Comments on: Genieo – A Tiny Desktop App To Set Up An Automatic Personal Start Page

By: Dotan @Genieo

Dotan @Genieo — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:51:05 +0000

Genieo displays filtered Facebook messages on the start page if you are logged into Facebook, no action required. Weather will be supported on future release.
We will make our feed page clearer for the next release, this is a good comment thanks.
-Dotan

By: Saikat

Saikat — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:11:17 +0000

Thanks for your response. I liked the app and more control will make it attractive for power users. The feed element was a bit unclear to me as also how to integrate Facebook and weather info. Though I saw both of them in the screenshots.

By: Dotan @Genieo

Dotan @Genieo — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:38:01 +0000

Saikat, thanks for the detailed review; I am glad you enjoy Genieo. We did aim to create exactly what you have described: personal zero-configuration start page.
Start page that will automatically follow shifts in your area of interest, a â€œPersonal pageâ€ not â€œcustomized pageâ€. We believe that the page should works for you and not the other way around :-).
I would like to add a little more information on two subjects:
Privacy: Genieo profile is build and stored locally on your PC, no user data is being sent to any server. We cannot misuse the user data since we do not have it. We cannot lose the data since we do not have it. No one can hack into our data store since we simple do not keep any users data records; all is stored on your PC. We do believe that is the true and only way to full privacy.
Adding feeds: You stated correctly that â€œâ€¦it doesnâ€™t let us add a site or a feed manuallyâ€. True but, Genieo will register you automatically to feeds in site that you visit. In order to register to CNN feeds, just browse to http://www.cnn.com , by reading your (excellent) Genieo review my Genieo automatically registered me to makeuseof.com feed. The user does need to know what RSS feed is or to mange his list, Genieo will register for you, check if the feed is valuable (brings interesting items) and unregister when a feed is not valuable.

(Yet we do understand what power users may wish to modify the feed list themselves and will add better control of your feed list in the future)

-Dotan

By: Dotan @Genieo

Dotan @Genieo — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:38:01 +0000

Saikat, thanks for the detailed review; I am glad you enjoy Genieo. We did aim to create exactly what you have described: personal zero-configuration start page.
Start page that will automatically follow shifts in your area of interest, a â€œPersonal pageâ€ not â€œcustomized pageâ€. We believe that the page should works for you and not the other way around :-).
I would like to add a little more information on two subjects:
Privacy: Genieo profile is build and stored locally on your PC, no user data is being sent to any server. We cannot misuse the user data since we do not have it. We cannot lose the data since we do not have it. No one can hack into our data store since we simple do not keep any users data records; all is stored on your PC. We do believe that is the true and only way to full privacy.
Adding feeds: You stated correctly that â€œâ€¦it doesnâ€™t let us add a site or a feed manuallyâ€. True but, Genieo will register you automatically to feeds in site that you visit. In order to register to CNN feeds, just browse to www.cnn.com , by reading your (excellent) Genieo review my Genieo automatically registered me to makeuseof.com feed. The user does need to know what RSS feed is or to mange his list, Genieo will register for you, check if the feed is valuable (brings interesting items) and unregister when a feed is not valuable.

(Yet we do understand what power users may wish to modify the feed list themselves and will add better control of your feed list in the future)

-Dotan

By: ToddMichaelGreene

ToddMichaelGreene — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:31:36 +0000

I tried Fav4 after reading Justin’s post you mentioned. Haven’t been as pleased as I’d expected. Will try this.