Spool is joining Facebook

http://blog.getspool.com/2012/07/14/spool-is-joining-facebook/

by antr • 14 years ago

47 26 14 years ago

blog.getspool.com

achompas2• 14 years ago

Build and Analyze -- the 5by5 Network podcast with Marco Arment and Dan Benjamin -- had an excellent discussion this week[0] on whether larger companies like Twitter and Facebook would acquire any of the popular "read later" services.

Paraphrasing, but Marco said that Pocket would "be acquired within a couple of years." Today's Spool acquisition, however, removes one potential buyer from the running. I imagine these VC-backed "read later" services might be slightly concerned today.

[0] http://5by5.tv/buildanalyze/85

gojomo• 14 years ago

…removes one potential buyer…

Facebook is not limited to one buy per category, if the users/talent/tech is otherwise attractive.

ankur-singh• 14 years ago

They are closing down their services so this is a talent acquisition. http://blog.getspool.com/instructions/

sbisker• 14 years ago

Could be a tech acquisition in addition to a talent acquisition - entire possibly that the services will magically reappear on Facebook someday. (Yes, Facebook could easily build this, but sometimes it's cheaper to buy.)

dave1619• 14 years ago

Spool's killer function for me was the recording of flash video into mp4 so I can watch on my iPhone and airplay to my TV.

Too bad they're going away. Thanks for while it lasted.

achompas2• 14 years ago

Agreed. I was a big Spool fan (used their iOS app a lot) so I'm sad to see them go. Watched tons of tech presentations on my iPhone during long flights.

hesselink• 14 years ago

This was what I loved about them too. Does anyone know of any alternatives?

mandeepj2• 14 years ago

There are ton....ton....ton. This market is over crowded and they are so poor in seo. Yesterday I was trying to find an app to view youtube offline and nothing came in google search. I know iSwift from the days when I was searching for job. Here is the link http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iswifter-flash-web-browser/id...

ricardobeat3• 14 years ago

Business as usual.

    In the mold of great businesses we admire, our goal is 
    to efficiently use our outside investment to improve the 
    lives of millions of users
    (6 months ago)

billclerico• 14 years ago

i would argue that by joining facebook, they are maximizing the chances of improving the lives of millions of users

tptacek2• 14 years ago

What, you mean they set an extremely ambitious goal and failed to achieve it completely? THOSE BASTARDS.

ricardobeat3• 14 years ago

All things point to the app being a hit, users loved it. Nothing suggests a failure, in fact they say that in spite of the good feedback "we’ve decided to pursue our vision in a new way".

I posted this knowing that it looks snarky, but it is business as usual. I just can't help feeling annoyed every time a great service shuts down for no apparent reason, and guess this sentiment is very common. I'm relieved it's not one I trusted with any important data or depended upon.

scottmagdalein• 14 years ago

Makes me think of... http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...

mycodebreaks2• 14 years ago

I loved Spool. Why didn't Facebook decide to integrate and continue to offer Spool to users?

tubbo• 14 years ago

We don't know that they didn't...

guynamedloren• 14 years ago

Not that it really matters for Spool, but a request to everyone that has a product or company blog: please make it easy for me to get to your main site. A simple link would work.

Edit: woops, looks like spool's primary domain redirects to the blog anyway. Perhaps the lack of a link is intentional.

cvursache• 14 years ago

really loved spool, sad to see something that nice vanish :(

rsiqueira3• 14 years ago

Can anyone please post the source of Getspool bookmarklet code somewhere (e.g. pastebin) ? I was not able to find it anywhere.

mandeepj2• 14 years ago

find the alternates under the comments at http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/12/spool-is-instapaper-on-ster...

rsiqueira3• 14 years ago

What are other free alternatives to Getspool? I'm trying now getpocket.com

rsiqueira3• 14 years ago

I found one more alternative: readability.com

mycodebreaks2• 14 years ago

readability.com is also good. I use it when I want to send some story on my Kindle e-reader.

draftable• 14 years ago

Shame. Waste of a good logo.

ams6110• 14 years ago

Am I the only one who for most of these "X joining/acquired by [Facebook|Google]" announcements, has never heard of X?

Spool is joining Facebook

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