
Kevin Rose’s Oink Hits The App Store - aaronbrethorst
http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/03/kevin-rose-oink-app-store/
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MatthewPhillips
Didn't he say when he formed this group that he wanted to work on big mobile
problems? And that he didn't want to do just another photo app... this seems
pretty uninspired to me. It looks good, but in the end it's just another Get
Glue, it doesn't really make my life easier.

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marcamillion
Well...I think you are looking at it wrong.

This could be a Trojan Horse (whether Kevin knows it or not yet) into big data
mining, and personalized recommendations.

Imagine, you have an app that send you customized ads/offers based on your
actual real world history.

For instance, if you liked this sushi dish at this restaurant in San
Francisco, maybe you will like a similar dish at another restaurant when you
are travelling in Texas. That's insanely powerful.

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shashashasha
This was also Color's pitch:

"The company has six patents pending and sees itself as "much more of a
research company and a data mining company than a photo sharing site.""

[http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/color_ceo_the_tech_just...](http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/color_ceo_the_tech_justifies_the_41_million.php)

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marcamillion
The difference though is that Kevin isn't pitching that. Kevin is pitching the
consumer benefits, which is being able to rate individual items and explore
other items you might like.

If I were living in the US and had an iPhone, I would likely use this.
Definitely sounds intriguing.

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nicknyc
Kevin Rose should have read Steve Jobs' biography by now. You're supposed to
romanticize the product with the user!

Instead this is how oink acts when you first meet-

1\. Prompt user for location access 2\. Prompt user for push notification
access 3\. Prompt user with 'builder' description 4\. Prompt user with social
account username/password requests 5\. Prompt user with Join button
(permanently affix to bottom left of screen) 6\. Prompt user with arbitrarily
ranked pizza on out of the box uitableviews

Maybe the pig app could ease into these prompts and start out with a few on-
topic questions and flashy UIs. Perhaps a list of telling foods to rank with
my fingers followed by a list of spices to sort? Maybe touch/label the part of
the food I liked most? It could then add a random oink developer as my friend
automatically. After I browse around for a bit it might ask if I want to see
random famous person x's most/least favorite food in city y, or switch to my
current location (enter prompt 1) because...

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isnotchicago
Is this like a real version of <http://jotly.co/> ?

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Urgo
Haven't heard of jotly before but it seems jotly is available for ALL
platforms not just iphone so I already like it 100x more then oink.

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moizsyed
Why do they need to access my DMs if I login via Twitter?

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wattjustin
Is anyone else actually able to add any items yet? It just asks me to sign
up/connect with a social service and tells me that I'll get an email when I'm
"allowed" to access the actual features of the app.

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markgx
Same here. I guess they're limiting initial sign ups.

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wattjustin
Wow! Then why release it? There's many other services that do many, if not all
of the same things as this. Making us pine for more in a world of copycat apps
isn't going to make me stick around. The carrot being dangled here isn't that
enticing. This isn't directed at you, just a general rant. I'm not sure why
they released this app yet. Unimpressed.

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moreorless
_ahem_ _ahem_ Digg V4

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Multiplayer
When someone gets up and says to the effect "we are going to make a bunch of
apps, 2-3 per year, this is the first one, we'll see if it gets traction"
(paraphrasing what I remember from the oink announcement from web 2.0 this
year), I am immediately disinterested.

I'll be kind and say that I'm unclear on the message here.

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robjohnson
This is a classic critical mass app and I'm a little skeptical right now as to
if it has the legs. But then again, I thought Quora was the greatest thing
since sliced bread and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

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jigs_up
It's good to see Rose doing something new and I genuinely hope he is
succesful.

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mapster
Oink taps the data mine much deeper than other foodie apps. Will it work in
Europe or Asia, since their pigs don't actually say 'oink' do they?

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georgieporgie
Depending on execution, this actually looks like an awesome idea to me. The
best recommendations come from reliable friends, who say things like, "try the
X at Y, it's the best thing on the menu." If it can properly pair my tastes
with others who have similar taste, I would love it.

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MatthewPhillips
How is this substantially different from Foursquare tips though? I get that
the focus is on items, not places, but that just makes it harder. The #1
reason why I don't use Foursquare is no one -- not a single person -- I know
in real life uses it, despite me nagging them to. If you go even more niche an
start checking into items on a menu, you're going to have a tough time finding
users who get the full benefit outside of the San Fran bubble.

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nailer
It's focused. 4sq tips are about tables, the best thing to try when you're
already at location X.

4sq: I want to find a nice cafe in London. Let people rate the service, the
view, the atmosphere, the newspapers and magazines.

Oink: I want the best English breakfast in London.

