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Vine's Successor Byte Launches Next Spring (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the better-late-than-never dept.

Vine's co-founder, Dom Hofmann, has been working on "a follow-up to Vine" for over a year and we now know what the successor will be called and when it will be ready for the masses. According to The Verge, the "proper sequel will be called Byte, and it's coming in spring 2019." From the report: Not much else is known about how Byte will work, but Hofmann says it is officially the project formerly known as v2, which had a publicized and transparent development process with dedicated fan forums for around six months starting last November. Hofmann postponed v2 indefinitely in May of this year, citing funding and logistic issues, as well as his day job running an immersive entertainment studio called Innerspace VR. Hofmann kept the forums open to keep discussion going, and it seems like he's now squared away some type of funding to get v2 off the ground as Byte. We'll likely hear more soon, but it's just a relief to hear it's actually happening and that the six-second videos that shaped modern internet culture could be coming back in a big way.

18 of 31 comments (clear)

  1. bad name by sanf780 · · Score: 2

    I dare you do a quick search on the internet about "byte".

    1. Re:bad name by reboot246 · · Score: 1

      I just did and it shows several links to Vine's successor, all within the first dozen hits.

    2. Re: bad name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Byte was the most awesome computer magazine ever. Even the ads were a pleasure to read!

    3. Re:bad name by rnturn · · Score: 4, Funny

      I guess they went with this name after deciding that calling thier new site "PC World", "Creative Computing", or "IBM Technical Journal" would have caused some confusion on the Internet.

      --
      CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
    4. Re:bad name by Crash+Dummy+Redux · · Score: 1

      It's not Byte Magazine.

  2. Build, sell, build again? by Fusen · · Score: 1

    This makes it all sound like the guy helped create Vine, a service for posting short video clips. He then sold it off and the buyer eventually closed it. He's now deciding he wants to run Vine again so is launching a new video service hosting short clips.

    I'd have thought the initial purchase of Vine would have included some sort of clause saying you can't just run off and create a competitor to the company you've just sold.

    1. Re:Build, sell, build again? by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Non compete clauses are void in California.

  3. What is/was Vine? by ebcdic · · Score: 1, Informative

    I've never heard of it so the article doesn't make much sense.

    1. Re:What is/was Vine? by TeknoHog · · Score: 1
      Me neither. I'm not sure if I even want to know, this seems pretty off-putting:

      the six-second videos that shaped modern internet culture could be coming back in a big way.

      Of course, you can justify anything with the word "culture". For example: gun culture, rape culture, stem cell culture.

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
    2. Re:What is/was Vine? by Entrope · · Score: 2

      It was trying to be the Twitter of video clips. Any video one posted had to be 6 seconds or less. There may have been something about automatically looping the clip. Nothing of value was lost.

    3. Re:What is/was Vine? by SirSlud · · Score: 1

      I don't even *own* an Internet!

      --
      "Old man yells at systemd"
  4. too late by phantomfive · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The major social media platforms are already integrating video so there's no reason to use another service. Also Vine didn't shape culture it was a riff on the side of YouTube.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    1. Re:too late by SolemnLord · · Score: 1

      The major social media platforms are already integrating video so there's no reason to use another service.

      Reading newspapers and Twitter are fundamentally the exact same experience by that logic.

    2. Re: too late by phantomfive · · Score: 2

      Sort of, but six years ago there was a niche for this. Now it's been filled by Facebook, Instagram, etc who all have support for mini videos easily uploaded, and with gimmicks like filters or whatever. Why make a new account on a service none of your friends will see?

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  5. If they're going to call it "Byte".... by NormalVisual · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ....the first clip released should be a chronological listing of Robert Tinney's cover paintings, each painting in one frame.

    --
    Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
  6. B Ark Social Media by belthize · · Score: 1

    We don't know what it does or what color it is but a crack team has decided it will be called 'Byte'.

    I wonder if it will be a complicated way to distribute the source code to small text only games in an error prone way.

  7. If at first you don't succeed, maybe ... by WoodstockJeff · · Score: 1

    ... it was a bad idea in the first place?

    This reminds me about a certain form of government that has proven itself to be a failure countless times, yet is still promoted as being "good". To its believers, the repeated failures aren't proof that the system is bad, just that the wrong people were in charge of it.

    1. Re:If at first you don't succeed, maybe ... by dohzer · · Score: 1

      Why did it fail? Was it one of those classic cases where they build a base, introduce ads, and then people leave?