

Show HN: Unioncy – Keep an automated record of your things - vfbod
https://www.unioncy.com

======
olouv
Asking to get read/write access on my GMail box right away is a non-starter
for me. I get that it may help you auto-populate my database, but you really
should avoid asking it without any proper popup explaining why you must have
this authorization.

Ideally you should use a two-step authorization phase, basic-info only for
login/registration, then once the user gets to see the interface, have a
button to extend permissions to read GMail.

~~~
vfbod
Thanks, that's great feedback. Google also just released a Gmail API with more
fine grained scopes that we are looking at.

~~~
icebraining
What about explaining to people how to set a filter that forwards their Amazon
receipts to one of your addresses? Then you don't need to ask for any access,
and it potentially works for most email services.

~~~
vfbod
Thanks! Sure, I guess that's a good solution for people who know how to do it
and are willing to spend the time.

~~~
harrisonpowers
If you go this route, which will bring you more customers, you should provide
instructions for the major email providers.

~~~
vfbod
sure, that makes sense. thanks

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justrandomanon
These guys spammed the gawker network (kotaku, gizmodo, etc, possibly other
sites) for months on every single article. I won't be using their service.

I visit those sites regularly and saw the spam every day.

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SilkRoadie
Congrats in launching and getting your product to this stage.

Unfortunately I do not find it too useful. I buy from a lot of places, Amazon
represents perhaps 5% of what I buy so your product doesn't add much for me.

Have you considered creating an app which has a barcode scanner which
populates the item database? It was my understanding that barcodes were unique
to each item. Is there not a way to pull the item name from a barcode?

This seems preferable to having only Amazon or online retailers. Your current
solution doesn't do much to help catalogue the hundreds of items laying around
my house.

~~~
cabalamat
> I buy from a lot of places, Amazon represents perhaps 5% of what I buy so
> your product doesn't add much for me.

I too think this service, as it stands, is too tightly focussed to be of
interest to me. If I want to make notes on stuff I've bought, I'd put them on
my personal wiki running on my PC. The advantage of doing it that way is I can
use the same system for all my notes on _everything_ , so I don't have to
remember/learn/understand lots of separate systems, each no doubt with their
own foibles.

~~~
vfbod
Thanks, your feedback is really interesting and I would like to learn more.
Can I ask you why do you do keep all of this information associated with your
products?

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cabalamat
I don't for everything I've bought but I do for important stuff, such as
computer parts like hard disks (I'll use that info so I know what disks are in
what PCs), or for motor insurance (where I will want to renew it
periodically).

~~~
vfbod
thanks, that's helpful!

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jalfresi
I like this, like a much more useful DeliciousLibrary. However, I HATE that it
uses Gmail! Does Amazon not provide an API that it could use? I'd much rather
tools like this used something I can control a lot better. I'm afraid that
post-snowden, there is no way I'd allow any third-party software access to
something as broad as my Gmail account.

~~~
lost_my_pwd
Same. I would sign up and add everything _right now_ if there were an option
to simply enter items manually. A little bit of work on my part would be more
preferable to opening up access to my email.

~~~
vfbod
You can in fact add items manually using search inside the app. Although I get
your point that you are not comfortable signing up and giving permissions.

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aaas_dot_io
Everyday I see one app launched which needs my gmail access. strict NO!!

~~~
gavreh
Agreed. If you need access to my Gmail, I won't be using your product.

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talhof8
That's a really nice idea with huge potential.

I currently use Stuffcard ([http://mystuffcard.com](http://mystuffcard.com)),
though.

~~~
vfbod
Looks interesting. We used to call them 'Product Cards' in an early prototype.
Will have a look at this

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szc
It sounds like a great idea, but thieves might want to own the servers that
store this data. On these servers will be a list of products and because of
the receipts, very likely the physical address of where they were shipped to
and how new they are.

Also, although
[https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/](https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/) does say
the site supports 256bit AES, the unioncy server does not prefer it and under
"handshake simulation" every current device will only negotiate a 128bit AES
key.

Arguing about 256bit v.s 128bit AES on for TLS isn't really important though;
the risks are all with the data-at-rest and stored on the unioncy servers.

In reading the privacy policy it appears that the product information will be
used to provide selected and targeted advertising.

~~~
vfbod
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I take it that you have two main concerns in
security and use of your data. Regarding security, I can't argue with the
overall nature of the problem that you are pointing out. What I can say is
that we take security very seriously and are being proactive about it by
implementing measures such as SSL. To give some perspective, I think the
service is very safe compared to many other online services that store
personal data. We realise this is not enough for some and respect that, but we
will keep improving.

Regarding your second concern about privacy. For the avoidance of doubt, the
privacy policy says "We use your personal data, in anonymous form or by link
to pseudonyms, when required, for the following purposes. In order to provide
information and services required by you, such as customer service for
example. To provide for an customised presentation of content, advertising and
user experience. To provide news regarding the services of Unioncy and other
administrative issues. In order to provide you with targeted marketing
activities and advertising offers on The Unioncy website..."

This policy is vey much in line with Evernote and other leading personal data
services. Similar to them we never want to compromise the user experience.
Hope this helps!

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prawn
The Gmail approach doesn't interest me, but a method using Amazon product
lists and a search with autocomplete and images (to help me identify the
products I don't know in detail) would be more useful.

Haven't tried your product as a result of the Gmail thing so I'm not sure if
you already do this, but you could prompt people with things like:

What model fridge do you have? (Delete - I don't have a fridge) Washing
machine Microwave etc

~~~
vfbod
Thanks, you can manually add products through search (with images, title,
brand, etc)

We don't prompt or recommend what to add at this point, but it's an
interesting idea if you can do it well. I appreciate your feedback!

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piqufoh
This sounds like a nice idea, and something that I could benefit from. I even
clicked on the 'sign in with Google' button to have a look, something I
wouldn't usually do. The next page presents me with the google warnings,
including

(allow this site to) "View and manage your mail"

No! Would anyone other than the devs who wrote this site allow that?! That's
insane!

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miguelrochefort
That's an idea I meant to work on for a while. The potential is enormous.

Sorry about the paranoid people that don't want to give you access to their
mails.

Add more semantics. Add other input methods (such as barcode). Add image
recognition (hardest part). Add Mechanical Turk classification/identification.

Good luck.

~~~
vfbod
Thanks, great to hear a different opinion. It is expected that giving access
to Gmail is a concern for some and not for others. Luckily, there are many
ways you can build out this area. Agree that the space has a lot of potential,
it's currently very broken!

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Hackmietze
Hey, nice idea but not really new eh? I recently tested slice.com and
itembase.com. Both allow me add products manually or forward emails to them
and get the information extracted. So I don't have to give access to gmail.
How does your service differ from that and why is unioncy better for me?

~~~
vfbod
Thanks for joining in. They're certainly in the same space. I think that we
focus on different things and provide different value. Itembase and Slice are
very similar in terms of feature set with a focus on online shopping. Also,
their business model is to sell/exchange your data as shown
[http://intelligence.slice.com/](http://intelligence.slice.com/) and
[http://partners.itembase.com/](http://partners.itembase.com/)

Unioncy on the other hand is all about your products and your ownership
experience. In practical terms, one big difference is our data. We have
gathered information around your products like user manuals and warranty
details and provide this information for you instead of you having to
enter/upload it manually. It follows, that we think that our user is different
from Itembase and Slice. There are more differences and many directions that
this can go so definitely room for more than one player in our view.

Regarding Gmail, I've already mentioned several times in this thread that this
is our first solution and more ways of adding products will come. Thanks!

~~~
Hackmietze
Ok thanks. I apprecate your feedback and the fast response time. I guess
you're right there is room for more than one. So, how do you plan to make
money?

~~~
vfbod
I think there is huge potential to monetize in this space. I think the key is
to maintain the integrity of our users. I don't want to give much detail in
public to be honest. Happy to have a chat in person if you are really
interested. If so, feel free to ping me @vfbod. Thanks!

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tempodox
Even if this might seem useful in theory or on paper, it's never going to fly
in practice.

~~~
vfbod
Thanks for weighing in. It would be interesting if you could elaborate your
thoughts a bit.

~~~
tempodox
Don't take my word for it. I thought the same thing about Facebook and look at
them now.

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cabalamat
> Protected by highly secure 256-bit SSL encryption, no one but you can see
> and access your information.

Assuming you have access to the data on your servers, shouldn't that read "no-
one but you and the NSA"?

~~~
tempodox
My guess would be: CIA, NSA, FBI, and probably Sheriff Random from Hillbilly
Cove.

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ctb_mg
Like others, not interested in the gmail read access. I'll sign up if you drop
the gmail requirement and simply allow me to add items manually (or forward
amazon order emails to somewhere).

~~~
vfbod
thanks, that's good feedback. If you are interested, register your email on
the waitlist at the bottom of the landing page and we'll let you know when
other ways of signing up are available.

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n0body
i have a folder for this kind of stuff, and not on a computer.
[http://i00.i.aliimg.com/img/pb/411/912/331/331912411_939.jpg](http://i00.i.aliimg.com/img/pb/411/912/331/331912411_939.jpg)

that said, it's a nice idea, although not for me, because of the above, and
because i don't want you to have access to my email

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scope
I opened the site using my iPhone, not responsive at all --- I'll give it a go
once am on my PC (hold your horses people, I run Linux on it)

~~~
freehunter
What does it matter if you run Linux?

