Vysr, which makes a toolbar plug-in for Firefox and Internet Explorer that allows quick access to various app widgets, is set to launch on Monday the capability for said toolbar platform to access Open Social apps independently of the social networks or sites where they may be installed.
Apparently, users will be able to invoke Open Social apps even when they are not on a social-network page, and most importantly, will be able to run those widget-like apps against whatever social networks they belong to, including Facebook, which does not itself support Open Social.
I'm a fan of social apps that enable people to combine their social networks however they want, which is what it sounds like Vysr is doing. However, the smartest social-networking companies are already using Open Social as simply a front-end platform, and are linking their users together across networks. Furthermore, requiring people to run a plug-in so they can access features that developers have to build special versions of their apps for is a doubly difficult proposition.
A beta of this new product was not made available to me after I talked with Guda Venkatesh, CEO of Vysr, so I will reserve final judgment on its utility. I have found Vysr's current RoamAbout extension, which we've covered previously, somewhat useful, but I have serious doubts that it is useful enough to reach a critical mass of adopters. I also don't see a business model in it.
See also: Vysr launches developer platform
Vysr RoamAbout, a browser add-on for contextual search that launched earlier this year at the Web 2.0 Expo, is opening up its service for developers Monday morning.
Vysr founder and CEO Guda Venkatesh says he wants the platform to be a veritable (and ultimately profitable) sandbox for developers.
The add-on tucks a small sidebar in the corner of your browser, letting you highlight text and quickly search various Web services to find out more--all without leaving the page.
Lately, I've seen a few publishing services that let content creators do this (see Apture and Zemanta) , but Vysr's solution is more voluntary, and it is aimed at users who want to look things up from very targeted services without having to rely on the built-in search box in their browser. To a certain degree, Vysr is an attempt to ween users off of the search box, for the sake of productivity.
The GrooveShark application on Vysr will look up bands or music tracks just by highlighting them in your browser.
(Credit: Vysr, Inc.)Venkatesh says it will be an uphill battle to attract developers to build and maintain plug-ins, but after having watched Facebook's platform launch, he told me that he thinks the overall simplicity of building a Vysr application will attract bootstrapped developers who have put more care and finesse into their applications.
One of the new applications for today is a music search module that will look up any word or track name you highlight, then cross-reference it with GrooveShark Lite. When found, it will play the track in the corner of your browser while you continue to surf around, making it a pretty good addition to something like reading an album review.
As mentioned earlier, Vysr will eventually have ads as part of the equation. According to Venkatesh, they'll only be on the little application overlay windows--not on the sidebar itself--meaning that you won't be randomly surfing a page and getting advertisements. My guess is that most people will be willing to tolerate ads for convenience's sake.
If you're a developer looking to get your service integrated, you can check out the documentation here. Venkatesh says it took only 10 minutes to port over GrooveShark, so you might be able to get yours done during a bathroom break.
This morning Vysr is launching its browser plug-in and Web widget platform RoamAbout at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco. The app has been designed to give you access to a slew of Web services as small, widgetized Web apps that can be called up in an instant without requiring additional software.
It was pitched to me as "a new way to browse the Web," which usually makes my stomach lurch, but it's actually pretty darn useful for giving you contextual searching and reference without mucking up the pleasingly simple experience of navigating Web pages.
Vysr works a lot like a browser toolbar, hanging out in the lower-right corner of your browser window and giving you access to a small grouping of Web services that can be used almost like the contextual menus when you right-click on something onscreen. However, instead of attempting to edit the sensitive ecosystem of your right-click menu, it opts to reserve that functionality to just the plug-in. When it's time to pick what service you want to use, you get to pick from its built-in directory, and custom-tailor the apps you want on hand to a short list.
To use RoamAbout, users need to install it in Internet Explorer or Firefox. It's unlike a regular toolbar, though it sits in the corner of your screen--out of the way of the important things you look at while browsing, but still readily accessible. CEO and Founder of Vysr, Guda Venkatesh, told me that he was tired of seeing start-ups go for the toolbar approach, and that users want something useful but that doesn't take up valuable screen real estate.
I met with Venkatesh last week to see the app in action. At the time there were just half a dozen tools that ran the gamut from maps and photos all the way to turning Web text into speech. In one instance he highlighted an address and used the MapQuest widget to look up the address. It showed up on top of the screen as an overlay and let us jump right back to the page when we were done.
The general idea is that you could do the same thing for maps that you could do with any other Web service and add it to the RoamAbout app shortlist for quick use later. Venkatesh says they're trying to put out one to two additional apps for RoamAbout a week, while expecting enterprising developers to beef up the directory with specially designed apps of their own.
This plug-in is definitely worth taking a look at. We'll get a hands-on soon.
Vysr's browser plug-in lets you take words or images and use them in conjunction with a suite of small Web app tie-ins that sit on the bottom right of your screen. Seen here, Vysr's RoamAbout is letting you search MapQuest by selecting the address and picking one of the appropriate apps. (Click to enlarge)
(Credit: Vysr Inc.)
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