Unstealth! Get Ready For Newsvine…

This morning, news broke that our new company, Newsvine, is about to hatch. Remember that name.

Newsvine.

You’ll be hearing it a lot over the next year.

First things first. I apologize to all Mike Industries readers for keeping this a secret, but I’m a firm believer in the theory that you should never talk about anything until you have something to show. In the next week or so, we’ll be opening up the gates with a private beta, and shortly after that, Newsvine.com will launch free to the world.

So what is it, and why did four perfectly happy Disney/ESPN employees leave their jobs to build it?

Just like your favorite news site, only smarter

Newsvine is a large-scale news media site which gives you almost all the same stories you read on sites like MSNBC and CNN but presents them in a much more attractive package. Attractive not just in looks but in function as well. At Newsvine, we feel strongly that an article’s life only begins the second it is published. It is only when readers interact with it that it achieves its full impact.

You just read an Associated Press story about the fiery riots in France on a major news site. Why shouldn’t you be able to comment on it like you would on a blog entry? At Newsvine you can. Why shouldn’t you be able to chat about it with whoever else happens to be reading the story at the same time? At Newsvine you can… right within the story itself.

We believe in turning news into conversation, and every page on Newsvine.com is designed to do precisely that.

So even though at launch, Newsvine will have almost all the same stories the biggest news sites have, how can we possibly replace the great exclusive reporting that outfits like ESPN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post produce?

We can’t. And we don’t want to.

Seeding The Vine

Companies like ESPN are terrific at providing the sort of in-depth coverage of sporting events that no one else in the world can. They are experts and spectacular at what they do. For that reason, we want to point you to ESPN.com (and any other site for that matter) whenever there is a great article to be read over there.

We do this via a process we call “Seeding Newsvine”.

Simply save our “Seed Newsvine” button (a bookmarklet) to your browser and click it whenever you read a great story anywhere on the web. Tag it with words to describe it (e.g. “alex-rodriguez, baseball, world-series”) and a link to the original story, along with your comment, will automatically appear at the following pages:

newsvine.com/alex-rodriguez
newsvine.com/baseball
newsvine.com/world-series

… which brings me to one of my favorite features of Newsvine: our URL structure. Anytime you want news on any subject, say “supreme-court”, simply go to newsvine.com/supreme-court and every story we have that is tagged as such will be there.

Oh and we also have local news available at urls like “seattle.newsvine.com” and “newyork.newsvine.com”.

How does it all stay organized?

Newsvine is five people, and we are all quite busy adding features to the site. There is no editor behind a desk deciding what stories are most important. You decide that. Whenever you see a story on Newsvine you think is important, simply click the “Vote” button next to the headline and you’ve just increased the importance score of that story. We feel that thousands of people are better at deciding what’s important than one, and that’s a major founding premise of Newsvine.

Oh, there’s just one more thing…

Since Newsvine is essentially produced by its readers, it is only fitting that its readers may also become writers. Anyone can sign up for a free Newsvine account and begin writing their column within minutes. Anytime you write an article or Seed Newsvine with a link to another article, it will appear in your column (at “yourname.newsvine.com”) and elsewhere around the site, depending on how it’s tagged.

Getting your own column on Newsvine isn’t only free but you’ll also keep advertising earnings associated with traffic to your pages. While other companies charge you for your own space to write or keep all the ad revenue themselves, we’re happy to help you make money whenever you add value to Newsvine.

Newsvine is a news company, not a Web 2.0 company

Our site doesn’t rely on Ajax, RSS, Wikis, or any of the other technologies you may be hearing about way too often these days. If you’d like to use some of the fancier aspects of our site like tagging or feeds, go ahead, but even with no knowledge beyond standard pointing and clicking, Newsvine is a best of breed news site. In other words, even your pappy can use it.

If you’d like to be in on the private beta or be notified when Newsvine launches, head on over and give us your deets!

Newsvine is funded by Seattle-based Second Avenue Partners with original ESPN.com CEO Mike Slade and Aquantive founder Nick Hanauer on the company’s Board of Directors.

UPDATE: To everyone who has asked, yes, Newsvine.com was the secret domain from this article I wrote several months ago. The story can now be told. :) Also, traffic seems to really be blowing up today. Here are just a few mentions of Newsvine from around the web:

176 comments on “Unstealth! Get Ready For Newsvine…”. Leave your own?
  1. Harold says:

    Mike: Can’t wait to have the “newsvine experience”. Sounds like an incredible service.

  2. Paulo says:

    I was going to point out that Cameron Barrett had done something similar previously, but whatever was there is gone now, so Newsvine can pass for a fresh entry. :) Good luck in this endeavor.

  3. Chris says:

    Lets hope you don’t become drunk with power and start to filter news like “some” sites do.

    Good luck, i’ll use it.

  4. Good luck with the launch of your new(s) bussiness! I’m not sure how useful I’m going to find it, but I’m sure you’ve thought up something smart:)

  5. curly says:

    Mike,

    Congrats with Newsvine… As your deeds and contributions have been inspirational before, this surely will topping anything we expected.

    We bow… deeply _o_

    Curly

  6. Mark says:

    Congratulations and good luck! It’ll be interesting to see if you can keep the comments and such relevant to the story. That seems to be the major problem with community driven ventures — keeping the crap out. The news sites that currently have “discuss this story” boards have a terrible time with this.

  7. Rob Lewis says:

    Well done Mike, sounds like a great idea, and I hope it all works out. There’s some nice sounding features you’ve got there, especially the earnings facility. Good luck with it all.

    Rob.

  8. Andy says:

    I’m terribly sorry, but am I the only one who keeps reading this as new-svine? (New swine)…

    It really sounds like a great thing and I hope all goes well, but that was the first thing I read, new-swine. Bad karma…

    All the best of luck though!
    /Andy

  9. Brad Smith says:

    Sounds pretty interesting, if a bit unproven. I will definitely be there to check it out on day one (or before if I get into the private beta).

  10. Tom says:

    So it’s news with comments? Sounds like a bloody good idea!

  11. And here I was hoping you guys had made a better Bloglines.

  12. Tim Murtaugh says:

    Holy-crappity-do — this sounds very, very cool.

    This may not be web 2.0, but it may be Journalism 2.0.

  13. Bryan Veloso says:

    Yes! Finally! I’ve been itching to hear the name since we bothered you about it back at the Blog Business Summit. Very excited to see what comes out of this my friend. Best of luck on your startup!

  14. Jason says:

    Sounds pretty similar to Digg.

  15. Dylan Berry says:

    Jason, I agree, Newsvine sounds similar to Digg, for functionality, but I’m guessing it is going to resemble Google News for content.

  16. Dave Metcalf says:

    Good luck with your new venture.
    I’m curious, though, how did you come up with this concept?

  17. Bradley says:

    Digg.com is pretty cool, but it’s not really saturated with the type of content (or community) that is going to make Newsvine successful. Digg is more of a “Slashdot 2.0” kinda thing for me.

    The local thing is going to be great. Too bad the journalism in my area is on a 6th grade level.

    Mad props to you. If you get rich, send me a dollar please.

  18. Tom says:

    Sounds like Yahoo! news to me, albeit with a bit more functionality. I have to be honest, I’m not sure why anyone would want to get involved in a discussion around a news story. If you check out the yahoo! discussions, they are nothing but flame war, after flame war, after flame war. There is no real discussion going on anywhere – it’s totally useless.

    And I’d want to read a news story by someone I have no idea of their credentials because…why again?

    Mike, I have great respect for what you have done, and I’m sure the product will be neat looking and working. I just can’t see a real good use for the users… anyway I hope I am wrong and you are wildly successful despite my doubts :)

    Good luck!

  19. MikeD says:

    Mike,

    Congrats and good luck on your new venture!
    Great idea. Thank you for all the hard work!

    Mike

  20. Chris K says:

    Man, what a great idea! Good luck Mike and the rest of the crew.

  21. eston says:

    A designer on my staff and I had a conversation last week that laid out something very, very similar to this, and we decided that we might build the framework for such a thing for our college newspaper (I’m Managing Online Editor at the Michigan Daily in Ann Arbor.) So much for us being original.

    Anyway, when something exists for us to see other than an aluminium sign, be sure to keep us posted. (Or maybe, maybe I can get a beta invite? Shh.)

  22. Eugê says:

    A fantastic idea, Mike! I’m already looking forward to try it out. I don’t know if you manage to scare the trolls away, but we’ll all try. :-)

    Eugê!

  23. Thomas M. says:

    No matter what people say it “sounds like” … I can’t wait to see what it looks like and really acts like … I’ve been toying around with an idea for a column – one that involves my previous career (prior to web/graphic design) and something I still have a passion for. Maybe your creation will help make that idea a reality.

    Thanks for the heads-up Mike!

    BTW … any more iPod contests? I’m still in hopes to get a winner published.

  24. Mike,
    I like the logo and the name. Sounds like it could be a useful service, but I still keeping comparing it to digg in my mind. I can see that your service wil focus more on news stories, but wil it be possible to “Seed” any site?

    I guess I’m just trying to find out if there a differential between newsvine and digg. Is there competition between the two? or is there a seperate overall goal in mind?

  25. Mike,

    Congrats on newsvine. I’ve been waiting for a digg-esque service for general news, but this sounds like it might be a superior service. I think digg lacks in the “social bookmarking” department, because they don’t support tagging. Not to sound like John C Dvorak, but I called this one back in July: http://www.ninjafire.com/?postid=18

    Also, funny story: I’m doing an internship this semester at DIG in LA, and yesterday I was in a conversation with someone in Seattle who let the “newsvine” name slip to me. So I knew the name of Mike’s secret company for one whole day before the rest of the world.

  26. David says:

    I’ve signed up, and it looks cool, but a few thoughts.

    • How can you possibly keep it organised? People tag things different ways – “supreme-court” for one person might be “supreme” and “court” for another. How can users be sure they’ve guessed the URL that will give them what they want?
    • People who take up on this early will be tech-savvy readers – how can you make sure that it’s mainstream news that gets the front page, and not the latest tech story?
    • How will you keep out the trolls?

    Best of luck, and if your product answers those, I’ll definitely use it for more than the “oh, this looks cool” five minutes.

  27. Jeff Croft says:

    Mike-

    The product sounds great. I can’t wait to try the beta. It sounds like it’ll be very useful and probably a lot of fun, as well.

    I also wanted to say this: while Newsvine is probably not a “Web 2.0 company,” (since the passion of the organization is in journalism, not technology) it sure sounds to me like you have a Web 2.0 product on your hands. It doesn’t matter if it relies on Ajax, RSS, etc. — it’s about people, it’s about discussion, it’s about collaboration, and its value is directly relative to the quantity and quality of people using it. To me, that’s exactly what Web 2.0 is all about. You might not be a Web 2.0 company, but it sure seems like you’re thinking like one. :)

  28. Hi Mike!

    I can see how useful this can be, specially the features like local news and where you can write your own column. I am quite excited with this since i am involved in Photojournalism and i am a freelance photographer and can see huge benefits of this. I would love to be involved in this, can’t wait for the public beta to come out.

    Keep us posted.

    Regards
    Zeeshan

  29. Chad Edge says:

    Mike, I mentioned about a month ago that I had a system we should talk about; something I’ve also kept secret (for me, it’s been over worry that someone else will figure it out and I’ll lose my opportunity – it sucks being busy on other projects that take you away from your dream).

    I’ve also recently left my old company (87 Wall St) to focus on my ideas. Now that I’ve read what you’ve got up your sleeve, I have a minor suggestion (something built-into our model, which will be pushing news content next year). I’d prefer to talk over the phone or maybe even at El Basha (wall & western) if you have some time in the future. Consider it a little gift if it’s something you’d like to use. If you’ve got some spare coffee time, I’d like to finally sit with you. E-mail or my info is on my site.

  30. Carl says:

    Sounds like a very cool product, but do you really think you will break the mold of people going to CNN.COM, MSNBC.COM, ABCNEWS.COM or even Google or Yahoo’s news pages?

  31. Jeff Croft says:

    Carl-

    Not to speak on Mike’s behalf, but it sounds to me like Mike’s company is not really targeting the exact same audience as those site. Newsvine’s focus will be on people that want to discuss the news, not just read it.

    At least, that’s my impression from Mike’s post.

  32. Chad Edge says:

    Jeff,

    Man, I was just working on a similar post, but was writing elsewhere at the same time. My thoughts exactly. I would imagine the upramp to try and pull people away from daily accessed portals (just think about the fact that AOL, Yahoo!, and MSN are all in the top 5 most visited sites, all of which showcase news on their homepages) would be ridiculous (unless, of course, you were MySpace.com and just happened to fall ass-backwards into that ranking).

    I doubt Newsvine’s success will be based on market share of overall news sites since they are not duplicated those efforts, but instead brining much-needed (yet unproven?) improvements to the content experience.

    I certainly look forward to the beta.

  33. Kevin Tamura says:

    Wow. I can just imagine what this would have been like a few months ago with hurricane Katrina and Rita: people commenting from the front and adding insight to what was being written.

    I can’t wait to play with it.

  34. Newsvine sounds like a great idea! I’m looking forward to checking it out!

    @Kevin: Great point about the hurricanes.

  35. Mike P. says:

    Woohoo! Finally, outta the bag. Man can you keep a secret. I almost had Anna call you personally to see if she could get it outta ya ;-)

    Congratulations, looking forward to the launch..

  36. Elliot Swan says:

    Awesome.

    Congrats, can’t wait to try it out. Though I too am wondering what some of the differing points between this and digg are, and if they will become competition?

  37. Mike says:

    The only problem I can see is allowing anyone to comment. I’m sure I’ve missed something somewhere, but couldn’t anyone come along and spam the site to death, or turn it into a breeding ground for “ppl talkin lik dis”

  38. Chad Edge says:

    Mike,

    Edit control is possible with a little thought. I haven’t been able to get 100% control, but in previous apps, I’ve gotten darn near. What I did was create flags, syntax checking, etc. Any post that passed, but barely, was flagged and added to an admin review panel (accessable by a few dozen chosen admins). While the systems haven’t been 100% automated, cutting the required checks helped a lot.

    I’m working on a similar system now that will better automate and format address and other contact information (including user-posted notes). I’m trying to figure out how to check against vague directions, like “a coupla’ three miles down the road, you’ll come to a fork in the road. Actually, it’s two forks…”

    In my opinion, it seems Newsvine will offer the editorials as more of a privilege, something that can be taken away. Further, if Newsvine is offering ad revenue sharing, then I’d imagine more care would be taken in the content of posts and editorials… unless “ppl talkin lik dis” creates generous amounts of traffic… hrm…

  39. John says:

    What a fantastic idea you’ve got here. We’ve seen similar ideas before on sites such as Slashdot and Google News, but I have to admit this really does take the cake.

    I wish you the best of luck with the project, and can guarantee I’ll atleast give it a go when it’s released! Now, how about slipping me an invite to the private beta test? ;)

  40. Matt Dempsey says:

    Awesome idea. I love the idea that people can make money from their own columns rather than you make money from it. That will surely increase the number of writers and articles greatly, and probably your future profits in the long-run anyway. Amazing idea, I will definately use it.

  41. Collin says:

    I’ll be sure to watch your status Mike. I can’t wait to to see what you come up with.

  42. AkaXakA says:

    A portal done right?

    After 10 years? We can only hope…

    Best of luck Mike & the team!

  43. I’ve been wanting to see what this is ever since you put up the blog entry to your ‘secret project’ on the main page and consecutively on the right bar.. hope I get into the beta!

  44. Paul Mayne says:

    Congrats on the launch Mike, sounds like a definite success if done right – and I’m sure you will. Looking forward to it.

  45. Wow, this certainly sounds excellent. Congrats on the new company.

    Newsvine is a large-scale news media site which gives you almost all the same stories you read on sites like MSNBC and CNN but presents them in a much more attractive package.

    I have been wanting something like this for years! I always dislike reading the news online because of their… news feeling environment. From what the signup page looks like, I am assuming it will be very attractive :-)

    Can’t wait and signed up for the Beta. Anxious to write a review on SW about it too!

  46. alek says:

    Interesting – just signed up on your home page – looking forward to seeing more …

  47. doyoureallycare says:

    So this is a mix of digg and delicious. Cool. Great innovation. Keep it up.

  48. Del says:

    wow,

    this sounds exactly like my site:

    http://www.gabbr.com

    same sort of thing.. users submit stories, they tag them they comment on them.. the stories become “live” when they comment and discuss them , etc…

    oh well.. I guess this just shows that Gabbr.com was a good idea afer all …
    good luck to you guys…

  49. So did you do a hue/sat change on the sneak-peak image of the aluminum lettering you showed a few months ago, or did you repaint the wall since then? Last time it was yellow!

  50. Mike,
    Congrats on the launch. I enjoy this site so much I wouldn’t expect anything less of your other ventures. Good luck!

  51. Joe D'Andrea says:

    A-ha! I always thought those buds on that (USB trident logo-inspired?) vine were, um, news.

    Best wishes! Looking forward to trying it out.

  52. Mike D. says:

    Everyone: Thanks so much for the great comments and the interest. The whole team appreciates it.

    #6 Mark: Yeah, “quality of conversation” issues are sure to crop up in places. A lot of it is going to depend on who submitted whatever item you’re reading and if they choose to moderate their own submission.

    #11 David S.: You know what? There was a time when I wanted to build a better Bloglines. Ultimately though, I think the role of an RSS aggregator is still only a part of any given person’s information mix. Sometimes you just want what’s important — and not necessarily what you chose ahead of time — to be put in front of you.

    #19 Tom: Where there are flame-wars, there is passion. :) There are certain things you can do from an interface standpoint to help users minimize “noise” to their desired level and even better than that, you can foster an environment where that sort of stuff is less common than it otherwise would be.

    #24: Thomas M.: Yep, need to launch the next iPod contest already. Been super busy. :)

    #25 Shaun A.: We love Digg over here. To you and anyone else who compares us to them, I’m flattered. When we came up with this idea a year or so ago, I hadn’t seen or heard of Digg (who had?) but it’s been fun watching them go through their paces and improve the site. I’ve really loved almost every single feature they’ve added, and their latest redesign was kind of the “oh shit” moment when I knew I had to leave Disney and built this thing already. I will no doubt field a lot of questions in the coming weeks about other companies in this field and I’ll be the first to heap praise on Digg as a company that’s pushing the right buttons right now.

    #27 David: a) Yes, it’s going to be a challenge to stay organized. But there is physical organization (i.e. where something is actually located) and also referential organization (i.e. what alternative paths can point you there). If you get the second one correct, the first one stops mattering. b) From an IA standpoint, it’s pretty easy to see to it that Tech News doesn’t dominate the front page, but the tricky part is seeing to it that the rules of the news folksonomy (or “newsonomy” as we call it) still apply even as you exert editorial force to remain diverse. c) Trolls, yes. They are a pain, aren’t they?

    #28 Croftie: You’re absolutely right about the Web 2.0 comment. Our focus is on this product and we want everyone else’s to be as well. This isn’t about pleasing the tech crowd with another technology that will put you five years ahead of the mainstream. RSS readers? How long ago were you using one? Three years ago? How long until your dad uses one? Ever? I think the early-adopter tech crowd will very much *get* what we’re doing and hopefully appreciate it as well, but it’s changing the way everyday people get their news that we’re really interested in… raising the bar a bit for what people would consider a “normal news site”.

    #50: Rob G.: Haha! I totally hue-satched that in Photoshop. Busted. The wall is actually orange. :)

  53. Looking for skilled developers? :)

  54. JBagley says:

    The url structure reminds me of wikipedia. I think it will work brilliantly. As for the commenting on news, Ive been wanting to do that for ages! Just never found a site to be able to do it.

    Good luck with it!
    BTW, was newsvine.com the domain you bought?

  55. j says:

    I believe digg is also in the process of doing Gerneral News and expanding its focus. Hopefully Vine will have more to offer.

  56. Tim says:

    Sounds like a great community thing waiting to happen. If this takes off and the name gets spread, I can even imagine a great deal of added value from eyewitnesses. You know, people that were actually there when it happened contributing to the discussion.

    I also digg (sorry) the local news option. Especially if one day we saw the arrival of, let’s say, mexico.newsvine.com or italia.newsvine.com. Because, what’s big in America isn’t necessarily as big in the rest of the world.

    Oh, and whatever you do, don’t sell it to Yahoo :-)

  57. hmm … it’s news with comments right?

    That’s not new … Check this :
    http://www.webwereld.nl. It’s a dutch ICT website. They also have newsitems and you can post comments.

  58. roj says:

    This is what i hate about gtear ideas…they’re always so simple.

    Sounds great.

  59. Ilyan says:

    Seattle. That is where an unemployed Briton signed up in the US Army in order to eat regularly. He deserted to stay in UK after WW2 (girl). And later told war secrets. One is now open as Slapton Sands. The other remains hidden. There was an American Indian “Rising” in Aldershot UK, I had confirmation of that from two other sources.
    See http://www.indycymru.org.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&thold=-1&mode=flat&order=0&sid=850#1180
    and I puzzle why Google has difficulty finding that. And why my computer has slowed so much since I started writing this.. Google might find “Aldershot American Indian Rising”.

  60. Miguel says:

    Great idea Mike. I signed up for your beta testing!
    Can’t wait to get the email for the invite. Hmmm or are there too many people signing up ? :)

    Good luck. Maybe this will ehlp me to keep on top of the news. It’s so boring to read the news on normal sites, you’re right about that!

    Cheers

  61. I wish you good luck, I already signed up before I read this article to the end

  62. PanMan says:

    So is this also the domain name you were hunting for, or is that something else? I’m looking forward to your launch!

  63. Sounds very interesting, Mike. Look forward to giving it a go!

  64. Zeerus says:

    HI Mike,

    this definitely isn’t what I expected, but it’s even better. I’ve been wanting a news service like this for quite some time now and can’t wait to be an active community member. I just signed up. Keep up the great work. Another question, will you continue creating websites as a Freelancer (or do you have plans to start your own design firm) or will Newsvine be your #1 priority from now on?

  65. Vincent says:

    This should be some what interesting.

  66. Allan R. says:

    Sounds like a great idea, i’m all for trying it out !

  67. roj says:

    So how long will your average joe have to wait to get a look at this?

  68. Nilay Shah says:

    As a newsjunkie, im excited to use the newsvine. Hopefully it’s better than inform.com! If inform.com had RSS feeds for its site (it didnt have feeds the last time i checked), I think it would be more useful. If newsvine can be efficient and offer the latest technologies (RSS), people will embrace the product

  69. Hi Mike

    Why not make the next iPod competition a challenge as to who can come up with the most original way to promote Newsvine?

    Sincerely, good luck with the new venture.

  70. ozgur alaz says:

    hi mike
    can u please send me an invitation.

    good luck

  71. Jason Beaird says:

    There are so many big/new app launches going on right now but this looks like one of the most practical. I can’t wait to get in there and try it out. I don’t know about writing articles, but having a quick subdomain to hit for news that I’ve tagged sounds like a great idea. Slap RSS on that puppy and I could parse it on my site as a “currently reading” list.

  72. Hi there,
    This is all new to me but the idea of Newsvine sounds great! Cant wait to try it out properly!!! Good luck!

  73. Bob says:

    Beautiful idea, and I’m sure the execution will be as beautiful. Sounds like an extremely useful, extremely addictive site with a wide potential audience of, well, everyone. I will be looking forward to the launch to finding a news solution that actually works as a more complete solution. Google News is OK but not nearly this interactive; all the other sites are too specific (e.g., tech-oriented or politics-oriented).

    Congratulations to your team and to big ideas.

  74. Angela says:

    I’m pretty excited about this. Seems like it could be a one-stop-shop for my news consumption. I’m a journalism student in a class called “blogging and citizen journalism” and another one, “multimedia journalism.” I think my classmates will find this really interesting too! Maybe we can begin a discussion in class about it.

  75. Renmeleon says:

    Congrats and great job Mike!

    Where can I buy stock? :)

  76. Interesting idea. I have already bookmarked the site. :)

  77. ak says:

    pretty damn cool. i hope you integrate content from smaller/non-mainstream sources – the new journalizm like kevin sites blog – or dahr jamal – or the excellent work being done by so many bloggers out there that far outshines some of the work being done by the so called mainstream media.

    of course i would love to comment on work done by people like judith miller wherever she ends up – but if he’s on the ground in baghdad, let me read and comment on what jamail has to say about what’s going on …

  78. Zach Inglis says:

    Interesting idea, good luck on it all Mike

  79. Don says:

    I left you my email address because I trust you even though there is no privacy policy, no promise not to abuse it and so forth. Give that some thought perhaps.

    Maybe a link back from that site to this blog article?

    Do I need to use a bookmarklet to make it of any value to me? I think the concept of bookmarklets still goes over many peoples heads.

    Have a great day in the rainy northwest :-)

    Don

  80. kaiser says:

    What will set the standard for this new breed of news sites is for one of them to incorporate a toolbar like stumbleupon. Imagine a dig-stumble upon toolbar where you could stumble the web and find the latest stories and be able to comment and post your stories and comments by clicking on the toolbar without having to go to the dig site or newsvine site directly. And add the intercommunication,community, and eyeopening effects to sights you would never have known about. Stumble-dig or newsvine merger! Flatten the web
    By combining with the stumble community you will be able to flatten the web and create a really intimate precise type of search for information in regards to individual users with specific related interests. The network of users will permit no news to be overlooked…not with millions of free tom brokaws and geraldos at work 24-7 reporting to the sight and sharing with each other contact and source information.
    -Kaiser

  81. I saw this headline for an AP story today and thought oh this must be Mike’s thing. “Web Site to Blend Journalism With Blogs” but I continued reading and it’s someone else called OSM. Funny how things seem to flow. Best of luck can’t wait to see the site.

    http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20051115/D8DT3FO81.html?PG=home&SEC=news

  82. Brade says:

    Sounds interesting, Mike.

    Have you caught wind of this news?http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/15/D8DT3FO81.html

    Will this be a competitor, or is Newsvine something different?

  83. Um, the word “beta” on the homepage, big fields, tagging, RSS, and e-mail invites? Sounds Web 2.0 to me.

    Not that I’m coming down on you for it or anything, but don’t be afraid to call a spade a spade.

  84. a.d. says:

    I read that OSM article as well this morning… got excited for a minute there when I saw it pop up on yahoo’s front page and thought – my, my, Mike made it to the front page of yahoo news… a little disappointed to read that article and not find newsvine on it.

    Good luck Mike! Looking forward in seeing the idea take off.

  85. Mike D. says:

    Zeerus: Yep, Newsvine will be my only priority for the foreseeable future. No freelance or otherwise design work on the horizon.

    roj: The beta will go in phases. The signup list is already well into the several thousands and we just can’t let that many people in right off the bat. It’s definitely not a “manufactured scarcity” thing as our site becomes exponentially more useful the more people that use it. It’s more about letting close friends and colleagues in first for a few weeks so we can take care of any low-hanging fruit and obvious improvements/tweaks before opening up the gates. We’re all working to make sure that window is as small as possible but you never know what’s going to crop up.

    Nilay: Yeah, I can say with certainty that we are nothing like Inform.com, but then again, I use Safari so I can barely even get into that site to check out what’s going on. I’m not big on making our entire site a popup window either, but I guess these are the sorts of things that work themselves out in alpha stage. :)

    Jason C.: Yeah, I’d say we aren’t a whole lot like OSM either, but yeah, they do syndicate wire stories, so I guess we have that in common. OSM, and before that, Pajamas, seemed to have a highly political slant. I wouldn’t say that about us.

    a.d.: Yeah, we didn’t make the front page of Yahoo News, but we did make the front page of CBS News. I’ll take it. :)

  86. Tony B says:

    Mike, this sounds great,

    ..and is it you that has registered newsvine.co.uk, and if so what are you going to do with it?

  87. Buddy says:

    Isn’t this exactly what CommonTimes does today?

    http://www.commontimes.org

  88. Hi Mike,

    Wish you well with what sounds like a very interesting project. Competition is healthy and can only mean more nice things for us and the end users.

    Btw, you might want to mention to SecondAve that their site is a rip of Pixel Surgeon’s. As the kinda sad guy I sometimes am, I looked at the code and even that is the same. Unless of course Pixel Surgeon created the site for them?

    Anyway, good luck sir.

  89. A Nonnie Moose says:

    “not a Web 2.0 company”

    then please please PLEASE put a description of what newsvine is on the actual newsvine.com site.

  90. jessecravens says:

    Yo Mike or anyone else for that metter- could you spare a Newsvine invite?

  91. lecameleon says:

    could I get one too ? Thanks & congrats !

  92. Walter says:

    I would like an invite too :) Please hook it up!

  93. Jay says:

    I’d love an invite if you have one to send.

    Thanks!

  94. i’ve been following the development for a while, and would absolutely love an invite :)

    cheers!
    -max

  95. Daniel says:

    i have invites to give out but i need the emails of those who want them!

  96. Jiri Fencl says:

    Just got the invite but Firefox just saved the proxy file to my disk. And that’s it. I’m I missing something? Dying to see Newsvine in action! Please help ;-)

  97. Daniel says:

    what proxy file..?

    if you’ve been invited you should just be able to click the link that newsvine sends you and then set up your account..

  98. Jiri Fencl says:

    When I click on a link in invitation email (GMail & FF 1.5) it prompts to save a proxy file 1980 bytes long (it seems like an empty file). And that’s it. Doesn’t take me anywhere :-/

  99. Daniel says:

    weird.. i use firefox 1.5 and gmail too.. no problem ever came up..

    i suppose you might want to ask mike personally..

  100. Daniel says:

    hey whats your email, ill invite you.. maybe itll work this time

  101. Jiri Fencl says:

    Thanx for helping out Daniel, my email is jiri(dot)fencl(at)gmail(dot)com

  102. Neil Shah says:

    Daniel-
    I’d love an invite if you have any to spare. I’ve been dying to check out newsvine.

    luckybum at gmail

    Thanks!

  103. Daniel says:

    yeah i have a few more, i’ll go ahead and invite you in a moment

  104. Gareth says:

    Looks great. Any spare invites left Daniel ?

    Thanks!

    garethbissland (at) mac (dot) com

  105. Vladimir says:

    Hey, sounds fantastic. Like a Flickr approach to news, I feel the community aspect will play a great role. Hope the quality of dicussions stays high.

    Any spare invites left Daniel? I’d love to give it a go.

    vladimir (dot) blagojevic (at) gmail (dot) com

  106. Daniel says:

    ive invited both of you

  107. Vladimir says:

    Thanks a bunch Daniel, that was fast!

    Should I be receiving an email with the invite? Nothing in my mailbox yet…

    Anyway thaks again, it’s really late here in Europe, I’m gonna have to wrap it up.

  108. chad says:

    Any more invites left? Would love to have one please if possible. Demonthesis (at) gmail (dot) com

  109. Stormy says:

    Greetings,

    Really fascinating concept — certainly a window into the future of news delivery.

    Daniel any extra invites?

    smalatesta (at) g mail dot (com)

    Thanks!

  110. Tom says:

    Can you send me a newsvine invite I would love to try it out…

    mullins_tom (at) gmail (dot) com

  111. Drew says:

    Would love an invite. Does anyone have one to spare?

    dtd (at) georgetown (dot) edu

    -d

  112. How can I join the bandwagon?

    divedi at gmail dot com

  113. Daniel says:

    wow.. ok well i invited you all.. im almost out of invites now.

    enjoy

  114. Ron says:

    Heard about Newsvine on Amber and Leo’s podcast “inside the net” I’d love to have an invite if anyone has one to spare.

  115. Vladimir says:

    I can invite you if you give me your email.

  116. Brad says:

    Could I get an invite please?
    tvguy05 (at) gmail (dot) com

  117. Bob says:

    Sounds like a cool site. Would it be possible for someone to send me an invite?

    Thanks so much.

    Bob

    skilledtrades at gmail dot com

  118. Mark says:

    anyone have an invite for this site?

    thanks in advance

    thething1@gmail.com

    Thething1 at gmail dot com

  119. Vladimir says:

    Brad, Bob , Mark,

    I’ll invite you.

    Cheers,
    Vladimir

  120. John says:

    Hello,

    How can I get an newsvine invite?

  121. Vladimir says:

    Hi John,

    I’ve still got a spare invite. What’s your email?

  122. Jessica says:

    If anyone has any spare invites, I’d really like one, thank you.

    My email is

  123. Jessica says:

    If anyone has any spare invites, I’d really like one, thank you.

    My email is rxnfx50@hotmail.com

  124. Jiri Fencl says:

    Check the mail Jessica ;-)

  125. Tara says:

    I could use a spare invite too!

    t_wong *AT* telus dot net

    Thanks and have a great day!

  126. Tara says:

    thanks..got one..

  127. Chuck says:

    I’d love to check this out, so if anyone could send an invite my way that’d be great: bowlerdude320 at comcast dot net

  128. astralcars says:

    An invite would be great if one’s going spare!
    Address is astralcars@gmail.com

  129. Adam Foxson says:

    I’d also love an invite should someone happen to have a spare. This seems really exciting and I’ve been looking forward to experiencing NewsVine for days now. :-)

    Thanks so much in advance!

    afoxson@pobox.com

  130. Hossein says:

    I can use an invitation if anyone have, please.
    jabri@hotmail.com

    Thanks

  131. I recieved the beta launch email and was dumbfounded at first to find anything about what newsvine was about until I googled this page.

    I only hope that newsvine doesn’t turn into a digg.com or revert into a slashdot.net.

    I agree with the idea behind it and am here to cheer it on.

  132. Rico says:

    Can someone invite me plz… this looks very interesting.

    bigmoof AT gmail.com

    TIA =)

  133. Jay says:

    I hate to ask, but I am also very interested in what I have heard about this site. So, if anyone else could be so kind, I would also be grateful for an invite.

    thumper___26 at hotmail.com

  134. Daniel MacDonald says:

    Really interested to check this out! Can anyone spare me an invite? Thanks in advance!

    elephantforsale@hotmail.com

  135. Chi says:

    Helloooooo

    I could really use an invitation… bad day at work today.

    Thanks a mil!!!

  136. lee says:

    I would also please like an invite if you have any to spare:

    iseek@joins.com

  137. Jeremy says:

    invite me.. NOW! :-)

    jmcantrell@gmail.com

  138. I, too would love an invite. Vince_Leibowitz(at)cox.net.

    Thanks, if anyone has an invite to spare.

    Vince

  139. Don says:

    I too, would greatly appreciate an invite.
    Thanks in advance, Don Janeway
    djaneway@gmail.com

  140. Joanna says:

    If you have any invitations available..please invite me…

    joanna.marquez@gmail.com

    thanks!!

  141. I have a few invites left… just leave a comment on this post and I will hook ya up asap.

  142. Urooj Mughal says:

    i’ve been reading newsvine for quite a while now, and have never met many others who have heard of it. it’s a pretty amazing site, and i love the comment factor, hearing wht others have to say about things really makes it more interesting.

    good luck, i don’t have any doubt to the success!

  143. Ty Miller says:

    I would REALLY like a invite please hook me up i will be forever gratefull

  144. Joseph Cotton says:

    Empowerment. That’s what Newsvine will bring to the average reader. The ability to comment/chat in real time about a news article will be simply awesome. The point that Mike made about not letting a *few people* dictate the news but instead, allowing the average citizen to put in their 2 cents is just unheard of today. I look forward to donating my 2 cents when Newsvine goes live.

    :-)

    jc

  145. KJ says:

    I just heard about this project on an past episode of TWiT podcast and thought i’d check it out. I’ve read through and really like what i’ve read so far and the project sounds like a sure shot.

    I’d really appreciate and invitation if there are any left.

    All the best.

    KJ

  146. Chris says:

    Seriously, I first heard about Newsvine when I saw a new link on the Chronicle’s (Duke Univ.’s newspaper) website to newsvine, which was next to Digg and others. I googled NV and learned more about the site through this blog. It sounds like a great idea Mike and I wish you luck…I am definately interested in the feature to comment on the news story and to also the ability to write a column – I can’t wait to check it out and get started! Congrats also on getting the domain…I’m sure that $360 and some odd dollar investment will really pay off.

    Now, for the ask…anyone got an invite? :)

    cendicott -at- gmail -.- com

    Thanks

  147. films says:

    I would love an invite if possible. Thanks.

    filmsofdust(at)gmail.com

  148. Carlos says:

    Got to look at it yesterday. Looked great and I tried signing up. Never got a confirmation email. Now this morning whole site seems to be down. Hopefully this short term trouble is a sign of long term success. Good luck!

  149. car says:

    I like the logo and the name. Sounds like it could be a useful service, but I still keeping comparing it to digg in my mind. I can see that your service wil focus more on news stories, but wil it be possible to “Seed” any site?

  150. This is the url for Calling ghost. Not everyone want to try it for joy and adventure.If you don’t think it is wrong then try it . But is risky….

  151. web design says:

    Who says that major news site can’t be wel designed? There are many ways for a site to be a well designed.

  152. goetz says:

    I just came along and gave it a try. Great work guys. Keep going on and bring it to Germany.

  153. Newsvine: Collaborative News Filtering

    Mike Davidson has announced Newsvine, which will seek to allow folks to do what Google News already does with algorithms. Who’s smarter: computers or people? It should be an interesting race, especially if Newsvine can get a critical mass of …

  154. Newsvine

    Newsvine sounds very interesting, interact with other readers and control the news that is important to me.

  155. chadedge.com says:

    Inspiration

    Mike Davidson (mikeindustries.com) revealed today his new company, Newsvine, which appears to be a news portal with some very interesting features. For some of you, this will cause a cold shiver up your OSNAP.net spines, for others I hope you will …

  156. NinjaFire says:

    Newsvine

    Mike Davidson announced today the upcoming launch of Newsvine – a social news service not unlike Digg, but with the critical addition of tagging, and for a wider audience consuming all manner of news.

  157. Solin.ch says:

    Newsvine, ein neues nützliches Tool

    Zwar noch nicht offiziell fertiggestellt, jedoch kann man sich für das neue Newsvine System bereits für einen privaten Betatest anmelden. Doch was ist eigentlich Newsvine? Und vorallem wozu dient es?

  158. Anonymous says:

    Turning News into Conversation

    A very talented Seattle designer and blogger is launching a revolutionary news website, Newsvine, which will soon be opening with a private beta.
    You just read an Associated Press story about the fiery riots in France on a major news site. Why shoul…

  159. The Buzz says:

    Publishing innovation

    Newsvine, a new website soon to launch, has some interesting ideas about how to combine traditional news…

  160. Newsvine

    I’m sure anybody who even thinks they’re anybody on the web has already heard, but Mike Davidson (of sIFR fame) is prepping his latest venture, Newsvine.
    With absolutely no first-hand experience (and therefore absolutely no good reason yo…

  161. Macropsia says:

    Newsvine: Noticias más inteligentes

    Mike Davidson, conocido por muchos por ser uno de los creadores de sIFR, ha anunciado hace unos días que está trabajando en un nuevo proyecto que, según sus palabras, será como tu sitio favorito de noticias, sólo que más inteligente: Newsvine.

  162. Newsvine | turning news into conversation!

    Seattle’s Mike Davidson announced his new venture last week. Newsvine is staged to be a large-scale news media site that allows readers to interact and organize news media from anywhere on the web. Readers can become writers of their…

  163. Freeyourmind says:

    Digg vs Slashdot vs Newsvine

    Leggo sul Business 2.0 blog:
    Digg, the news site where readers get to vote which stories should be at the top of the homepage, is catching up to Slashdot in terms of Web traffic (see chart above—for a more qualitative comparison, check out Digg vs….

  164. Newsvine

    I just got an invite from my former supervisor to the newest news aggregation site, Newsvine. I’m already a registered user of Digg (though I’ve only ever voted and commented, never suggesting a link myself) and I get traffic to this blog …

  165. […] си спомням, когато всичко започваше… Беше преди около две години. Майк си спази […]

  166. carole roach says:

    Why has my access to my newsvine membership been refused?

  167. Newsvine says:

    […] Davidson: Unstealth! Get Ready For Newsvine… [via Scripting […]

  168. […] M., (2006), Get Ready for Newsvine, (Accessed on June 24, […]

  169. […] Newsvine sounds very interesting, interact with other readers and control the news that is important to me. « Kansas Board of Education Rewrites Definition of Science? IBM Slows Light » […]

  170. […] the words of Mike Davidson (previously known for his work on sIFR, now of Newsvine): “We believe in turning news into […]

  171. Sheila Vigue says:

    How do I view comments posted on 11/05/2008?

  172. Thank you to all who founded Newsvine. I didn’t learn of it until 2010, but have enjoyed my time there. Today is the last day of Newsvine as it was initially conceived. It was purchased by Microsoft, sold by Microsoft, and survived, intact. Tomorrow, 7 February 2013, the beta deployment, with “nations”, goes live.

    I am so happy I found this post, via a (broken) link from AboutUs. The Newsvine website image is beautiful.

    Thank you, Mike, and best wishes.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe by Email

... or use RSS