Seriously, the product focuses on personal and independent content, primarily published on websites, but the app only works in iOS. That seems like a fundamental mismatch.
Translation: You, Android user, is a second class citizen. And you, you are using the browser??? I won't even describe you, because you are less than that.
We don’t boost any authors/publishers/pieces. We don’t have any specific plan to monetize right now, but many AI-based products seem to work well as paid subscriptions vs using an advertising model.
This is what I'm using Hacker News for. It doesn't require an app, it's super fast, the curating is done by real people (not by AI), and often the comments add a lot of value to the discussed article.
How much research did you guys do on the name? This might be the most amazing product ever, but I'll never know. I'm not inclined to install anything with the name "X Buddy". For me, it brings the negative associations from this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BonziBuddy
It's not a knock on anything you've done, because it looks pretty nice. But, just based on the name, I'm not sure I know what it does or why I'd want it. That's a decent amount of inertia to overcome to get someone to install an app on their phone called "browser buddy". It just screams malware to me... but maybe I'm just paranoid.
I suspected you hadn't, which is why I wanted to bring it up. It's admittedly a pretty dated reference, but was really common right around 2000. At least, it was commonly installed where I was around 2001. I don't think it was malware right away (it's been a while), but by the end of it's run, it seemed sketchy at best.
It's a tough balance to get right... you want to be approachable and friendly so that people will try your app. But you don't want to come across as a big purple gorilla or Clippy. I do like the penguin!
I've wanted something like this for a long time! Waiting for the android /browser release!
Not available in my country / region says the AppStore. Greetings from Europe.
ah, i submitted some EU trader requirements stuff. could you shoot me an email @ jeremy@browserbuddy.com so i can let you know when we get approved?
Browser* Buddy
*Not available in a browser.
We originally started with a webapp but found ourselves using it much more on our phones.
Happy to bring back the webapp if there’s strong interest!
Well, by limiting yourselves to iPhone you are eliminating at least half of smartphone users, and 100% of non-smartphone users.
Please do. Also try making a newtab page.
Would be much easier to try. I was expecting a chrome extension.
yes please bring it back. browsers work perfectly fine on phones
lol yeah why not do webapp so much easier than ios
Interesting concept, though I’m not sure I’d install something called `browserbuddy` on my phone.
Go Hoos good work Wadehra
congrats arnav, you've come a long way from the balz days :)
Why isn't there a working website? You've been up since 2024
Seriously, the product focuses on personal and independent content, primarily published on websites, but the app only works in iOS. That seems like a fundamental mismatch.
Translation: You, Android user, is a second class citizen. And you, you are using the browser??? I won't even describe you, because you are less than that.
My concern with something like this is content marketing or other forms of surreptitious advertising.
Will you clearly indicate “boosted” authors/publishers/pieces?
We don’t boost any authors/publishers/pieces. We don’t have any specific plan to monetize right now, but many AI-based products seem to work well as paid subscriptions vs using an advertising model.
>> We don’t have any specific plan to monetize right now
YC has changed. It's like we're back in the late 90's!
This is what I'm using Hacker News for. It doesn't require an app, it's super fast, the curating is done by real people (not by AI), and often the comments add a lot of value to the discussed article.
We check hackernews every day too but often have a hard time exploring specific interests that are not currently trending.
You're right though, the community/comments add a ton of value and its something we're thinking on.
the tool should be on the open web as a primary, not closed off in a walled garden mobile app.
I tend to find substantially more value in HN comments than in the posted articles.
How much research did you guys do on the name? This might be the most amazing product ever, but I'll never know. I'm not inclined to install anything with the name "X Buddy". For me, it brings the negative associations from this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BonziBuddy
It's not a knock on anything you've done, because it looks pretty nice. But, just based on the name, I'm not sure I know what it does or why I'd want it. That's a decent amount of inertia to overcome to get someone to install an app on their phone called "browser buddy". It just screams malware to me... but maybe I'm just paranoid.
Yikes! We'd never heard of that.
We picked "Browser Buddy" to name our surfing penguin logo.
I suspected you hadn't, which is why I wanted to bring it up. It's admittedly a pretty dated reference, but was really common right around 2000. At least, it was commonly installed where I was around 2001. I don't think it was malware right away (it's been a while), but by the end of it's run, it seemed sketchy at best.
It's a tough balance to get right... you want to be approachable and friendly so that people will try your app. But you don't want to come across as a big purple gorilla or Clippy. I do like the penguin!