My experience share only supporting the latest OS:
I have launched apps focused on a new feature in the latest OS and regretted it. The # of people who have the latest OS is much smaller than the full install base for much longer than I thought. As a result, my marketing conversion was unnaturally low - people who liked the app idea but couldn't install because they had the wrong OS. This causes two problems: potential users I activated but couldn't convert and this signal gets internalized by the App Store, pushing down future impressions.
Now I always have a fallback implementation of the feature so I can target the prior OS. Both Mac and iOS.
As a side project, I just launched a privacy-first web-based meeting transcriber (https://basilai.app/app). Everything runs entirely in your browser — both the transcription and AI summarization — so no audio or text ever leaves your device.
I'm using the browser built in transcription service plus downloading a model and running it via webgpu. No login. At the end of your meeting, you get a zip file with the audio, transcript and summary.
I'm a big fan of digitpain (Jeffrey Scudder) and it is great to see him get airtime here. The tl/dr for Jeffrey is he make digital art, but first he makes his own digital tools to make that artwork.
For those that are new to him, be sure to browse to the top level (https://aesthetic.computer) and play around in the 'terminal'.
If you have a VR device, view Freaky Flowers in it.
The feature I like the most in your demo: the one page checkout. It comes very close to shopify's excellent check out. Nicely done!
WooCommerce should be filling the role of viable self host alternative to Shopify, but it falls short. Even with the plugin ecosystem, it is much harder to run an quality cart and checkout.
Yes! One-page checkout has been, and continues to be, one of our top priorities. There are still a few minor improvements to be made, but I’m really happy with how smooth the experience is rihgt now.
Have you tried it with Stripe Link? This reduces the entire checkout process to just four (4) clicks; no need to fill out forms as long as your details have been saved from a previous purchase elsewhere on the Internet.
> WooCommerce should be filling the role of viable self host alternative to Shopify, but it falls short.
WooCommerce itself is mostly fine as a backend, but the themes for it (including the built-in/free ones) are mostly awful. Ugly layouts, huge bloated payloads, and checkouts that look so unprofessional most people will think they're fraudulent.
There are good themes out there but you'll be paying decent money for them.
I am on a similar path with https://intro.wtf (AI product merchandising for online retailers). I am solo but am trying to make being a solo saas founder the 'water I swim in.' I am connecting with others in my network who are solo founders, joined microconf, listening to podcasts, etc. I am trying to connect with other people who are all focused on similar goals, combine that with my focus and work to get better over time.
This is a good idea and something I’ve discussed at the company I work for. But you need a different name. Serious e-commerce companies aren’t buying anything from a .wtf domain.
I'm working on building better product merchandising with AI/ML for online retailers.
The problem: creating unique, engaging product content is expensive and time consuming for retailers. Hiring content writers can cost $50-100 per product. Multiply that by 1000s of products and then add in constant product churn.
With uniquely tuned AI models, combined with a retailers raw product data, I can generate content that improves the buyer's experience and leads to:
- higher conversions
- improved SEO
- standing out from competitors
The app includes:
- the unique LL models
- pipelines to connect to the retailer's catalog
- a feedback mechanism to monitor the products (add to cart, conversions, on page time, etc) and test new content
I did pilot with a large wine retailer. We generated nearly 4,000 product descriptions and saw a near immediate increase in on page time and conversions. It is 90 days out we are now seeing an SEO gain too.
This is really interesting. I use git to manage my deploys. I git pull from my servers whenever I deploy.
I have been toying with using github actions to automate the pull. My workflow would be something like:
1. work locally on a branch
2. test, merge with master
3. git push from local to github
4. a github action would see the commit to master and initiate a git pull on my server.
We should all get together and build one to rule them all.
My thoughts on this: The real question is whether tracking trends on reddit/twitter can reveal a coming price swing BEFORE it happens. AND, you have to have minimal/no false positives.
I have had some success generating alerts before the swings occur (https://cutt.co/track-record/) but still am working on sorting wheat from chaff.
I have launched apps focused on a new feature in the latest OS and regretted it. The # of people who have the latest OS is much smaller than the full install base for much longer than I thought. As a result, my marketing conversion was unnaturally low - people who liked the app idea but couldn't install because they had the wrong OS. This causes two problems: potential users I activated but couldn't convert and this signal gets internalized by the App Store, pushing down future impressions.
Now I always have a fallback implementation of the feature so I can target the prior OS. Both Mac and iOS.