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johns

20,431 karma · joined March 11, 2008

Previously:

  Runscope (Co-founder, acquired 2017)
  Twilio (first Developer Evangelist)
  IFTTT
  Xamarin
twitter.com/johnsheehan

johnsheehan at gmail

submissionscomments
johns··on Eulogy for Dark Sky, a data visualization masterpiece (2023)
I liked that idea but found it a little busy so I started working on the weather layout I always wish I had. Heavily inspired by Weather Line, Dark Sky, NOAA line view but attempting to make it single screen: https://www.threads.com/@johnsheehan/post/DTHnd_HDbRM
johns··on Hurl: Run and test HTTP requests with plain text
Shout out to the OG Hurl HTTP tool https://web.archive.org/web/20100112040154/http://hurl.it/
johns··on Hurl: Run and test HTTP requests with plain text
I also hated that Runscope changes weren't version controlled :) We had started work on that but then things went sideways.
johns··on GM electric vehicles can now access Tesla Superchargers
Reserved mine 2/29, received yesterday.
johns··on Jeff Lawson steps down as CEO of Twilio
<3
johns··on Weather Machine – Rock solid weather APIs with zero hassle
Apple’s WeatherKit is actually pretty good at this. 500,000 requests free/month. Minimal attribution requirements.
johns··on Tweetbot. April 2011 – January 2023
Try Mastoot
johns··on Mastodon client from the people behind Tweetbot
While you wait for it to make it to the App Store, check out Mastoot (I’m unaffiliated, just a fan).
johns··on Microsoft.Recognizers.Text: numbers, units, and date/time in multiple languages
The link should be updated to this.
johns··on Ask HN: Have you ever considered leaving tech because you didn’t feel fulfilled?
I had a base-hit acquisition and probably could have turned around and done another VC- or self-funded startup. The burnout was too much. After a hiatus I opened a bike shop this year. I can't imagine going back to writing software for money again (I still do it on the side).

Every bike industry vet I've talked to feels about bikes the way I feel about software. Broken industry, yada yada. Anything can wear you down.

johns··on Hurl: Run and test HTTP requests with plain text
Hurl.it is not the same. All the posts from before Oct. 2021 are a different thing.
johns··on Why none of my books are available on Audible
This is not how it works
johns··on How to advertise to developers: deep dive into paid developer marketing
As the purveyor of this shirt, it warms my heart to read this comment. We pretty much copied New Relic's model for this, and it worked really well. For awhile it felt like we were more a t-shirt company than a software company.
johns··on Ask HN: Best dev tool pitches of all time?
This deserves a top-level comment. John Britton's NY Tech Meetup demo of Twilio[0] in 2010 is legendary. The CEO had been doing it in small groups for a little while, but the whole dynamic of it changed in such a large venue. Epitome of "show, don't tell." Hard to overstate what an impact it had on the company at the time (I think we were about 25 employees).

[0]: https://avc.com/2010/08/how-to-pitch-a-product/

johns··on Ask HN: Best dev tool pitches of all time?
This is the Twilio demo you should watch https://avc.com/2010/08/how-to-pitch-a-product/
johns··on twitter/the-algorithm
Will Norris who works on OSS at Twitter posted this[0]: "watch this space https://github.com/twitter/the-algorithm"

[0]: https://twitter.com/willnorris/status/1518694675909013504

johns··on Show HN: Web page that parses and explains the label on a bike tire
Did you try a tire bead jack? The Kool Stop one has worked wonders for me getting GPs on.
johns··on TikTok Remix Culture
I would recommend doing the opposite: interact more with the things you do like. “Like” generously, watch videos all the way through a few times, hit share, comment etc. I think those are the biggest signals that inform the algorithm.
johns··on The Return of Fancy Tools
Drumbeat was incredible. VB for the web.
johns··on Smithy: A language for defining services and SDKs
JSON
johns··on Show HN: Hurl.it is back – Make HTTP Requests
Yeah we were the original and trademarked the slogan and had to regularly send takedown notices over it.
johns··on Show HN: Hurl.it is back – Make HTTP Requests
I can give some context on that. Go back to 2011, visual HTTP clients weren't that popular. Postman, Insomnia, etc. weren't around yet. Working at Twilio, we regularly needed to show people how the API worked. Hurl.it was perfect for it. It was notoriously unreliable though so I pestered Chris Wanstrath and Leah Culver until they sold it to me for $1,000 (I expensed it, asked for forgiveness and jokingly call it Twilio's first acquisition). We kept it running for awhile. I left.

Then I started Runscope and we made a much better version of Hurl.it and RequestBin, but those two sites were by then linked in tons of API docs and we couldn't get those links switched to Runscope, so we acquired the links. Twilio was happy to get rid of it since they had actual infosec policies in place by that point and Hurl.it was regularly abused as an open proxy. Those two sites were the meat and bones of our marketing for most of pre-acquisition life of Runscope. We had direct links to Runscope for people who needed more features, and would tag visitors and retarget them later. Those audiences being shown an ad for a free, brilliantly-designed 'Everything is going to be 200 OK' t-shirt drove A LOT of sign ups[0].

Then we sold the company and I lost control of the domains to our acquirer.

Edit: Since Tod linked to hurlit.com instead of hurl.it, I assumed they had just cloned it but they also have the original domain hurl.it.

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVjhGa-wt9A

johns··on Show HN: Hurl.it is back – Make HTTP Requests
Now do yourapihere.com ;)
johns··on HTTPWTF
Insomnia.rest
johns··on Paw is joining Rapid API, Paw for the Web, Windows, and Linux is available
Rapid API bought Kong's marketplace and Kong now focuses on their API management product. They are separate companies.
johns··on Losing faith in UX
This is configurable from the main app menu though. It’s nice not to lose all your tabs if you slip and hit Cmd-Q instead of Cmd-W
johns··on Show HN: Iconduck – 100k open source icons, downloadable and searchable
In the Windows 3.1 era I compiled different icons I could find into packs that I sold as shareware, taking $10 orders via checks in the mail and sending out 3.5" floppies in return. This is much better.
johns··on Building my own HomeKit Thermostat
Why not turn off Alexa all together on the stat and have the regular Alexa control it through the integration?
johns··on macOS Big Sur
Ghostery seems to work fine
johns··on macOS Big Sur
On Catalina, you can find it in the App Store (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-big-sur/id1526878132?mt=...) but when you click 'Get' it moves over to Software Update. I got the download started after a few tries but it is crawwwllling.
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