Show HN: Stretch – Free limousine rides | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Stretch – Free limousine rides

stretchcorp.com

168 pointsdrpancake42 comments

Hey folks, author here. My phone is exploding.

I hear you on the Facebook login issue. I misconfigured the Facebook SDK and it's falling back to a web view rather than using native login.

I just pushed an over-the-air update to remove Facebook login entirely for now.

As of iOS 9 (I think) the native Facebook login opens a safari view inside the app. Signing in once will remember you for any other apps. They got rid of the app switch.

> Facebook login opens a safari view inside the app

I'm always troubled by this stupid design. How do I know that the web view inside the app is not fake?

You have to hope that the app ist trustworthy, the developer uses TLS, and implemented the certificate verification correctly.

Safari view controllers are completely separate - it is not possible to implement any kind of checking with it.

However Safari itself does do a reasonably good job of checking the certificate, and the view controller does show the hostname at the top.

Doesn't stop you from just faking the UI though

I got rid of Facebook login for this reason... annoying updates. I even tried installing their new SDK with examples and it was still broke. I'll just stick with the others until they decide not to work.

Hey OP, just wanted to let you know - the animation is making a horizontal scrollbar appear and disappear at the bottom of the page.

What I think is happening is that as .limo-container (which is 100% of page width) rotates, its "real" bounding box is expanding and contracting ever so slightly. Just open the devtools and focus on that div, you'll get it immediately.

(I'm on Chromium 57.0.2987.98 (Developer Build) on Linux, FWIW.)

> its "real" bounding box

The terminology is axis aligned bounding box (or AABB).

Oh, thanks! TIL.

Thanks for the heads up! I didn't spot this.

No problem!

Stretch is a really awesome idea, by the way. :)

Nice ride, I was expecting worse until I clicked through... A few years ago I hired a van to move some stuff and the hire place was like a scrap yard for limos. As they say, 'never meet your heroes', but I was to look on limousines differently after seeing them like beached fibreglass whales, with the elements having taken all the polish off. I am glad to see you are keeping yours in deluxe standard.

"Request a limo" -> Surprise facebook login!

that's a shame, this looked cool

I don't want to be this guy, but the required Facebook login doesn't seem to be safe. There is no way of knowing is the real Facebook as it's not going though the fb app or regular safari. A bit shady.

Thanks for mentioning this — I've removed FB login until it's configured correctly to use native login!

Don't make me give you my Facebook password. Facebook already has a way to auth in.

Where is it right now? The screenshot shows an icon on a map, but I've zoomed out to the entire United States and it doesn't show up anywhere.

I believe it is in Oregon. Not 100% sure.

Yep we're currently docked in Portland.

When I hit the icon in the bottom right, it switches between showing my location and zooming in on NW 20th and W Burnside in Portland, OR. Sooo I assume it's there?

Is this taken at the salar de uyuni? https://www.facebook.com/the.limo.diaries/photos/a.594902204...

That's White Sands, New Mexico

Do things that won't scale!

It would be great if there were a feature to notify the user when the limo is nearby, with a range away selector. Awesome concept and story, though!

That's awesome.

How much VC funding do you think this can attract?

They didn't mention it, but unlike Uber they aren't being sued by a rival company, their employees and their contractors while being actively boycotted by customers. Also, prob don't have a 10-figure burn rate.

So simple vc math would dictate a valuation like:

Absolute value of their earnings.

9999999 Growth Multiple

+ $1M for having an app

- $500k for not blogging about react

Basically already a unicorn

The routing algorithm uses deep learning® in case that bumps up our valuation at all?

Oh man, I didn't realize the whole team had already been aquihired by Google.

Logan style adventures await!

Are there any plans to post the cities you should end up passing through?

We post semi-frequent updates on our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/the.limo.diaries

Love the idea!!! Have fun and share some stories!!

Inaccurate title. This is Uber for ONE limousine.

It's not even Uber for ONE limousine. You can summon an Uber and it'll be outside your door in minutes.

Not this one :)

Sure it will. If it's already almost outside your door, then it will be outside your door in minutes. Otherwise, not so much.

OK, we changed the title from "Show HN: Stretch - A parody of Uber (free limousine rides)".

This is the first time I've seen you change a Show HN title. For my Show HNs I spend a lot of time thinking and coming up with a title that I can stand behind. I may be extreme but if I were the poster of whose Show HN you changed the title I would rather have the post removed.

We change Show HN titles all the time, just like other titles. In this case the submitter emailed us and was fine with it.

Actually I copied the original title incorrectly above. The original title was "Show HN: Stretch – Uber for limousines (but it's free)", which provoked objections in the thread. When a title provokes objections like that, it can easily take over the discussion. That's one reason we change them.

:-)

What's the point of this anyway?

Fun!

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