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43 Things "Hugster" Preview

15 Dec 2004 by Jason Fried

A few weeks ago we blew the lid off the 43 Things / Twinkler secret project we’ve been working on with the Robot Co-op in Seattle. Well, here’s another exclusive preview at Hugster, the final major iteration of 43 Things before official launch. Click the image below for a full size view:

This is essentially a real version of a Goal Page. A Goal Page lists the goal (“get an apple powerbook” in this case), some of the people who want to do it, other things that these people are doing, and then weblog-comment-like entries from these people about this thing they’re trying to do. On the right there’s also a list of people who have done it and whether or not they’d recommend doing it. And then there are the… ads.

In the upper right corner there are a couple of buttons: “I want to do this” adds this goal to your own list. “I’ve done this” marks this as something you’ve already done. You can also invite people to do this thing with you and even subscirbe to this thing in RSS and be notified when others join this thing or post a comment.

Launch is just around the corner so stay tuned.

24 comments so far (Post a Comment)

15 Dec 2004 | Jamie said...

half joking: will there be an "adults-only" section of the site? Because I can see the potential there....

15 Dec 2004 | Ryan Schroeder said...

Enrique Iglesias Hairpiece?

15 Dec 2004 | JF said...

Enrique Iglesias Hairpiece?

Ha! That's the rumor.

15 Dec 2004 | Jonathan M. Hollin said...

What a brilliant idea. Already I'm looking forward to the day when I can join in. Great work.

15 Dec 2004 | Daniel Spils said...

Well, we'll start with "mature" and go from there. Not much in the way of adult content ... yet.

15 Dec 2004 | Jamie said...

Dan. Ha! Remember, half-joking ...

15 Dec 2004 | 43 ponies said...

i want a twinkler pony!

15 Dec 2004 | SH said...

I really, really, really wanted to be the one who pointed out that Google search entry. I'm crushed that someone beat me to it.

16 Dec 2004 | Don Schenck said...

I work on intranet sites for Customer Service and Sales, and you guys do this cool stuff.

I REALLY hate you guys, Jason.

16 Dec 2004 | George said...

That looks familiar ;)

16 Dec 2004 | George said...

And, YAY! Can't wait for the "fist of the new year"

16 Dec 2004 | ~bc said...

I don't get it.

Also, anyone else seeing delays on their 37svn RSS feeds? Mine are coming two days late... it wouldn't be the only FeedBurner feed I was having trouble with. In fact, the only feeds I'm having issues with are FeedBurner ones.

16 Dec 2004 | Sara said...

Awesome concept, can't wait until it launches. Great interface, too. It looks very simple and straight forward - just like everything else you guys do!

16 Dec 2004 | Matthew Oliphant said...

I am getting the feeds late too ~bc.

Don... Do you help people get their work done more efficiently, with fewer errors and help them be more satisfied with their work? Then you are doing great things too.

At least that's what I tell myself with these exciting insurance apps.

16 Dec 2004 | Michael Spina said...

LOL, how true! The life of an intranet developer/designer.

Although, while training our account management team on a new version of their intranet app, we got applause :)

16 Dec 2004 | Don Schenck said...

But ... but ... I want to create "Wow" stuff.

I have to go back and re-read my "Project 50" book by Tom Peters. Turn everything into a Wow project, that's the key.

(I'm currently s-l-o-w-l-y getting through his book, "Re-Imagine". It's fantastic.)

Thanks for the kick in the arse, Matthew.

16 Dec 2004 | ~bc said...

Don, I second Matt's sentiments, you too are an important cog in the clock. Besides, intranets can be cool. I still haven't figured out what this project does. Which is itself, cool, since its nice to see something made w/o a concrete purpose, sometimes they teach us stuff that can be used in other projects, intranets, even.

16 Dec 2004 | Don Schenck said...

My favorite thing is writing tools. I once wrote a program generator/CASE tool for the RPG/400 and AS/400 platform. It was cool.

I also like writing components, especially in an environment where you agree on specs and interfaces, then go off and do your thing. You put it all together and it works. That's cool. I was part of that at a huge pharmaceutical a few years back and it was a blast.

16 Dec 2004 | initialThought said...

i too don't get it. how would this benefit someone? say i have this goal of getting a powerbook, aside from the google advertisements, how would the site help me accomplish my goal?

though i could see how it might be beneficial if the goal is something obscure or hard to find information on and you'd need to rely on someone's actual experience, but i imagine there are few goals like that.

and even if the idea is just to group people with the same goals, it only seems like a new twist on forums or community groups.

so not to rain on anyone's parade, but can someone describe what the actual benefits are?

16 Dec 2004 | hartmurmur said...

For the intranet developer, I am curious as to how these sites like these generate revenue.

This obviously wasn't a weekend task. Care to share how it all played out (or you hope it to play out) with acquiring funding (the sales pitch), expected visitation, areas of expected revenue, etc.?

16 Dec 2004 | jankowski said...

I think the powerbook screenshot may have been a poor choice for an example, judging from the stuff people were coming up with in the twinkler preview. I'm guessing the concept is "a community of people commenting on things they've done, would like to do, have purchased, dislike, etc". So if there was a "start my own business" thing-to-do, that's not really a direct mapping onto a product, but there would be a running-weblog stream of thoughts stemming from that goal/idea. It's sort of like a running community guide for anything at all you'd like to do in or with your life.

Whether that's useful, or enjoyable, or anything else worth using is up for debate. I'm thinking that the ads located on the pages are more of a "how can we fund doing this thing we want to build?" component than a "these ads are the point of the entire service" component.

17 Dec 2004 | yousef said...

Call me stupid, but I don't get it. So you create networks with people that want the same things/goals you do...? I guess that is useful...

17 Dec 2004 | nitpicky said...

I was just wondering why you chose to display the full-size screenshot with .gif compression? I would think since your backing this project you would want to make it look as good as possible as a .jpg.

17 Dec 2004 | isil flynn said...

This is such a seriously cool app - unfortunately I may have trouble achieving my goals because I'm having too much fun looking over the goals of others and writing entries and...well you get the drift. But honestly, I think half the battle to achieving your goals is focussing on them - which this app will help you to do. Also, encouraging other people to achieve their goals is a side bonus. One thing I'm wondering - is it possible to invite someone on the system who has a similar goal to maybe collaborate?

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