Color has now launched in private beta around the concept of visual Facebook status updates, called "visits." We explore the new color and its evolution below.

Here is what Color has become: a means of posting 30-second soundless status update videos to Facebook. Color does not like to refer to these status updates as video but for lack of a better word on how to describe moving pictures in the digital age, that is what it is. The way Color wants to think of it is instead of using words to update for Facebook status, you will use these visits to show what is around you. A live broadcast to Facebook with the option of adding a caption. It is not a two-way communications portal or a way to do long form live video from a mobile device, like Qik. It is fairly simple, just a 30-second visual feed of your surroundings.

Color still attaches itself to location. On Android devices the app will prompt users to turn on GPS so the app can work more efficiently. On iOS it will prompt to make sure that location services are turned on. Once launched and attached to Facebook, Color will prompt users to post a photo or a visit. That will then pop up in the Facebook newsfeed as "Live From (Location)." It seems that a lot of the back-end systems for Color are alive and well, what CEO Bill Nguyen described as Color being a "research and data company" when ReadWriteWeb had an in-depth interview with him shortly after the funding announcement. If Color is not careful it is going to step in some of Facebook's privacy controversies, especially around a sensitive issue like location.

Color will also be integrated into Facebook's Timeline feature, whenever that happens to launch (now more than two months overdue). Within the app itself, there is a feed of all your friends' pictures that have been recently posted to their walls. Not just friends' visits, all recent photo activity. There is also a personal timeline of all your activity, from visits you made to pictures you have posted to pictures that you have been tagged in.

Color uses an aggressive push notifications system as well, one that we turned off on both Android and iOS (on an iPad 2) about two minutes after installing the app. The notification sounds like a doorbell and comes whenever a person hosts a live visit.

Cold Start, Lean Startup & Network Effects

One of the problems that Color had when it first launched was the "cold start" problem. It did not have the network effect (attract more users which in turn further develop the platform which attracts more users) from the beginning and was more or less just another app to most users. One that they did not understand. The fact that it had a terrible and confusing user interface did not help Color's cause.

Color has lost two of its three super star founders leaders since it launched. In July, ReadWriteWeb's Marshall Kirkpatrick wrote about how it was more or less a failure of the Lean Startup philosophy and CEO Bill Nguyen has been referred to as a "the boy in the bubble" that is really good at making money for venture capitalists.

We liked the concept of Color when it was announced and our founder Richard MacManus said that it had the potential to be as big as Twitter. "That wasn't my finest hour in analysis," MacManus said.

Color will eventually tie itself to Facebook's open social graph, which the company said was going to happen later this month. So, the elastic, implicit social graph has been completely abandoned.

Update 10:10 p.m. EST Dec. 1, 2012:

There was a bit of miscommunication with Color as to the nature of the elastic graph. We asked during our preview if the Color was going to still have the "implicit" graph. At the time, Color said no. What they meant was that this preview version would not have the implicit (or "elastic") graph but that when Color comes back out of private beta, the implicit data connections would return. We will be dutiful in explaining how that process works when Color launches to the public once again. Color also noted that while it will be coming out of private beta soon, it cannot speak for Facebook as to when the open graph will be made available to the public. We also noted above that two of the three super star "leaders" (not founders) had left the company.

Facebook creates implicit data but it uses it more for its own purposes. Color will do that as well, though in a naturally different way now that it is tied to the explicit social graph of Facebook, augmenting original idea of implicit data (having similar data points to a person in a similar location taking similar pictures). Attaching Color to Facebook will certainly help with the cold start problem but some people may not see the visit as anything fundamentally different from the fairly simple act of uploading a video taken with a smartphone camera to Facebook.

Does Color have a chance? With funding in the bank, it can certainly pivot again if it needs to (if it has talent left at that point). Let us know what you think about the fundamental nature of the visit in the comments. The video that is not a video but rather a real-time broadcast of your surroundings posted to Facebook.

The reasons why Color appears to be imploding can't be known for sure, but the whole thing looks like a lesson in the Lean Startup philosophy. Perhaps best articulated by consultant and author Eric Ries, the Lean Startup philosophy says the last thing you want to do is raise a whole lot of money, build a product in secret, then spring it on a world that may not want what you've built at all.

Indeed the technology does sound very, very interesting. But in order for the company's technology to capture the data that it wants to analyze, it first has to capture users. Design community leader Kathy Sierra says that great user experience design helps users "kick more ass." Unfortunately, the initial user experience with Color at launch was more likely to inspire frustration and confusion than triumph.

Lean Startup advocate Ries says that he had a similar experience with one of his startups, an avatar-based chat plug-in called IMVU. That company built a powerful technology that fell flat on its face as soon as real users were asked to install a plug-in.

Instead, Ries says, startups should co-create their products with their users or customers. Those IMVU users didn't want to use a plug-in across existing IM networks, they were more comfortable with another new IM client, and they wanted to meet new people, not connect with old contacts in a new avatar-based system. Those were lessons learned through customer contact that lead to a dramatic reshaping of the product.

That didn't look like something Color had done when it launched. Instead, it became a morass of ostentatious founder resumes, a huge coffer of funding, lots of hand waving about the technology behind the scenes and terrible reviews from users.

The product also suffered from one of the classic challenges of social networking: the cold start problem. Color was actually compelling and fun when you were using it in a place where a number of other people were, too. Once network effects were available, the offering was much stronger - but that's a chicken and egg situation. Why be one of the first users when there was no one else around? That was a frustrating experience.

And now what have they got? A Hollywood launch in March and two of three leaders out the door by early July. A big pile of other peoples' money and a bunch of technology that hasn't found "product market fit," as people say.

The Lean Startup philosophy isn't the only way to do a startup, but its advocates argue that it's a better way for many tech products to be built and brought to market. Unless evidence emerges that indicates otherwise, Color looks like it's fast becoming the latest data point that Lean Startup advocates will be pointing to as an example of what not to do.

In this post we explore some of those other examples of Color usage, including a concert and a BBQ. Also we talk to Color's Chief Product Officer DJ Patil and ask him to explain more about the product vision.

Color is a smartphone app that enables you to share photos and videos with a group of people at the same location as you. Patil told us that there have been a "wide array of use cases" for Color so far. They range from large gatherings (movie premieres, tech conferences, music concerts) to smaller groups (BBQs, "journalistic events" like the scene of a car fire, cooking groups).

Patil also emphasized that the company is still exploring use cases and they don't want to "impose our projection of how to use the app" on people.

What Happens to the Content?

There has been confusion about where the content generated by Color goes and how is it shared. Are the photos taken using Color archived? Patil explained that if you participate in a Color group, that content is not only shared in real-time with others in proximity to you, it also appears in the 'History' section of the app as an album. You can share albums, photos and videos using Twitter, Facebook, email or SMS.

So far, Color has no search or archiving mechanism on its website. So the only way that people who weren't at an event are likely to see the related album is if its been shared via the likes of Twitter and Facebook.

Use Cases So Far

So how has Color been used so far? One example is a recent concert at Madison Square Garden by LCD Soundsystem, a popular electronics band. Here is the archived album for that show.

There were 82 photos uploaded by 26 contributors at the LCD Soundsystem show. Here's an example of how that content was shared by the Twitter user @tewks.

Another point worth mentioning is that conversation can happen around an album. Here's an example from ReadWriteWeb's own Tyler Gillies, who used Color at two recent events in Portland: PDX 11 Civic Hackathon and PDX Open Source GIS.

In yesterday's post, several commenters and tweeters claimed that Color was only useful for large events - therefore they doubted that Color would be used as regularly as Twitter. The following example may counter that view. This is from a BBQ, with only 3 photo contributors. This album also includes one video.

Another example that Patil mentioned, where a smaller gathering of people was able to create a useful Color album, was at the scene of a car fire. Patil said that two people took photos from intersections and third person from a balcony.

Other examples that Color provided us were albums from the Where 2.0 conference and a block party in Kentucky.

These early use cases show the potential of Color to share experiences with people near you, using smartphones. Of course it remains to be seen whether this activity becomes widespread, but the early examples at least show that it can be used across a wide range of daily activities.

Let us know if these use cases have changed your mind about Color's potential, or if you still think it just won't fly.

Color launched last month in a whirl of hype, mostly due to the eye-opening $41 million prelaunch funding. But since then, the user experience has been the center of focus. Many people have complained that the app is difficult to understand - mainly because the benefits of the app are only clear once you use it amongst a crowd of people and in real-time. The user interface of the app has also been accused of being confusing and inconsistent.

Color enables you to share "photos, videos and conversations" with a group of people who are at the same location as you. The idea is that it's only useful when you're in the proximity of a group of people. That word, proximity, has since become a trending term among the tech set. Rather than being about your social connection to someone, Color is about how close you are to them. Is this the next wave of mobile apps? Color is hoping so.

Here's a quick intro:

The ideal use case for Color then, is for events with large groups of people - like a concert or conference. Color ostensibly allows you to share your experience with that group; as well as augment your experience by giving you alternate views and allow you to see things that you'd otherwise have missed. ReadWriteWeb's resident hacker, Tyler Gillies, recently used Color at a tech conference and noted that it allowed him to see slides from many different sessions.

Color Goes to the Movies

In mid-April, Color set out to showcase its new app at the premiere of a new Hollywood film called "Water for Elephants." At the event, 49 people took 788 photos using Color - according to the event's web page. In scanning those photos, they range from official and fan photos of the movie's stars as they walk down the the red carpet, to photos of fans as they wait for the action to start.

If the goal was "to bring the red carpet to fans who could not be in Manhattan," as HollywoodNews.com claimed, then that didn't work. While I personally believe that the world can never have enough photos of Reese Witherspoon, it's doubtful that 788 blurry photos of the red carpet was a compelling experience for people who didn't attend.

The real question is: what value did the people taking those photos get from Color, while the event was happening? I couldn't find any of that user feedback online and so I've asked Color for comment. In the meantime, I asked the ReadWriteWeb community via Twitter if they've used Color, and if so was it of value? Here's a sample of responses, collected via Storify:

Color's Future

I started out this post by comparing Color's user experience to Twitter 5 years ago, which baffled early adopters too. Indeed, Color co-founder Peter Pham recently told The Hollywood Reporter that Color is like a "visual Twitter."

Once the early adopters get used to Color - and it will take time to figure out how and where Color works best, just as it did with Twitter - then I expect to see usage filter through to mainstream users at concerts, events, conferences and other large gatherings of people. Whoever is the next Lady Gaga in 5 years time, my bet is that her concerts will generate thousands of photos and videos from Color users.

In short, I believe that Color has a very good chance of becoming a large scale success like Twitter. Certainly it's funded to do so!

Do you agree? Let us know your thoughts on Color's future, or your usage of it now, in the comments.

UPDATE: See also the follow up post: How Color is Being Used. It features more examples of Color usage, including from a concert and a BBQ.

When location-based photo sharing app Color launched last month, it arrived to a chorus of complaints - all justified, mind you - about a confusing, puzzle-like design and a terrible user experience. Still, users seem to be confused about what the app is for, as you can often hear people ask "Why do I want to share photos with strangers?" whenever the topic of Color is brought up.

This weekend, Color will partner up with 20th Century Fox to show users one example of how Color, the power of the crowd and proximity can all come together to create a new and interesting experience.

When the app first launched last month, many people tried to use it by themselves. Since then the app's creators have come out and explicitly said that the app is not intended for using by ones self, even adding a warning to the iTunes entry for some time. For those that attempted the solitary experience, this weekend's premiere may offer a glimpse at what's possible when using Color in a crowd - its intended use case.

For the premiere's attendees, the photos should be available by using the app, while the rest of us can pay attention on the Web at www.color.com/waterforelephants, which goes live at 1 pm PT on Sunday.

Color co-founder Peter Pham told The Hollywood Reporter that this was likely not a one-off experience and that "Color has received a 'tremendous amount' of interest from high-profile musicians who want to use the app for their tours, with possible announcements to come."

This week, I tried out the app at a Giants game and it did everything it promises. It gathered all of our photos into a single collection, even merging those photos with those of others using the app nearby. Can Color change its perception problem and convince the public its useful with some proper event placement? Perhaps. This weekend will be a trial run.

If you still haven't seen Color, here's a quick intro:

Last night, an app called Color hit the app stores for both iOS and Android. It made a big splash for a number of reasons, not the least of which being its $41 million prelaunch funding. It has all-star founders who have a impressive track records. It launched days after, instead of before, uber tech conference SXSW. Unfortunately for the company, the app can offer a terrible experience for first-time users and appear absolutely useless to those outside of a densely packed, techie mecca like San Francisco or New York.

Let's put all that aside for a moment, however, and look at how Color works, what it does, and why it could redefine mobile, location, and online social interaction. We took some time to talk with Color CEO Bill Nguyen this afternoon and asked him about the tech behind the most talked about app this side of SXSW and here's what he had to say.

Color hit both the iTunes App Store and Android Marketplace last night, bringing with it the promise of real-time, proximity based photo sharing. Using something the company calls a "multi-lens," the app "intelligently identifies nearby smartphones, whether at a local park or at a concert, using advanced proximity algorithms" and instantly shares photos, videos, comments and likes with them.

According to Nguyen, Color is built on some serious technology. The company has six patents pending and sees itself as "much more of a research company and a data mining company than a photo sharing site."

As such, Nguyen explains that Color can ingest and analyze four times the amount of data than Google did in its early days. This, not a tech "bubble" or an early exit, justifies the $41 million investment.

"We have no interest whatsoever in being acquired," said Nguyen. "This is purely what we need to operate. There are real data needs and real capital costs."

What does this tech offer? Among other things, a new way of looking at location and proximity that, while Nguyen wouldn't speculate, could be used in any number of ways including creating a new way of online social interaction.

Research & Data Mining, You Say?

The pictures and videos you take using Color are much more than just that. They're a piece of sharable media around which Color can collect and retain a number of different data points. When you take a picture or video, Color gathers a variety of information. It collects sound levels, Bluetooth readings, light readings, antenna strength, the time - even the direction you're pointing your phone - and more and uses it all to determine your proximity to other users.

This leaves an obvious question - why not use GPS? This is where the tech we've been talking about comes in.

"Lots of people are trying to create location-based services and using GPS," said Nguyen. "The problem with GPS is that it doesn't work."

Color does things differently by collecting these various data points from the phone's sensors and then looking for proximity by looking for identical inaccuracies.

"When you open the camera, that's our big moment," explained Nguyen. "The information we capture in a very short window is probably not that accurate, but when you compare it to lots of other people and it's identically inaccurate, they're probably in the same place."

The problem, of course, isn't how to gather the data, but how to benchmark it, compare it, and accurately determine location and proximity. That's where Color's patent-pending technology comes in, which Nguyen credits DJ Patil, former chief scientist with LinkedIn, with creating. If you've used many GPS-dependent apps, then you know the battery-draining and inaccurate qualities of modern location. Color offers a way to determine location and proximity in such a non-battery draining, accurate manner that an impromptu and "elastic" social graph can be created from the data, without once ever having to purposefully check in.

The 'Elastic' Social Graph

So, is color just another social photo sharing app? No. There are no friend designations in the app.Instead, your friends are people whose paths your own path intersects with, both in location, time and interaction. The more you interact with someone, the more persistent that connection becomes. Over time, it fades away. Ngyuen calls it the "elastic" social graph and he said it's just one of several other ideas the company is working on patenting.

"That's the part I've never gotten about an online social network - to say that someone is your 'friend.' It's rather kind of random. Shouldn't relationships based on technology work the exact same as real life relationships?" asked Nguyen.

In the world of Facebook, once someone is your friend, they're your friend until you return and re-evaluate that relationship, regardless of whether or not you've ever spoken to them again. In reality, the relationship could have fizzled long ago, yet it's still a bond as good as any. With Color's "elastic" social graph, these ties can fade and disappear. Color's ability to accurately determine location and user proximity is what makes this sort of social graph - an implied, impermanent and elastic social graph - even possible.

Isn't It All Just Bubble-Induced Hype?

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say "no." Color may have offered a terrible first impression for folks out in the boonies with nobody nearby, but it says it's fixing that. It may have shot itself in the foot in terms of rising to the top of the App Store and raking in the new users. It may have even confused and annoyed the early adopter set with its puzzle-esque and sometimes serpentine design, but if it can really do what it proposes - change the way our social graph works by way of accurate location and proximity data - then none of that may matter.

Oh, and before you ask, Nguyen said they do have a monetization plan. It hinges on advertising and one simple fact.

"Our data is so accurate that we know where you are," said Nguyen.

When you're looking for color schemes, a quick Google search will lead you to a number of resources - in fact, there are so many it's almost too much. The problem with a lot of the apps you find today is that they are simply tools to provide you with the numbers of the web colors. While these are useful for designers who already have colors in mind, they're less using for those of us that are, let's say, design-challenged. What we need instead are apps that can provide color schemes for us so we can pick ones we like or apps that let us find our own sources of inspiration - like Flickr photos - and use those as the basis of our palette. To that end, here are five of the apps we find inspiring, but we're looking forward to hearing about your favorites in the comments, too.

Kuler

Kuler is an Adobe Labs color palette generator and explorer. You can use the Flash-based app to either create your own color scheme by setting your own hex values or you can search through, rate, and tag, and comment on the schemes that have already been created by others. All the color schemes can then be downloaded in the Adobe Swatch Exchange (.ASE) format which works with any of Adobe's Creative Suite applications.

Color Hunter

Color Hunter is a color palette generator that uses flickr photos to create a palette. To find color palettes on Color Hunter, enter a search term in the box at the top of the page. You can search by tag or hex color code or the image URL from flickr's web site. If you have an image of your on saved on your computer, you can upload it and get a color palette generated based on the colors in the image. You can also use Color Hunter to search by tag.

Color Palette Generator

The Color Palette Generator located on DeGraeve.com is a simple tool that also lets you use a photo from the web as the inspiration. It's a bit more basic than Color Hunter, above, but sometimes that's just what you need. Just enter in the photo's URL from any place on the web and the generator will create a color scheme based on the photo.

ColorJack

ColorJack is an online generator that lets you hover over a color on the site's grid to see themes that use that color. You can select which format you want to see your color scheme in (hsv, rgb, or hex) and you can then export it to Illustrator, Photoshop, or ColorJack Studio. Other ColorJack tools include the Color Sphere and the Color Galaxy, which provide alternative UIs for generating color schemes. A Mac OSX widget is also available.

Daily Color Scheme

Daily Color Scheme is an "everyday color resource" that provides you with the color schemes used by other web sites like 9Rules, for example. Using those sites as inspiration, you can bookmark their schemes, download them in your preferred format, or import the schemes into your design program like Photoshop, Illustrator, or Topstyle.