Sobees Archive

Good morning – here are some updates from various startups across the world:

• Basecamp project reporting on the iPhone – 37signals
• Glue suggestions launch – AdaptiveBlue
• Echo commenting goes live on first site – JS-Kit
• Freshbooks wins Pick20 Canada aware – Freshbooks
• Using OpenX to manage ads on Facebook apps – OpenX
• Digsby hits 1 million users – Digsby
• Sobees adds group management and auto-complete – Sobees
• Looking at agile development – Huddle

Social client software provider Sobees is announcing the launch of their web browser-based client today. The new Sobees web client (which is in Alpha) combines Twitter and (soon) Facebook access. There is also real-time search via OneRiot, Twitter and Friendfeed.

As you can see in the graphic below, you can setup the Sobees web application with as many panels as you would like. The panels can be setup as Twitter accounts, Facebook accounts (soon) and real-time searches. For example, I could have one panel for my @centernetworks Twitter account, one for my @cloudcontacts Twitter account, a search for “web blogs that don’t link”, a search for “great web startups”, etc.

Sobees is based in Switzerland and competes with London-based Tweetdeck (which moments ago announced a new round of funding in the amount of 2 million pounds) and valley darling Seesmic. Seesmic has been talking about a browser-based version for a while now but it hasn’t launched as of yet.

The big issue with Sobees in the past was that you needed a windows machine and some runtimes to get the service to work. With this new web-based version, you need only Silverlight which works on both Windows and Mac in any browser (IE, Firefox, Chrome, etc.).

The tool also offers an anti-spam function which allows you to enter a variety of terms that will be blocked in your timeline and/or search results.

My only real suggestion for the Sobees team is to consolidate their product names – get rid of bDule and just offer Sobees Web, Sobees Lite and Sobees Full. I think it’s a bit confusing that bDule = sobees Web.

Update: Seesmic Web client is now live as well – read a very in-depth review by Frederic Lardinois at Readwriteweb.

Continue reading “Sobees Beats Seesmic to Browser-Based Twitter/Facebook/Real-Time Search Client” »

Swiss-based Sobees has announced updates to their two client applications: bDule and Sobees. Founder Francois Bochatay explains the difference between the two application by noting that bDule is their starter kit providing a Windows-based client combining Twitter and Facebook support. Sobees is a multi-window application that combines many “bDules” together.

Most of the updates in today’s 0.9.6.5 release are usability and performance enhancements. They have also rewritten the Flickr search. The new functionality is the addition of Digg and the Digg search along with the ability to submit items from others windows to Digg. They have also added new themed content windows for the MLB, soccer, tennis and the NFL.

The Sobees tools compete in the same space as Tweetdeck and the new Seesmic. Currently the Sobees tools are only available for Windows. The company is working on a cross-platform version which they expect to release this summer.

Swiss startup Sobees has updated their application called bTT today. bTT combines Twitter and FriendFeed together and is similar to AlertThingy (our review). bTT works on Windows machines only currently. Check out our review of the full Sobees app from SXSW.

The new features include:

• Friendfeed and Twitter in one flow (no duplicates)
• New design (other sobees designs will be integrated later)
• Window sizing
• Comments now directly integrated in the main flow
• Option to show/hide all comments
• Option to post on Twitter and FriendFeed
• Filter by service
• Font size options
• Pictures displayed as a slide show within the flow

Here’s an example of the app in action:

The aggregation space of sharing/microblogging services sure seems to be sizzling hot right now!

At SXSW, I had the opportunity to meet Sobees founder François Bochatay. Sobees is a Swiss startup that has taken the start page and moved it outside of the browser and back to the desktop. Sobees calls itself the, “next-generation multi-functional platform” — some will call it a Webtop. François took me through a demo and others in the blogger room came over and it seemed to be a hit. I’ve had a chance to play with the Sobees app a bit more and I could see this as a good mainstream application.

Sobees reminds me of Yahoo widgets or any desktop widgets that one might install. The difference is that Sobees widgets talk to each other and Sobees is synchronized to the Sobees server which makes multiple setups easy (work/home, desktop/laptop, etc.).

There are a variety of widgets in the Sobees system including a slick RSS reader, photo viewer, integrated browser, weather, stock, etc.

The tool currently works with Windows XP/Vista and I understand a Mac version is in the works. An API is coming in the second quarter that will allow for even more Sobees to be created. The installation process required me to install .NET and a SQL compact server. I’d prefer to see the installation process be a bit smoother.

I like the way Sobees lets you share items. You just drag and drop an item from your Sobees page onto a friend and it will be sent to him or her.

At the beginning of this review I noted that Sobees could become a mainstream hit. I could see my mother using this application and being able to connect to my writings, family photos, and keep connected to the things I want her to see. Why? Because I can setup Sobees for her and manage it remotely. It would certainly reduce the, “Allen, I lost the link to the mahjong page, help me” calls.

Sobees is currently in private beta. Leave a comment if you’d like a beta key and I will speak with François about getting one for each of you.

Update: SheGeeks has a review of Sobees from yesterday.