News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

Scaur

Re:Ask HN: What opportunities will Covid-19 create? on Wednesday April 15, 2020 @02:27PM (#22881222)
Supermarkets and food delivery

Disinfectant/hygiene products

Sex toys and adult entertainment

Meditation/self development resources (finding purpose)

Webinars and online education

Self organisation tools

Lifestyle/outdoor equipment post quarantine

Chewing gum, lip gloss, deoderant, dental hygiene products post quarantine

Products that quell loneliness or provide comfort, feeling of connection - chocolate, alcohol, soap operas, music

Online entertainment, especially ones that replicate social connection, like shared gaming or shared movie watching (check out Whereby.com YouTube video feature...)

Potentially virtual reality meeting spaces like university campus, conferences

I reckon nearly everyone is struggling with at least one of:

Uncertainty about the future

Feeling of disconnection from others

Disruption in routine, no consistency

Lack of structure, standards, no opportunity to exercise authority or feel as part of hierarchy

Who can solve these will have a winning product...

Wow I LOVE this idea! I'd do a Speeklink but unfortunately I'm browsing on my phone next to my sleeping friend. Will try tomorrow. Let me know if I can do any small favors to help you grow. James at txbatch dot com / @JamesScaur on Telegram.
Re:Show HN: TxBatch, My Failed Blockchain Startup on Friday June 28, 2019 @05:23AM (#20302705)
Back in 2018, I quit my cryptocurrency exchange job to build TxBatch, a bulk search blockchain explorer. It worked... kind of. We made the product, partnered with the right people, got the help we needed - but we couldn't sell it.

We did, at least, get in touch with the top cryptocurrency exchanges and hear directly from them that they didn't need it.

As for failure reasons, I think it's:

1. A blockchain bulk search engine simply isn't as sorely needed as I predicted. Should have pre-sold it (even if I wasn't sure if it was possible to make)

2. It was built to scratch an itch I remembered at my old job, but that same company I worked for was likely an outlier (they've now gone bankrupt). Should have met a specific user and designed it exactly for them.

3. I focused on development far too much over the rest of the business (and as the only full-time member of the startup, that had a big effect...). Should have focused more on partnerships, marketing, and sales.

We're now creating SatSearch, which is a universal blockchain search engine. If you're interested in the concept check out https://t[dot]me/joinchat/HtUYlBZcLI8xW5DjdoPEPw or our newsletter signup (no bs) at https://txbatch.com/.

Hey HN,

I worked at a top 20 cryptocurrency exchange for a year. One of the major timesucks at my old job was navigating clunky block explorers.

This Chrome extension is designed to make block explorers easier for enterprise use - specifically, by customer support agents at cryptocurrency exchanges answering deposit/withdrawal tickets.

It is very loosely based off https://github.com/Posnet/xkcd-substitutions.

If you have any suggestions please let me know via the comments or Keybase.io/JamesScaur, critiques as well, I'd love to hear them!

Cheers, James

https://www.blockchaintransparency.org/ put some good insight into it - haven't updated since December though
Re:Publishing my Website to the peer-to-peer Web on Saturday March 09, 2019 @02:39AM (#19344984)
I found this interesting. Does anyone else know of any other peer-to-peer web protocols other than [IPFS](https://ipfs.io/) and [DAT](https://datproject.org/) ?
Re:Ask HN: What new business you did you start in 2018? on Monday December 24, 2018 @06:00PM (#18754754)
Huh, what are the chances, another blockchain search? Just signed up, will be keen to talk chances we could collaborate... if you'd like to reach out to me directly I'm james at txbatch.com or keybase.io/jamesscaur
Re:Ask HN: What new business you did you start in 2018? on Monday December 24, 2018 @05:54PM (#18754727)
Not solo, but small enough - https://txbatch.com.

It started out from a growing frustration myself and my coworkers[1] had the whole year, the tedious process of checking block explorers[2]. By October I was fed up enough with it to quit, initially intending to take another job but changing plans mid-way to co-found txBatch, short for "Transaction Batch", a bulk search blockchain explorer[3].

We worked all through November and December, finally getting a live product (supporting BTC, ETH[4], and USDT) - and after the holidays will be continuing to set up people on trials and reach out to exchanges.

If anyone on HN runs a crypto business that could use this, feel free to reach out to me - james at txbatch dot com.

Or if you know anyone - check out our referral page at https://refer.txbatch.com/#friend.

[1] Coworkers - at a cryptocurrency exchange. [2] Block explorers - specialised websites that show details of transactions on a blockchain e.g. https://blockchain.com/explorer [3] Bulk search, in contrast to the individual, single-chain search engines that are commonly available. [4] Including all ERC20s, internal transfers.

Re:Scripting API now in public beta on Sunday December 09, 2018 @09:13AM (#18640921)
I got my start in programming basically via Minecraft. Multiplayer servers taught me DNS, ports, & bash... modding on Mac OSX & configuring a server to work with the same mod (Flan's Mod) taught me basic client-server principles... hell, even Buycraft fuelled my interest in Bitcoin and web development. I don't know if I'd even have been a serious developer at all if it wasn't for Minecraft.

And now kids have access to learning JS directly. This is 100x as powerful as learning how to web inspector pages. I look forward to watching my little cousins surpass me.

Re:Show HN: Coinmarketcap replacement with free JSON API on Friday December 07, 2018 @05:48AM (#18626572)
Hi 1996 - I used to work at [Cryptopia](https://www.cryptopia.co.nz/), a exchange fairly well known for listing low marketcap coins.

If you ever decide you want to expand to more than top 50 coins, then I'd love to help in any way I can - particularly with their API - feel free to email me: "james" at $my_hackernews_username ".nz"

Thanks for asking this question, I'd like to learn about this too.