining the Flock?

I'm back in, for a few reasons. First, I just really like the Flickr interface. Second, there are places where I access the Web that have HT (and a few other sites) filtered. Flock gets me around the filter for some reason (FireFox used to, but no more). I'll still do most of my webbing with FireFox, but for some specific tasks, I'm keeping Flock in my Dock.

[pzarquon]

Re: Are You Joining the Flock?

Second, there are places where I access the Web that have HT (and a few other sites) filtered. Flock gets me around the filter for some reason (FireFox used to, but no more).

Interesting, Scriv. Sounds like a pretty poor web filtering setup if it's browser dependent rather than, say, implemented at the IP level! Though, of course, usually such a system is integrated with IE, and that same environment would usually "lock down" PCs to prevent installation of alternate applications.

Since Flock and Firefox share the same underlying engine, the fact that Firefox started succumbing to the filter but Flock did not is especially interesting.

[pzarquon]

Re: Are You Joining the Flock?

I've been noticing mentions of Flock are on the rise across the various feeds I read. As social networking explodes, more folks are seeing Flock as an example of how the "social web" might be facilitated via the browser versus other tools.

Here's A Newbie's Guide to Flock, from Webware today. A nice overview.