hybrowse.com
What have you been up to, Jake?
…
I build a generalized platform for these buttons and called it Kwisi, short for “Know When I See It”, and started testing on some friends’ sites (like the Photojojo Store). The name referred to the idea that sometimes you don’t know exactly what you want — you just have to look around and see what catches your eye. When you do a Google Search, for example, you have some word in mind, and you’re attempting to go directly to it. But what if you’re just in the mood to shop? What if you want to see something new, something innovative, or strange, or obscure, or foreign? Traditional web search isn’t that helpful. So I thought I would install this platform on other sites, who would change their whole webstore around to accommodate me.
…
My philosophy here is that search engines are 20-year-old technology and we need new ways of navigating the endless data that is piling up every day. To that end, I have committed to Hybrowse as a four-month project. I will continue working full-time on it until May 1st (at the very least). This is not a startup company, it is my attempt to make life more manageable for anyone who feels overwhelmed with data. If you feel that is a noble goal then please play with the site and let me know how I can improve it. Very few things are “locked in” and it’s very easy to make changes, so if you have any opinions, please send them to me at jake@hybrowse.com. I want to know your thoughts; it’s hard for me to see the site very clearly anymore, by myself.
But before I go, I will make this more interesting and supply some new ammunition for anyone who thinks I am crazy. The crazy thing is this. By May 1st I will have 1,000 services on Hybrowse. Yes, that’s 998 more than I have right now (Netflix and Etsy). I consider this goal “impossible” and will, by any rational calculation, fail hilariously, but I don’t care — I need an audacious goal that gets my adrenaline pumping, and 100 doesn’t do it. 1000 sites. I’m like a local car salesman on tv. “THESE GOALS ARE INSANE!!!”
I genuinely think the site would be profoundly useful if it had 1,000 services. Picture it. You land on the home page and use the same “overlapping tags” mechanism to discover, say, Swedish housewares stores, then pick one, then browse their overpriced euroshit. Or you sort through Match.com profiles and try to find ones that don’t look like monsters. I don’t know how it will work. But I’m going to do it and I want your suggestions … and this is going to be a very busy couple months and I have to go now, because I suddenly realized I have a lot of effing work to do.
jake@hybrowse.com
(ps: Peter Vidani did the site’s visual design)
this is great, jake. i really hope you reach your goal b/c the approach is absolutely necessary. 1,000 is a smart number too.
bonusbetting liked this
weatherama liked this
wbsloan liked this
marc liked this
andreaallen liked this
evan liked this
ceze liked this
petervidani liked this
jstn liked this
hydeordie liked this
symposed liked this
superamit liked this
love-isthedream reblogged this from strle and added:
hughbot liked this
jasonsmithtx liked this
kenluong liked this
strle reblogged this from bustr and added:
kec liked this
jonathanmarcus liked this
paulrankin liked this
jeeves liked this
astridita liked this
todayi reblogged this from jakelodwick
timtom liked this
mumblelard liked this
bundlehq reblogged this from jakelodwick and added:
dalasverdugo liked this
kanalin liked this
livinglifefaster reblogged this from meaghano
iamcarbon liked this
iamboz reblogged this from brocatus
defrock reblogged this from petervidani
jonheslop liked this
palonka liked this
willw liked this
raychill0ve liked this
murmurandshout liked this
subbnoise liked this
deeeeeeeelicious liked this
hm0ng reblogged this from jakelodwick and added:
justine liked this
davegreer liked this
throwing-myself-into-the-world liked this
hannes liked this
seanhasablog liked this
palmeida liked this
youreastalker liked this
priestiality liked this
realitydistortion liked this
