There are great websites to with Sudoku, Star Battle, and Futoshiki. It’s free to print them out, yet I rarely do. I guess I’m too lazy.

Which got me to thinking, I bet I’m not the only one. There must be other puzzle lovers out there who would pay to have it done for them. And what if it could be similar to Wordle, where everyone solves the same puzzle every day? It might just give a feeling of a community with the convenience of a solo activity.

Enter Paper Puzzle. Each week the app will use a snail mail API service to deliver you 7 new puzzles. I guess you could consider it the lazy way to feel smart and productive.

It launches next week and I’m up to 12 sign ups. It's not free since it costs money to print and mail the puzzles, but let me know how to send you a 50% off discount code (good before launch). Plus the first week is free.

https://paper-puzzle.com/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41675843

Points: 4

# Comments: 2

The first newsletter just went out today! “I recognize that crouch and twist” What if Tesla’s Optimus Mimics Your Exact Movements: https://humanoidvibe.com/p/optimus-twist-like-you

Here is my announcement post:

Sometimes you just gotta go back to your roots.

Quit fighting something you ain’t.

Reignite that old flame.

See if you still got it.

Pursue passion.

Today I announce my triumphant return to the world of robotics. More on that later. First, I want to set the scene. Take you on a trip down memory lane.

To fully understand me, you need to understand where I came from. The hard streets that raised me, at least as far as robotics go.

So let’s rewind the clock to my college years. In the words of the eloquent Nathan Fenner:

“March 10th, 2008. Stanford, CA. The most anticipated social event of the year had finally arrived.

It was the class-ending competition for introduction to mechatronics. Or, as Brian and I much more aptly named it: Robotapalooza.

After several weeks of robot-building — which had flown by thanks largely to Skinner’s impressive computer science wizardry as well as our insistence on listening to Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots on repeat — Skinner and I invited 151 of our very closest friends to come watch the competition, and, more importantly, come celebrate with us afterwards.

To get into the spirit of the evening, we fashioned robot costumes out of beer cases covered in tinfoil, and despite bowing out in the quarterfinals or semis, after the competition, we returned to my fraternity, excited to embrace our adoring fans and celebrate the end of this journey.

Standing in the expansive lounge, our robot hats now a bit askew but still proudly on our heads, the two of us—just the two of us—waited. And waited. And waited.

Well, exactly zero of our 151 guests came. In fact, it was so bad, our third team member didn’t even show up.”

I assure you, we ended up having a blast anyway.

So you could say, I have unfinished business within robotics. I’m used to forging ahead with little to no interest from other humans. Plus, I have experience keeping things light and making it fun.

Enter: The Humanoid Vibe

I started a newsletter focused on humanoid robotics. There are tons of exciting developments in this space, I’ll provide the easiest and most chill way to stay informed.

Did you know that by the time my oldest kid graduates from Stanford in 18 years, some predict there will be 1 billion humanoid robots? Doing everything from our household chores to dangerous or monotonous jobs.

Each week you’ll receive just 1 email. What is one more?

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better than this, an extra bonus for you. Each newsletter will include a new image of a humanoid raising a glass. A perfect way to kick off the weekend.

The first email goes out this Friday, sign up here: https://humanoidvibe.com/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41330801

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

More typical though is Customer 1 signs up in 2015 when the product had features AB. Then in 2018 the product adds feature C. Is it fair to raise prices on them? Maybe, maybe not. In this case, I would still recommend today doubling prices for all new customers. You can go back to Customer 1 and say either:

1) we raised prices, but since you are an early supporter you get the current price for life with features ABC (if feature D is added, don't give it to them for free, they have to upgrade to the new pricing).

2) we raised prices since adding feature C is providing more value, but as an early supporter we are going to keep you at the original rate for 1 more year.

I am impressed by that video from 99designs. How much did you spend? Do you have a link to their profile?

One thing I'd love you guys to do is create your own QuickBooks connection app. Most companies offer their own - yours is through Sush.io with your logo and bad ratings. I can't get it to work and I'm not the only one.

Scientists know this when they state that over a 100 year period, methane traps 32 times more heat than CO2 [1]. This is the number widely cited. Over a 20 year period it is even worse: 104 times greater! Considering we are trying to drastically reduce the human contribution to global warming over the next 10 to 20 years, methane is a great thing to focus on.

Other thoughts:

It is interesting that the cow population only increased 35% since 1960 according to that source. But what about the methane per cow? Some quick searches suggests the slaughter age may have decreased from 3 years to 15 months during that time. They are growing much faster, fed grain that leads to the methane burps. At a minimum several times more emissions per cow.

CO2 only sticks around for 100 years, by your line of reasoning we should just shrug that off too?

[1] http://science.sciencemag.org/content/326/5953/716

It is a much smaller ask to opt into paying 5 cents more for a burger to offset. But with travel the connection to emissions is more obvious and wealthy people have a larger share (a rich person doesn't eat 10x more steak than average, but does fly 10x more).

The tough part about a problem of massive scale is no solution is good enough. So you sit around debating a global carbon tax for decades while attacking any other effort that is an incremental approach?

That's what I'm working on! Get people who care to take personal responsibility for their own travel. It is just $2-4 dollars a week - a tiny sum for people who fly frequently. In beta for iOS now if you are interested in giving it a shot: https://www.producthunt.com/upcoming/pledge-balance

An independent app has the benefit of not being stuck with just this Climeworks best case $100/ton direct air capture. Soils and grasslands seem to be a low hanging fruit closer to $10/ton.

Only $50 of revenue this month, but hopefully will grow quickly from there. Also will add premium features like corporate accounts for additional fees, though will never take a cut of a person's balanced travel.

> we are still decades away from commercial flights running on solar energy

Offsets need to be a bigger part of the conversation. This article buried it at #10, behind a bunch of changes no one is likely to do. It is so incredibly cheap, they should have brought it up earlier in the article and give exact numbers in order to result in more personal actions.

I'll quote you some numbers to show just how accessible offsets are for people who fly. A rough estimate is about 1% of the ticket: - SF to San Diego: 68 cents - SF to New York: $3.87 - SF to Paris: $8.43

Driving is similar, to offset a gallon of gas it is about 9 cents, tack on 2-3% more than what you pay at the pump.

I understand that it isn't ideal to pollute then clean it up [0], but this is a much more practical solution than asking people to stop traveling. The cost is so low that just about everyone who is doing the flying and driving can afford it.

The concern is that by putting a price to clear your conscience for a bad behavior you will induce more of that behavior [1]. I would argue that personal travel isn't very correlated in this manner. How many people cut back their travel now because of their emissions? Very few. Would the average person who hasn't cut back suddenly start traveling more? Doubtful. It's not like they will suddenly drive for fun or it was factoring in on their vacation decisions [2]. So while I would be hesitant to put a price on all bad environmental behaviors, I think travel is safe.

> Social scientists have found that when one person makes a sustainability-oriented decision, other people do too.

That's good news! First make it easier to take an action, then make it easier for it to be public. That's why I'm working on an app that is a personal pledge to balance the negative impact of your travel.

While carbon offsets exist, they are an infrequent action that cost a lot at once, and are opaque. We will make it more frequent for smaller amount of money, give a scoreboard of your continued impact, and help make it visible for inspiring others to join.

If anyone is interested in keeping in the loop on progress: https://www.producthunt.com/upcoming/pledge-balance

[0]: YC recently asked for carbon removal technology startups. It will continue to get more impactful than simply planting trees, and those projects that prove successful will need money to scale. http://carbon.ycombinator.com/

[1]: Freakonomics looked at a daycare that added a small fee for late pick up. The rate of late pickups quickly shot up. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/books/chapters/freakonomi...

[2]: If anything, this vast majority who aren't changing their actions now would become more aware and cut back.

I'm working on an app to make a personal travel offset pledge and track your impact publicly. If anyone is interested in keeping in the loop on progress: https://www.producthunt.com/upcoming/pledge-balance