News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

m3ntat

Re:3d Box (bin) packing API by Postmaster.io on Wednesday October 02, 2013 @01:46PM (#6484006)
Thanks! I heart genetic algorithms.
Very cool, great work!
Re:Building a Docs Site with Jekyll + GitHub Pages on Monday April 01, 2013 @02:11PM (#5474797)
Not the same thing (since this isn't an API), but I like what balanced does: https://github.com/balanced/balanced-api
Re:Building a Docs Site with Jekyll + GitHub Pages on Monday April 01, 2013 @02:09PM (#5474783)
Nice writeup. The whole "your docs site is just on a different branch" has always been weird to me though. I'm not sure what a better way to do it would be but I don't like these two options: switch branches inline or have a separate clone of the repo.
Re:Techstars: One month left on Monday March 18, 2013 @05:59PM (#5397452)
The network is powerful. Alums are generally connected through the mentors and program directors if they aren't in the same class (the cloud class has it's own alumni weekend where the classes got to know each other well).
Re:Techstars: One month left on Monday March 18, 2013 @04:58PM (#5397087)
The first 4 weeks is very intense on the business/market/sales plan side of things. It is hard to get work done, you have to squeeze it in whenever possible (night, weekends, etc). The idea is that you probably shouldn't do a ton of work before you have a solid plan in place. After that things slow down and you can focus on coding/traction.
Re:Techstars: One month left on Monday March 18, 2013 @04:08PM (#5396796)
Haha, didn't even think of that.
Re:Techstars: One month left on Monday March 18, 2013 @03:05PM (#5396416)
If anybody has any specific questions about Techstars, I'm happy to answer.
Awesome new stuff guys. Here is my wish list for 3.0:

* Backend support (maybe via backbone+knockout)

* Themes

Thoughts?

Re:Show HN: Postmaster - an easy API for shipping on the web on Monday October 01, 2012 @06:21PM (#4599643)
A1: Yes, you can reference them by the carrier tracking number (although you could not void/modify a shipment that wasn't created by your carrier account).

A2: Do those have a tracking number pre-printed? If so, yes. It will also work with a UPS InfoNotice or Waybill #.

A3: Yes! We have "best-effort" functionality, it will be expanded to add more complex statements, but we currently have "Send best price from X to Y within N days."

A4: Yes, if you rate is lower than ours and you are over a certain shipping threshold.

Re:Show HN: Postmaster - an easy API for shipping on the web on Monday October 01, 2012 @03:16PM (#4598837)
Hi all, I’m really excited to start talking about Postmaster. We are a small startup in Austin that is focused on shipping integration. With Postmaster you can be shipping packages in less than 5 minutes (from signup to your first curl against the RESTful API). You can ship/track/validate-addresses through multiple vendors, get callbacks on your shipment events, and we are working on much more. We are letting people into the beta slowly to make sure we keep response times and service levels high. Let us know if you have any shipping feature requests.

Also, yes, we know about these:

  * easypost.co  
  * rocketship.it  
  * postalmethods.com  
  * click2mail.com  
  * sincerely.com  
  * scrubmyaddress.com
Re:Show HN: Deadman.io - a digital dead man's switch on Tuesday August 14, 2012 @03:26PM (#4382671)
Maybe, but this is the case for any dead man's switch (even a bank/lawyer). It's always a balance between what the mob boss thinks he can get you to do vs the power of the dirt you have on him. Literature/TV have beaten to death the permutations/twists on this theme.
Re:Show HN: Deadman.io - a digital dead man's switch on Tuesday August 14, 2012 @03:21PM (#4382649)
Cat's out of the bag. :)
Re:Show HN: Deadman.io - a digital dead man's switch on Tuesday August 14, 2012 @02:23PM (#4382346)
Nice find, no SMS or voice though.
Re:Show HN: Deadman.io - a digital dead man's switch on Tuesday August 14, 2012 @02:15PM (#4382299)
Geez--no need to hate. This is a "cool demo" not a real service that I'm selling.
Re:Show HN: Deadman.io - a digital dead man's switch on Tuesday August 14, 2012 @02:14PM (#4382291)
Agreed, trust is key for a service like this. Ideally the contents need to be secure, but not so secure that you are the only one who can read them--otherwise what's the point since you're probably abducted or dead?
Re:Show HN: Deadman.io - a digital dead man's switch on Tuesday August 14, 2012 @02:09PM (#4382265)
Yeah that's kind of tongue-in-cheek. It's most likely not either of those at this point. I just threw some stuff up there that a service "might" say if it was for realz.
Re:Show HN: Deadman.io - a digital dead man's switch on Tuesday August 14, 2012 @02:07PM (#4382252)
I totally agree. This isn't a "hey this is a service you should pay for" post, this is more of a "hey I built this in 17 hours at a hackathon, check it out".

If it ever does become a service for real I'll need to do some work to secure it, add features, etc.

Re:Show HN: Deadman.io - a digital dead man's switch on Tuesday August 14, 2012 @01:29PM (#4382043)
Well. If you happen to be going into a high-profile meeting with a mob boss and you happen to have incriminating documents about him, upload them to Deadman and hopefully you will get out alive. :)

More seriously, I think the core technology would be useful for elderly, people going on hikes into remote areas, etc.

Re:Show HN: Deadman.io - a digital dead man's switch on Tuesday August 14, 2012 @01:24PM (#4382007)
If you have ideas, comments or suggestions let me know!