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Ask HN: Review my startup txtful - get stuff done on the web by sending a text

43 points by thomatas ↗ HN
http://www.txtful.com/

We're a small bootstrapped team based in Chicago who've built a platform that anyone can easily use to take a bit of functionality on the web and make it accessible via text message, IM, email, Twitter, etc.

We've learned lots from reading other people's submissions and comments here on HN, but we now would like to open it up to the community and get some direct feedback about what's good and what can be improved.

The beta is still private so that we can manage the demand, but the first 100 people who use this Invite Code get in:

HACKERNEWS

After that I promise we'll get invite codes out to everyone else who is interested ASAP.

Thanks in advance for all your help!

Ted Homatas

65 comments

[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 131 ms ] thread
wushupork
I'm a novice txtful user, but I see lots of potential for it. I've made short codes amazon price checking and netflix queue. I've found that I use the amazon price checking thing every now and then.

Cool thing about this is anyone w/ a phone can use it, not just a smartphone - I don't have an iphone like everyone else.

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vaksel
you really don't need to create fake accounts on here to get people to try out your product
thomatas
Sorry this is just the excited wife of one of the founders. We're looking for real feedback and criticism here. Please feel free to rip it up.
pclark
heh, cute :)

American only or worldwide?

thomatas
In terms of text messaging it's US only (right now), but if you're willing to use it from IM, email, or the mobile web site then you could definitely create shortcuts for sites anywhere in the world.
whalesalad
I have an iPhone so doing some of these things isn't has hard as it might be on a regular phone, but i've always loved intelligent services like this that let you take a simple thing like text messaging and turn it into a very powerful tool. Even with my iPhone, text messaging is a real fast way to send data. I'll be playing around with it :)
cnu
In countries like India, most of the people still have the basic model of the mobiles which doesn't have GPRS or WiFi. For them txting is the easiest and fastest way.
obeattie
Fast once you get the damn app to load :P
wesley
Any way to see the source code for shortcuts that were made by txtful itself?

I checked out the developer page and it's all pretty confusing.

"Formblock builder"? "Create shortcut" and you have to upload some file?

Docs please :)

azernove
The shortcuts are subscriptions to templates (this is what a developer creates). The templates are xml files using txtful mark up language. There is some (pretty dry) documentation describing the building blocks of a template on the txtful-developers google group (please follow the link from the developers page). A good start is the getting started article. Please go ahead and ask any questions you might have. We would be very glad to get that group going.
wesley
This service seems great, but there's one big catch. You'll need to enter your passwords in their system for netflix, gmail, and whatever else shortcuts you want to use.

If you're willing to do that, great, but I'm not.

Edit: Ofcourse, there are also shortcuts that don't need passwords.

thomatas
That's true Wesley, but not all shortcuts require personal info. And I want you to know that we encrypt all the info you give us with AES-128, and you're free to use whichever shortcuts you're comfortable with. It's not all or nothing.
bprater
I like services like this, however, the problem I run into is remembering the "command-line-like shortcuts". Was Amazon "amazon book" or "amz book" or "book amzon.com". And "what was the syntax for getting the definition?". Or "Do they have a way to...?" Getting this info from a SMS-only phone might be tough.
thomatas
Great point. If you send a message with just the letter h you get a list of your shortcuts. If you send h "shortcut name" you get detailed help.
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almost
Weird, I've just in the last few days been playing with SMS to web stuff. I was just today wondering about making a more general system but since in the UK it costs to send messages (i understand the cost is on the receiver in the US) I couldn't think how to make it work.

The exception would seem to be for things that have the potential to make a return, if you're in the UK my amazon price checker will send you an amazon.co.uk price when you text PRICE and the product name to 07786200690.

fendale
BT offer an SMS SDK that allows you to send and receive texts on from your app. Their pricing is not what I would describe as really competitive, but there is (or was the last time I checked) a trial account that allowed you to do some small number of operations per day.

http://web21c.bt.com/services

diN0bot
instead of emailing passwords to the user, send them a link to a confirmation page where they can enter their own password (twice) to complete the registration process and sign-in.

security might be an issue otherwise when sending passwords around in the clear. do the same thing for password resets when a user forgets their password (or username, for that matter).

diN0bot
and yeah, the giving up of passwords to other services is a little tricky. i'm not opposed to it, but you have to prove yourself to be completely trustworthy and honorable.

i mean, paypal?!

also, the 5 number password consisting entirely of numbers that was given to me when i signed on.... so that's 10*5 = 100,000 passwords to check to break into someone's account? it seems a little low. why not a 20-character password consisting of letters, symbols and numbers?

the first page i go to when logging in for the first time should be a "change password" page, not a suggested link. or just get the password from the user when they register! :-)

otherwise, though, i love the idea. command line SMS for the real world. very cool. no need to remember which phone number to call.

thomatas
We'll beef it up!
DenisM
consider adding an exponential delay for subsequent retries.

this way you only punish the guilty (forgetful), not everyone and their brother.

thomatas
Good suggestion, we were just trying to follow others suggestions of making the sign-up form as short as possible.
diN0bot
word. the whole getting users to register is a big problem with lots of paths. you know, you probably don't need email addresses, though. you just need people's phone numbers, right? the whole thing could be sms based, right? nothing wrong with registering online, but one could also make a register with txtful shortcut!
thomatas
I like the way you think! Email becomes another way to use your shortcuts though in this case. And we need a way to communicate service or account issues that aren't a priority per se without bugging you on your phone.
rokhayakebe
Add voice capabilities to allow us to call. Then using speech to text, you can process that as well.

On the home page rotate different texts within the cellphone screens.

dan_sim
Have a look at http://jott.com/ for speech to text.
peregrine
I have a feeling Google will be going down this route soon. Especially with their voice recognition being so robust and having so many profiles.....I bet Google will soon be dropping a bomb.
thomatas
Good idea. We like text a lot because it is so unobtrusive it can be used in a lot more places than voice. But obviously the way we've structured it, it's not that difficult to integrate and is definitely on the roadmap.
dan_sim
I'm more interested in the IM side of things (working with XMPP a lot). I use a lot of XMPP tools daily and I like the fact that your service aggregates lots of tool in one bot.

But I don't like the idea of going on the web site to "activate" shortcuts. I'd like to have something like I'm writing "amazon", it writes me back the options I can do (pricing, searching, buying). If the option needs a user/pass, it sends me a URL to a simple form where I can enter them (or ask them to me directly... you are TLS encrypted right?).

If I'm using your service, it's because that I want to minimize the time I spend clicking throught a web site.

But you had a great idea! Congrats!

thomatas
Definitely would love to implement searching for shortcuts from messages. It's a great idea, we'll put it in the queue. Thanks a lot.

P.S. Yup, we're encrypted.

nihaar
I've been working on something very similar. As an excuse to pick up python, I've been working a more robust SMS interface with google calendar than the one provide as well as an interface with Yelp. I love using SMS on my phone (its my predominant form of communication) and I like what you guys have made. Looking forward to giving it a spin.
pageman
PM me if you want this in Manila :)
dfalck
Very intuitive and easy to use. I'm going to use this a lot.
azernove
Thanks a lot. This was one of the most difficult aspects of txtful implementation. Translate the concept to an easy to use UI.
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Jasber
Awesome idea. Two criticisms, however:

You should get a privacy policy up asap. You're collecting and storing a lot of private information, so you should have a policy that dictates your stance.

Also, not having SMS support yet is a deal-breaker. I realize you're working on this but without this I can't use your system. As someone that doesn't have a smart phone I was excited to try your service but when I realize it was e-mail only, immediately lost interest.

Good luck with everything, and send and update to members when you have SMS support.

azernove
Thanks for pointing this out. We might have missed a step on the home page. We do have SMS support. You can find it on the account page/identities.
thomatas
Hey Jasber, we do have SMS support and Email, IM, etc. Just go to your account page and add a Mobile Phone identity.
Jasber
Thanks guys. I must have missed that. After I couldn't get SMS working I headed to the FAQ where it said you were still working on it.

I think I just need to read a little more carefully :).

thomatas
Thanks for giving us a head's up about the FAQ. I've fixed it, so we don't confuse anyone else. You've done a good deed! Let us know if you find anything else.
dpifke
Prompting users to create additional identities the first time they login would be helpful. I also missed how to do the SMS thing and just assumed it was because you were still in beta mode.
IsaacSchlueter
Did you reach the 100 yet? It said that it would email me a password, but I'm still waiting.
thomatas
You should have gotten a notification either way. Drop us an email at help@txtful.com if you don't get it soon.
leohorie
Looks very interesting.

I noticed that there are shortcuts for Paypal, but I don't see any copy about how secure those transactions are. I'd suggest adding at least some information on the matter, as some people tend to get paranoid about money transactions over wireless.

azernove
i know. the transactions are executed on our servers and it's the same as the user would be running them from their browser. I agree, we have to be a little more explicit about certain things. We have a very long list of features and improvements.
robertk
I just got you a customer. :D I got on the bus and some girl just barely made it on and was telling me how she just called her friend to check the cta site and that she's so glad she caught it. I told her she can check by txt using your service.

Hint hint: first thing she responded was "how much does it cost?" and was surprised when I said free.

thomatas
Your commission check is in the mail :D
someperson
What countries does this support? No mention in the FAQ.

I tried adding my mobile number with country code (Australia), but never received confirmation.

EDIT: Gah, I read your reply, "In terms of text messaging it's US only (right now), but if you're willing to use it from IM, email, or the mobile web site then you could definitely create shortcuts for sites anywhere in the world." You should add that to your FAQ.

[dead] zack
Not a fan of the ugly design and it's pretty much useless to me right now because I can't text, get a shortcode, seriously. Also, I would like a nice interface for getting CTA bus times. I would like to be able to text

"55 bus red line" or "55 bus woodlawn"

to your shortcode,

and get the times of the next busses going east/west

[dead] zack
Oh, apparently you have SMS support? WTF? your UI sucks. no offense. it doesn't belong in the FAQ, it should be immediately evident. think Facebook.
DenisM
What do you use for SMS gateway?
arjunb
wow, the amazon buy shortcut is scary - is there a confirmation?
azernove
there should be a confirmation msg with the order id. you should also get an email from amazon.

run detail first, so you know what you are buying ;)