
Leo the Homeless Coder Finished His App, and You Can Download It Right Now - antr
http://www.slate.com/blogs/business_insider/2013/12/10/homeless_coder_s_trees_for_cars_app.html
======
felipe
Homelessness is a serious and complex issue rooted in mental health and
poverty, and the "mentor" behind the homeless coder reduced it to a game, just
to show that all one needs to succeed is the patronizing goodwill of some
privileged narcissistic clown.

Stories like this are actually a disservice to the cause of technology as an
agent for social and environmental change.

~~~
chill1
Wow.. Where do I begin with your comment? I very rarely get upset about
comments on the internet, but yours is particularly revolting. When was the
last time you stopped in your day-to-day life to try to help someone? And, I
don't mean give money to a homeless person or donate to a charity.

I have imagined myself doing what the "privileged narcissistic clown" \-- as
you call him -- did in this story. I haven't done it yet, but one of these
days I am going to push myself enough to do it. I fail to see how he was
patronizing the homeless gentlemen. It seems to me that he was treating the
guy as a fellow human deserving of respect, and as having potential. If he
didn't think he had potential, he would not have bothered. Seriously... what
is wrong with you?

~~~
felipe
I have a very close family member who went missing and eventually was found
homeless. In the course of the investigation we found that several people
exploited and took advantage of him for personal gain.

If you study the issue (like we did) you will find that this is a common and
recurring problem, as homeless people are mentally vulnerable and open to
narcissistic individuals.

Nothing against helping others -- I myself volunteered for social-change tech
ngos for several years. My problem is in exploiting a vulnerable person for
personal gain, which this guy is obviously doing.

~~~
fallinghawks
While I'm sorry about what happened to your family member, that doesn't mean
the same thing is happening here.

I think McConlogue's point is that homeless people aren't all stupid, stoned-
out losers. And that some are capable of learning pretty complex stuff. Sure,
plenty of homeless are screwed up, some hopelessly so, but we can't blanket
them all with that label.

Here's a guy who's acting locally. And it takes some guts to do something
risky. McConlogue may not be thinking globally, but he's doing what he can.
Which is far more than a lot of us can claim.

~~~
felipe
> homeless people aren't all stupid, stoned-out losers.

And then you say I am biased?

~~~
fallinghawks
Yes. People took advantage of your relative, and you appear to assume Leo is
being taken advantage of as well without having any hard evidence of it.

Are you accusing me of bias when I said "homeless people aren't all stupid,
stoned-out losers"? That doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

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zbruhnke
Glad to see this app launched.

While I firmly believe that its not necessarily the best idea that "everyone"
learns to code I think stories like this serve as a reminder that hard times
fall on all of us.

Thanks Patrick for not judging Leo to be someone he was not simply because he
had fallen.

Thanks for setting an example that sometimes its the littlest things, small
acts of kindness that can set a person's life back on track.

And Leo, Thanks for reminding us all that with a little perseverance we can
accomplish anything we put our minds to.

------
aresant
I love the story here.

While the PR is strong Leo should put on his conversion hat to generate actual
downloads and turn this from a story into a success.

1) On the landing page,
[http://www.treesforcars.com](http://www.treesforcars.com), he needs as strong
of a brief headline as they have in the article eg:

"Trees for Cars is a mobile application that aims to save the environment by
helping users carpool to their destination."

2) Ditto on the app store description which, instead of the description,
starts with a 3-liner clarifying Leo coded this himself.

More pictures / longer description on the description will also help.

Great primer @ Copyhackers on writing effective App Store copy
[http://copyhackers.com/2012/06/how-to-write-an-app-store-
des...](http://copyhackers.com/2012/06/how-to-write-an-app-store-description-
for-itunes/)

------
hngiszmo
Ok, my name is Leo and I'm an Android developer. In 2000 I actually
investigated the potential of dynamic ride sharing and came to the conclusion
it is not feasible due to software being in the hands of the network and
device providers. Later, when Android and iOS came along I had other stuff to
do but noticed how many tried to enter in this market and my conclusion is
still that you would have to seed it in a way that you get at least 10,000
users in one big city to start with.

10,000 global users will just not cut it by many orders of magnitude. Charging
$1 for an app to try it out will not help to get to critical mass.

Please, other Leo, make the first year for free for your own and nature's
good. I'm dreaming of ad hock ride shares becoming a reality since sooooo long
and guess it would only work if it was pre-installed and activated by default
on many many phones but then it could really have a huge impact on the global
CO2 output.

Further thoughts on the app: Make it social:

    
    
      * Users should be able to pick who they want to ride with, including age, sex, car brand etc. Stricter filters are less rides.
      * Users should be able to pick who they don't want to ride with, little or bad feedback for example
      * Users should be able to contact their ride partners without sharing any Facebook names, phone numbers etc.
      * Optionally Users should be checked in on their rides for security. For extra paranoia, the app could send a special message to a contact person if the user doesn't check out from a ride. Ride sharing is little popular out of security concerns and full track of one's movement with check-in on a ride should reduce risks involved dramatically.
      * Let the driver define a price per km (for friends, friends of friends, others)
      * ask if you want more ideas. This is endless but I guess my post will not be noticed by the other Leo anyway ;)

~~~
jnbiche
Sorry, but you're asking a _homeless guy_ who has just made his first app to
make it free? Look, I'm all for nature, but I'm more for giving him a chance
to make a good living.

------
yapcguy
I hate this story. It's pure exploitation.

Firstly, and most importantly, Leo is still homeless.

Second, who the hell is Patrick McConlogue? This whole charade is like the
film Trading Places, it's like those awful Bum Fights videos, it's Patrick
using a homeless person as an object of amusement.

Some aspects of the story seem implausible, e.g. how does a homeless person
afford to pay the developer fees, or supply a valid home address and tax ID
number for validation by Apple and Google, but I guess it doesn't really
matter given the overall story.

I think people like Patrick, along with the 'everybody can code' movement, do
all programmers a disservice. It makes a mockery of those who treat software
development as a true profession and craft.

Finally, nobody seems to be talking about Leo's homelessness and how he's
going to survive a bitterly cold winter, it's all about a stupid bloody app.

~~~
jnbiche
>Finally, nobody seems to be talking about Leo's homelessness and how he's
going to survive a bitterly cold winter,

If everyone keeps talking about Leo and his app, he'll have more than enough
money to get off the streets, assuming his homelessness wasn't caused by
mental illness or addiction.

~~~
yapcguy
If the app sells on its own merit, great.

However, if people are only buying the app out of charity for Leo, it's no
different than any other sad story which gets media attention resulting in
charitable donations.

So what would the point have been of learning to code? Heck, the story might
as well have been Leo getting taught a foreign language so he could do
translation work over the internet via sites like CrowdFlower.

The idea that homeless people can code their way out of a terrible situation,
when well-fed, pampered and experienced programmers can't even make decent
money from the app store, is simply a farce.

------
soleimc
Does this seem exploitative to other people? Although it is exciting that his
app launched, the fact that this entrepreneur is being called "The Homeless
Coder" seems wrong to me.

~~~
kennywinker
I think the difference is nobody is exploiting anybody else. "Leo the Homeless
Coder" is exploiting himself for profit, but Patrick McConlogue is not
exploiting anybody. I'm not 100% sure what his specific motivation was, but it
doesn't seem like Patrick is attempting to profit off this in any way.

~~~
yapcguy
Exploitation isn't always about money.

Some people just love the power trip, watching others dance to their tune.

~~~
kennywinker
Not every exchange of power is exploitive.

------
ivanhoe
It's interesting to see how 1st world-ish are the problems that are being
solved nowadays, even by a (hopefully not for long) homeless guy. Anyways, I'm
really glad he managed to finish it, he's obviously a guy with lots of unused
potential.

~~~
vinceguidry
Solving real problems requires real leverage.

------
aashaykumar92
What a perfect week to launch the story in. Anyone can learn how to code once
they put their mind to it.

~~~
zipppy
Subtext: "...even a homeless person."

Hmm.

------
vertis
I have been thinking a lot about whether it would be possible to invest enough
in someone that it got them off rock bottom.

I guess this is proof that it is possible.

It might be time to start asking the same question to some of the people
around where I work.

~~~
jnbiche
I think Macdonough was smart to offer $100 or the opportunity to learn to
code. It was a good way to screen out unmotivated people -- if someone is
homeless and turns down $100, it's likely that that they're very motivated.

~~~
felipe
Are you arguing that lack of motivation is the root cause of homelessness,
rather than poverty and mental health issues?

~~~
vajrabum
No, learning to code requires motivation. Turning down $100 in favor of coding
lessons indicates that the person is motivated to try and learn to code.
That's borne out by the fact that he's (maybe with some assistance) delivered
an app to the marketplace.

~~~
felipe
So if I go to an upscale neighborhood and offer $100 at random, would that
mean that anyone who refuses my offer is motivated enough to code?

Of course not, that's silly. We are discussing within the context of
homelessness, in which the guy is playing a game with a vulnerable individual
by offering an amount that is far higher than a change, but far lower that any
developer (even junior) would consider an offensive offer for a mobile app.

~~~
vertis
'far lower that any developer (even junior) would consider an offensive offer
for a mobile app'

I don't think you have the story straight. Patrick didn't get free labor, he
taught Grand so he could create his own app (and maybe profit).

------
tomasien
This is way better than my first app, oh my goodness! Of course it didn't get
me a ride to the gym (I live in Richmond, VA, wasn't likely) BUT it did work
flawlessly.

------
percentcer
How did he do iOS development on a Chromebook?

~~~
alexcroox
Judging by that UI screenshot it's jQuery mobile so he probably used phonegap
to wrap it in a native app for both iOS and Android.

~~~
jonknee
How would he use PhoneGap on a Chromebook? You still need to have X Code to
sign an iOS application.

I assume his mentor was the one who packaged them up for Android and iOS
(especially since it's listed under his name on the iOS App Store).

~~~
TRUPPP
You can package the Phonegap App with Phonegap Build, a service running in the
cloud for exactly this plattform-problem.

------
brianbreslin
I would love to see this thread turn into suggestions/advice for Leo on how he
can improve his app. I bought it, despite having little idea what it does, and
just wanting to support him. My first suggestions if Leo ever reads this: \-
Add more pictures to the app page/listing in itunes \- Show how it works \-
Why is ridesharing good for the environment

------
kennywinker
I hate to be cynical, but it feels like this is mostly capitalizing on the
idea of a "homeless coder". In order for the app idea to work, it needs
people. Lots of people. A $0.99 app is never going to get enough users to be
useful for MOST of us. If the idea and execution stood on its own, I wouldn't
fault them for leveraging the backstory for media attention, but since the
execution is favouring short term money at the cost of long term success, it
feels like a cash-in.

Not that there is anything wrong with donating to support someone homeless
working to get themselves into a better situation... or anything wrong with
someone who needs so much trying to cash-in. It just doesn't feel like a good
faith attempt to reduce CO2 emissions, that's all.

~~~
kenrikm
I purchased without the intent to use it, I consider it as more of a donation.

~~~
bottled_poe
That would be a donation to Apple or Google then. If you really cared, you'd
take real action.

~~~
tomasien
Don't tell people how to care. God I hate this comment so much, care however
you want. Care a little bit and give him $0.70, care a lot and try to
something, care any way you want.

~~~
icpmacdo
Dude get out of this thread now, so many of these comments are infuriating.
This is possibly the worst HN thread I have ever read.

~~~
tomasien
Have you ever read a thread about gender issues? It's worse.

Side note: I appreciate the concern over whether this is exploitative. It
doesn't make me mad. If you've read the stories, it hasn't been at ALL or even
close, but the concern is fine.

~~~
jnbiche
I don't know -- the concern seems more about political correctness than
actually fixing a problem.

And as someone who has been here for a while (a throwaway became my main
account), this is probably the most disheartening thread I've ever read here.
Where's the hacker mentality of trying to make something better? Criticize if
you absolutely must, but then you damn sure better have a better idea on hand
than "it's a complex problem".

------
kenrikm
Teach a man to fish. . . Purchased just to help him out, hope that 70¢ is
helpful. Congrats to Leo.

------
ChrisNorstrom
Woah... He beat me to it:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6721221](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6721221)
Actually a lot of people did. I had an rough idea for this but never got
around to working on it. I do have Carpoolians.com registered though.

I really hope apps like his become something everyone uses in 5 years.
Generally, people might not think carpooling strangers together will work but,
contrary to popular belief, it's already tried and true in the Washington, DC
area. Slug lines, where strangers are picked up from park ride lots by drivers
so they can all use the HOV lanes, have been operational for years without a
murder or incident.

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quasarj
I thought he was in jail and his equipment had been taken, not to be returned
for months? I haven't heard any updates on that lately.. Anyone know?

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dntrkv
Is it me or did the video not explain the app at all?

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tomasien
This hasn't reached a flame war, did this get flagged off the front page? Is
it because Slate is perhaps a marked site? This doesn't seem right, this is
like a "Show HN" and followup to a story lots of people on HN have been
following for a while now.

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Procrastes
Nicely done. It's great watching a new coder spread his wings.

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xacaxulu
I'll buy this app on positive karma points alone.

~~~
recursive
I think that's the idea.

