| Flock 0.7 browser beta flies forth |
Jun. 30, 2006
Flock, which introduced a new open-source web browser based on Mozilla Firefox last fall, released a new, improved beta version June 30 for free download. In addition to normal browser features Flock 0.7 integrates photo uploading, discovery, sharing, and notification, along with RSS feed previewing capabilities, among other unique features, according to the company.
Flock, the company, describes Flock, the browser, as a freely downloadable, Mozilla Firefox-based, open-source browser that not only gets users around the web quickly and efficiently, but integrates a number of useful web services. Users can post blog entries, build and share photo collections, and share favorite websites with friends -- all in one window, Flock says. In short, Flock aggregates a number of services usually delivered through a variety of separate websites, and presents them in intuitive ways for users, the company adds.
Flock, distributed under the Mozilla and GNU public licenses, is aimed mostly at bloggers. Analysts estimate that there are 10 to 15 million sophisticated Internet users writing Internet journals -- the number is growing daily -- and Flock thinks this is a prime target market.
The new beta version, according to Flock, includes these new features:- Photos:
- Uploading -- In Flock beta 1, users can simply drag pictures onto the Photo icon to upload them, batch upload with our photo uploader, or even drag and drop pictures onto any form field on the web (we'll store the picture on your Flickr or Photobucket account, then insert the appropriate HTML snippet into the form).
- Discovery -- On any web page (such as a Typepad blog, a MySpace page ...), mouse over any public picture that's hosted on Flickr or Photobucket and we'll offer to show you the entire photostream in our photo topbar. And once you're there, you can scroll through thumbnails (including nice big ones) faster then ever before.
- Sharing -- Right click any picture to blog it. Or drag a photo thumbnail into any comment field on the web. Or drag a picture from your desktop into a comment field. Then talk about it.
- Notification -- Keep a list of your photo buddies and Flock will tell you when your friends have new pictures. Flock will import your Flickr friends list and let you add anyone on Flickr or Photobucket.
- News:
- RSS made easy -- With Flock you can preview any RSS feed, then easily add it to your RSS aggregator (we call it My News). You can then view new stories by feed, by category, or aggregated across all categories (our front page shows you today's headlines). Flock also will tell you when you have new stories -- keeping you up to date at all times.
"Flock, the company, launched to a lot of press coverage (some might even say hype) last October, at a time when our product was in developer preview and not quite ready for everyday use," said co-founder Bart Decrem in his blog. "Since then, we have spent a lot of time listening to people and figuring out how to make a better browser.
"For this release, and for at least the next year or so, we are primarily focused on supporting the social dimension of the web, and on bringing information closer to the user. Right now this includes a heavy emphasis on photos (from upload through discovery to notification), RSS support, dramatic improvements to the search box (including a new take on favorites), and blogging."
For example, when a user discovers a web site about which they want to post a comment in a blog, they just right-click on the mouse, which then brings up the Flock blogging wizard (Blog Manager). The browser software then automatically opens a blank blog entry and adds citations and links for the site that originally caught the user's attention.
Through a partnership with Vancouver, B.C.-based Flickr, Flock offers the Flickr Topbar, which allows users to drag and drop pictures into a blog post.
Flock also includes a sort of scrapbook for interesting web content called The Shelf. Users can drag interesting URLs, pictures or text snippets from any web page onto it. From there, these items can be inserted into a blogpost.
Flock automatically indexes every website a user visits for easy rediscovery, and for easy sharing of favorites with friends. (It uses the open source Gecko search engine, which Firefox also uses, to do this, according to the project.)
Flock is still working on its business model, but is concentrating on getting people to use the browser first, Decrem says.
You can download your own copy of the 9.3 MB gzipped install file for Linux here.
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