ianmabie (u/ianmabie)

ianmabie commented on California DMV approves map increase in Waymo driverless operations dmv.ca.gov/portal/vehicle... · Posted by u/NullHypothesist

willio58 · 25 days ago

I didn’t think I’d be so pro Waymo but anecdotally I had a fantastic experience with one recently.

I was at a music show very late ~1-2am in SF and walked out to grab an uber to the airbnb I was staying at. I kept getting assigned an uber, then I’d wait 10 minutes, then they’d cancel. Rinse and repeat for 30 minutes, mind you I even resorted to calling Lyfts at the same time and nothing bit. Then I say screw it and download Waymo. 1 minute and it’s accepted my ride, and I know it’s not going to cancel because it’s a robot. 3 minutes and it picks me up. The car is clean, quiet, I can play my own music in it via Spotify, and it’s driving honestly more safely than some uber drivers I’ve had in SF. It’s one of the few things where the end result actually lives up to the promise from a tech company.

ianmabie · 24 days ago

Uber has over time had to relax a lot of the marketplace management practices that reduce the incidence of experiences like this. Can’t penalize drivers for cancelling / ignoring requests because it starts to erode their argument around drivers being independent contractors. So of course the quality of the product degrades to the point where now it’s going to accelerate the move away from human drivers.

ianmabie commented on Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (Nov 2025) · Posted by u/david927

ianmabie · a month ago

I have two side projects I continue to make some headway on: a practice call platform (practicecallai.com) and an iOS baby tracker / newborn app (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lil-baby-tracker-newborn-log/i...).

The last month has had its ups and downs.

Ups = some local-area doulas have started sharing the baby app in a big WhatsApp group & growth is starting to pick up.

Downs = my first vibe-coding horror story. For PracticeCallAI, the subscription flow was failing and somehow outside my test coverage, so I've been missing out on new subscribers for the last two months. In an effort fix it, Replit Agent - which I have been loving otherwise - truncated the table that stores all of the user calls. and their database rollback is throwing errors. So that's been fun.

ianmabie commented on Ask HN: What are you working on? (October 2025) · Posted by u/david927

ianmabie · 2 months ago

Working on https://practicecallai.com/ - simple saas that lets users run practice calls / role play against a custom AI partner. Goal is to make it the easiest to use & fastest to get started with in the market.

It’s been a fun, practical way to continuously evaluate the latest models two ways - via coding assistance & swapping between models to power the conversational AI voice partner. I’ve been trying to add one big new feature each time the model generation updates.

The next thing I want to add is a self improving feedback loop where it uses user ratings of the calls & evaluations to refine the prompts that generate them.

Plus it has a few real customers which is sweet!

ianmabie commented on Ask HN: What are you working on? (March 2025) · Posted by u/david927

ianmabie · 9 months ago

I was getting stuck in some manager <> direct report situations and wanted to figure out a way to practice tough conversations, so I started putting together https://practicecallai.com/.

You can choose from common difficult scenarios or create a custom one and get connected with a conversational AI voice agent to practice. Started out with just manager use cases but now testing out sales calls, interviews, pitches, etc.

Mostly built on Replit (would recommend - is amazing & keeps getting better) and relying on a mix of ElevenLabs / OpenAI / Anthropic for the voice & LLM tech.

ianmabie commented on Ask HN: What are you working on (August 2024)? · Posted by u/david927

themingus · a year ago

This is sick and super unique. Gave it a shot, I’ll be curious how the print quality is.

ianmabie · a year ago

Thanks! Let me know what you think!

ianmabie commented on Ask HN: What are you working on (August 2024)? · Posted by u/david927

eu · a year ago

How about sending postcards overseas?

ianmabie · a year ago

Where specifically would you want to send them?

ianmabie commented on Ask HN: What are you working on (August 2024)? · Posted by u/david927

ianmabie · a year ago

I've been working on an iOS app called snapmail: lets you take any photo on your phone, filter / sticker it, and send it as a 4x6 postcard anywhere in the U.S. for $2.99. Fun way to stay in touch with friends & fam. One of a few no-account-needed, single use iOS apps I've been working on.

TestFlight for now - try it out here: https://testflight.apple.com/join/wKY4eYV8

ianmabie commented on Ask HN: Is there a site where a crowd can vote on which A/B site looks better? · Posted by u/EGreg

ianmabie · 3 years ago

https://www.usertesting.com - you can upload screenshots / prototypes / the actual webpages (if they exist) and have users go through a series of questions. You can also set it to scramble the order to see how that (if at all) changes preferences.

As other folks called out, this can give you a sense of customer comprehension / stated preferences & reasons why, but may not give you the level of confidence a true A/B test would (launching both iterations & splitting traffic amongst & measuring conversion difference)

ianmabie commented on Ask HN: How to contact Uber about a rider safety exploit being used in the wild? · Posted by u/elmerfud

ianmabie · 4 years ago

Which market are you in and who did you end up getting in touch with in support? Did you try the Safety Incident Support Line? At least in the US that is 1 (800) 285-6172.

Without getting into specifics they absolutely do have a way to track down the driver regardless of the state of the trip / who cancelled.

ianmabie commented on Ask HN: Team fun event ideas during WFH? · Posted by u/pseudobry

ianmabie · 5 years ago

I have a good friend who runs http://barnonetrivia.com - they have professional hosts who lead ~hour long live zoom trivia games. Questions are creative and original. Can't recommend enough - very fun!