By KENNETH CHANG from NYT Science https://nyti.ms/2PFAlfi
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Should Adults Get a Measles Booster Shot?
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. from NYT Health https://nyti.ms/2J5q3nv
Where Every Measles Case Has Been Reported This Year
By WEIYI CAI, DENISE LU and SCOTT REINHARD from NYT Health https://nyti.ms/2Le7C2Q
New top story on Hacker News: Launch HN: Centaur Labs (YC W19) – Labeling Medical Images at Scale
Launch HN: Centaur Labs (YC W19) – Labeling Medical Images at Scale
2 by erikduhaime | 0 comments on Hacker News.
Hello HN! We are Erik, Zach, and Tom, the founders of Centaur Labs ( https://centaurlabs.io ). We’ve built a platform where doctors, other medical professionals, and med students label medical images, improving datasets for AI. The idea grew out of Erik’s research when he was a PhD student at MIT’s Center for Collective Intelligence. In short, he found that by aggregating the opinions of multiple people--even including some people with little or no medical expertise--they could reliably distinguish cancerous moles from benign ones better than individual dermatologists. The three of us have been friends since we were undergrads. When we would chat about Erik’s research, it seemed like a no-brainer that there’d be demand for more accurate diagnoses. We all had our frustrations that as patients, you usually have to trust one doctor’s opinion. So we built a mobile app called DiagnosUs where users around the world analyze medical images and videos. Many are doctors who simply enjoy looking at cases or want to improve their skills. Other users like competing with their peers, seeing themselves on our leader boards, and winning cash prizes in our competitions. Different people (and algorithms) have different skills. Using data on how our users perform on cases with “gold standard” answers, we train a machine-learning model to identify how differently-skilled people complement each other and cover each other’s blind spots. The more we learn about our users’ skills and expertise, the better we get at aggregating their opinions. It is a bit like putting together the optimal trivia team: you don’t just need the five best people, you need someone who is good at pop culture, someone who knows sports, etc. Experts trained in the same way often have the same blind spots, so outcomes improve when you include a range of opinions. We initially thought we’d go straight to providing opinions on demand for consumers like ourselves. There aren’t nearly enough doctors to meet the demand around the world to have everyone’s medical images analyzed. But it didn’t take long to realize that our fledgling startup wasn’t yet prepared to deal with the regulatory issues that would entail. Meanwhile, we’d been hearing for years that AI was on the verge of replacing radiology, but it seemed like the hype didn’t match the reality. Many companies trying to develop medical AI are impeded by bad data. They try to hire doctors to go through thousands or millions of images and re-label them, but this has proven hard for them to manage and scale. Our customers have giant medical datasets and want to use them to train AI. But the quality of the data holds them back, and they can’t find nearly enough doctors to label the data accurately. Our platform provides a high volume of labels quickly, and our performance analytics enables us to get highly accurate labels from groups of people with a range of skills. We’d love to hear from anyone working on medical AI who’s faced the challenge of dealing with flawed datasets. If you’re interested in trying our app, you can download DiagnosUs for iOS in the App Store. Thanks for reading!
2 by erikduhaime | 0 comments on Hacker News.
Hello HN! We are Erik, Zach, and Tom, the founders of Centaur Labs ( https://centaurlabs.io ). We’ve built a platform where doctors, other medical professionals, and med students label medical images, improving datasets for AI. The idea grew out of Erik’s research when he was a PhD student at MIT’s Center for Collective Intelligence. In short, he found that by aggregating the opinions of multiple people--even including some people with little or no medical expertise--they could reliably distinguish cancerous moles from benign ones better than individual dermatologists. The three of us have been friends since we were undergrads. When we would chat about Erik’s research, it seemed like a no-brainer that there’d be demand for more accurate diagnoses. We all had our frustrations that as patients, you usually have to trust one doctor’s opinion. So we built a mobile app called DiagnosUs where users around the world analyze medical images and videos. Many are doctors who simply enjoy looking at cases or want to improve their skills. Other users like competing with their peers, seeing themselves on our leader boards, and winning cash prizes in our competitions. Different people (and algorithms) have different skills. Using data on how our users perform on cases with “gold standard” answers, we train a machine-learning model to identify how differently-skilled people complement each other and cover each other’s blind spots. The more we learn about our users’ skills and expertise, the better we get at aggregating their opinions. It is a bit like putting together the optimal trivia team: you don’t just need the five best people, you need someone who is good at pop culture, someone who knows sports, etc. Experts trained in the same way often have the same blind spots, so outcomes improve when you include a range of opinions. We initially thought we’d go straight to providing opinions on demand for consumers like ourselves. There aren’t nearly enough doctors to meet the demand around the world to have everyone’s medical images analyzed. But it didn’t take long to realize that our fledgling startup wasn’t yet prepared to deal with the regulatory issues that would entail. Meanwhile, we’d been hearing for years that AI was on the verge of replacing radiology, but it seemed like the hype didn’t match the reality. Many companies trying to develop medical AI are impeded by bad data. They try to hire doctors to go through thousands or millions of images and re-label them, but this has proven hard for them to manage and scale. Our customers have giant medical datasets and want to use them to train AI. But the quality of the data holds them back, and they can’t find nearly enough doctors to label the data accurately. Our platform provides a high volume of labels quickly, and our performance analytics enables us to get highly accurate labels from groups of people with a range of skills. We’d love to hear from anyone working on medical AI who’s faced the challenge of dealing with flawed datasets. If you’re interested in trying our app, you can download DiagnosUs for iOS in the App Store. Thanks for reading!
Monday, April 29, 2019
New top story on Hacker News: Visualizing Collective Trends in Space and Time [pdf]
Visualizing Collective Trends in Space and Time [pdf]
3 by lichtenberger | 0 comments on Hacker News.
3 by lichtenberger | 0 comments on Hacker News.
U.N. Issues Urgent Warning on the Growing Peril of Drug-Resistant Infections
By ANDREW JACOBS from NYT Health https://nyti.ms/2IO3m8j
In Month After ‘13 Reasons Why’ Debut on Netflix, Study Finds Teen Suicide Grew
By BENEDICT CAREY from NYT Health https://nyti.ms/2UO1OfK
New top story on Hacker News: Launch HN: Trexo Robotics (YC W19) – Robotic Legs for Kids with Cerebral Palsy
Launch HN: Trexo Robotics (YC W19) – Robotic Legs for Kids with Cerebral Palsy
6 by manmeet | 0 comments on Hacker News.
Hi HN community! We're Rahul and Manmeet, co-founders of Trexo Robotics ( http://bit.ly/2vuDyoN ) At Trexo Robotics, we're building wearable robotic devices to help children with disabilities learn to walk, in many cases for the first time in their lives. Video: https://youtu.be/3LW4LJIpa2o We are both Mechatronics undergrads from the University of Waterloo. Rahul later completed a Master's in Robotics at the University of Toronto and I've done my MBA at Rotman. We started this a few years ago when I (Manmeet) found out that my nephew, Praneit, has Cerebral Palsy, and that he would not be able to walk. Not walking can lead to contractures, hip subluxation, and many physiological and psychological issues for kids. We wanted to change that. We decided to use our robotics background, along with help from friends and the top rehabilitation researches in North America, and in 2016, watched my nephew take his first steps using our device. Watching Praneit walk is definitely the proudest moment of my life, and we realized that there are families all over the world that can benefit from this, so we started Trexo Robotics. The Trexo device is available for $899 per month (via financing) or can be purchased outright for $29,900. It is an exercise and therapy tool, allowing children to get the benefits of daily walking at their homes. We decided to design it so that it attaches onto an existing walker. Currently, it only works with Rifton's Dynamic Pacer, but hopefully, we can add other walkers later on as well. Our controller allows you to modify the gait pattern to adapt to the needs of different kids and adjust the amount of force/assistance that the robot provides on each joint. We are already launched, with kids using it to walk thousands of steps daily. It has been amazing to see the interest of families. Our device is available for pre-order. Our 2019 production is already fully reserved, and we are now taking reservations for next year. Really interested to hear the HN community's thoughts on our approach, and experiences families or others have had in this space.
6 by manmeet | 0 comments on Hacker News.
Hi HN community! We're Rahul and Manmeet, co-founders of Trexo Robotics ( http://bit.ly/2vuDyoN ) At Trexo Robotics, we're building wearable robotic devices to help children with disabilities learn to walk, in many cases for the first time in their lives. Video: https://youtu.be/3LW4LJIpa2o We are both Mechatronics undergrads from the University of Waterloo. Rahul later completed a Master's in Robotics at the University of Toronto and I've done my MBA at Rotman. We started this a few years ago when I (Manmeet) found out that my nephew, Praneit, has Cerebral Palsy, and that he would not be able to walk. Not walking can lead to contractures, hip subluxation, and many physiological and psychological issues for kids. We wanted to change that. We decided to use our robotics background, along with help from friends and the top rehabilitation researches in North America, and in 2016, watched my nephew take his first steps using our device. Watching Praneit walk is definitely the proudest moment of my life, and we realized that there are families all over the world that can benefit from this, so we started Trexo Robotics. The Trexo device is available for $899 per month (via financing) or can be purchased outright for $29,900. It is an exercise and therapy tool, allowing children to get the benefits of daily walking at their homes. We decided to design it so that it attaches onto an existing walker. Currently, it only works with Rifton's Dynamic Pacer, but hopefully, we can add other walkers later on as well. Our controller allows you to modify the gait pattern to adapt to the needs of different kids and adjust the amount of force/assistance that the robot provides on each joint. We are already launched, with kids using it to walk thousands of steps daily. It has been amazing to see the interest of families. Our device is available for pre-order. Our 2019 production is already fully reserved, and we are now taking reservations for next year. Really interested to hear the HN community's thoughts on our approach, and experiences families or others have had in this space.
Measles Cases Surpass 700 as Outbreak Continues Unabated
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. from NYT Health https://nyti.ms/2Py9eTq
New top story on Hacker News: Ask HN: How do you stay disciplined in the long run?
Ask HN: How do you stay disciplined in the long run?
9 by djangovm | 1 comments on Hacker News.
My typical cycle of execution is something like this Find out something through HN/Reddit/Other medium --> Get motivated --> Get good knowledge about it through research --> See others succeed, get motivated a bit more --> Execute and get to, say, 25-50% of the journey --> Get bored --> Abandon --> be passive for couple of months --> repeat. Be it creating new websites or new products (probably the reason I have not launched something as a personal project, despite having tried like 10-11 of them with varying degree of success), weight loss journey, running, meditation etc. I have tried breaking things into manageable chunks and then taking them one-by-one, or through methodologies like GTD, or by making others accountable (tough to find someone who takes personal interest in what I would do; also, I have strongly come to perceive myself as being driven by external accountabilities which makes me good at work at office but bad at executing personal projects). I see folks who are disciplined, are ruthless executors, are self-motivated, and wonder, what could I improve or work towards to get things in a better shape. Any suggestions?
9 by djangovm | 1 comments on Hacker News.
My typical cycle of execution is something like this Find out something through HN/Reddit/Other medium --> Get motivated --> Get good knowledge about it through research --> See others succeed, get motivated a bit more --> Execute and get to, say, 25-50% of the journey --> Get bored --> Abandon --> be passive for couple of months --> repeat. Be it creating new websites or new products (probably the reason I have not launched something as a personal project, despite having tried like 10-11 of them with varying degree of success), weight loss journey, running, meditation etc. I have tried breaking things into manageable chunks and then taking them one-by-one, or through methodologies like GTD, or by making others accountable (tough to find someone who takes personal interest in what I would do; also, I have strongly come to perceive myself as being driven by external accountabilities which makes me good at work at office but bad at executing personal projects). I see folks who are disciplined, are ruthless executors, are self-motivated, and wonder, what could I improve or work towards to get things in a better shape. Any suggestions?
New top story on Hacker News: Ask HN: How to deal with a terrible senior colleague who acts like he's boss?
Ask HN: How to deal with a terrible senior colleague who acts like he's boss?
7 by happppy | 6 comments on Hacker News.
I have a senior colleague who thinks he's my manager and talks in a way like he knows everything(in reality he doesn't and is transferred to our team because his previous team laid him off). He can't understand simple logic and I have to explain him simple logic and then he acts like I don't know anything. I can't complain to my manager as he's a friend of my manager and I am junior and new in this company!
7 by happppy | 6 comments on Hacker News.
I have a senior colleague who thinks he's my manager and talks in a way like he knows everything(in reality he doesn't and is transferred to our team because his previous team laid him off). He can't understand simple logic and I have to explain him simple logic and then he acts like I don't know anything. I can't complain to my manager as he's a friend of my manager and I am junior and new in this company!
New top story on Hacker News: Entrepreneurs Are Better Off Going It Alone, Study Says
Entrepreneurs Are Better Off Going It Alone, Study Says
3 by kennethfriedman | 0 comments on Hacker News.
3 by kennethfriedman | 0 comments on Hacker News.
Sunday, April 28, 2019
New top story on Hacker News: $35 Atomic Pi Cherry Trail SBC Now Available Worldwide
$35 Atomic Pi Cherry Trail SBC Now Available Worldwide
3 by watchdogtimer | 0 comments on Hacker News.
3 by watchdogtimer | 0 comments on Hacker News.
New top story on Hacker News: Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?
Ask HN: Are you put off building something because it already exists?
6 by strimp099 | 1 comments on Hacker News.
Big market, check. Validated demand, check. Product or service exists, uh-oh. I set out to build a reverse address book. Instead of updating your address book with changes from everyone else, you update your own details and it pushes to everyone else. Turns out someone beat me to it and my inspiration evaporated. Zoom is a recent and great example of competing in a crowded market and winning. For you builders/founders out there, are you on a never ending quest to find something new/unique or do you prefer another quality in your idea to start a project?
6 by strimp099 | 1 comments on Hacker News.
Big market, check. Validated demand, check. Product or service exists, uh-oh. I set out to build a reverse address book. Instead of updating your address book with changes from everyone else, you update your own details and it pushes to everyone else. Turns out someone beat me to it and my inspiration evaporated. Zoom is a recent and great example of competing in a crowded market and winning. For you builders/founders out there, are you on a never ending quest to find something new/unique or do you prefer another quality in your idea to start a project?
In Washington, Juul Vows to Curb Youth Vaping. Its Lobbying in States Runs Counter to That Pledge.
By SHEILA KAPLAN from NYT Health https://nyti.ms/2GDHRmZ
Saturday, April 27, 2019
New top story on Hacker News: An Unexpected Bible of Million-Dollar Opportunities
An Unexpected Bible of Million-Dollar Opportunities
3 by gregorymichael | 0 comments on Hacker News.
3 by gregorymichael | 0 comments on Hacker News.
New top story on Hacker News: Ask HN: Sources of remote dev work with minimal human interaction?
Ask HN: Sources of remote dev work with minimal human interaction?
3 by the_grind_sucks | 0 comments on Hacker News.
Hi everyone, I am in a situation that I feel some of you can relate to, so I wanted to pose this question in hopes of generating some resources for myself and similar people. I've had a few developer jobs so far in life and on balance, I haven't really liked any of them. When I ask myself why, the reason is always the corporate bullshit that I must endure. I find the actual job of being a developer quite fun and enjoy solving problems and building things with code. I also have no troubles with the interpersonal side of developing, as far as working in a team and being a decent coworker is concerned. What I cannot stand is the corporate environment and it's associated crap and rituals. I don't like being "obligated" to put in extra time with my colleagues on team events and retreats. I don't like daily stand-ups that are about talking about what you're up to so you look busy, rather than sharing (both ways) useful info with the team. I don't like a lot of the personalities I have to interact with at work (IMHO, certain departments/roles attract people who I feel are inherently dishonest or manipulative. These people creep me out and I wish I didn't have to be so close to them every workday). Many who read this will be able to add a lot to this list of complaints, as I can too. What I want is a remote dev job where I close tickets. That is, one where the gig really is cash for functioning solution that meets spec, code standards, and QA. My ideal world would be where I log in somewhere, pull a respectably specified ticket with clear acceptance criteria, and then pull request myself to at least a modest quality of life. Does anyone know of any remote work where the hassle is just engineering related? I will specify that I am not interested in simply transitioning the interpersonal bullshit to a Skype-based model, so team-intensive remote work won't suit this requirement. My greatest thanks for any insightful thoughts or resources you guys can provide.
3 by the_grind_sucks | 0 comments on Hacker News.
Hi everyone, I am in a situation that I feel some of you can relate to, so I wanted to pose this question in hopes of generating some resources for myself and similar people. I've had a few developer jobs so far in life and on balance, I haven't really liked any of them. When I ask myself why, the reason is always the corporate bullshit that I must endure. I find the actual job of being a developer quite fun and enjoy solving problems and building things with code. I also have no troubles with the interpersonal side of developing, as far as working in a team and being a decent coworker is concerned. What I cannot stand is the corporate environment and it's associated crap and rituals. I don't like being "obligated" to put in extra time with my colleagues on team events and retreats. I don't like daily stand-ups that are about talking about what you're up to so you look busy, rather than sharing (both ways) useful info with the team. I don't like a lot of the personalities I have to interact with at work (IMHO, certain departments/roles attract people who I feel are inherently dishonest or manipulative. These people creep me out and I wish I didn't have to be so close to them every workday). Many who read this will be able to add a lot to this list of complaints, as I can too. What I want is a remote dev job where I close tickets. That is, one where the gig really is cash for functioning solution that meets spec, code standards, and QA. My ideal world would be where I log in somewhere, pull a respectably specified ticket with clear acceptance criteria, and then pull request myself to at least a modest quality of life. Does anyone know of any remote work where the hassle is just engineering related? I will specify that I am not interested in simply transitioning the interpersonal bullshit to a Skype-based model, so team-intensive remote work won't suit this requirement. My greatest thanks for any insightful thoughts or resources you guys can provide.
U.S. to Consider Listing Giraffes as Endangered Species
By MIHIR ZAVERI from NYT Science https://nyti.ms/2PuNCr2
New top story on Hacker News: Customers furious over days-long outage at A2 Hosting
Customers furious over days-long outage at A2 Hosting
4 by quickthrower2 | 1 comments on Hacker News.
4 by quickthrower2 | 1 comments on Hacker News.
Lego Is Making Braille Bricks. They May Give Blind Literacy a Needed Lift.
By SARAH MERVOSH from NYT Health https://nyti.ms/2WbjCTE
Friday, April 26, 2019
New top story on Hacker News: Docker Hub Hacked – 190k accounts, GitHub tokens revoked, Builds disabled
Docker Hub Hacked – 190k accounts, GitHub tokens revoked, Builds disabled
9 by lugg | 2 comments on Hacker News.
On Thursday, April 25th, 2019, we discovered unauthorized access to a single Hub database storing a subset of non-financial user data. Upon discovery, we acted quickly to intervene and secure the site. We want to update you on what we've learned from our ongoing investigation, including which Hub accounts are impacted, and what actions users should take. Here is what we’ve learned: During a brief period of unauthorized access to a Docker Hub database, sensitive data from approximately 190,000 accounts may have been exposed (less than 5% of Hub users). Data includes usernames and hashed passwords for a small percentage of these users, as well as Github and Bitbucket tokens for Docker autobuilds. Actions to Take: - We are asking users to change their password on Docker Hub and any other accounts that shared this password. - For users with autobuilds that may have been impacted, we have revoked GitHub tokens and access keys, and ask that you reconnect to your repositories and check security logs to see if any unexpected actions have taken place. - You may view security actions on your GitHub or BitBucket accounts to see if any unexpected access has occurred over the past 24 hours -see http://bit.ly/2V1kwFO and http://bit.ly/2GCGt43 - This may affect your ongoing builds from our Automated build service. You may need to unlink and then relink your Github and Bitbucket source provider as described in https://dockr.ly/2UXNvKQ We are enhancing our overall security processes and reviewing our policies. Additional monitoring tools are now in place. Our investigation is still ongoing, and we will share more information as it becomes available. Thank you, Kent Lamb Director of Docker Support info@docker.com
9 by lugg | 2 comments on Hacker News.
On Thursday, April 25th, 2019, we discovered unauthorized access to a single Hub database storing a subset of non-financial user data. Upon discovery, we acted quickly to intervene and secure the site. We want to update you on what we've learned from our ongoing investigation, including which Hub accounts are impacted, and what actions users should take. Here is what we’ve learned: During a brief period of unauthorized access to a Docker Hub database, sensitive data from approximately 190,000 accounts may have been exposed (less than 5% of Hub users). Data includes usernames and hashed passwords for a small percentage of these users, as well as Github and Bitbucket tokens for Docker autobuilds. Actions to Take: - We are asking users to change their password on Docker Hub and any other accounts that shared this password. - For users with autobuilds that may have been impacted, we have revoked GitHub tokens and access keys, and ask that you reconnect to your repositories and check security logs to see if any unexpected actions have taken place. - You may view security actions on your GitHub or BitBucket accounts to see if any unexpected access has occurred over the past 24 hours -see http://bit.ly/2V1kwFO and http://bit.ly/2GCGt43 - This may affect your ongoing builds from our Automated build service. You may need to unlink and then relink your Github and Bitbucket source provider as described in https://dockr.ly/2UXNvKQ We are enhancing our overall security processes and reviewing our policies. Additional monitoring tools are now in place. Our investigation is still ongoing, and we will share more information as it becomes available. Thank you, Kent Lamb Director of Docker Support info@docker.com
Ageism: A ‘Prevalent and Insidious’ Health Threat
By PAULA SPAN from NYT Health https://nyti.ms/2L7uKQn
New top story on Hacker News: Ask HN: As managers, how do you make sure your distributed team is aligned?
Ask HN: As managers, how do you make sure your distributed team is aligned?
3 by type12 | 0 comments on Hacker News.
We use Slack for internal comms, but it's used mostly for chit-chat conversations and real-time issues. Is there a product for slow-thinking updates where I can share teams news and align my +40 people team?
3 by type12 | 0 comments on Hacker News.
We use Slack for internal comms, but it's used mostly for chit-chat conversations and real-time issues. Is there a product for slow-thinking updates where I can share teams news and align my +40 people team?
Religious Objections to the Measles Vaccine? Get the Shots, Faith Leaders Say
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. from NYT Health https://nyti.ms/2vpEHOB
New top story on Hacker News: Show HN: Office Hours – Hold office hours by phone anytime, anywhere
Show HN: Office Hours – Hold office hours by phone anytime, anywhere
2 by rpavuluri | 0 comments on Hacker News.
Hello HN! My name is Rohan Pavuluri, and I’m launching an iPhone app called Office Hours ( https://apple.co/2IK0usY... ). The app lets you hold “office hours” by phone anytime, anywhere. You can think of it as the green Facebook messenger symbol but for calls. In real time, easily let your network know that you’re free to accept calls. And easily find out who in your network is free to accept a call from you. I built Office Hours as a side project on the weekends with a friend to address the personal pain I feel scheduling phone calls. I run a nonprofit, and I love having conversations with everyone who reaches out to learn more about our work. But these conversations are generally painful to schedule for two reasons: 1. The back-and-forth email exchange to find a time slot is exhausting. 2. I don’t want to commit to time slots on my calendar because something that takes priority -- aka anything directly work-related -- may come up. Calendly doesn’t solve this. Given that I have deadtime during grocery shopping, commutes, and other errands, I thought to myself, what if I could easily schedule all of these calls during my deadtime? What if I could just turn “on” my “office hours” and send a notification to “followers” that I’m free to chat? I also wanted to follow my friends and mentors and get notifications when they’re free, so I could eliminate the friction involved with scheduling. That's how I got the idea for Office Hours. How it works if you have inbound requests for your time: just download the app, add people who want to talk to you as “Followers”, and they’ll get a notification whenever you turn on your Office Hours. Whenever you’re on a call with someone who follows you, your Office Hours automatically close to your other Followers. How it works if you want to request someone else’s time: just send them a Follow request. If they accept your request, you’ll get a notification when they open up their Office Hours. When you see they’re free, you can give them a call through the app. I’m looking for any feedback, particularly around potential use cases. Some ideas: professional networking that’s not time-sensitive such as career advice chats, social catch-ups with friends and family, and teachers and students. In the future, I hope to implement VoIP, so I can make it easier to schedule calls internationally. I also hope to implement end-to-end encryption. Feel free to email hi@getofficehours.com with any feedback too.
2 by rpavuluri | 0 comments on Hacker News.
Hello HN! My name is Rohan Pavuluri, and I’m launching an iPhone app called Office Hours ( https://apple.co/2IK0usY... ). The app lets you hold “office hours” by phone anytime, anywhere. You can think of it as the green Facebook messenger symbol but for calls. In real time, easily let your network know that you’re free to accept calls. And easily find out who in your network is free to accept a call from you. I built Office Hours as a side project on the weekends with a friend to address the personal pain I feel scheduling phone calls. I run a nonprofit, and I love having conversations with everyone who reaches out to learn more about our work. But these conversations are generally painful to schedule for two reasons: 1. The back-and-forth email exchange to find a time slot is exhausting. 2. I don’t want to commit to time slots on my calendar because something that takes priority -- aka anything directly work-related -- may come up. Calendly doesn’t solve this. Given that I have deadtime during grocery shopping, commutes, and other errands, I thought to myself, what if I could easily schedule all of these calls during my deadtime? What if I could just turn “on” my “office hours” and send a notification to “followers” that I’m free to chat? I also wanted to follow my friends and mentors and get notifications when they’re free, so I could eliminate the friction involved with scheduling. That's how I got the idea for Office Hours. How it works if you have inbound requests for your time: just download the app, add people who want to talk to you as “Followers”, and they’ll get a notification whenever you turn on your Office Hours. Whenever you’re on a call with someone who follows you, your Office Hours automatically close to your other Followers. How it works if you want to request someone else’s time: just send them a Follow request. If they accept your request, you’ll get a notification when they open up their Office Hours. When you see they’re free, you can give them a call through the app. I’m looking for any feedback, particularly around potential use cases. Some ideas: professional networking that’s not time-sensitive such as career advice chats, social catch-ups with friends and family, and teachers and students. In the future, I hope to implement VoIP, so I can make it easier to schedule calls internationally. I also hope to implement end-to-end encryption. Feel free to email hi@getofficehours.com with any feedback too.
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