

Ask HN - Review my startup: Localmind - lennysan

The Pitch: Localmind helps you quickly get information about what's happening right now at places you're interested in. Leveraging check-in services like Foursquare, Facebook, Gowalla, etc. you can ask people at those locations questions about what's happening there in real-time. Those questions are sent via SMS, and an iPhone app is in development.<p>We believe that the untapped power of location-based services lies not in what's happening with your friends right now, but instead lies in what's happening at the places you care about in right now. More insight into our vision here: http://bit.ly/gv5vpN<p>http://www.localmind.com (use invite code: HACKERNEWS - gets you in immediately for next 24 hours)<p>We're interested in people's feedback on the overall concept, but especially on the UI and experience.
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veb
"Choose an existing account to sign in with (click one below):"

I don't like dicking my accounts! :-P

EDIT: epic fail, but honestly it looks like dick: <http://imgur.com/c44Hf>

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lennysan
ha! unintentional freudian font choice? will investigate a better option :)

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veb
Also, don't ask for phone number...

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cmer
The service only works over SMS right now, that's why they ask for a phone
number...

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joshontheweb
I really don't like it when applications require me to sign in through a third
party account. As an option it is good, but not as the only option. Especially
with a new service that I am unsure how they will use that access. I wasn't
able to try it since I was unwilling to hand over the keys to my facebook
account to an untrusted service.

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rabidonrails
I agree. I usually don't allow an application to sign me in through a third
party. Something about it conjures up images of someone trying to access all
my personal information and paranoia kicks in.

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erichcervantez
I like it...great concept if you can pull it off.

I came up with a similar/not-so-similar concept that I'm still working on
(<http://www.xuland.com>) only I'm not leveraging Foursquare, Facebook or
other location-based apps. I'm depending on folks actually logging into the
application and posting/replying.

Of course, my app is also done in Flash (jury is still out on whether that
proves to be a good idea or not) but I discovered well over a year ago that it
would be great if I could find out what was happening at this very moment in a
given location so kudos to you and your team for recognizing a need. Good
luck!

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rabidonrails
I like it and I see why a service like this would be helpful. But, is there
enough incentive for your users to answer the texts?

For example, if I'm at a bar in NYC drinking with my friends and I get a text
(from a stranger) asking how much a pitcher of Coors is, I'm likely to answer
because it's a quick text back. But, if someone asks me to list what's on tap,
I'm likely to ignore the message because it's a lot of work and the payoff
seems very little.

Also, I would have been quicker to signup if I didn't have to use a third
party.

Overall, I think it looks awesome.

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lennysan
I appreciate the feedback. That is where a lot of our energy is going right
now, fostering the intrinsic motivation and making it as easy (and fun) as
possible to answer. I think there's enough precedent (e.g. Stack Overflow,
Quora, Aardvark, etc.) to be confident this can work.

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rabidonrails
Are you looking to use a "badge" system to reward those who answer like SO?

Quora works now because they don't have to deal with idiots posting crappy
answers...will they be successful after a real launch? Isn't that their main
concern...becoming Yahoo Answers?

Do you have a workaround? Just curious...I'm sure you have something...

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boha
I've been privileged to try out early releases of Localmind, and it looks very
exciting. A friend of mine was at dinner last Friday and answered an
unsolicited Localmind query on the spot--and he wasn't entirely sure where it
was coming from!

I think users will enjoy feeding data into the system as long as it's fun and
they get a sense of accomplishment from helping out their fellow man. Robust,
rapid answers will definitely be the hinge on which the app relies.

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silent1mezzo
I don't like that you show accounts for Twitter and Google and then just say
they aren't available...I understand the reasoning behind it but just show the
images and don't provide links.

EDIT: On a 13" MBP the "Have an invite code" link is below the fold and was
difficult to find at first.

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lennysan
I initially put that in there to measure (using mixpanel) how many people
wanted those, to avoid overbuilding. Learned pretty quickly that people want a
Twitter auth option. While we build it, wanted to at least acknowledge that
they are on their way.

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kris_schlesser
Did you have the same intention by including the link to the non-existing
'global activity' in the top nav? My guess is that everyone will click that
one if for no reason other than the fact that this is a new toy - we're going
to click everything.

In general I think you've got a great idea with this product. Solid
alpha/beta. Keep up the good work!

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ctide
You should let people know that you're going to SMS them before you do. Having
skimmed the blurb and just signing up, I was surprised when my phone started
buzzing. Thankfully I had my google voice number tied to my foursquare vs. my
actual number (which doesn't have a text plan anymore.)

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ctide
Also, how do I disable my account so I don't get texts in the future?

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lennysan
Feature coming, or if you really want to get off just email
help@localmind.com.

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kris_schlesser
I'd like to be able to control exactly who sees my questions and answers. If
I'm at a place that I think is awesome, it might be because everyone else in
town _isn't_ there in which case I'll have incentive to misinform any/all
strangers. For what it's worth I recently released something like Localmind
for surfers, so I look at it from that perspective. When the waves are good,
we only want to tell a few specific individuals with whom we'd like to share
the experience.

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krisrak
I had created similar app to find out where people are hanging out or checked-
in: <http://misotrendy.com> , it allows you to get a snap shot of checked-in
people at a place anywhere - its a Web app and html5 mobile web app - @krisrak

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tomhallett
One very powerful use case for this would be "Is the snow affecting the train
to x?" - because the public transportation's websites are always so delayed
but the answer is finite/simple enough that it'll probably be answered.

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jparicka
link <http://www.localmind.com>

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sfphotoarts
I don't have facebook or foursquare so am unable to try it. But from the pitch
I think it might be useful. I worry though about anything that encourages the
herd mentality. I like to go to places I know to be fun or interesting rather
than just because there are other people there. The serendipity angle to life
is oft overlooked. By herding its hard to discover anything novel.

But I will try it when you have gmail log in.

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duckpunch
The service is more general than that. From the pitch above you'll note that
it intends to allow people to ask specific questions about a location, not
just to signal where you might like to go to spend a night. In this case, the
more people that use it, the more likely it is that your question will be
answered and that it will be accurate and timely.

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cachemoney
Like the name.

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HackrNwsDesignr
lenny I'm starting a startup blog, would like to review, email me
laksman@gmail.com

