Ask HN: who launched something in July?

38 points by amoore 14 years ago | 78 comments

We've done this a few times before, and I've always found it interesting to learn what new projects have been launched by the HN crowd. So, if you've launched a new project, website, or business in the last month, let us know!

scottw 14 years ago |

I launched a fake call API (http://www.fakecall.net/) to help polite introverts exit unwanted conversations or meetings. I need someone to make a nice app for it ;-)

poissonpie 14 years ago | |

this is awesome....it's kind of crying out for a bookmarklet....or maybe a "tech news aggregation site" front-end that fires off the "call" request after a small delay.....that way you can politely open a browser to pontificate over some fancy new gadget when said cow-orker sidles up to you...and all of a sudden...."oops excuuuuuse me, I have to take this call"

bartonfink 14 years ago | |

I've done that by setting an alarm on my phone before a conversation I expect could get awkward. It got me out of a couple of unpleasant dates before I met my wife. Unfortunately, my in-laws aren't so easily shaken.

veyron 14 years ago | |

can you leverage google voice instead of twilio, using asterisk or some other pbx if necessary?

scottw 14 years ago | | |

Probably, but the Twilio call is only two lines of code :)

I may look into other backends, but Twilio was by far the easiest to get going. Currently checking out Tropo and Teleku.

nicksergeant 14 years ago | |

Cool idea! :) Btw, it's co-worker, not cow-orker.

MattBearman 14 years ago | | |

Click the cow-orker link to see what the mean ;)

vpdn 14 years ago |

http://tastytum.com - One week event in Berlin to match hosts and locals over food.

Assumption is that an event like this might be less scary compared to AirBnB style of renting your flat away.

If someone is in Berlin and interested to host, would love to hear from you!

Others that are also trying in that field: - Housefed - GrubWithUs: http://www.grubwithus.com

Housefed tries to build up a community first before getting into hosting meals (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2379797). We go the opposite road and try to validate our assumptions as fast as possible. I believe we can (in)validate many assumptions while extracting lots of information by running a one week experiment, which also doesn't cost us much either.

Feedbacks so far mostly through friends, but also reaching out to people on twitter (e.g: https://twitter.com/#!/lorenbaxter/status/96319791110946816)

dshipper 14 years ago |

I launched http://domainpolish.com - to get user feedback from on-demand focus groups powered by MTurk, and http://tiggerlovesdevs.com - an open-source command-line based task management utility for programmers

MPiccinato 14 years ago |

I launched Had That Beer (http://www.hadthatbeer.com) into private beta. Going great so far! Use code "showhn" if you want to signup (http://www.hadthatbeer.com/signup?c=showhn)

brandoncordell 14 years ago | |

Looks great. I'm not a beer drinker myself, but my co-worker is a beer lover. I've passed the link on to him, you probably have a user for life ha.

One suggestion, I would have liked to have seen some auto-complete/suggestions when typing in a beer/brewer/place at the top.

Great job!

derwiki 14 years ago |

http://github.com/causes/suggestomatic

Open source item based collaborative filter used for 'Causes you might like' feature on Causes.com. This project was built specifically with large scale data sets (approaching 1 bn input records) in mind.

BrandonMTurner 14 years ago |

We launched an Android version of our iPhone app (~8M downloads on iPhone). Currently holding steady at #11 in the Health and Fitness category of the marketplace.

http://blog.loseit.com/2011/07/25/lose-it-for-android/

AppSec 14 years ago | |

Just signed up for the site (have a palm pre for at least another month ;-) ).. looks good..

The one thing I would ask is that you have/force https when actually in the app.. Even though it isn't PII -- weight can be a very touchy subject.

another thing: in the "Status".. Adding the total protein, carb, fat count for the day would also be great!

BrandonMTurner 14 years ago | | |

It would be nice to have everything in SSL at some point, we just aren't there yet. We only auth across SSL right now.

You can use the site in always HTTPS mode with this url for the time being:

https://secure.loseit.com

To turn on nutrients go to Settings > Nutrient Preferences

Feel free to send any other feedback or bugs my way. brandon+hn@loseit.com

MattBearman 14 years ago |

I launched BugMuncher (http://bugmuncher.com) on the 15th July, so far its been well received, and is already profitable!

Couldn't be happier with the way its gone so far, and a lot of that is down to the HN community.

amoore 14 years ago | |

That's a great idea. I haven't seen a similar service. Also, good execution. I'm impressed by how well it seems to work and that's a pretty good site you have there.

I'm curious how paypal is working out for you. I always feel it's a bit hokey or something. Do you have plans to use a "real" credit card processor?

MattBearman 14 years ago | | |

Thanks, PayPal has been fine so far, most people have a PayPal account these days.

I would like to move to an on-site, or at least branded, solution at some point though.

I've been talking to a start-up for payment processing without a merchant account, which looks promising, but testing/implementing it isn't very high on the to do list as I'm already processing payments ok...

james_fairhurst 14 years ago | |

Great idea, I'm a web developer and would find it really useful for demoing client projects before launch so they can point out anything they're unhappy with. What have you used to create it out of interest?

MattBearman 14 years ago | | |

I built it all in JavaScript with jQuery. No canvas or flash, as I wanted it to be as reliable and cross browser compatible as possible.

You're not the first person to want to use it during building a site so a client can give feedback, even though that isn't what I built it for. I find it awesome that people will come up with use cases I hadn't considered.

een1bhs 14 years ago |

I partially launched Syncomatic http://www.SyncomaticApp.com its only partially launched as wanted a small number of users to make sure it was all OK before making a big deal of it and marketing it everywhere. (And I always find things i wish I had done after launch :-) )

Its a iPhone app that syncs/transfers your camera rolls Photo's and Movie's to you mac over WiFi whilst in the background so you don't have to remember to sync etc. I have an update waiting for approval that fixes a small bug and changes some small UI elements then I'm going to start submitting it to review sites / blogs etc.

ovi256 14 years ago | |

>I partially launched

I think it's called a soft launch, FYI :)

And about all the things you want to do before launch: don't worry about them, that's what subsequent revisions are for. You can add value at any time, not only at launch!

een1bhs 14 years ago | | |

:-) Thanks

dicroce 14 years ago |

I created a website that allows people to create their own trail mix, visually (so you can see what it looks like before you order) and then buy it.... http://www.trailmyx.com

poissonpie 14 years ago |

I launched http://www.placeguitar.com - a placeholder image service in the style of placekitten, but with guitars!

I also launched a grammar application of iPhone that's in review.

Don't know if it counts as a launch but I rededicated an old domain to be my blog and put a fresh coat of paint on the stylesheet. http://twentyeighttwelve.com

rationalbeaver 14 years ago |

I launched http://practicalinterviews.com, where I'm posting my interviews with entrepreneurs, business owners and creative folks of all sorts. I'm still working on my recording setup, to say nothing of my interviewing techniques, but at least it's out there. :)

P.S. I'm looking for interviewees, so if any of you would like to discuss your newly launched apps, let me know.

blazzar 14 years ago | |

Give me a shout if my stuff is interesting to your audience

brandoncordell 14 years ago |

Great question amoore. I'd like to know what technology stacks you guys are using to launch with. Being a developer, now learning 'dev-ops' that's always something that's interested me. Do you guys launch with a server that's good enough to get by until your user base increases or do you launch with a beefy server from the start.

jeffbozek 14 years ago |

I launched Coffee & Domains (https://www.coffeeanddomains.com) for domain name registration and management.

It has some decent traction so far and the current users seem to really like it. I'm currently working on an API and iPhone app to try to make it even more appealing.

geekfactor 14 years ago |

I soft-launched Flixxed (http://www.flixxed.com) which I like to call the "illegitimate love-child of Groupon and Netflix".

I've been meaning to post it as a Show HN, but I guess I've hesitated because it's pretty basic. Please let me know what you think and sign up if you like movies.

eugenijusr 14 years ago |

We launched an online service for people investing in stocks called Portfolio Numbers http://www.portfolionumbers.com/ It's an risk analysis tool that helps you calculate your stock portfolio risk based on historical data and statistical methods.

ChrisFolta 14 years ago |

We just launched the public Alpha for http://DealTracker.co in Chicago - A new and simple way to view all daily deals in your area. We are currently working on additional features and adding in a wider range of deal providers.

Any feedback is always greatly appreciated!

james_fairhurst 14 years ago |

I launched TV Show Tracker (http://www.tvshowtracker.co.uk) at the start of July, it began as a personal app just for me but expanded it for multiple users as an experiment.

Built using CakePHP & the Skeleton CSS boilerplate. Any feedback would be great.

mx12 14 years ago |

A friend and I launched a chrome plugin/bookmarklet for recommending songs for turntable.fm at http://www.turntaste.com. It also gives you a list of rooms that are similar to your current room, and shows the top songs played in those rooms.

mattholling 14 years ago |

I launched http://www.vidergy.com - a "Pandora for video" site. It was mentioned on GigaOM, but sadly it was a subscription only piece.

I just launched it about 2 weeks ago, and I am trying to figure out the best things to do now to market/develop the product.

blazzar 14 years ago |

I soft launched http://www.reviewport.net - a service to enable Photographers and Designers to get free and private feedback on their portfolio. I am working on the expert reviewer section now before a full launch in about 2 months.

jayfuerstenberg 14 years ago |

I launched KEYBOX and KEYBOX lite (http://www.jayfuerstenberg.com/keybox/) to protect people's privacy and security.

It's only been one week since launch but so far the reception is pretty good and I'm getting a bit of a fan base!

symptic 14 years ago |

Launched FriendFury (http://friendfury.com), a side-project to help similar Twitter users discover each other. We built in a Tweet Roulette feature to @message a random person who shares your interest and break the ice.

superted 14 years ago |

I launched http://tubufy.com, which is a web app that lets you create music video channels from spotify, mog and last.fm playlists. Working on reaching out to potential users right now. Building is easy, marketing is hard!

effektz 14 years ago |

http://mmjrevu.com We launched for the medical marijuana community, and specifically giving patients a way to access their medical information and purchase history from the dispensaries and collectives they visit.

erikpukinskis 14 years ago | |

Nice. Planning on monetizing it with the DEA?

effektz 14 years ago | | |

See: WeedMaps.com, mmjmenu.com, StickyGuide.com, Leafly.com. Monetization != Ads. If you have clients in states that MMJ is legal, then I guess you have a business.

louhong 14 years ago |

I would be curious to find out (on average) how long it took everyone to launch their projects.

Mizza 14 years ago | |

http://OmniQRCode.com was the result of a 2-man, 5-hour HACKBLITZ - http://i.imgur.com/uYgoO.jpg - plus about a week and a half of one to two hour fix/finish/polish sessions.

MattBearman 14 years ago | |

BugMuncher was 2 weeks of evenings and weekends, around 80 hours in total from idea to lanch. Since then there's been at at least another 100 hours in tweaks and updates.

louhong 14 years ago | | |

That's awesome. Thank you.

michaelaiello 14 years ago |

The team here at http://www.lifeensured.com launched (http://www.netclosehq.com) which helps families recover online accounts of the deceased.

vaksel 14 years ago |

I soft launched http://seoagencies.com - essentially connects people to quality SEO companies.

I figure since there are so many crappy SEO companies, there might be some demand for getting proposals from good ones.

stephencelis 14 years ago |

I launched a new version of my Mac app, which brings basic CloudApp/Droplr functionality to a Dropbox or Imgur account:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/slingshot/id436819784?mt=12

krisrak 14 years ago |

Launched http://instalookApp.com, iPhone App to find Instagramers and Instagram photos around you are anywhere in realtime. Email instalook@gramfeed.com for promor code to download app for free

Bostwick 14 years ago |

I released Drop and Give Me, an android app that does fitness challenges and bodyweight strength training measured with your phone. http://bostwick.github.com/DropAndGiveMe/

migrochefort 14 years ago |

It's not a big project , nor something successful. It's a tool that was (and still is) supposed to help people find the Google+ profile of people they follow on Twitter (http://migrat.us).

makethetick 14 years ago |

I opened up http://affililink.com for user feedback. Have had it in private beta for a while but now accepting sign ups. Currently working on my marketing to gain new users.

geekfactor 14 years ago | |

Not sure you're going for type-in traffic, but that is a lot of i's and l's.

makethetick 14 years ago | | |

It's the words 'affiliate' and 'link' combined - 'affililink'

drcode 14 years ago |

I launched http://automatoon.com

dshipper 14 years ago | |

What kind of traction have you seen? I think it's a great product.

drcode 14 years ago | | |

Thanks- I think so too. The underlying technology is unique and lets you do things that would be very difficult in any other way. I am getting pretty good foot traffic, but the tool needs more TLC to attract a larger audience.

Unfortunately my day job has ramped up and I haven't been able to spend the time on it I need- I may look around for a partner at some point to make sure automatoon can develop into a profitable product like I think it can.

lperrin 14 years ago |

I launched Radioline, a Mac app to listen to FM stations and Internet radios.

It's on the Mac App Store:

http://itunes.apple.com/fr/app/radioline/id448958286?mt=12

iisbum 14 years ago |

I launched a small side project Follow Trial (http://www.followtrial.com) as a way to manage my following list on Twitter.

Closing in on 150 users (free) in just over a week.

singer 14 years ago |

I launched a web service that sends out weather alerts issued by the National Weather Service via email, text message, or phone.

http://www.WeatherWatcherAlerts.com

amoore 14 years ago |

We launched http://ElectronicMedicalRecords.com in an effort to store and manage medical records for small medical practices.

sebastianhoitz 14 years ago |

http://suplify.me Helps your company organize communication with your customers over email, Facebook and Twitter. Launched to public beta :)

meric 14 years ago |

Just a side project...

TextbookCentral (http://textbook.asia)

Used textbook website with every course from each of many universities, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong only.

twistedanimator 14 years ago |

I launched http://justthetops.com. It's a very simple site that remembers the top 10 posts for various subreddits on reddit.com.

sim0n 14 years ago |

We (BakedCode - YCS11) launched Interstate which is a project management tool that provides a way for businesses and developers alike to plan and share their development progress.

dejv 14 years ago |

I launched this little project: http://notationtraining.com

It is very simple and fast way how learn to read sheet music notation.

raivo 14 years ago |

MVP at http://www.exercisesatwork.com/ Get an exercise that you can do at work mailed to you Mon-Fri.

shakes 14 years ago |

I launched Twudge Report (http://twudgereport.com/). It's a novelty site, but it was a lot of fun to build.

Mizza 14 years ago |

We launched http://www.omniqrcode.com - QR code redirects for all mobile devices, with analytics!

csomar 14 years ago | |

  Hey! Get outta here you damn kids!

  Get the hell of my lawn! No, you can't have your football back!

You probably have something not going on.

Mizza 14 years ago | | |

Ahhhhh! Thank you! (minus the www it works - and we're fixing the WWW right now..)

Well, besides that, we are able to get a whopping TWO paying customers in the week since we launched. Which is better than a poke in the eye!

Mizza 14 years ago | | |

Okay. Now it's fixed.

pokoleo 14 years ago | |

It doesn't look like it's been launched. (get off my lawn)

abeisgreat 14 years ago |

I launched http://www.annotat.in, a site for annotating and sharing links in early July.

damoncali 14 years ago |

Launch is too strong a word, as is MVP, but I threw this up on a server last week:

http://tabengine.com

herval 14 years ago |

We launched Novelo's site and spanish version of the app (getnovelo.com)!