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OSS Read-it-Later service Omnivore sells out to AI startup ElevenLabs (lemmy.ml)

submitted 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) by datendefekt@lemmy.ml to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

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I've been a big fan of the slick interface of Omnivore. It could process web sites, email newsletters and RSS feeds.

The users have just been informed that Omnivore has "joined" the AI startup Eleven Labs. It may be bitter how OSS projects are being sucked up by AI, but that alone sounds innocuous enough.

What is upsetting is that the users have only until the 15.11 to export their data, after which the service will be deactivated. The export format is only usable with Eleven Labs, and exports for Pocket, Instapaper, etc are not offered, which I find just insulting.

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[-] halm@leminal.space 24 points 4 weeks ago

So fork the latest enshittifree release, setup your own web app, pretend nothing has changed?

[-] datendefekt@lemmy.ml 9 points 4 weeks ago

If you're into self-hosting there's Wallabag, but it's not half as slick as Omnivore.

[-] halm@leminal.space 8 points 4 weeks ago

I second Wallabag — IMO "slick" is a nice-to-have, not a must-have when weighing software choices against each other.

At least Wallabag has a long and robust track record of not selling users out to bullshit tech corpos. That counts for more in my book than shiny surfaces.

[-] jokeyrhyme@lemmy.ml 20 points 4 weeks ago

Gosh darn it I only just onboarded to Omnivore a few months ago Now I guess I need to find a new place to store bookmarks

[-] Snowcano@startrek.website 13 points 4 weeks ago

Same. I’m fucking furious. I specifically chose it over something like Readwise in order to stay open source. Ugh.

[-] camilobotero@feddit.dk 6 points 4 weeks ago

Once you find a good and nice solution, please let me know. It seems the good things are always condemned to disappear.

[-] halfpint@fedia.io 11 points 4 weeks ago

https://readeck.org/en/

[-] PropaGandalf@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

this looks promising

[-] joeldebruijn@lemmy.ml 4 points 4 weeks ago

If it's just bookmarks can recommend Floccus and LinkWarden.

[-] pip@slrpnk.net 9 points 4 weeks ago

You're telling me THIS is where I'm finding this out???? Gah fckin damnit, time to find a new one.... Any recommendations?

[-] Father_Redbeard@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 weeks ago

I like Wallabag. Snuggles in nicely with my chosen RSS: Miniflux

[-] AkashicOwl@lemmy.world 2 points 4 weeks ago

Same man... Tested a lot too, this was the only pleasing one for me Hit me up if you test a good one

[-] LiveLM@lemmy.zip 8 points 4 weeks ago

Why would a AI voice company buy a read-it-later service???

[-] 0xb@lemm.ee 2 points 4 weeks ago

They have their own reader app focused on their voice technology. Probably the plan is expand it to a read-it-later app similar to what omnivore is, and charge a subscription for ir. Similar to readwise but more focused on voice, I would think that's the plan.

Remember that so far nobody is making money with "AI" other than NVIDIA so they are starting to do these far out or whacky pivots to seek monetization.

[-] Engywuck@lemm.ee 8 points 4 weeks ago

Shame on them. Already deleted my account and self-hosted hoarder.

[-] starshipwinepineapple@programming.dev 8 points 4 weeks ago

So are they somehow able to relicense by buying off the contributors? Or does Eleven Labs intend to host/use something under AGPLv3? Just trying to figure out what their plan is and how they're dealing with it being open source

[-] 0xb@lemm.ee 1 points 4 weeks ago

Everything that exists as it is now will remain open source. More than bought the developers seem to have been hired by eleven labs and most likely have been working there for a while, so they are actually taking their know how and experience there more than taking the code itself.

That's how it looks like to me.

Another possibility is that the eleven labs reading app has portions licensed as agpl, the ones taken from omnivore.

[-] starshipwinepineapple@programming.dev 3 points 3 weeks ago

Thanks, yeah looks like they are wanting to build on their own reader app.

https://elevenlabs.io/blog/omnivore-joins-elevenlabs

[-] MonkCanatella@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 weeks ago

There's also readwise reader which is better in most ways. Not open source - but also not pretending to be either

[-] datendefekt@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 weeks ago

Also not exactly cheap!

[-] MonkCanatella@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago

No, very true

[-] 4shtonButcher@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 4 weeks ago

Stumbled upon it not too long ago but hadn’t yet determined it important enough for me to use yet. But I can see the tech stack looks like something I could get back into. If a fork starts I might finally move my lazy ass to do a PR here or review there. I’ll keep an eye out on it