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singer

411 karma · joined July 15, 2009

Mike@SingersCreations.com

My work: http://HackersDaily.com http://SnappyCheckout.com http://SingersCreations.com

submissionscomments
singer··on It’s the founding CEO’s job to personally email the first 1000 users
@Nitrogen, that sounds like a different issue. But, yes, it could be an issue if you're sending email with confusing subject lines.

The comments at the following link show what I'm referring to -- people taking the easy way out: http://ask-leo.com/why_shouldnt_i_use_the_report_spam_or_jun...

singer··on It’s the founding CEO’s job to personally email the first 1000 users
Adding a large button to the top would certainly make it easier for those people who open the emails and want to unsubscribe. And I wouldn't worry about the increase in unsubscribers. I'd rather help people unsubscribe than have them mark my emails as spam.

I'm assuming that the majority of people are not even opening the emails though. Hitting the spam button is just too easy. I think the system is broken.

singer··on It’s the founding CEO’s job to personally email the first 1000 users
Yes, the unsubcribe link does work. I think the problem is that people are not interested in purchasing the product, so they mark the "your trial is ending" email as spam because it's easy to do. I don't think most people understand the negative impact of marking emails as spam. They simply want to take the path of least resistance.
singer··on It’s the founding CEO’s job to personally email the first 1000 users
The link is extremely easy to find. It's the only link that appears at the bottom of my emails.

Checking the box in my Gmail inbox and clicking the "Spam" button is much easier than opening the email and hunting down the unsubscribe link.

singer··on It’s the founding CEO’s job to personally email the first 1000 users
Do you have any trouble with people reporting your drip emails as spam? I found that some people are reporting emails instead of clicking the unsubscribe link. Unfortunately, many email clients make that button more convenient than tracking down an uninstall link within the email.
singer··on Netflix loses 800,000 subscribers (stock drops 28%)
If they are like me, they didn't use Netflix much and it just became an unnecessary expense. For those who use Netflix on a daily basis, I think the new price is still fair.
singer··on [dead]
This was breaking news... in November, 2010.
singer··on In-Car Algorithm Could Rapidly Dissolve Traffic Jams
Ford Explorers (and possibly other) have adaptive (automated) cruise control. It's not really scary at all because it measures the distance between your car and the car in front of you, and determines the proper speed to drive. It's no different than you performing that calculation in your head and making the correct adjustment to the gas peddle.
singer··on Ask HN: who launched something in July?
I launched a web service that sends out weather alerts issued by the National Weather Service via email, text message, or phone.

http://www.WeatherWatcherAlerts.com

singer··on BillGuard
What about looking up consumers via email address instead? Some consumers would get around that by using a different email address, but I bet the majority of consumers consistently use the same email address when making purchases online.
singer··on If you build it, they will not come; how to avoid launch failure
$8/month seems like a fair price to me when taking into consideration the problem you're solving. Maybe try running a special on AppSumo.com. I'm sure a majority of their users are in your target audience.
singer··on Twilio SMS price halved to a penny per message
HeyWire doesn't seem to offer an SMS API. If they did that for free, I'm sure they would be out of business in no time flat.
singer··on Instant.io - Massive Google Translate (built in 8 hours)
What's with the constant reminder that it was "built in 8 hours"? Is that to warn me that it's really buggy or are you trying to impress me?
singer··on Ask HN: What do you use to backup your data?
Carbonite
singer··on Ask HN:Review My Updated Side Project - ShelfLuv.com (250 invite codes)
Have you considered that not all book lovers are Facebook lovers?
singer··on Nobody Needs a Tablet. So Why Are We Gobbling Them Up?
Thanks for clearing that up. I was starting to think my iPad was going to cook me dinner quickly. That is surely an item on the iPad 3 feature list.
singer··on Nobody Needs a Tablet. So Why Are We Gobbling Them Up?
"your original comment treated the statement "no one needs" as if he were saying "there's no value in""

And that isn't what I was saying either. Some people really do need a portable device like an iPad. However, as this article points out in its many examples, the average person does not need one.

Perhaps this article should be retitled to "The average person does not need a tablet".

singer··on Nobody Needs a Tablet. So Why Are We Gobbling Them Up?
"you'll surely use your oven instead of the microwave if you're not time-constrained"

So, if I'm time-constrained, you're thinking I'm going to type that email on my iPad? Again, this is a bad analogy. I think people really do need tablets. They just don't need them when their desktop/laptop is in reach.

singer··on Nobody Needs a Tablet. So Why Are We Gobbling Them Up?
"He even makes a nice little Microwave-to-Oven analogy." (TomOfTTB)

The microwave-to-oven analogy doesn't make much sense. Do you think most people are sitting beside their desktop/laptop while they use their iPad/tablet? I love my iPad, but I will surely use my desktop when I can choose between the two.

singer··on Nobody Needs a Tablet. So Why Are We Gobbling Them Up?
Nobody needs a tablet? Sure... let me just pack my desktop computer up and put it in my carry-on bag the next time I travel.

"As you might expect, the top three things consumers have been doing with iPads are surfing the web, writing and checking e-mail and playing games"

That sounds like the same thing people are doing with desktop computers and laptops.

singer··on Ask HN: Are you working on any side projects that make "small/passive" income?
What happens if someone bypasses your client library in the APK file? Also, will the application fail to launch if it cannot reach androidlicenser.com (or wherever it goes) to verify the user when the app is launched?
singer··on Life without a cell phone
Out of sight, out of mind. And put your phone in silent mode if you don't want to hear it. It's all about self control. If someone does not have that, then maybe a cell phone really isn't for them.
singer··on Life without a cell phone
That sounds like a loss of freedom to me. How about the freedom to not answer your phone when you don't want to be bothered?
singer··on [dead]
Per the footer note: "Sadly, this app doesn't exist. If you think it should and write cool Mac apps, email me, or message me on Twitter."
singer··on Poké-valentine creator. A little valentine's weekend hack
This site doesn't load properly in IE8.
singer··on Reddit doubles number of programmers
Do you mean "is planning to double"? They haven't doubled anything yet.
singer··on AWS Launches Simple, Bulk Email Service Amazon SES
It means they will have to compete with features or price.
singer··on Review my startup: RegistryStop, a centralized wedding registry
It might also be helpful if you search Amazon or Google Product Search and show me where I can buy the registered items at places other than the registered stores. Reversing that idea, you could allow someone to add an item from any website on the Internet, and then automatically add the item to the existing registries.

Here are some design-related suggestions:

- The Example Registry does not load properly in IE8.

- In the slider at the top of the homepage, I think it would be easier to read the text if it was left justified.

- The text on the site is hard to read in general. Try increasing the line-height to the font size plus 4 pixels.

- There are many spelling and grammatical errors throughout the website. For example, on the homepage, "whereever" should be "wherever".

singer··on Ask HN: Review my startup, Reservv.com (Appointment Scheduler & Reminder)
Thanks for following up. Your feedback is very helpful.
singer··on Ask HN: Review my startup, Reservv.com (Appointment Scheduler & Reminder)
Thanks for your feedback. I have some questions:

1) Can you give me examples of some sites that have designs that are more trusting to your eye?

2) Care to go into the list of features that I'm missing?

3) Are you suggesting that calendar information be imported from Google Calendar or exported to it? Exporting information should be easy. I'm not really sure what type of information could be imported since the information stored in Google Calendar is probably too basic.

4) I was thinking of adding a section in the admin that would allow for custom fields to be added. Add additional fields and give them a custom label.

5) Shorter than Reservv? Could be tough.

6) I'm going to allow the logo to be changed at no cost. It's on my to-do list.

7) I was thinking of adding the option to prompt customers to enter their payment information when making an appointment. If the appointment is not cancelled, the payment would be automatically processed at the time of the appointment.

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