
Show HN: Vinepeek - watch the world in realtime in 6 second snippets - jalada
http://vinepeek.com
======
citricsquid
This is seriously fantastic. I saw Vine yesterday and thought it was a cool
concept but didn't try it, after watching this I've downloaded the app and
shared it with a bunch of friends and they're now downloading the app too!
Such a simple and brilliant idea, Vine should add this to their homepage.

edit: I've now been watching this for 40 minutes... why are the banal acts of
ordinary people so interesting?! Maybe it's the promise of a brand new _thing_
in 6 seconds that keeps me watching.

~~~
danso
I'm surprised vineroulette.com wasn't the chosen URL for this

~~~
monsterix
One up. I was thinking the same name too!

Isn't there a potential challenge for vinepeek? How would you prevent pervs
streaming penises and see-me-jerk-off clips? Especially, when this thing grows
in volume.

~~~
danso
Actually, this would be a fairly solvable problem: only show Vines from users
with 400+ or more followers and older than a year (you may have to refine this
metric to also examine the validness of their followers' accounts).
Presumably, people with Twitter followings to care about won't just flash
their junk...though maybe once in while, you'll get an Anthony Weiner.

In fact, you could probably get a certain class of videos by _only_ showing
Vines in which the tweets are directed at people, to catch the folks who
forgot that @-mentions != DM (ala Anthony Weiner)

------
will_brown
Ah...the results of the race to be the "Instagram of Video".

Vine is no different than any number of recent video sharing apps. Vine does
nothing new but sets new arbitrary time limits on the videos they support.
Just like the others Vine will try to convince you that through focus groups
they have found "3 second" videos will revolutionize video sharing and
discovery, but this is nothing new.

Examples:

Threadlife: Supports 3 second videos Viddy: Supports 15 second videos Animoto:
Supports 30 second videos Klip: Supports 60 second videos

now Vine and its 6 second videos.

I am left wondering, what problem do all these video sharing apps think they
are solving by setting arbitrary video time limits? Short videos might
increase likelihood a user will sit through a whole video, but contrary to
what these apps want you to believe they are not improving content quality
through these arbitrary time limits. Further, time limits do not help users
discovery quality content, so what problem have any of these apps solved?

The company that is dubbed the "Instagram of video" in the media is going to
do the same thing Instagram did, improve content sharing and discovery. Of
course, I hope my start up is that company, but even if not I think it is safe
to say the company who deserves this title will not get it for setting video
time limits as a result of focus groups.

Disclosure: I founded my own video sharing website with the goal to address
the current problems with video sharing and discovery. I have done this by
making Google Earth the UI for discovery of video content.

~~~
mseebach
Just like I've never been on Instagram, I have no urge to join this site, but
your criticism is still misguided.

Placing a constraint on a creative endeavour is a old and time-tested way of
tickling creativity. Pre Twitter, people didn't think they could have any kind
of meaningful conversations without _at least_ a paragraph of prose. Sure,
it's a strained at time, but there's little denying that Twitter has taught a
lot of us a lot about getting to the point, quickly.

~~~
BHSPitMonkey
> Pre Twitter, people didn't think they could have any kind of meaningful
> conversations without at least a paragraph of prose.

People didn't text and IM before Twitter?

~~~
emillon
At least, they didn't do in public. IM is also a one-to-one conversation,
unlike Twitter.

------
danso
One suggestion: below the fold, show a list of the last 5 vines, just in case
I want to rewatch or bookmark them, because I envision myself just sitting
back and occasionally jumping to the keyboard/mouse when something really
interesting comes up and then disappears

~~~
jalada
Good idea, thanks!

~~~
gansai
seriously, i am loving this app

------
damncabbage
YouTube for the Attention-Deficit Generation?

I unfortunately find watching these jumpy snippets jarring. I can see the
appeal for getting tiny slices of someone's day, but I'm finding it hard to
enjoy it.

~~~
vubuntu
Thank god there is another sane person like me. I too find it difficult to
make sense or enjoy just 6 second snippets. Conveying a sweet short targeted
message for a specific someone with just a 6 second video itself is so hard,
let alone be able to generate a 6 second content that is of meaning/relevance
to a much broader audience. Just a novelty that will fade off. I cant see any
useful purpose for 6 second clips in a social wide audience context.

~~~
ampersandy
"Thank god there is another sane person like me." Check your ego, please.

"I cant see any useful purpose for 6 second clips in a social wide audience
context."

"I can't see any useful purpose for 140 character blurbs in a social wide
audience context."

~~~
vubuntu
Just because 140 char limit worked for a text media does not guarantee that
very short length works for every media. What next, 5 second podcasts? Or
should we call them 'shoutouts' rather??

Even with 140 char twitter, unless a very strong opinion by an important
person is being conveyed succinctly, most of the (useful) twits exist to give
a short opinion on a larger piece linked to by a shortened url. The rest are
your standard "I brushed my teeth, I just got of my car etc..." stuff that I
leave the usefulness of for YOU to judge.

~~~
ampersandy
My point is that your personal opinion, as highly as you might think of it, is
actually irrelevant in determining how successful a service will or will not
be. You can pander all you want about how Twitter is useless except as a link-
sharing service, but the reality of the situation is far different.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter_Revolution>

------
muratmutlu
Left this on my second monitor while I work, so mesmerising . I didn't think
Vine would be this interesting when I first heard about it.

Maybe they've found mobile videos sweet spot?

~~~
tlack
You think this would make for an interesting Roku channel?

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speik
This is beautiful. It fulfills the promise of worldwide webcams (being able to
easily peer into different parts of the world) with better quality, better
interface, and mobile.

I tend to get overly moony about things like this, but I think this is one of
the things that makes the Internet really great. It's a window to the world,
the world seen by people not sitting at their computers but walking, talking,
participating.

I really really like this, great job.

------
geori
This is going to blow up. Coolest thing I've seen in quite some time. I love
how there's no wait and it jumps from clip to clip.

------
tomasien
PG has talked about how "real real life" aka Justincam type things were coming
for TV. This is literally a video based channel that I'm going to come back to
and watch pretty consistently if it stays active and this interesting.

Vine is clearly a big idea and vinepeek is awesome.

------
waxjar
This is pretty awesome and I can't quite explain why. It seems to have a
similar quality to the things the people in /r/asmr like.

The only thing I miss is the ability to view more if I find something
interesting. Perhaps this restriction is exactly why its so effective, though.

~~~
mikegioia
This is far too loud and random to be similar to /r/asmr. Those videos need to
be > 5 minutes and much quieter.

~~~
waxjar
I meant they're similar in the way that it's able to captivate someone,
despite being not really exceptional. I should have worded that differently.

------
utopkara
Fantastic idea!

Broadcast TV distorts our model of the world by showing us only the extremes.
Vinepeek puts normality in its proper place.

------
huhtenberg
There appears to be no way to enable the Flash applet when viewing the site
with FlashBlock turned on. Is it under some sort of transparent overlay that
doesn't pass the right clicks to the applet container?

~~~
spindritf
Instead of using flashblock, turn Firefox's native click-to-play in
about:config by setting plugins.click_to_play to true.

EDIT: then you don't have to click the item. You can click the icon in the
address bar and enable flash for that site.

~~~
huhtenberg
Consider it a bug report. I can work around the problem by whitelisting the
site. And, btw, the built-in click-to-play blocker is really annoying.

------
andreipop
I find the "shift" from traditional "scripted" TV to more home made videos
vert interesting. I must say that the appeal escapes me.

I don't watch a lot of TV, but personally when I do I do it because it's a way
to either: 1\. escape 2\. become informed

I can't imagine turning this on while I have breakfast, or "for fun" on a bus
commute. I see the appeal in sharing snippets of my live in video format with
people that may care about the banal day-to-day things (I think this is why I
like Path so much - those closest to me may actually be interested in where I
went for lunch today), but I don't understand the "hours" of "brilliant
entertainment" that some people seem to get out of this.

I think many people watch TV because they need to unplug from their "normal"
existence. Or because they seek to see something interesting, funny, or learn
something new. I watch The Daily Show because it's funny, I watch BBC because
it informs me, I watch Bloomberg because I learn something new. I don't see
these need being replaced by vine.

Maybe I don't get it.

~~~
danso
I think maybe you just need to bring a different perspective/expectation to
it? I mean, I couldn't have imagined three years ago that I would choose to
spend time browsing 140-character missives...why do that when I can read blog
posts? And before that, why read blog posts when there are newspaper and
magazine articles (online and off)?

Maybe the medium, which is just a couple days old, has rough content now, but
its format and contraints will likely create a new field of creativity. I
personally don't like watching video streams because they're...boring. With
Vine, and vinepeek, the banality only last six seconds. And some people are
already mindful of the creative process they can apply (I saw a pretty cool
taxi cruising down Tokyo in the night, as interesting as any movie scene).

But frankly, I like the banality. Sure, I see banality through my own eyes
every day...but seeing "normal" as it exists for a Midwest mom getting ready
to go shopping, a 20-yr-old dude wrapping up a joint, a 50-year-old guy
watching Saturday morning cartoons....I dunno, this is just a few steps from
being a very cool (if pretentious) modern art presentation.

As a photographer, I'll admit, I've never understood the appeal of video
snippets (outside of those that show earthsattering news events, such as the
snippets from the Arab Spring) over what can be conveyed in a split-second,
defined image. But for the first time, I'm kind of seeing how much more
potential expressiveness there is in six seconds of "moving" pictures.

~~~
andreipop
Interesting.

I suppose if we look at it as a medium for art than it's different. I saw a
lot of what I described as utilitarian.

I use Twitter in the same way - it serves a purpose: I can connect with people
or groups I need to ask questions of. I can share interesting stories / ideas
that I find. I use it as a portal to those blog posts you mentioned, not as a
replacement for them.

Outside of the art angle, I don't see myself "tuning in" to thumb through
random 6 second videos. The Tokyo taxi scene isn't very interesting to me
outside of context within a larger story, EXCEPT as a piece of art I can
perhaps appreciate for 6 seconds and move on.

Like I said before, could be just me, I'm glad people are finding and enjoying
a creative outlet that clearly speaks to something they enjoy doing :)

------
ballard
If you're into new ways of watching the same minutia people post on facebook
and twitter: people feeding their babies and making breakfast. Sorry, but that
doesn't qualify as earth-shattering.

~~~
0x0
You must have hit a bad run, I was impressed of how few breakfast & baby clips
showed up!

------
radicaledward
This project has really shown me what Vine is all about! Good stuff!

A "pause" button would really improve this project. Not for the video but for
the transition between videos. A 5 Tweet buffer and a back button would be
even better. That way, if I see a Tweet that I want to look at more closely, I
can go back to it.

------
khet
Is it weird that I am fascinated by the fact that people are experiencing
completely different realities in different parts of the world while I am
experiencing mine?

~~~
waterlesscloud
I just keep being shocked by scenes of winter.

~~~
kordless
I'm going to guess you live in the Bay. I do.

------
eflowers
Having to constantly remind yourself that, more or less, "this is happening
right now" is a surreal experience. It feels like the cheesy curated montage
at the beginning of a smarmy independent film - but it's not. It's just
random, unfiltered views into things people are filming all over the world.

I had no idea how many of us could connect over our love of filming coffee
preparation, or cats, or traffic, or terrible attempts at stop motion. Hey
look another magic trick!

Seriously though. Fascinating and, for now, quite engaging. I vote against re-
wind or links to previous clips though. Keep it ephemeral and impermanent.
Like real life - a moment is here, then it is gone.

------
steveplace
Maybe a ranking mechanism? That way you can knock out a "bestof" section for
the day, week, month and so on.

Amazing idea.

~~~
brittohalloran
YES. I would love a weekly bestof

------
lucb1e
Why is this so addicting to watch? I just watched random videos for at least
20 minutes and I don't know why I like watching them. Most aren't special in
any way :S

------
thesorrow
Looks like youtube finally have something to worry about...

~~~
hnriot
That's an insane thing to say! Vine will be forgotten in 2 months.

~~~
waterlesscloud
Just like a 140 character messaging system, it has no future.

------
eurodance
So what is it? I don't understand what making vines or a scene are, and don't
want to download an app to find out.

------
waterlesscloud
First interesting thing I've seen in a while. It works.

Reminds me vaguely of the videos in William Gibson's Pattern Recognition.

~~~
codeulike
Yeah, watch this for a few minutes and you really get a sense of a planetful*
of people doing stuff

*=ok, the smartphone owning subset of the planet, but thats growing.

------
wavesounds
Can you add a thumbs up/down button? And show the thumbs up videos more then
the thumbs down? Some videos are really cool and deserve to be seen more,
while others are literally a video of someones feet. I think this is the
killer feature this app needs!

------
personlurking
I'm wondering if there will ever be a way to categorize it by country or
subject (/wtf, /aww). Also suppose some people will do vines stringed together
where they'll tell a story via several vines. Surely some art will come of
this.

------
wavesounds
Fans of this will probably also like the movie Life in a Day (full thing
available on youtube) <http://www.youtube.com/user/lifeinaday>

------
jwarren
Lovely. I installed Vine and created one (<http://vine.co/v/b5LHKjOEbX2>)
simply to see it on there. It didn't disappoint.

------
trhaynes
This is great.

Quick suggestions: Put the video completely above the fold. Load in the next
one (video and description) behind, then fade between them. The transition is
a little jerky right now.

------
rlu
Cool! I think you should include the title of this post ("watch the world in
real time") somewhere in the actual webpage. That's really what got me to
click.

------
10098
Watching these made me feel disgusting. Like I'm some creep going trough other
people's laundry. Closed the tab and still can't shake off this feeling.

------
digisth
If you think the sociology of today's "visual social media" is interesting
(whether or not you find it useful), I recommend watching "We Live In Public":

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Live_in_Public>
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498329/>

The art project it documents turned out to be quite prescient.

------
shawn-butler
Cool minimalism. I wouldn't advise dedicating any time other than as a hobby
on any twitter API though. I think we all should remember how Twitter treats
independent developers who get in the way of "their" revenue.

The grammarian in me would change the statement at the bottom to "vinepeek is
neither affiliated with nor endorsed by VineLabs, Inc"

------
looki
Just like watching TV, except you don't even have to press to see the next
channel. Also, no ads, no reruns. Great.

------
jpxxx
I completely adored this! Furthermore, I can't come up with any reason why the
Vine datatype won't be huge. It's Motion Tumblr... it's an alloy of video and
anigif... it's silent... it auto-loops... it's extraordinarily boredom
resistant.

~~~
nacs
Silent? Vine videos have audio unless I have misread your post.

~~~
jpxxx
They do, but in many playback contexts they're muted by default. I haven't
quite figured out the rules.

------
brador
A little help please! so I have a vine link, say
<http://vine.co/v/b53lmWrxtQr>.

How do I get the .mp4 link to the vine video itself? is there a vine api or do
I hard scrape?

~~~
citricsquid
<meta property="twitter:player:stream"
content="<https://vines.s3.amazonaws.com/>
videos/FED404A9-A4BE-4575-A73B-8542E146FA71-52962-0000207E5EF700D9_1.0.3.mp4?
versionId=E5rpcmqj9ySK91RTSGuF3rjYuSPBOgzG>

I think maybe the Twitter api (what vinepeek is using) may return it, because
it's part of a twitter card thing?

edit: no it doesn't, you'd need to scrape.

------
fascinated
If you want the timeline, just <https://api.vineapp.com/timelines/global> (you
must have an authenticated vine-session-id cookie, of course)

------
dimensionmedia
Generally speaking, how was this done? Backend scripting or javascript? Not
asking for code, but in plain-talk i would love duplicate the concept for a
conference site i'm building.

------
seferphier
pretty fun to watch. it takes a while to load the videos on my iphone even
though i had wifi connection. Lightt delivers a much smoother experience and
has a much more interesting interface since other videos load right away. The
sound and the video recording experience really separate Vine from Lightt.

I would recommend telling the user to enable sounds their phones to use Vine.
I keep my iPhone on vibration all the time, did not realize Vine videos had
sound to it until I saw this link.

------
bane
It reminds me of memories. Whenever I try and remember something from years
ago, it comes back in snippets like this.

Sarcastically, "from the makers of twitter, information free video!"

------
matt2000
I also didn't realize that vine was making real movies with sound, thought it
was just animated gifs then someone turned on a blender in a clip and I
freaked out, hah.

------
nuttendorfer
Clicking the link I thought it would be a website covered in video tiles
showing everything going on at once. That would be cool, maybe add a second
page for this?

------
tferris
Shouldn't it be possible to always preload the following video in order to
have seamless play of all videos? Now there's always a little gap.

------
harryf
Perhaps skip videos by users who just posted one? Saw "duplicates" a few times
where someone uploaded the same video more than once

------
jyothi
Supporting a retweet or reply would be fantastic. Gives some kind of virality
and sense of community for the vine yard :)

------
tferris
Vinepeek makes Vine just perfect. I see thousands of great shortmovies coming.

Vine is the first who does the 'Instagram for video' right.

------
loceng
Wow. I didn't think 6 seconds would really be long enough but this is
definitely forcing people to curate and be creative.

And cats.

~~~
0x0
Yeah, the format really works! I saw a few really well done stop-motion clips
just now, too!

------
brotchie
Wow, surreal. Vine = immediately broadcast 6 second .gifs?

My brain doesn't really want to accept that these snippets are live.

~~~
jalada
Someone might wait a while before submitting I guess. These are just picked up
as soon as they are shared on Twitter.

------
lukethomas
I downloaded Vine a few hours ago - it's addicting. My personal favorite is
viewing the #howto section.

------
tazzy531
Wow, this is incredibly addicting. I can sit here and watch this for hours.

------
jcomis
Great work. Honestly didn't think much of vine until viewing them this way.

------
CamperBob2
Transcode it out of Flash on the fly and you'll really have something!

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matt2000
Vine is great, and this is a really cool look into it. Mesmerizing.

------
fractalsea
Needs a loading image/animation between videos.

Pretty addictive though.

------
projecteternity
Try putting <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvGRi_7DCiA> on in the background
while you watch.

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jeffehobbs
Very cool! Nice use of the Twitter API for sure.

So many cats.

------
nbashaw
This should totally be named "Grapevine"

------
hnriot
It's good to see yet another outlet for cat videos. Just what the world needs.

------
gailees
this shit is wayyy too fucking cool....next snapchat!

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alperakgun
can't see any video, on firefox/linux - no flash.

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oliao
Let's take the level of nonsense on the internet to a new level!

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jpsierens
Any plans for an Android version?

------
sever
mesmerizing

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ahoyhere
Such fun to watch these lil videos go by. I love seeing people doing creative
stuff with it —- so many fun stop motion dealies, like this one:
<http://vine.co/v/b5lTOtK3ELU>

Before this, my basic reaction to vine was: "Oh great, another social
network." But… now I can see why it's exciting.

The potential here for the cross-section of tiny slices o' life reminds me of
the potential that amazed me about Twitter, which led to me designing
Twistori:

<http://twistori.com>

------
thoughtcriminal
You're on to something here. Leave it. I wouldn't even tweak it. Just let it
go and get the word out. I honestly believe this will be huge.

Man, I love this.

------
wildranter
The best answer to this is... Who cares anyway?

PS: In the end if this proves to be something user FB will buy it and then
we'll have a change in the user terms, and... You get e idea.

~~~
lucisferre
Interesting that there wasn't an actual question.

~~~
wildranter

      # Welcome to my mind.
    
      while (true) ...
          # :-P

