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Ask HN - Review my startup: Localmind

37 points by lennysan ↗ HN
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.

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

http://www.localmind.com (use invite code: HACKERNEWS - gets you in immediately for next 24 hours)

We're interested in people's feedback on the overall concept, but especially on the UI and experience.

28 comments

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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

lennysan
ha! unintentional freudian font choice? will investigate a better option :)
veb
Also, don't ask for phone number...
cmer
The service only works over SMS right now, that's why they ask for a phone number...
duckpunch
The mobile nature of the app necessitates it. I imagine this will be optional once they release native apps.
jparicka
link http://www.localmind.com
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.

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.
lennysan
It's really interesting, the word serendipity keeps coming up around this concept. I'm giving a talk at TEDxConcordia later this month titled "Losing Serendipity", though it has nothing to do with Localmind. Certainly gives me more fodder for the talk.
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.

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.
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!

lennysan
Re 13" MBP: Good point. The UI itself will probably look a bit tight as well.
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.

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.)
ctide
Also, how do I disable my account so I don't get texts in the future?
lennysan
Feature coming, or if you really want to get off just email help@localmind.com.
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!

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

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.
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...