Have they heard of Google Alert?

TechCrunch should focus its efforts on companies with new and innovative/cool ideas. Ya know, like the good ol’ days!

I don’t come to TC to read about companies with crappy products that are boring and “5 years too late”. There are a billion other companies that would kill to be featured on your front page, so it annoys me to see you give free press to services like this that no one cares about, yourself included.

Sean’s right, we all know how many companies want to be on TechCrunch so why feature one that you think sucks?

Yup. Coming soon to a techcrunch deadpool near you.

READ IT. Dumbasses. It says here

calling itself a news service “for the extremely busy.” It is a customizable news summary delivered to your email with headlines and summary blurbs only

The Authors Retort IS

Why do we need this? Do people have a hard time finding their news online? I think this is pretty backwards thinking in this day and age for many, many reasons.

Jesus Christ

Garbage…..a waste of bandwidth

Ouch.

It’s sounds like The Week but you get to customize it more. Personally I’d rather just get The Week and not have to spend time setting something up.

I’ve found techcrunch’s ability to apply reasoned, nuanced criticism to web 2.0 is inversely proportional to the total number of writers on the TC staff.

hey elitists,

admittedly, i would probably not give this site much of a chance myself and it should not have been featured on techcrunch, but come on. get out of your bubble and read some stats. how many rss readers are out there vs. people with email. how many people still read a newspaper, even online, vs. going to digg/reddit? there are tens of millions of people who if you said to them the names digg, spokeo, or any other company name missing a vowel they would have no clue what the hell you are talking about. there is a certain demographic who will probably appreciate a service like this and just because they are likely outside silicon valley doesn’t mean it’s shit.

doesn’t matter. natali is hot. she can write and post whatever fills her fancy.

Sounds like TC needs a sister blog dedicated to covering deadpool companies/betas. Maybe call it CrapCrunch!

natali….

amazing… like any other generation. if the biz doesn’t have the hip/current terms/jargon.. it’s not releavant…

yeah.. ok.. whatever.

personally, i prefer to get my ‘news’/facts from someone that has a bit of credibility, not from some ‘digged’ item, that may or may not be of substance.

slashdot, yeah, it works, but the targeted audience was/is rather technical, and can quickly determine if somethings bogus, and to promote what’s reasonable. also if i recall, slashdot has a bit of editorial flavor…

your being in love with the latest/greatest is a function of where we are. which i think is rather interesting as someone recently stated that the avg blog has a readership of one!!!

remember, just because something’s newer, doesn’t mean better..

peace out…

later

this is not a “company”. it’s a hobby project. I’ll give ‘em a couple of points for trying to hype up a mostly empty concept though.

Why are you writing about this joke of a site? Is this a viral experiment?

seems like the portal approach is generally being questioned - http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog.....&p=717 - as per my comments in link regarding the excellent article by ‘a vc in nyc’ regards yahoo’s ills.

is it the approach/execution or rather the terminology that now seems passe?

content is all and personally i use my yahoo as my day to day portal - it suits my needs, is customisable and complements my other widgets being fed more specialised rss feeds, etc. a survey of many friends/associates/family for my recent business plan also shows a preference to a portal UI - for now - not everyone out there is a rss bunny or a pseudo day-trader.

but, i have to agree that this particular service seems something of a non-event.

If it is a viral experiment then I think we can all agree that it is a sucess based on the number of comments. I wonder how many people who have commented have visited the site? just to take a quick peek…

Wow.

Got to join the bandwagon here, Michael - how about a little less shoot-from-the-hip from your people and a little more thought about the business.

Yes - most of your readers won’t like it or care. But SimplyHeadlines won’t care that you say that either. As a previous commenter pointed out - this is a convenience for people who don’t have time to learn about RSS and set up a reader.

And, in fact, I don’t see any evidence that RSS is taking off at ALL as an end user technology - sure it’s great for passing headlines around from site to site to site to site (and really great for spam blogs that don’t want to CREATE any content) - but ordinary people with real business to conduct? Here’s a real newsflash - they do NOT use RSS - but they do use email.

The real reason Simply Headlines will fail is far more subtle - and it is the SAME reason that people in the large aren’t taking up RSS - automatic syndication is a pile of crap.

People go to the their local major paper, NYT, Yahoo and MSN - even AOL - for news. NOT Google news, not RSS - and they do that because real people sift the news for them - every day or every hour - intelligently.

Simply Headlines is just piling the headlines from too many sources up in one place. If you care about news at all you already have your one, two or three main daily quickies set. Simply headlines just adds more noise to the signal. If you don’t care about news you won’t read it often anyway.

But to say that it is old school because of the way they do it is just wrong. In fact SimplyHeadlines is better than all the other aggregation methods because it is easy and straightforward - the only thing worng with it is the aggregation.

Back to my first point - the analysis and the ’speed of coverage’ we are seeing here is a far cry from what it was six months ago. For example Simply Headlines has been around for months - I forget how long ago it was that I tried it out but it was at about 3 months.

Finding “relevant” news this day and time is a bitch, IMO. Frankly, you have to wade through a bunch of crap - even on digg. And yes, just because digg exists and gets pretty good eyeballs, does not mean it is the end-all for news. Getting news and getting relevant news are two different things, IMO.

SimplyHeadlines is far from being 5 years too late.

In big cities such as NY, Paris, London, etc. tons of free, ad-sponsored newspapers are being distributed on the streets every day.

Busy, trendy people with real lifes are getting addicted to be able to pick up these free zines and even adopt them over mainstream press; they’re a quick read and contains all you need to know in a single, easy format.

Now, if SH has a way to let the user easily define what kind of info he precisely wants in his daily remedy, and 2° spits out a suitable format to let him print that out, email or PDF or whatever..

It’s all in the content and user experience, not in RSS or web2.0 compliancy. Make no mistake..

The biz model is there, now let’s see the execution. I’ll keep an eye on them.

Dude(tte), this is about the lamest post I’ve ever seen on TechCrunch! A product that looks bad, sounds worse and is out of date. Sorry for repeating Sean and J.D.A’s comments, but come on - TC is suposed to be at the steaming edge of fresh web2.0 bull - not chewing yesterdays cud.

I feel that this has a future. But, will have to be marketed very differently. Their focus shouldn’t be the markets in US and Europe but in developing countries where the access is still predominantly thru’ dialup and checking and downloading emails is one of the most important activities. For these people a service like this can work.
This is similar to what RSS feedreaders (desktop based) do. You download feeds and here you get the headlines from news sites on mail. I don’t see a big difference between these two applications. But, if you have broadband access, then this becomes redundant. You can get alerts and also feeds on a more regular basis.
And these guys are providing services for the mobile also. This might prove to be useful. This service might be late, but it can still work with some innovative marketing and targeting.

Why does this deserve time on TC? I’m all in favor of TC bashing a site if its going a lot of hype elsewhere and thus is newsworthy (like PPP), but both this site and this post are a waste of time. No point in TC picking on an obscure RSS mashup that no one has heard of.

Just to be clear, my first comment (#2) wasn’t saying that I myself think this is a crappy product, but rather questioning why TC would make a post about it if they think it’s crappy and 5 years too late. Focus on what you think is COOL, not what you think SUCKS!

Wow. If you guys actually signed up and checked it out you would find out that there’s a social networking aspect to the site. It lets you share the headlines that you chose. And you can get blog content but there’s only 4 to chose from. I think that with a bit of feedback this could be an interesting product. I won’t take much to add sponsor ads into the emails that people ready everyday. There are a lot of newsletters on the net to sign up for, this one is just more customizable. Good luck to them.

to post#20 - Free sheet papers are only consumed in metropolitan areas because they are a) free - as you identified and b) can be read on the underground, bus etc. they also have huge distribution arms - i.e loads of guys forcing you to take a copy at every station and intersection.

Wow. You guys are just jealous that they didn’t write about YOUR crappy project. Haha. It’s great to discuss bad examples to see what not to do. I bet there’s at least 10 people that canceled their business plan after reading this post.

I am an angry piece of shit. Sorry, I will no longer post on TC.

Thanks for making this so damn easy!
Mark - 72 year-old cyberpunk

5 years ago, I and some friends used to talk about this kind of service especially for doctors, and deliver it to their palm or handheld device, but it seems doesn’t work.

Now, we got blackberry, and all kinds of handy terminal, but they send it only via email? unbelievable!!! But maybe helpful to Mark, some 70 years old grandpa or grandma, who only knows how to read the email. As matter as fact, my mom even chat with me via msn…. I still remember a month before, I old man dead, his wife posted an video online…..also a grandma…

http://www.ezecho.com

Unbelievable. Guys grow up.

This site has a Social Networking side.

Mike has always posted things he thought are going to flop. Stop ranting here. jesus

Its always the same ppl too. Its getting kinda of annoying. Go to work instead of wasting your employers money.

Long time listener… first time caller…

I am constantly amazed by the enthusiastic criticism by the navel-gazers on this blog. SH looks like a lovely service for someone who’d like their news highlights delivered to their inbox for a quick scan and/or printing. Full Stop. I don’t care for it personally, but my Dad? He uses and loves it. And maybe it’ll be handy for a quick glance at the news on my Crackberry. Dunno yet.

As for the editorial mission and quality of TechCrunch? C’mon people. You get what you pay for. GigaOm and 50 other wannabe sites are what… 10 keystrokes away?

To post#26 - Yep, you’re spot on..

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to read a free sheet paper with only articles on topics you’re interested in? On the underground, on the bus, in a plane etc, without having to fire up a pc or burn your eyes away on a pda ?

If these guys can bring in my favorite feeds in a nice to read single page, with content and images, then I’m in. But in the meantime I agree that they should market their solution somewhat differently.

mmH
techcrap…..may be to those who suggest it,.
old tec..is hi gear this sides.

–
TC

This has to be the best negative press I’ve seen or heard so far… and the replies confirm it.

Entertaining Article!

I’ve tried it and it rocks. I even got a new friend, Josh (the creator of SimplyHealines). I like receiving an email once a day at the time of my choosing. And I loved their special feature “keyword” that allows you to get news talking about specific things, even coming from blogs. Simple, great, useful.

“Users want to interact with their news, decide for themselves what is important, and let their opinions about the news be heard.”

Really? That’s what people want to do? Interact with their news?

Please tell me that you hate my site too so more people will visit it!

I apologize again. I said I wouldn’t post another comment. Jesus! I’m just going to do us all a favor and shut up.

“Users want to interact with their news, decide for themselves what is important, and let their opinions about the news be heard.”

#36: no, that’s what “web 2.0 entrepreneurs” think people want to do. as long as they can tag and share and socially network, they will flock to it, because most people with disposable income have nothing better to do.

as for me, I like news being spoon-fed to me. except reading the news is so trivially simple that I have no use for something like SH, and if I did, I wouldn’t pay a cent for it, because programming a clone would take any decent web developer a weekend. once again, hobby project, not a business.

Funny whoever did that @38 =P

Mike, do you need more writers?

I write a crappy blog here:

http://blog.franc-design.com/

I want to work with Natali cause she’s smokin’ hot!

We can drink our morning coffee together.

SimplyHeadlines.com (for those close to the Domaining world) rings through: For one, Headlines.com would have been prime because of the type-in factor but that must have been taken and would warrant significant bucks to wrestle away.

On the other hand…SimplyHeadlines.com follows the existing trend of using longer keyword type domains.

Either good idea for those on the go.

http://www.revafinancial.squarespace.com

Hi. My name is Bill Strong and I am one of the THREE employees at SimplyHeadlines. I appreciate the commentary on TechCrunch regarding our service. Just to be very clear with everyone, this is not a product for the tech enlightened. SimplyHeadlines was created to provide business professionals, non-technology minded folks, and people on-the-go with a customizable newspaper delivered to their email inbox or mobile device on a daily basis.

We built SimplyHeadlines to address a perceived need for those who don’t have time to or don’t care to understand what an RSS feed is, what an RSS feed does, and/or how an RSS feed works - that’s exactly why there is little mention of RSS on our site. This need has actually been proven to us over the last year and a half as we have steadily built an active subscriber base with high open rates, low unsubscribe rates, and high join rates - all metrics that encourage us that our product is being perceived well by our target market.

We encourage you to give the product a try since you can unsubscribe at any time. Please email me directly at bill@simplyheadlines.com with any product comments you may have or continue to post on TechCrunch. Most of our product enhancements such as keyword news clipping, stock quotes, weather, gmail email notification, etc. are the result of comments directly from our current subscribers or the from the technology community in general.

Bill Strong
SimplyHeadlines

Bill,

Your product is good but as previous comments, why choose your product over Live.com, or Google Desktop. Any of these products can replicate multiple feeds coming to you directly.

Whats unique about Simply Headlines? What new spin do you have?

My point about nuanced criticism wasn’t, itself, nuanced. The issue isn’t that Natali shouldn’t have written about the site, but that she should spend less time worrying about jargon/rss/etc and more time thinking and blogging about the number of sites on the web that have horrible UI and a 5-year-old concept and yet are raking it in.

He just mentioned why people would choose his product over Live.com, Google Desktop, et al: it’s for people who don’t give a damn what RSS is. Personally, I love RSS and would not use this service, but most people I know have never heard of RSS, feeds, REST, etc. It won’t always be that way, but these guys saw a demand and are trying to capitalize - sounds good to me.

I don’t know…I gave it a whirl. I’ll see what’s produced. One thing for the tech crowd would be if you work for an employer that strictly limits net access. However, for those individuals, more than one email per day would be beneficial.

I’ve been using the SimplyHeadlines as beta for several months. My initial thought upon signing up for it was, “Eh, this is e-mail news, I won’t use it.” But that’s not been the case. I’ve really enjoyed it, using it as an index page for further exploration in my RSS feeds.

I’ve got it set to come in about 6a CST, which is when I start the surfing process for my blog. I go through its summaries, then use that focus on more indepth discovery in my feeds. I’d say it cuts down my poking/prodding by at least 15 minutes.

My wife, who is very much a non-techie, also subscribed just for straight news, and she has become hooked on it. There are little things about it that make it appealing, from its quirky “Fact of the day” (they’re hilarious, and I think I saw Letterman steal one from it the other night), to its simple layout and easy customizability.

Also, Natali writes: “Also, there is no RSS feeder for your preferred news, and, as far as I can tell, there are no blogs serving up news to SimplyHeadlines”…. Actually, the whole THING is an RSS reader. You can indeed enter and RSS feed or an OPML file into it — so any blog or news source can contribute to SimplyHeadlines.

A suggestion for Natali: Subscribe to SimplyHeadlines and give it a try for a month. I bet you end up using it in ways you didn’t think you would. I know it surprised me. I started out dismissing it, and now I’m a fan.

#44…read here how they are different - http://www.simplyheadlines.com/different.aspx

1) I’m not thrilled that TechCrunch is reporting on a topic that they consider to be years behind today’s industry. Maybe I’ll start buying a Washington Post for my news on technology.

2) Even though the web site featured in this post is behind in the technology “fancy” aspect [ajax, etc.], it very well may be successful. I commend the programmer(s) and developers of the site to endeavor into the world of web site business. Especially since it’s a news related site….very hard market to get into and stay alive. Maybe they’ll make it, maybe they won’t….I look forward to seeing how to turns out.

Just for the sake of trying the new site, I’m bookmarking the new site and will try it for a few weeks to see how it is. (note: I am NOT related nor involved with the site mentioned above. I simply like encouraging Internet endeavors, and wish to show my support to anyone that tries to make a dream happen.)

-J