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Show HN: Create awkward situations with a fake iMessage Popup

github.com

329 pointsadnanaga65 comments

This is a trivial/tangental observation, but I really appreciate that I can grasp the whole project from a 10 second glance at the readme. I wish more projects did that.

Not trivial, fundamental to attracting usage.

Attracting usage (more people)

and also

Abstracting usage (summary of how it's used)

This does a very simple, visual thing. It doesn't require the summarizing and de-jargonizing work that most tech projects' README need for an effective 10-second pitch.

Just having pictures puts it a notch above most projects...

It could be used to create a funny spoof message from a colleague about the topic of the slide.

"How to choose secure passwords" and then the boss IM coming through saying "John, my password 'password' isn't working anymore."

Great idea! It could be a really stress reliever / comic way to spice up your presentation.

"This guy told me my password gets blanked out automatically, check this out: hunter1"

Oh my, I remember that thing from my IRC days :)

Me: ***

Other: ? What's that?

Me: Oops I accidentaly typed something I shouldn't have

Other: Stars? How is that accidental?

Me: Wait, what? Passwords get automatically masked?

Other: hunter1

Full quote: http://bash.org/?244321

Same energy as this Calvin & Hobbes strip: https://imgur.com/4rPGp

Well you can hunter1 my hunter1 hunter1!

Impress your boss and co-workers with your extreme company loyalty by receiving an "It's a girl!!!" text message from your no-longer-pregnant wife.

This reminded me of my 2nd ever phone: Samsung C3322 (Not the exact model).

It had an in-built feature in which you could set and hotkey (long press down key) to get a fake call!

Instead of putting me in awkward situations, it has saved me from awkward situations, preachy people and was a perfect way to end a small talk.

I should find some way to do that in my Android!

Set alarm -> choose ringtone as custom alarm tone -> wait

This is a hilarious tool for pulling a good prank, love that someone who isn't me put the time and effort to create it.

ha doing this on someone else's machine would be a real hoot

The example "story" from Cassie is a delight. So absurd and yet so plausible:

"you packed the wrong go gurt again"

"you fucking idiot"

"but its ok I still love you"

I love the autocorrect fail, really makes it.

You probably don't have kids, but that isn't an autocorrect fail!

https://www.yoplait.com/go-gurt/

In theory this could be used to fake an emergency message to get out of a presentation... The text fields are fully customizable and it's probably not too hard to swap avatars.

Is’t this the third time your aunt has had a bad fall in the past week?

As long as it’s October, you’re in the clear.

Bravo !

Yeah she suffers from a weird addiction to pogo sticks.

Chronic condition but it has its ups and downs

already planning my next holiday around this...

I've seen a startup founder leave a meeting to take a call, indicating that it was someone important. His phone was on the table facing up, and we could see the contact photo of the caller - indeed worth taking.

A colleague heard him talking in the hallway. It was his wife on the phone, and once he was in the hallway he switched to their family language.

I don't understand, is this a story about someone receiving a phone call? Or are you implying a call from his wife wasn't actually important?

The photo of the caller was of a big-shot investor. Not the guy’s wife.

(Indeed, my wording was unclear)

Ahh I see. Maybe it was a family emergency and he didn't want to have to explain, though.

I feel like this implicit judgment (by all of us) of which people this CEO wants to prioritize over work is exactly why he was right to change the photo.

Very much so. I have the daycare in my ring-through settings, they rarely call but if they do it's because there is something wrong. Most people understand that you want to take that call, but some don't. And those are the kinds of people I try to avoid doing business with, because it's a really good sign that they're going to be unpleasant in more situations.

Really depends on what kind of daycare you have.

If you need a translator to transact business and they only take cash you pick up the phone because lord knows that if they are calling you it's because there is a real emergency.

If it's one of those pad cell for toddlers type places that's harder to sign up for than a mortgage they can go to voicemail.

The French movie Nothing to Hide on Netflix is a great companion to this software. It shows just how bad things can get when messages come in at the wrong time.

this is hilarious.

i worked with some sales folks once that had an extension that would pop-up fake imessages and emails from other customers about how much they loved the product.

Isn’t that fraud?

No, it's just ethically questionable.

Welcome to marketing!

Are you sure it’s legal? https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2021/10/...

Putting ads inside your ads, I love it. Now if only that extension would put a watermark on popups, we could go one level deeper.

If there's one thing I know about myself it's that I don't need an app to create awkward situations. I am very good at doing that already.

Reminds me of the time I didn't go into do-no-disturb on a screenshare, I got four messages off my other half in quick succession:

"You didn't defrost the pie."

"I can't find anything else good to eat."

"We're going to have to take your parents for fried chicken again."

"FFS, I've fallen over the cat into the clothes dryer."

It's not clear from the description, but it seems like it's for "you got access to your colleague's computer" type of prank, so after your configuration, when they load a particular page the extension will trigger the popups.

I guess it won't work if they're presenting PowerPoint or some other app instead of a web page.

But a good target would be a Jira/Trello board, they often get presented...

I don't think it's meant to prank people (which honestly sounds like a terrifying prank, unless maybe the presentation is for a very small and really familiar audience), but to incorporate that into your own presentations to lighten it up. Like it used to be somewhat common to add a BSOD slide to your deck or similar things.

If you are truly brave, you will run it during your own presentations with something that is uncomfortable but not humorous.

The main thing I wanted to get it working on was full screen google slides

I wonder how this can be used for phishing...

If you've convinced your victim to install a Chrome Extension, they're already way more hosed than anything you might do with a fake iMessage popup.

Reminds me of https://muzzleapp.com/ - example messages are humorous/embarrassing.

Haha those are great, and there’s so many!

I like how the notifications with buttons actually respond to clicks

I can't stop laughing at all the examples.

It’s a little surprising to me that this is a browser extension instead of a native menu bar app that posts notifications to the system

It turns out that zoom hides the notification if it comes from the notification center which defeated the whole point hahah

does Zoom do that, or is it "do not disturb" turned on automatically? (or an equivalent)

It’s a zoom thing, turning do not disturb off made no difference

This would totally fly at my current company, and I'm going to use it.

I like this so much it’s causing me to rethink some things about myself

This is fantastic!

Please do it for slack :)

This looks like it could be super fun for breaking the fourth wall during a presentation

Cool! :)

"hey dad i just put 40k on SPY puts"

Thy would have done pretty well with that strategy all last month.

"hey dad I invested all my college fund into dogecoin, we're going to be rich!"

"...uh dad... all my college fund is gone"

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