Ask HN: Please review our new service - Zukmo
14 comments
I spent a few minutes thinking about why I would want this service. It wasn't immediately clear to me what benefit it would provide over something like delicious or just standard bookmarking features in your browser -- then I got it... it indexes the page and lets me search for what I'm looking for later using the full content, rather than just the tags I assigned or information that can be found in the URL or page title. That's something you might want to make more obvious for users that only spend 30 sec on your landing page. Bring out the value proposition right away in simple language, rather than making them wonder what the difference is between filtering, crawling, indexing, recommending, etc.
Thanks, BTBurke. Good point. Indexing the entire content of the page so that you can search for anything within the page is a big part of what we do. However, there are several other things we do that we were trying to show on the landing page. For instance, we have an Easy Reader that shows only the essential content of the page without any ads, headers, menus, javascript etc.(similar to the Safari Reader/Instapaper Text View). The current version of the landing page is an attempt at bringing out all the stuff we do/plan to do.
You are right, though. We need to keep iterating on the messaging of the landing page until it is obvious to users within a few seconds of seeing the page.
You are right, though. We need to keep iterating on the messaging of the landing page until it is obvious to users within a few seconds of seeing the page.
There's something nicely alliterative about the key things that your service appears to help you do with interesting webpages:
Save, Sync, Search, Share, Simplify
Cool. You explained in five words, what we tried to do with a hundred :-)
So it's the same thing as historious, basically?
Zukmo and historious do let you search the entire content of the page.
However, unlike historious, Zukmo does a lot of additional stuff with the pages that you add to Zukmo. It automatically categorizes them. It also provides an uncluttered view (Easy Reader) similar to Safari Reader and Instapaper Text View. This will come in handy when you view it on mobile devices (we are currently working on apps for the iPhone, iPad and Android). With Zukmo, you can also share on Twitter, Facebook and via email right when you add the page to Zukmo.
Also, other than bookmarks, we will be adding the ability to add your Twitter and Facebook streams as well as RSS feeds into Zukmo.
However, unlike historious, Zukmo does a lot of additional stuff with the pages that you add to Zukmo. It automatically categorizes them. It also provides an uncluttered view (Easy Reader) similar to Safari Reader and Instapaper Text View. This will come in handy when you view it on mobile devices (we are currently working on apps for the iPhone, iPad and Android). With Zukmo, you can also share on Twitter, Facebook and via email right when you add the page to Zukmo.
Also, other than bookmarks, we will be adding the ability to add your Twitter and Facebook streams as well as RSS feeds into Zukmo.
I don't use stumbleupon, but first thing i thought when I saw your page is "wow thats a big stumble upon icon". And when i compared them, they are pretty similar, just rotated.
I agree that it's a little too similar, especially given that it's a related concept. I'd make tweaking the logo a high priority.
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How is this different from historious? I use historious and instapaper to save bookmarks and read later, and I am extremely happy with the service. I might jump in if your service provided features of both, ie: indexing my bookmarks and making it available on my kindle.
Also do you provide bookmarklets instead of the firefox plugin? It would be easier for those of us who use multiple machines and may not be able to install plugins on all.
I do like the idea of indexing content other than just webpages, like youtube videos, rss , twitter etc. Does your system handle Twitter and RSS updates also?
I will be back with more feedback after I start using the service.
Also do you provide bookmarklets instead of the firefox plugin? It would be easier for those of us who use multiple machines and may not be able to install plugins on all.
I do like the idea of indexing content other than just webpages, like youtube videos, rss , twitter etc. Does your system handle Twitter and RSS updates also?
I will be back with more feedback after I start using the service.
Thanks vkalladath for the feedback. We are indexing the entire content as well as have an Easy Reader that provides an uncluttered view of the page. Providing support for Kindle is a good idea. We are currently working on iPhone, iPad and Android apps. Will look into Kindle as well.
We do provide bookmarklets. Once you sign into the app, go to the "Account" tab and you will see "Bookmarklet" option.
We do plan on adding Facebook and Twitter streams as well as RSS feeds.
We do provide bookmarklets. Once you sign into the app, go to the "Account" tab and you will see "Bookmarklet" option.
We do plan on adding Facebook and Twitter streams as well as RSS feeds.
By the way, how is historious on the kindle? I just ordered one, so we might add a better interface for the kindle, so you can forgo instapaper altogether (there's "read later" functionality already, along with the custom bookmarklet here: http://historio.us/help/bookmarklets/).
What's not working on the kindle right now?
Thanks!
What's not working on the kindle right now?
Thanks!
Clickable link: http://www.zukmo.com
It looks promising. Some of my initial comments.
It imported the bookmarks from Firefox just fine. But the categorization of the bookmarks is, sorry to be critical, but buggy. Examples I can say are,
1) Techmeme, Engadget, Techcrunch etc. pages not in Sci/Tech. 2) Cricinfo, ESPN, ManUtd pages not in Sports. 3) A page on Microsoft and Cleartype was placed in Entertainment!! 4) MSBuild tutorial on Health!
and so on. You need to fix this real quick I believe. As it's one of your main selling point.
1) The Search lens image can be clickable. I atleast expected it to be.Only way is to press Enter key. 2) If the search result don't return any results, don't change the categories left panel from general to search specific.
Overall I like it and may use it.
Besides, are you associated with AdventNet/Zoho? Just wanted to check as you have put a footnote for Vembu Technologies. Are they both related even? I might be mistaken.
It imported the bookmarks from Firefox just fine. But the categorization of the bookmarks is, sorry to be critical, but buggy. Examples I can say are,
1) Techmeme, Engadget, Techcrunch etc. pages not in Sci/Tech. 2) Cricinfo, ESPN, ManUtd pages not in Sports. 3) A page on Microsoft and Cleartype was placed in Entertainment!! 4) MSBuild tutorial on Health!
and so on. You need to fix this real quick I believe. As it's one of your main selling point.
1) The Search lens image can be clickable. I atleast expected it to be.Only way is to press Enter key. 2) If the search result don't return any results, don't change the categories left panel from general to search specific.
Overall I like it and may use it.
Besides, are you associated with AdventNet/Zoho? Just wanted to check as you have put a footnote for Vembu Technologies. Are they both related even? I might be mistaken.
Thanks blntechie for your feedback.
The categorization of bookmarks was started with a set of seed urls. It will get better as more and more pages are categorized through it. We will continue to fine tune it.
Good points about the Search lens and about changing the left panel when there are no pages found for the search terms.
We are part of Vembu Technologies. Sekar Vembu, our CEO was one of the founders of Zoho. Vembu Technologies was founded in 2004.
The categorization of bookmarks was started with a set of seed urls. It will get better as more and more pages are categorized through it. We will continue to fine tune it.
Good points about the Search lens and about changing the left panel when there are no pages found for the search terms.
We are part of Vembu Technologies. Sekar Vembu, our CEO was one of the founders of Zoho. Vembu Technologies was founded in 2004.
Problems here on Ubuntu/Firefox. No problem with the account set-up. No problem with the Firefox plug-in install.
When I try to add this page, I get the "Adding this page..." but after a few seconds I get another window that has "Zukmo" at the top in large text, but the window is not large enough to contain further text. This latter window disappears after a second or less.
I think the window is asking me to log-in. But I am logged in to Zukmo.
One further thing. Forcing an icon into the status bar without the option to switch it off is a show-stopper for me. It's a decision that doesn't scale. If every plug-in did this, then the status bar would be a mess and its usefulness reduced.
When I try to add this page, I get the "Adding this page..." but after a few seconds I get another window that has "Zukmo" at the top in large text, but the window is not large enough to contain further text. This latter window disappears after a second or less.
I think the window is asking me to log-in. But I am logged in to Zukmo.
One further thing. Forcing an icon into the status bar without the option to switch it off is a show-stopper for me. It's a decision that doesn't scale. If every plug-in did this, then the status bar would be a mess and its usefulness reduced.
auxbuss, we haven't yet tested on Ubuntu. Will do that. Also, do you happen to have a script blocker on it, like no-script?
Option to switch off is a good idea. We will add it soon.
Option to switch off is a good idea. We will add it soon.
I consume more information offline than online .. I think.
Plan to make this a desktop utility as well, something that integrates with the desktop that allows you to right-click and "Zukmo" any given file. Even if you have to fake it by copying files to a temp directory and later sync them with your servers (why? better keep it private on users' machines.)
You will need integration with (MS|Open) Office sometime in the distant future.
Call Insync and see if you can integrate with their clients:
https://www.insynchq.com/
P.S. Nice clojure-like logo :-)
Plan to make this a desktop utility as well, something that integrates with the desktop that allows you to right-click and "Zukmo" any given file. Even if you have to fake it by copying files to a temp directory and later sync them with your servers (why? better keep it private on users' machines.)
You will need integration with (MS|Open) Office sometime in the distant future.
Call Insync and see if you can integrate with their clients:
https://www.insynchq.com/
P.S. Nice clojure-like logo :-)
This is totally off-topic, but how do they make the text on their webpage look so good? Is that a CSS thing?
If you're referring to the white shadow of the text, it is indeed css.
text-shadow: 1px 1px 0px white;Thank you for the tip. I've always wondered how to make the fonts look engraved on the page.
You can also specify more than 1 shadow. You can add a light shadow below, and a dark one above, to achieve an "embossed" effect:
text-shadow: -1px -1px 0px rgba(0,0,0,.4), 1px 1px 0px rgba(255,255,255,.4);mahmud, as of now, we are concentrating on the online part of it. Making a desktop utility would be a something we may look at sometime in the future.
When I tried to confirm my email, I get redirected to:
http://zukmo.com/register.html?err=rk_invalid
Also, If I try using the twitter button on that page to login, It throws the following error when it redirects to http://www.zukmo.com/twitter?oauth_token=_____________
"java.lang.NullPointerException"
Also, If I try using the twitter button on that page to login, It throws the following error when it redirects to http://www.zukmo.com/twitter?oauth_token=_____________
"java.lang.NullPointerException"
Did you click on the confirm email link twice? The first time you click it, the email is confirmed. The next time, we should show a message saying your email is already confirmed. But, we have a bug that doesn't show the message and redirects you to the register page.
We will recreate this issue and get it fixed ASAP. Do let us know if you are unable to login.
We will recreate this issue and get it fixed ASAP. Do let us know if you are unable to login.
thanks. seems to work now.
Any plans on using the structure of one's bookmark files to tag bookmarks being imported?
I've got a ton of folders categorized properly viz. A Scripting folder with sub folders like PHP / JavaScript / Python etc. Would love to see those translate out to tags ..
Any plans on using the structure of one's bookmark files to tag bookmarks being imported?
I've got a ton of folders categorized properly viz. A Scripting folder with sub folders like PHP / JavaScript / Python etc. Would love to see those translate out to tags ..
Search works well. Yes, the auto-categorization needs some tweaking, but I don't see that as the key benefit. Automatic indexing of destination content - that's what's really useful about Zukmo. The comment on highlighting this benefit is quite relevant in this context!
Thanks. We will rework the messaging on the landing page and other pages.
Looks interesting. I'll test it.
Just created an account. First comment :
Just created an account. First comment :
* it would be nice if the account creation page was SSL'ed.
* The Firefox extension is a nice touch. I'll tell you how it goes, too.Thanks wazoox. Do keep the feedback coming.
You're right. We should move the account creation page under SSL.
You're right. We should move the account creation page under SSL.
You asked for it ;) Sorry if I seem critical; it's intended to be constructive.
I imported my Firefox bookmarks. You've captured all the bookmarks themselves, but you seem to have discarded all other metadata, including (a) the hierarchical structure, and (b) tags and description. This is really unfortunate, particularly because your auto-categorization code seems to show a high degree of .... shall we say, creativity?
It looks like the only way to access this saved stuff is to actually visit your page. There's no way I can access it through the browser itself (as I can with bookmarks today). While you do have a FF extension, it doesn't seem to provide a means of accessing those bookmarks, only a way to add new ones. It may seem petty, but the need to open your web site to access a bookmark is enough extra rigmarole that I'm not going to bother.
As mentioned in another thread yesterday, I'm not going to log in using Facebook. It requires exposing my friends' identities, and I don't feel I have the right to make that choice for them.
For that matter, I'm never, ever, going to choose the option so that my new entries are posted into Facebook. Bookmarks (and other notetaking) is a tool, like turning a screwdriver. While I might post to a social site about the project I'm working on, I don't post about each screw I turn.
I imported my Firefox bookmarks. You've captured all the bookmarks themselves, but you seem to have discarded all other metadata, including (a) the hierarchical structure, and (b) tags and description. This is really unfortunate, particularly because your auto-categorization code seems to show a high degree of .... shall we say, creativity?
It looks like the only way to access this saved stuff is to actually visit your page. There's no way I can access it through the browser itself (as I can with bookmarks today). While you do have a FF extension, it doesn't seem to provide a means of accessing those bookmarks, only a way to add new ones. It may seem petty, but the need to open your web site to access a bookmark is enough extra rigmarole that I'm not going to bother.
As mentioned in another thread yesterday, I'm not going to log in using Facebook. It requires exposing my friends' identities, and I don't feel I have the right to make that choice for them.
For that matter, I'm never, ever, going to choose the option so that my new entries are posted into Facebook. Bookmarks (and other notetaking) is a tool, like turning a screwdriver. While I might post to a social site about the project I'm working on, I don't post about each screw I turn.
Thanks CWuestefeld. Yes, we did ask for it :-) That is why we love HN and the constructive discussions here.
You raise a very important point. We did discard all the heirarchical structure and the tags. Our initial thought was that tags and folders are not needed as we can search for a bookmark based on terms we remember from the content of the page. However, the fact is that there maybe additional data in the tags and folders and descriptions that may get ignored. We are looking at way to add this data into our index so that it isn't lost.
We are planning on adding the search within the browser extensions. That would make it easy for you to search your Zukmo account without visiting the site.
About signing in through Facebook, it is just an option some users may find useful. They don't have to remember another password. Personally, I find the Twitter sign in option as I don't mind giving out my Twitter credentials. So, we decided to provide all three options: Your own email id/password, Twitter or Facebook.
You raise a very important point. We did discard all the heirarchical structure and the tags. Our initial thought was that tags and folders are not needed as we can search for a bookmark based on terms we remember from the content of the page. However, the fact is that there maybe additional data in the tags and folders and descriptions that may get ignored. We are looking at way to add this data into our index so that it isn't lost.
We are planning on adding the search within the browser extensions. That would make it easy for you to search your Zukmo account without visiting the site.
About signing in through Facebook, it is just an option some users may find useful. They don't have to remember another password. Personally, I find the Twitter sign in option as I don't mind giving out my Twitter credentials. So, we decided to provide all three options: Your own email id/password, Twitter or Facebook.
Also .. The chrome extension's text overflows and could be confusing. You might want to look at that.
http://cl.ly/c3f4661fe6f0ff3f3857
http://cl.ly/c3f4661fe6f0ff3f3857
Thanks desigooner. We will be fixing it in the next build.
Do the bookmarks become public for others to read? I don't like letting everyone know what I read, for reasons of competitive advantage.
No. All the pages added to Zukmo are private to you. Unless you take some action to share them, they remain private to you.
If you want to share them, you can explicitly share them via Zukmo. We also provide options to share the bookmarks on Facebook and Twitter.
If you want to share them, you can explicitly share them via Zukmo. We also provide options to share the bookmarks on Facebook and Twitter.
Does it do PDF? PPT, DOC?
YES. We index most of the common document types. The list includes:
Text (.txt)
HTML (.html, .htm)
XML (.xml)
PDF (.pdf)
Word (.doc)
Excel (.xls)
PowerPoint (.ppt)
Visio (.vso)
Outlook
Archive Files (.zip, .tar)
OpenDocument (.odf)
Java (.java)
Rich Text Format (RTF)
More info at http://www.zukmo.com/faq.html
More info at http://www.zukmo.com/faq.html
Nice. The thought of ".java" being a common document type made me smile. Guess we know what it's written in ;)
If you come across any interesting content, you can add it to Zukmo with a single click using the browser button. It could be a bookmark, it could be an interesting person you see on Twitter, it could be an RSS feed or it could be your notes or to do list. We will process the content that gets added to Zukmo and make it easy for you to consume it on most devices.
The alpha release has the bookmarking component complete. Once a bookmark is added, you can search for it by using any term from within the content of the page.
Is this a service you that solves a problem for you? Any suggestions on features that will make the service more usable/attractive?
HN is pretty much our launch pad. We haven't publicised it much until now. Any feedback you could give is greatly appreciated.