

Show HN: Our app - FourSquare for Beer - ry0ohki
http://beerby.com

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pstinnett
I was JUST thinking about how there should be something like this last night
after picking up a six pack. Big picture ideas I thought of (without really
thinking through everything:

\- Would be cool to track check-ins on beer via photos of labels. Recognize
label to check in. As someone else said below maybe a barcode would be better.

\- Partner with bars to give out coasters that include QR codes which match up
to the beer served to handle draft beers.

\- Start offering notifications for recommended beers in your area. If Beerby
notices that a user really likes Dogfishhead IPAs, maybe they get a push
notice when x bar has 90 minute on tap.

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patrickryan
It looks like <http://untappd.com> has some competition now.

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jlgosse
Untappd seems like the better of the two. I tried to use Beerby a few times
and it was hell. The signup was a pain, and then the app didn't load properly.

I wish Untappd was on Android! :(

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ry0ohki
Not sure what issues you had but we'd be happy to debug with you, have tons of
Android users that like the experience but Android never surprises me to have
some device specific issue :) beerby@levlr.com

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onteria
While I do recognize that the social nature of drinking for a lot of people
will pull popularity around this, something worries me about the health
implications of the service. Seeing what crazy things happen with the legal
system, it wouldn't surprise me to see someone with a liver issue take legal
action, stating that this service encouraged them to drink more than they
should. Not a lawyer, so maybe there is a way for you to protect yourself, but
this really needs to be taken into consideration.

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ry0ohki
This was a big concern of ours, we thought long and hard with our lawyers and
got a rather detailed terms of service to mitigate the risk in this, and we
don't ever make badges that are like "Drink 10 beers in one night"

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ncavig
The problem is it's hard to "check-in" for a beer you're drinking. FourSquare
is a bit easier because you don't really need to type anything out, it's
location based. Not only that, but the more beer you drink the harder it will
be to successfully "check-in"

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byoung2
Maybe the app needs a barcode scanner for beer in bottles or cans...for beers
on tap, maybe use crowd sourcing to identify the logo on the tap?

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ncavig
Isn't there a google app to take a picture of certain items/places and it's
supposed to be able to identify? That could definitely come in handy if
there's an API for that.

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ktsmith
Google goggles. <http://www.google.com/mobile/goggles/>

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xcjamie
You should also make the Four Lokator app.

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ry0ohki
Actually a site is using our API to do just that:
<http://www.fourlokostories.com/lokator>

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veb
I love it! As someone who -loves- to try new/weird beer, this is awesome! All
you need to do now, is make a way for me to buy X from the comfort of my
computer. (most countries have a local beer/wine website, so you could set up
some sort of affiliation)

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simonsarris
"Top Beers" is probably more appropriately labeled "Most popular beers",
otherwise people may think you mean the most highly rated beers.

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beaumartinez
Isn't this more like Last.fm for Beer? In what way does location have anything
to do with beer? It makes more sense to "scrobble" them.

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dinedal
Do you live in a place where every bar has the same/every beer?

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mgrouchy
I love beer. Instant download, Very interested too see how you "check in" for
beer , and if the model actually works for this.

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alanh
LivingSocial’s beer community is another competitor.

Looks like your mobile app is your leg up.

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aguynamedben
Untappd is pretty cool too, will be interesting to see these 2 duke it out.

