Nice to hear from you guys!

I would love to see a Dieter Rams feel to the interface following his "ten principles to good design" (google it).

Hopefully you have some basic knowledge of grid systems?

I agree, minimal interface is the way to go. Clean and simple.

p.s. Please stop making that camera shake like crazy, it's unbearable! />_>\

Exponentially exciting with everyday that passes, magic to watch the innovation as is unfold before me. Don't hold back guys push the limits and challenge yourselves, we are all behind you and want you to succeed.

+1 on using a tripod, folks. otherwise love the status update!

I would love to see this video. But i can't, this shaking camera makes me crazy.

I know semi-pro videos look cool and nerdy and you think it's a understatement, but please, make them a little bit better the next time! thx

I hope Diaspora is more stable than your camera work! ;-)

I don't know much about design copyright but it looks quite a bit like facebook, is it possible you guys could get in trouble for that?

Hopefully not coz it looks nice and sleek.

Time to hire a new camera operator. I don't want to watch the vids simply because they make me nauseated.

I absolutely love the cut to "I'm Raphael", lol. Best edit ever.

Looks great, keep up the good work!

One suggestion that others have mentioned... the camera.

For the future, perhaps a screencast with narration might be more appropriate, since Snow Leopard comes with that functionality built in.

Keep up the good work!

Come on guys. Buy a freaking tripod. Welcome to amateur hour.

The video isn't the point...but, yeh a tripod would be worth it before the next vid. :)

Oh to be young and motivated. Very cool guys. Keep up the (good) work...and I definitely look forward to seeing more.

So it's not Facebook but you ripped off the layout from Facebook. Yawn.

I agree with Simeon Thomas' comment...the nice folks at FB will wait until you launch your program, then sue your pants right off. Be careful....be different. But I agree that clear and simple is good. Make it easy on non-computer types like me.

Finally get the concept now, but only by maximising the video and seeing the instances running on separate domains (and thus assume separate hosting/servers). Distributed social networking!

But 99.9% of users don't have their own myname.com site/blog/hosting, nor the knowledge of how to acquire a domain name or install scripts. So how will you overcome this? Signup/hosting partners? However these partners would need to charge a regular $ fee to pay for a domain etc. Or if they are free, they will still want to strangle the data or flood the experience with advertising.

Or will you guys allow signups via sub-domains on diaspora.com? ... and if so, won't that defeat the point of distributed social networking and make your service no different than Facebook?

Also, are you guys including semantic markup (RDF, RDFa etc) into every piece of data?

Just had a thought. It would be cool if ICANN introduced a free TLD for individual identities and social networking. E.g. you could register joebloggs.bleh ... choose the social app/script to use (whether that is diaspora or other), choose where/who to host with, and integrate email as well (joe@joebloggs.bleh). I already do this, but of course it costs me $10 per year for the .com domain + hosting + backend know-how.

So a distributed, but integrated system of identity and social connection via unique TLD identifiers would be nice.

Just a suggestion, invest in a tripod

Just found out about this project today on TechnoBuffalo. I am now hooked on this and will definitely use this service. The whole concept looks promising and I can definitely see my friends using this.

First off, remember that in order for this to really take off, you'll need to make this user friendly. Not just the interface, settings, and what not, but user friendly in terms of actually signing up and/or downloading and setting up anything. The average user won't be overly tech savvy so keep that in mind.

Second off, try to keep everything minimalistic yet still aesthetically pleasing. Nobody wants a poring GUI, but overkill would be a turn off. I trust that you have some great ideas and will do a nice job!

As you continue to progress on this project, remember to listen to the feedback from people. You don't necessarily need to incorporate everything that is suggested, but know what people like, don't like, want changed, etc. This will be very important especially during these early stages.

I really hope you read these comments. You've got a great start on this and the future looks promising. Think everything through very thoroughly and try to change up the layout a bit (too much like Facebook). Thanks for your time!

By the way, where are you working on this project? It looked like a huge lab there.

Two options:
1) Use a screen capturer instance of record the monitor.
2) Buy a TV tunner card (really, aren't expensive) and use it instance.

But please, stop shaking the camera and zoom in, it's impossible to see the screen!

PS: Excelent work on Diaspora!

Looks great ! Can't wait. :)

But the camera moves too much, you should put it on a tripod.

great doin'!
the interface sure needs an overhaul, but like the others said, keep it minimal!

and also yes, put that camera on a tripod :)

From me as well:
+1 for tripod
+1 for extremely minimalistic design

I think customizable css would be nice (maybe even javascript)

I think virb (pre relaunch) was a better model for design, but a lousy model for connectivity and longevity.) As far as sophisticated original UI goes.

I cannot wait to move off Facebook and support this project.
I'd like to be involved and help. I'm a designer, and a big fan of internet decentralization.

Keep up the good work, guys!

maybe i misunderstood, how it works, but wouldnt it be cool, if everybody can design her/his own interface. That, when i watch the profile of a friend, i see the profile in the design that person has chosen.

Of couse then a lot of bad designs would exist, but it would be more "pluralistic" - And i guess bad designs wouldn't be clicked often end cease to exist.

And - Of course there should be an option to always vew the standard design (that should be minimalistic - the mose minimalistic kind of minimalistic in my opinion :D )
i don't like rounded edgesm or to big margins /margins at all.
right now the "Post Comment" from Vimeo is looking cool - no round edges.

1. Get a tripod.
2. Splice in screencasts of what you're showing us.
3. Get a tripod. Srsly.

Please for the love of God invest in a tripod.

Please buy yourself an anti shake camera