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Social browser app Rockmelt bought by Yahoo, pulled from App Store
Rockmelt, a social web browser that originally launched in 2009 and moved to mobile with an app in October of last year, has been bought by Yahoo for between US$60 and $70 million, according to AllThingsD. The app itself -- which was available as a free download -- was reportedly set to remain on the market until the end of August, but at the moment it appears to already have been removed. It could, of course, reappear... Rockmelt's main draw was its promise to simplify web browsing by turning browsing into a personalized experience, complete with the ability to share pages with friends and tag them with various emoticons. Yahoo has been trying a number of different things in the past few years to become a staple in the mobile browsing space -- remember Axis? -- so we might see Rockmelt's vision for web browsing resurrected with a purple Y soon enough.
Yahoo adds Rockmelt to its stable of acquisitions
The Yahoo acquisition train just keeps on rolling! Rockmelt, the social browser news portal social content discovery service will be joining a growing cadre of properties that Marissa Mayer has snatched up. The platform, which seems to straddle the line between Pinterest and StumbleUpon, focuses on personalization and social networking as a way to highlight and serve up content it believes you'll want to read or watch. Yahoo, especially through its homepage portal, has always been about serving up content, and the expectation is that Rockmelt will help the company better hone its understanding of you and what you love. The announcement post makes it clear that Yahoo plans to actually integrate Rockmelt's technology with its existing platform, though, we're gonna have to wait a bit longer to see exactly what that marriage may look like. Rockmelt will shut down its existing apps and services on August 31st this year.
Rockmelt comes to Android with thumb-friendly navigation
Rockmelt brought its social news browsing to iOS back in 2012, with promises that the Android version was on the way. The company took its sweet time with the port, but it's here at last -- and with a few Android-only perks in return for the wait. While the core news aggregation remains intact, there's a new set of thumb navigation controls that makes sure tablet owners (or just those with giant smartphones) can read in comfort. Phone owners also get a landscape view similar to what their tablet brethren see and a set of elevator-like buttons help users of all kinds get back to articles after a refresh. The interface extras may not seal the deal by themselves, but they could tip the balance for those still undecided on a Google Reader alternative.
Rockmelt says goodbye to its social web browser, says hello to Rockmelt for Web
It was a good ride while it lasted, but the browser wars haven't been kind to Rockmelt, which has announced that it'll cease supporting its socially-inclined desktop browser sometime in the next few months. The decision was made because keeping up with the steady stream of updates for Chromium, the code upon which the Rockmelt browser was based, was simply too costly. In its place, the company has announced Rockmelt for Web, a portal that may serve to alleviate some of the Reader rage many of us are experiencing. It aggregates content from "your favorite sites, your favorite people, and a dash of crazy stuff you never would have discovered," so it's like a combination of RSS, social networks and StumbleUpon. It's an invite-only beta for now, though users of the browser and iOS app have already been invited to the party. The rest of you lot can get on the list by hitting the source and signing up.
Rockmelt social browser comes to iPhone, Android version still in development
When we heard Rockmelt was going to announce some news about its social browser becoming available to lots more people, we assumed that meant the Android version was finally ready. Not quite: turns out the company was just referring to iPhone users. Indeed, the startup just announced an iPhone version of its news aggregator, which should go nicely with the iPad app that launched back in October. Like the iPad version, it presents articles as endlessly scrollable tiles, not unlike the way your Facebook timeline is laid out. Similar to Facebook, too, you can use so-called emoticodes to like things or indicate other profound human responses, such as "hmm" or "WTF?" Other than that, there's not much to it: swipe left to close out of a story; swipe right to save it as a bookmark. It's available for free in the App Store now; no ETA on that Android version, but we're told the company is actively toiling away on it.
Rockmelt social browser goes thumb-crazy for iPhone
The Rockmelt "social browser" has been on quite a ride over the past few months. It transitioned from a desktop tool to an iPad app, giving Apple's tablet users a graceful way to browse, share and enjoy their favorite sites. The mobile browsing experience described by Harry McCracken as "a little as if Safari and Flipboard had a baby together, and it came out looking like Pinterest" is expanding to the smaller screen. Today Rockmelt launches version 2.1 of its app, now universal for both iPad and iPhone. Rockmelt's core feature is its "endless river of the Web" approach to browsing, which is designed to bring you the sites and stories you want (learning your preferences over time, naturally) without a lot of extraneous clutter. You can also quickly share and "emote" on the items that resonate with you -- it's like the BuzzFeed of mobile browsers. On the iPhone, the browsing look and feel from the iPad version has been subjected to what the company calls "the tyranny of the thumb." Everything you're likely to want to do -- save a tab (swipe right), close a view (swipe left), sharing or emoting (a tap), etc. -- can be accomplished with one digit. The tablet and phone instances of the app also synchronize betwixt themselves, so your browsing progress transfers from one to the other. Rockmelt is free on the App Store. If you log in with your social creds (Twitter or Facebook), the app will use the links and sites posted by your friends as the seed sites for your initial river view. Otherwise you can add sources from Rockmelt's curated lists or from anywhere on the Internet. You can preview the app in the video below.
RockMelt social browser comes to the iPad, offers up news stories tailored to your interests
Remember RockMelt The "social web browser"? The name doesn't come up often, especially when we talk about conventional browsers like Firefox, Chrome, IE and Safari. Well, rest assured, the startup is still alive and kicking: after releasing an iPhone app earlier this year, it's introducing an iPad version as well. As ever, the browser is built around social networks like Facebook and Twitter, but instead of emphasizing chat and status updates, it's all about using your social network to help curate a newsfeed that matches your interests. In other words, you could do a traditional web search and sift though the results, but if you sign in with your Facebook or Twitter handle what you'll actually see are stories that RockMelt thinks might appeal to you. In theory, the browser will learn, over time, what you like and what you don't, and at any point you can add specific news sources as you would with an RSS feed. As an added bonus, the experience of reading articles from within the app is actually quite smooth, but that's neither here nor there. And, of course, what would a social browser be without the ability to share cat videos? In addition to sharing things with people directly (i.e., through email), you can use so-called emoticodes like "lol," "want," and "aww" to comment on a story without actually commenting on it. (Think of it as the equivalent of liking something on Facebook: it's less intrusive than posting random links on your friend's wall.) The app is available for download today, and we're told versions for other platforms are in development. In the meantime, check out the screenshots after the break to get a basic for the layout.
RockMelt hits beta 5, makes Chrome's Omnibox a gateway to Facebook
Last year, when RockMelt picked up where Flock left off, deeply tying social services into the browser interface, we were understandably a bit skeptical. But, just over 13 months later the tricked out Chrome variant is still kicking and tacking on new features. The latest beta, version five, turns the Omnibox into a full-fledged Facebook portal, allowing you to upload photos, initiate chats and load profiles without first having to launch the site. The update also sports a spruced up new tab page. We won't spoil all the surprises though, hit up the source link to download it for yourself.
RockMelt browser resurrects itself as iPhone app
Remember RockMelt? Neither do we, mostly, but the "social browser" -- which debuted for the Mac and PC late last year -- is back and more portable than ever. The minty fresh iPhone version plays nice with Facebook and Twitter, as well as a few other social-type things you're probably doing with your phone already. If you're a devoted user of the grown-up version, however, the networky app is probably worth a download for its ability to sync with its desktop counterpart. Peppily-soundtracked video after the break, a must-watch for those who believe in second chances. [Thanks, Mikey]
RockMelt adds iPhone app for social browsing
RockMelt is launching an iOS version of its browser with built-in social networking functions, offering automatic syncing between desktop and portable versions. This automation, company founder Eric Vishria says, is what differentiates their browser from other offerings. "We're not going for the power users, the ones who already know how to customize a browser," he says. Instead they're aiming at the vast majority of users who just want to get on reading what interests them instead of tweaking settings. Following the termination of Flock, RockMelt looks to be going from strength to strength, and the new mobile version can only help its progress, especially with the automatic syncing of bookmarks, contacts and settings. The app hasn't been approved by Apple yet, but it's expected that it will be available by the end of this week.
Flock comes to the end of the road as support ceases
Flock, the original social web browser, has been marked for termination. Originally released back in 2005 and powered by a Firefox core, Flock brought social to the browser by integrating with Flickr, del.icio.us (as it was at the time) and a whole host of blogging services. Later, with the social networking revolution, Flock cozied up with a plethora of platforms, including the usual suspects: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Flock moved to the much faster Chromium core late last year, bringing greater speed (especially on the Mac), which was by then, an important factor in the "browser wars." Unfortunately for Flock, it wasn't enough to combat the new Chromium-powered social browser upstart RockMelt, which was well funded and had a lot of hype behind it. In January of this year, Zynga swooped in and bought the team behind Flock in a talent acquisition. Unfortunately for Flock, that didn't include technology, CEO Shawn Hardin or the Flock.com domain, so the writing was on the wall for the now struggling browser. Today, Flock.com has a notice stating that support for Flock will be withdrawn as of April 26, bringing an end to the social browser, and suggesting users look to Chrome or Firefox. Although not a Mac-specific browser, Flock added something extra to the browser choice on OS X, so it's sad to see it slinking off into the sunset, even if we do have RockMelt. [via TechCrunch]
Disconnect browser extension keeps pesky cookies in check, blocks third-party tracking requests
Internet Explorer 9 may block 'em in 2011, and the US government's on the case too, but you don't have to wait for Microsoft or bureaucracy to keep your privacy paramount if you browse with Rockmelt or Chrome. That's because former Google developer Brian Kennish just released Disconnect, an extension for either one, that banishes Digg, Facebook, Google, Twitter and Yahoo tracking requests (more companies are on the way) as you make your merry way across the web. Install and you'll find a nice little "d" icon on your browser's status bar, with a drop-down menu exposing exactly how many requests you've blocked from each service, and the option to manually disable blocking at will. Why bother? Don't you want to keep that secret love of Thanko products all to yourself?
RockMelt social browser launches in limited beta, we go hands-on
Been thinking that Firefox or Chrome browser of yours just isn't, say, social enough? Probably not, but RockMelt is hoping that's exactly what you'll think after you try out its web browser. The Mountain View startup, which is backed by web bigwigs such as Marc Andreeseen, has just released its new browser in a limited beta today, and it's -- as you probably may have guessed -- built entirely around social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. Using Chromium at its core, the browser naturally looks and feels a lot Chrome -- fret not, Incognito mode is still there -- but there are some clear interface tweaks. As you can see in the screenshot above, the left edge integrates your Facebook friends so you can chat, send messages or check out status updates no matter what site you're visiting. (Oddly, there doesn't seem to be a way to poke from the interface! Blasphemy!) The right column is meant for Twitter and RSS feeds -- both are updated in the background and use "push notifications" to let you know how many unread messages or posts you've got piling up. You can update your statuses from both rails as well as share the site you are reading by just hitting the large share button to the left of the search bar. It's all fairly straightforward and actually works quite well. However, RockMelt is pitching itself as more than just a sharing platform -- it also claims to have improved the speed and ease of search. Instead of the search box taking you to a Google search page, it brings up the results in a box of its own and allows you to visit the different sites within the browser window -- basically, you don't have to keep clicking back and forth from that Google search page. It's fairly neat, and actually does seem rather snappy. So, when can you try out RockMelt yourself? We wish we had better news, but it's in a limited beta for both Mac and PC, so your best bet is to head over to the source link and give away your Facebook details (if you're cool with forking over that info). Based on our first impressions, it's definitely worth putting your name in the running. %Gallery-106934%
