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Show HN: Twosome - app created originally for my girlfriend

32 points by twanschik 14y ago

kumarski 14y ago
facepalm.
cleverjake 14y ago
Also - http://trycouple.com/ http://trycouple.com/
D-Coder 14y ago
I'm waiting for ThreesomeApp.
nateabele 14y ago
Not hating, but something about that site makes me glad I haven't been 15 in a long-ass time.
methehack 14y ago
I think this is a great idea. FWIW, Couple (http://trycouple.com http://trycouple.com) seems way more complete than the OP's twosome.
- joshmlewis 14y ago
  Holy smokes, that intro video is almost tear jerking for some reason. Wow. I don't even know why but it tugged at my heart strings. Sheesh.
  - argarg 14y ago
    The sushis they made look disgusting. Way too much rice.
  - tijs 14y ago
    Haha, it didn't tug any of my strings but it's a very very well down product video nonetheless. Way beyond the usual, hey look at feature 1, 2, 3 etc. Love that it tells a little story and actually includes some drama instead of just all cheer. Kudos to whoever came up with that one.
  - ahoyhere 14y ago
    Watch it again and look closely at how the video focuses on the woman the entire time. She's child-like and the only one who seems emotionally involved in the relationship… but in almost exclusively passive way. (All the dude does is smirk for a fraction of a second when something "nice" occurs.) Every interaction focuses on her. She kisses him on the cheek; he just looks at the camera. She kisses his picture during the "shaving" scene. She watches him walk down the street and talk at her on video… the only personal expression element of the "story" is his. She simply receives it. When she's upset, the focus is on what he does to her — the arm, the drawing, she receives the apology but never participates in a make-up. It looks like the boyfriend is a prop. But the joke is it's that the woman, the focus of everything, is the prop, because it's from the boyfriend's PoV and she's just this super-emo recipient of his actions. Except when she's delivering outsized love he doesn't return (omg! the fawning! the kissing! the posing! the crying! all while he looks on and, if he expresses any emotion, just a smirk). And if you don't believe about the childlike thing, it's capped by the scene at the end where she's hiding under a sheet with one stripey sock sticking out, a direct echo of "kids reading under the covers when the lights are out." No adult does that. So: the video is assuming you, the male viewer, are a narcissist (everything is about you, and ps, you don't have access to real feelings), and that the object of your affection (not "girlfriend" because that implies a two-way street) is a baby. This video is insulting to everyone. Sheesh!
    - scrumper 14y ago
      > she's hiding under a sheet with one stripey sock sticking out, a direct echo of "kids reading under the covers when the lights are out." No adult does that. Have a middlebrow dismissal: my wife does that, and she's 33. She loves hiding. I do have to say that you seem a bit grouchy for someone who works at a baby blue and pink startup called 'Freckle' :)
      - ahoyhere 14y ago
        I don't "work" at a "startup," I founded the business! I designed every last bit. That's all me, baby. True cheer doesn't come from denying reality, it comes from understanding life and laughing at the joke. In this case, understanding means understanding narcissism and calling it out (cuz it's opaque to just about everyone else). PS - Does your wife do it while one cutely pigeon-toed stripey-socked foot hangs out and she fawns and coos and pets your virtual image on her iPhone? No? Then sadly it's not a parallel to the video.
smuss77 14y ago
if my gf gets that I'm gonna hate you
jwmoz 14y ago
I feel sick reading the copy on that site. FOREVER ALONE.
dotbill 14y ago
Sorry to the maker of this - but it just makes me want to be sick having an app like this.. I guess there are others that may enjoy this!
scrumper 14y ago
Aaww, that is adorable, even if it is advertised by sickeningly youthful models who shouldn't even be holding hands without a chaperone. Good luck with it. Please let us know if your sales figures are ever an odd number.
ninetax 14y ago
On the main picture: She's holding him but looking at me.
ben1040 14y ago
WHAT TWOSOME NEEDS Twosome has to be installed on your and your sweetheart's phone. To create the special link you need a connection to the internet just for the moment both of you bump your phones. It doesn't matter how Twosome gets the connection (WLAN, EDGE, UMTS,...). From this moment on, NO further connection to the internet is required. I must be missing something, if "no further connection to the internet is required." How does it send messages between two devices without an internet connection? Presumably if it's on iOS it's not using SMS...
- ecoffey 14y ago
  I'm guessing it's syncing a seed to srand(), so neither of you control when the messages pop up
  - twanschik 14y ago
    That's correct. So once connected you will always get random notifications at the same time, even with NO network :)
    - ben1040 14y ago
      Aha, that's what I was missing. I didn't realize from the app description that it was a randomized message, and I thought it was one device's user sending a message to the other.
  - scrumper 14y ago
    That's elegant. So, OP, I have to know: did you come up with the synced seed first and then try to build an idea around it, or did the idea of simultaneous, server-less, auto-generated endearments drive you to this solution?
    - twanschik 14y ago
      I had the gift idea for my girlfriend a few years ago. How to implement it came next (even so the tricky part was how to sync the seed)
krosaen 14y ago
related, from the creator of Google Reader: https://avocado.io https://avocado.io
hendricius 14y ago
Awesome app. I really like it that you can use it offline. Hiking himalaya, suddenly a note, yay : )
thiagoperes 14y ago
Sorry to the maker of this - but it just makes me want to be sick having an app like this. [2] I just keep thinking that people are so overwhelmed with this "there's an app for this" thing that they're forgetting to solve real problems.
jacalata 14y ago
It's brilliant. 1. onetime investment of a few minutes while you install the app and sync 2. secretly uninstall or turn off the app 3. your SO gets to feel like you're being sickeningly cute together constantly, and you don't have to do anything!
- twanschik 14y ago
  Just one note: uninstalling the app will cancel all notifications. Just turn the app off to stay connected.

32 points by twanschik 14y ago

kumarski 14y ago

facepalm.

cleverjake 14y ago

Also - http://trycouple.com/ http://trycouple.com/

D-Coder 14y ago

I'm waiting for ThreesomeApp.

nateabele 14y ago

Not hating, but something about that site makes me glad I haven't been 15 in a long-ass time.

methehack 14y ago

I think this is a great idea. FWIW, Couple (http://trycouple.com http://trycouple.com) seems way more complete than the OP's twosome.

joshmlewis 14y ago
Holy smokes, that intro video is almost tear jerking for some reason. Wow. I don't even know why but it tugged at my heart strings. Sheesh.
- argarg 14y ago
  The sushis they made look disgusting. Way too much rice.
- tijs 14y ago
  Haha, it didn't tug any of my strings but it's a very very well down product video nonetheless. Way beyond the usual, hey look at feature 1, 2, 3 etc. Love that it tells a little story and actually includes some drama instead of just all cheer. Kudos to whoever came up with that one.
- ahoyhere 14y ago
  Watch it again and look closely at how the video focuses on the woman the entire time. She's child-like and the only one who seems emotionally involved in the relationship… but in almost exclusively passive way. (All the dude does is smirk for a fraction of a second when something "nice" occurs.) Every interaction focuses on her. She kisses him on the cheek; he just looks at the camera. She kisses his picture during the "shaving" scene. She watches him walk down the street and talk at her on video… the only personal expression element of the "story" is his. She simply receives it. When she's upset, the focus is on what he does to her — the arm, the drawing, she receives the apology but never participates in a make-up. It looks like the boyfriend is a prop. But the joke is it's that the woman, the focus of everything, is the prop, because it's from the boyfriend's PoV and she's just this super-emo recipient of his actions. Except when she's delivering outsized love he doesn't return (omg! the fawning! the kissing! the posing! the crying! all while he looks on and, if he expresses any emotion, just a smirk). And if you don't believe about the childlike thing, it's capped by the scene at the end where she's hiding under a sheet with one stripey sock sticking out, a direct echo of "kids reading under the covers when the lights are out." No adult does that. So: the video is assuming you, the male viewer, are a narcissist (everything is about you, and ps, you don't have access to real feelings), and that the object of your affection (not "girlfriend" because that implies a two-way street) is a baby. This video is insulting to everyone. Sheesh!
  - scrumper 14y ago
    > she's hiding under a sheet with one stripey sock sticking out, a direct echo of "kids reading under the covers when the lights are out." No adult does that. Have a middlebrow dismissal: my wife does that, and she's 33. She loves hiding. I do have to say that you seem a bit grouchy for someone who works at a baby blue and pink startup called 'Freckle' :)
    - ahoyhere 14y ago
      I don't "work" at a "startup," I founded the business! I designed every last bit. That's all me, baby. True cheer doesn't come from denying reality, it comes from understanding life and laughing at the joke. In this case, understanding means understanding narcissism and calling it out (cuz it's opaque to just about everyone else). PS - Does your wife do it while one cutely pigeon-toed stripey-socked foot hangs out and she fawns and coos and pets your virtual image on her iPhone? No? Then sadly it's not a parallel to the video.

smuss77 14y ago

if my gf gets that I'm gonna hate you

jwmoz 14y ago

I feel sick reading the copy on that site. FOREVER ALONE.

dotbill 14y ago

Sorry to the maker of this - but it just makes me want to be sick having an app like this.. I guess there are others that may enjoy this!

scrumper 14y ago

Aaww, that is adorable, even if it is advertised by sickeningly youthful models who shouldn't even be holding hands without a chaperone. Good luck with it. Please let us know if your sales figures are ever an odd number.

ninetax 14y ago

On the main picture: She's holding him but looking at me.

ben1040 14y ago

WHAT TWOSOME NEEDS Twosome has to be installed on your and your sweetheart's phone. To create the special link you need a connection to the internet just for the moment both of you bump your phones. It doesn't matter how Twosome gets the connection (WLAN, EDGE, UMTS,...). From this moment on, NO further connection to the internet is required. I must be missing something, if "no further connection to the internet is required." How does it send messages between two devices without an internet connection? Presumably if it's on iOS it's not using SMS...

ecoffey 14y ago
I'm guessing it's syncing a seed to srand(), so neither of you control when the messages pop up
- twanschik 14y ago
  That's correct. So once connected you will always get random notifications at the same time, even with NO network :)
  - ben1040 14y ago
    Aha, that's what I was missing. I didn't realize from the app description that it was a randomized message, and I thought it was one device's user sending a message to the other.
- scrumper 14y ago
  That's elegant. So, OP, I have to know: did you come up with the synced seed first and then try to build an idea around it, or did the idea of simultaneous, server-less, auto-generated endearments drive you to this solution?
  - twanschik 14y ago
    I had the gift idea for my girlfriend a few years ago. How to implement it came next (even so the tricky part was how to sync the seed)

krosaen 14y ago

related, from the creator of Google Reader: https://avocado.io https://avocado.io

hendricius 14y ago

Awesome app. I really like it that you can use it offline. Hiking himalaya, suddenly a note, yay : )

thiagoperes 14y ago

Sorry to the maker of this - but it just makes me want to be sick having an app like this. [2] I just keep thinking that people are so overwhelmed with this "there's an app for this" thing that they're forgetting to solve real problems.

jacalata 14y ago

It's brilliant. 1. onetime investment of a few minutes while you install the app and sync 2. secretly uninstall or turn off the app 3. your SO gets to feel like you're being sickeningly cute together constantly, and you don't have to do anything!

twanschik 14y ago
Just one note: uninstalling the app will cancel all notifications. Just turn the app off to stay connected.