Rooster (application)

Last updated

Rooster is a mobile reading service for iOS7. [1]

Features

For a $4.99 monthly fee, Rooster releases fiction installments to users' phones. Each set of selections comprises one classic and one contemporary novel or novella. [2] Each installment is also optimized towards the average, fifteen-minute commute. [3] The works can be as long as 500 pages, though the app is also intended as a possible "gateway drug" to works that might require more time than a month of commutes. [4] [5] Users can customize how often and at what time their installment will arrive, as well as text size, font style, and background color. [6] [7] The amount of content is also adjustable, as users can skip to later installments if they choose. [8] Over the course of each month, up to two more books will appear in the app. [9]

Contents

Development

Rooster was created by Jennifer 8. Lee, Yael Goldstein Love, and former StumbleUpon engineer Jacqueline Chang, co-founders of Plympton, Inc. Serial fiction has always been Plympton's core product, as well as that of now-partner DailyLit, but past series were distributed via Kindle or email. The idea to focus on the iPhone came after Goldstein Love continued hearing people complain they "don't have time to read anything longer than a blog post," even though books like Madame Bovary and Great Expectations were once serials in short installments. [10] [11] The name for the program came out of the associations between the bird and early-morning wakefulness. [12] Rooster's release was announced at SXSW Interactive. [13] It was launched March 10, 2014, in the Apple App Store. Its inaugural literary selections were Herman Melville's Billy Budd and "I Was Here," an exclusive. [14] Though it currently focuses on fiction, co-founders hope it will expand to other genres. [15]

Reception

Inc. listed it as one of "5 Game-Changing Startups to Watch." [16]

Related Research Articles

Jennifer 8. Lee is an American journalist who previously worked for The New York Times. She is also the co-founder and president of the literary studio Plympton, as well as a producer on The Search for General Tso, which premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.

iPhone Line of smartphones designed and marketed by Apple Inc.

iPhone is a line of smartphones produced by Apple Inc. that use Apple's own iOS mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then-Apple CEO Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007. Since then, Apple has annually released new iPhone models and iOS updates. As of November 1, 2018, more than 2.2 billion iPhones had been sold. As of 2022, the iPhone accounts for 15.6% of global smartphone market share.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Android (operating system)</span> Mobile operating system

Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open-source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Android is developed by a consortium of developers known as the Open Handset Alliance, though its most widely used version is primarily developed by Google. It was unveiled in November 2007, with the first commercial Android device, the HTC Dream, being launched in September 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Songza</span> Free music streaming and recommendation service

Songza was a free music streaming and recommendation service for Internet users in the United States and Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foursquare City Guide</span> Location-based social networking service

Foursquare City Guide, commonly known as Foursquare, was a local search-and-discovery mobile app developed by Foursquare Labs Inc. The app provides personalized recommendations of places to go near a user's current location based on users' previous browsing history and check-in history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Path (social network)</span> Social network

Path was a social networking-enabled photo sharing and messaging service for mobile devices that was launched in 14 November 2010. The service allows users to share up to a total of 50 contacts with their close friends and family. Based in San Francisco, California, the company was founded by Shawn Fanning and former Facebook executive Dave Morin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WhatsApp</span> Messaging and VoIP service owned by Meta

WhatsApp is an internationally available freeware, cross-platform, centralized instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by US tech conglomerate Meta. It allows users to send text and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other content. WhatsApp's client application runs on mobile devices, and can be accessed from computers. The service requires a cellular mobile telephone number to sign up. In January 2018, WhatsApp released a standalone business app called WhatsApp Business which can communicate with the standard WhatsApp client.

Yael Goldstein Love is a novelist, editor and book critic. She is also co-founder and editorial director of the literary studio Plympton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lanyrd</span> Conference directory website

Lanyrd was a conference directory website. It was created by Simon Willison and Natalie Downe and launched in 2010. The site was created while the couple were on honeymoon.

WeChat and Weixin are a Chinese instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment app developed by Tencent. First released in 2011, it became the world's largest standalone mobile app in 2018 with over 1 billion monthly active users. WeChat has been described as China's "app for everything" and a super-app because of its wide range of functions. WeChat provides text messaging, hold-to-talk voice messaging, broadcast (one-to-many) messaging, video conferencing, video games, mobile payment, sharing of photographs and videos and location sharing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Play</span> Digital distribution service by Google

Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating system and its derivatives, as well as ChromeOS, allowing users to browse and download applications developed with the Android software development kit (SDK) and published through Google. Google Play has also served as a digital media store, offering games, music, books, movies, and television programs. Content that has been purchased on Google Play Movies & TV and Google Play Books can be accessed on a web browser and through the Android and iOS apps.

Plympton Inc. is a literary studio founded in 2011 by Jennifer 8. Lee and Yael Goldstein Love. Plympton focuses on publishing serialized fiction for digital platforms, and launched its first series in September 2012 as part of the Kindle Serials program announced by Jeff Bezos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vine (service)</span> Defunct American social network for short videos

Vine was an American short-form video hosting service where users could share six-second-long looping video clips. It was originally launched on January 24, 2013, by Vine Labs, Inc. Bought by Twitter, Inc. in 2012 before its launch, the service was shut down on January 17, 2017 and the app was discontinued a few months later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mailbox (application)</span> Defunct freeware email management application

Mailbox was a freeware email management application for iOS and Android, developed by Orchestra, Inc. It drew the attention of numerous technology blogs for its usability and innovative features, such as swipe-based email sorting, snoozing and filtering. Weeks before its launch, a pre-registration period resulted in a waiting list of over 380,000 reservations. Upon its iOS launch on 7 February 2013, Mailbox became the second-most-downloaded free app in the App Store that day.

DailyLit is an online publisher founded in 2006 by Susan Danziger and Albert Wenger. The site distributes stories in serial installments via e-mail and RSS feed. The installments are designed to be read in under five minutes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oyster (company)</span> Commercial streaming service for digital e-books

Oyster was a commercial streaming service for digital e-books, available for Android, iOS, Kindle Fire, and NOOK HD/HD+ devices. It was also available on any web browser on a desktop or laptop computer. Oyster held over 1 million books in its library, and as of September 2015, the service was only available in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yo (app)</span> Smartphone app

Yo was a social mobile application for iOS, Android, and formerly also Windows Phone. Initially, the application's only function was to send the user's friends the word "yo" as a text and audio notification, but it has since been updated to enable users to attach links and location to their "Yo"s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Signal (software)</span> Privacy-focused encrypted messaging app

Signal is an encrypted messaging service for instant messaging, voice, and video calls. The instant messaging function includes sending text, voice notes, images, videos, and other files. Communication may be one-to-one between users, or for group messaging.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smartphones and pedestrian safety</span>

Safety hazards have been noted due to pedestrians walking slowly and without attention to their surroundings because they are focused upon their smartphones. Texting pedestrians may trip over curbs, walk out in front of cars and bump into other walkers. The field of vision of a smartphone user is estimated to be just 5% of a normal pedestrian's.

Literary Hub is a daily literary website that launched in 2015 by Grove Atlantic president and publisher Morgan Entrekin, American Society of Magazine Editors Hall of Fame editor Terry McDonell, and Electric Literature founder Andy Hunter.

References

  1. ↑ "Plympton/DailyLit Debuts Rooster App at SXSW". March 11, 2014. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
  2. ↑ Henry, Alan (March 10, 2014). "Rooster Makes Books Bite Size for People Too Busy to Read". Lifehacker. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  3. ↑ Fiegerman, Seth (March 10, 2014). "Rooster App Is Like a Book Club for Busy People". Mashable. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  4. ↑ Winter, Caroline (March 13, 2014). "What to Do With Those Extra 15 Minutes". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  5. ↑ Charles, Ron (March 10, 2014). "New Rooster app crows about good books, young and old". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  6. ↑ Dunne, Carey (March 11, 2014). "Ex-New York Times Writer Develops An App To Get Busy People Reading More". Fast Company. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  7. ↑ Charles, Ron (March 10, 2014). "New Rooster app crows about good books, young and old". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  8. ↑ Cha, Bonnie (March 11, 2014). "Rooster App Delivers Books in Easy-to-Digest, Bite-Size Chunks for Busy People". Re/code. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  9. ↑ Tate, Ryan (March 11, 2014). "The Future of Books Looks a Lot Like Netflix". Wired. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  10. ↑ Fiegerman, Seth (March 10, 2014). "Rooster App Is Like a Book Club for Busy People". Mashable. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  11. ↑ Wagstaff, Keith (February 19, 2014). "Must Read: Serial Novels Get Second Life With Smartphones, Tablets". NBC News. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  12. ↑ Charles, Ron (March 10, 2014). "New Rooster app crows about good books, young and old". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Plympton/DailyLit Debuts Rooster App at SXSW". Publishers Weekly. March 11, 2014. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  14. ↑ Charles, Ron (March 10, 2014). "New Rooster app crows about good books, young and old". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  15. ↑ Ha, Anthony (March 10, 2014). "Aiming To Fit Fiction Into Busy Schedules, Rooster Is An iPhone App For Serialized Novels". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  16. ↑ James, Geoffrey. "5 Game-Changing Startups to Watch". Inc.com. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.