Flock is a new web browser that is creating a lot of buzz in the blogosphere. It is set to debut to the general public sometime in October according to the recent post on Flock's blog. Flock is built on the Mozilla Firefox framework but has added a number of new features that allow it to be somewhat interactive and offers social related items to take on the Web 2.0 mindset. It sounds like a souped up Firefox with a social twist but beta testers are saying it is more.
The two key features that Flock seems to have incorporated into the Firefox base browser are as follows:
- Social Bookmarking - very much like de.licio.us you are able to click a "+" sign within the browser to add a quick bookmark of a webpage or blog post.
- Blogging tools - integrates with blog platforms to allow users to post Flickr images to blogs, create new content, and even update content via the browser.
What does all this buzz about Flock really mean? In short it means this browser has lots of bells and whistles with it's main role no longer just navigating through the web. I was not fortunate enough to be in the beta group however my friend Michael Arrington over at TechCrunch was and has this to offer about the new integration of blogging software into the new Flock browser:
"...it rocks. Setup was very easy (I tested it with my personal blog). It has functionality for editing posts (even posts not created with Flock), quick toggle between preview and viewing the actual code, and, the best feature in my opinion, the ability to simply drag flickr photos directly into the post and manipulate them. They also allow quick and easy technorati tagging. Wow. I mean, really, wow. This stuff is not trivial to build. The ajax functionality is stunning."
I definitely will give this browser a test drive when it is released to the public. It sounds like I will find the blogging tools to be extremely helpful in streamlining the blogging process (i.e. adding tags, images, links).
Wired News recently published this article on Flock. Lee Odden has a good blog post on Flock here. TechCrunch has an update post on Flock here. Additionally, sign-up for Flock email updates on Flock's website here.
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The web site itself looks horrible. I think it was made for people that can't see very well. Things like that strike me odd, I am all about first impressions. Meaning if I am going to a site and it does not look good, to me it seems less reliable. The way I look at it is if you don't want to put the time into your site that represents you and your product, that doesn't say much for your product.
I hope the browser is killer. A little variety never hurt anyone. Please just make you fonts smaller.
I am not really big into the blog scene. I have a blog that I update pretty much randomly. I hope the browser is for more than just blog related type things. We will see.
Posted by: Jeff | Monday, September 19, 2005 at 07:43 PM