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1901 points l2silver | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source

Maybe you've created your own AR program for wearables that shows the definition of a word when you highlight it IRL, or you've built a personal calendar app for your family to display on a monitor in the kitchen. Whatever it is, I'd love to hear it.
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modeless ◴[] No.35737709[source]
My townhome complex had one of those call boxes at the front gate. When Doordash/FedEx/the cleaners/the in-laws/etc arrived they would have to call me from the call box and I'd have to answer it and listen to garbled audio to figure out who it was and press 9 to open the gate. It was kind of a pain, so I made a Twilio app to answer calls from the call box.

I set up custom entry codes that I could hand out to anyone. Everyone got their own code, and it would text me whenever someone used a code so I'd instantly know who was coming. The text conversation was my timestamped access log. I also put time constraints on some codes so e.g. Doordash couldn't open the gate in the middle of the night, or I could set up a temporary access code for a party, and I rotated codes too, with text notifications if an outdated code was used.

I thought about making a paid app out of it, but it just didn't seem worthwhile. I didn't expect that many people would want to pay for it. For a while I was excited about a YC startup called Doorport that was going to make a hardware device that you'd install inside those dumb call boxes and make them smart with all sorts of cool features, better than my Twilio hack. But I think they pivoted to a much less interesting pure software thing and then got acquihired.

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stickperson ◴[] No.35737952[source]
How did this work exactly? Twilio would answer the call, listen for a number, and "press" 9 if the number was in an allow list?
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modeless ◴[] No.35737975[source]
That's right. And simultaneously send a text like "FedEx opened the gate" or "Doordash failed to open the gate after hours" to my and my wife's phones.
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1. wing-_-nuts ◴[] No.35741741[source]
Have you gotten any 'failed' people trying to come in unexpected?
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2. modeless ◴[] No.35742496[source]
I don't think so. The only time expired codes were used was legit delivery people using outdated codes. Sometimes they would even try multiple old codes. They must have ways of saving old codes that worked once.

Thieves didn't bother with codes, they would just climb over the gate or tailgate someone else.