Amazon May Unveil Its Own Messaging App (engadget.com) 87
The messaging app field is as hot as ever with Apple, Facebook and Google (among others) slugging it out... and Amazon appears to want in on the action. From a report: AFTVnews claims to have customer survey info revealing that Amazon is working on Anytime, a messaging app for Android, iOS and the desktop that promises a few twists on the usual formula. It has mainstays like message encryption, video, voice and (of course) stickers, but it reportedly has a few hooks that would make it easy to sign up and participate in group chats. You would only need a name to reach out to someone, for one thing -- no WhatsApp-style dependence on phone numbers here. You only have to use Twitter-style @ mentions to bring people into conversations or share photos, and you can color-code chats to identify the most important ones. Naturally, there are app-like functions (such as group music listening and food ordering) and promises of chatting with businesses for shopping or customer service.
just what we need, another messaging app (Score:2, Insightful)
just what we need, another messaging app
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I switched to a pay as you go plan for texts, thought "No problem, I'm on wifi all the time, I'll just switch to whatsapp." Realized no one I know actually uses whatsapp. Tried to get the maybe 5 people I regularly communicate with to download and set it up. "It's cheaper and you can use it from your computer."
All it did was make me realiz
Re: just what we need, another messaging app (Score:2)
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There is already a universal messaging app built into every phone called SMS/MMS. This BS of more and more isolated messaging apps needs to stop. I just recently ridded my phone of all messaging apps other than SMS/MMS and google hangouts for those i keep in touch with overseas where SMS/MMS can be expensive.
If anyone I know tries to get me on the latest messaging app fad i just flat out tell them send me a txt.
no WhatsApp-style dependence on phone numbers here (Score:2)
Good idea. If only someone had it before...
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Yes, because IRC is so very hard to use.
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It's not. Just build a 'Messenger like' client and anyone will be able to use it easily.
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it's called XMPP
IRC doesn't suit the same purpose
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Looks like you didn't get my sarcasm.
I just can't believe people are still using, and even worse, designing protocols based on phone numbers as an identifier.
Offenders include iMessage, SMS, Whatsapp and many more crappy protocols designed to reach a SIM card instead of a person.
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iMessage is NOT based on phone numbers but on Apple accounts. Otherwise how would people on Macs and iPods/iPads use it?
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It's being used with limited functionality on these devices.
Apple wants you to have an iPhone, and your phone number is your main identifier on iMessage, the one people are supposed to use when contacting you, even if the message also gets delivered to your Mac.
Anyways, even without that huge flaw, iMessage still shouldn't be used as it's single-vendor. Who wants a single-vendor messaging protocol? Nobody only has friends with Apple devices.
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but incompatible with any internet-connected device made since... forever.
The good way to be backward compatible with dumb phones is to provide SMS gateways, such as SMS to email. No reason why we couldn't make SMS to XMPP gateways. But those with Internet access on their phone (most people these days) shouldn't be stuck using SMS, and shouldn't have to suffer phone numbers as identifiers.
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I rather like Telegram's use of phone numbers to help add people to your contacts list.
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It could be used as an optional, secondary way of adding someone to your list (just like searching by name and city). But it should never be the primary ID. That's just plain stupid. People can have more than one phone, many people can share a phone number, phone numbers are country based, sometimes you can't even keep it when switching provider within the same country. They are also hard to remember. But the main reason is that most internet connected devices don't have a phone number. Telegram sucks so mu
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My parents share an email address, so I'd argue that email addresses aren't a great way to identify people either. (or that my parents have a weird policy)
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At least with email your parents could create a second one for free if they wanted to. To get a phone number, you must usually pay.
Let's hope it's not the no-Linux AppData bomb (Score:2)
their collaboration app was.
If there's an executable in the AppData directory I consider their app a failure already.
If there's no Linux version - especially considering how much Amazon themselves relies on Linux it's an even bigger failure than I originally thought.
Re:Let's hope it's not the no-Linux AppData bomb (Score:5, Insightful)
If there's no Linux version
Of course there will no no linux version. Not nearly enough people to advertise to and the ones that there are will say 'fuck this shit'
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But I'm part of the I.T. department and I make and contribute to decisions. Because I'm part of that not as low of a percent as you portray I'm not happy with it. Because I'm not happy with it, I'm not giving my Windows and Mac users either. Either you take care of me or my user base is just as alienated from their stuff as I am.
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I know why they won't do it. I've had discussions with plenty of people both online and in person that make decisions for organizations. They see Linux as some sort of "scary land run by barbarian tribes where the law is decided by the one best with a sword". You can't support Linux! There's no one responsible for it, there's no standards! We don't want to have to support it on Windows, why would we ever want to support it for scary barbarians!
They don't realize Linux support is even easier than Mac or
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And why release a Linux version? Either people will complain it's not open source, and send annoying petitions about it. Or the Linux version will be used for reverse engineering the protocol because the debug tools on Linux are so much better than on Windows.
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Because I'm not an A/C.
Also, I'm a part of Slashdot. I've found that if you pay attention to the opinion of Slashdot you find a general reading of how the industry is doing right or wrong. If people at Amazon are paying attention to what is being said on the Slashdot it could make or break them.
Consider my non-A/C opinion as doing Amazon a favor.
Have the developers work on the Amazon Video app (Score:2)
Still missing a tvOS one.
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Perhaps something similar can be done to you. Considering 17% of posters are AC and are responsible for 90% of shitposts this is clearly a matter of public concern.
Difference is, as a white person I only had the number of children I could personally afford. I had them AFTER obtaining an education and establishing a good career. I never took a penny of welfare money. Unlike the morbidly obese black women I see every day every single time I drive through the city on my commute.
Considering that black males are just over 7% yet account for over 50% of all solved murder cases, and primarily murder other black males, it's remarkable that there remains a black gene pool at all! That means they breed at what should be an exceedingly excessive rate. I guess that's easy when you don't have to worry about mundane concerns like how the hell to pay for all those bastard kids! This is what welfare culture is giving to us. Not a safety net.
Hell with contraceptive darts. Here's a solution: if you want welfare, sure, we'll give you plenty! But, you must agree to surgical sterilization. That's a vascectomy for the very few men who take welfare (remember, WIC = Women Infants and Children), and tubes ties for the women who take welfare. Later, if/when you somehow get back on your feet (haha!), well, children are fucking expensive. If you can afford to reverse the procedure out of your own pocket, then clearly you can also afford children. Then everybody is happy.
Well, that certainly is a problem. Maybe you could take them all into custody and make them work for free or something.
Another App to ignore (Score:2)
If someone wants to use a messaging app, I'm sure by now they've decided on one they like. Unless this is linked into the reviews or questions on Amazon store I'm not sure the point.
If it IS linked into the Amazon store, I'm never asking/answering a question again and I'm not reviewing anything again.
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If someone wants to use a messaging app, I'm sure by now they've decided on one they like. Unless this is linked into the reviews or questions on Amazon store I'm not sure the point.
If it IS linked into the Amazon store, I'm never asking/answering a question again and I'm not reviewing anything again.
I'd be willing to put money on them doing exactly that. It'll recognise products and link to them for easy shopping, of course they'll just do it on the sly at first until it's going then they'll ramp it up in an update and call it a feature.
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I can picture the first time calling someone an arsehole on the app and a wavy double blue line appears under the word... so you click it and it takes you to anal beads for sale.
And in a year ... (Score:5, Insightful)
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I think I'll sign up just to see realdolls listed on Amazon.com
Another messaging app... (Score:3)
Obligatory XKCD : https://xkcd.com/1810/ [xkcd.com]
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I would have picked this one: https://xkcd.com/927/
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Funny, he apparently missed IRC, at least on a cursory scan, along with UNIX "talk".
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In chronological order of when I started using it, I now need to use, at least occasionally,
And....as soon as some idiot I know starts using it as their preferred form of communcation, drumroll please.....Amazon Messaging!
I'm honestly fine with Email, SMS/iMessage and Voice Calls. Because those systems are non-proprietary and basically universal.
Just because someone you know wants to communicate using some proprietary messaging system doesn't mean you have to sign up for it. You can say "I don't use that. Email me instead".
I'm not on any funky messaging system, just regular SMS. I'm not on Google or Facebook. People know if they want to reach me to text me or call me. Heck, even e-mail me. I don't do the whole sign up for flavor of the day crap.
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The other problem is the issue that everyone seems to think their idea for a new chat system is something revolutionary when it's just reinventing the wheel.
The Jabber/XMPP project attempted to create a truly universal protocol suite that could be implemented by any service to allow for cross-service communications, but so far the only entity that has a commercial version is Cisco with their Cisco Jabber product, and I'm not sure if it's actually cross-platform or if their XMPP implementation is restricted
WeChat wannabe perhaps (Score:1)
DOA (Score:1)
Just like their crappy phone...
Tor Messenger Beta (Score:1)
Too many proprietary apps out there.
I'd rather use the FOSS Tor Messenger Beta [torproject.org]
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And for the 99% of people that don't use TOR?
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They can use ODN.
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And for the 99% of people that don't use TOR?
They can go to prison for copyright violation or thought crimes.
FIX SLASHDOT YOU FUCKING IDIOTS (Score:3)
We are still getting fucking iframe banners with a static position at the top that covers 33% of our display.
Slashdot is fucking broke, you annoy us with shit like this and you wonder why you are losing readers. Fucking imbeciles.
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Have mod points, will post instead.
Dude. Use Adblock. Seriously.
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Last time I tried it,, the damn thing used all the RAM it could and just made Safari even worst than Firefox.
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This. Slashdot is the only page out of the daily news that I CAN'T read while my laptop is in portrait mode. Seeing 3 words per line down the side followed by mostly empty space is a disgrace for a website targeted at nerds.
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Slashdot promised me that it would change! It's not my fault!
Facetwit (Score:2)
Anything that takes down Facebook and Twitter is welcome.
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Do you really think it will?
Even freakin' Google couldn't take down Facebook, and they own a large chunk of the internet.
Amazon is really good at selling stuff but it is pretty much at level zero when it comes to social networking.
It may have some success for customer service though.
Please don't (Score:5, Interesting)
Obvious Name (Score:2)
Prediction: it will go down in flames.
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Heisenberg. They _may_ unveil it.
Also, when it does come out, it will be about two orders of magnitude bigger than it needs to be.
Open standard (Score:2)
It's time for the EU to mandate an open standard for messaging apps so you can choose the one you like and not the one most of your friends use.
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you mean mandating XMPP?