4 ms·

Aww shucks! Founder here. Can't say I expected this to hit the front page today. SteadyMouse[1] has been a labor of love the past several years. It actually sta

Aww shucks! Founder here. Can't say I expected this to hit the front page today. SteadyMouse[1] has been a labor of love the past several years. It actually started as a bit of a hobby project after my grandfather was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease circa 2003-2004. That original hobby version from 2005 is free, if one is willing to sacrifice a bit, and read through the troubleshooting and workarounds [2]. SteadyMouse 2 is the new commercial version, and has taken so much time and effort that I've lost track. Totally worth it though, and hearing from folks [3] has made this the most fulfilling work of my life. Porting to MacOS is indeed in progress, however has been made quite difficult by the deprecation of certain API functions (the same ones that killed SmoothMouse [4]) I should clarify for the other poster as well, SteadyMouse 2 costs $43 just one time and includes minor bugfixes going forward. The $127 price is for all the future versions too (SteadyMouse 3, 4, etc.). That price is largely necessary because customer support is quite a bit more difficult when serving the community that typically needs SteadyMouse. The 70 day easy refund period allows the users to become confident it's worth it. In between keeping an eye on the server load, I'm happy to answer any questions and am honored at the attention today. [1] https://www.steadymouse.com/about/ https://www.steadymouse.com/about/ [2] https://www.steadymouse.com/downloads/ https://www.steadymouse.com/downloads/ [3] https://www.steadymouse.com/reviews/ https://www.steadymouse.com/reviews/ [4] http://dae.me/blog/2243/macos-kernel-programming-bounty-to-revive-smoothmouse/ http://dae.me/blog/2243/macos-kernel-programming-bounty-to-r...

qualitytime 9y ago
Hey, great idea. Keep it up.
devwastaken 9y ago
Thats a really cool project that looks a lot like the computer equivalent of that anti-shake spoon. That said, my inital reaction to the homepage of your website wasn't super appealing to what your product actually does. I understand it perfectly, but I know my grandma probably wouldn't. I think this would be solved via the 'kickstart-esque' like advertising, where there is a promo video right upfront, where your product and what it does is right center screen when you go to your website, rather than a giant banner and your logo. Call it generic, but I'm thinking of one of those medical commercials that show the problem with shaky hands, and then shows the difference with steadymouse. The manual I think would be realllly hard for my folks to understand, due to all the up-front tech talk. Rather, they'd like to know how to install it, and how to run it so that it 'just works'. For example, the entire piece you have there about versioning and user information is very confusing. Essentially, it looks like your product is only usful to very computer learned individuals who have unsteady hands. Even if I setup the software for someone, how are they going to figure out what it does or use it themselves? other than that, I think your actual product is great and I'll certainly remember it.
- gottebp 9y ago
  Thanks for the apt feedback. The journey to make the site and product more immediately intuitive and understandable for the elderly is ongoing. I hope to eventually incorporate much of the guidance here [1]. The software itself does have lots of tips and guidance built in with the user-manual being just a backstop to that. Indeed though, getting SteadyMouse installed the first time is the hardest part. From there it's usually smooth sailing for folks. I will work towards simplifying in the future. BTW, you may have explained why a lot of my customers are children and grandchildren finding SteadyMouse for an ailing grandparent. I did not mean to filter-out the less tech savvy! [1] http://eldertech.org/apps-for-seniors-10-technical-tips/ http://eldertech.org/apps-for-seniors-10-technical-tips/
sidlls 9y ago
What a fantastic product. Could you share some slightly more detailed info about the jitter reduction due to physical movements? The demo shows remarkable reduction of the tremor induced jitter. It looks like radar jitter I've implemented algorithms to reduce in a different life.
- gottebp 9y ago
  That's my secret sauce, however a RESNA[1] publication[2] a few years back seems to have done a bit of reverse-engineering on the old SteadyMouse 1 free version if you are interested. [1]https://www.resna.org/ https://www.resna.org/ [2]https://www.resna.org/sites/default/files/10400435%252E2013%252E845271.pdf https://www.resna.org/sites/default/files/10400435%252E2013%...
  - sidlls 9y ago
    Very nice. Thanks. And of course I wouldn't want you to give up the secret sauce!
fancy_pantser 9y ago
Have you faced any difficulties with your target audience not being able to fill in the payment form? Have you needed to process orders by phone or alternate methods? I see it's really minimal, which is great and probably lessens form abandonment.
- gottebp 9y ago
  Sahil, who's a HN user here, gets the credit for that minimalist payment form design. Gumroad is my payment processor. It gets a lot right and allowed for product launch to happen about three months earlier than it would have otherwise. That said, email support for purchasing is occasionally required. Most folks get through it OK though.

qualitytime 9y ago

Hey, great idea. Keep it up.

devwastaken 9y ago

Thats a really cool project that looks a lot like the computer equivalent of that anti-shake spoon. That said, my inital reaction to the homepage of your website wasn't super appealing to what your product actually does. I understand it perfectly, but I know my grandma probably wouldn't. I think this would be solved via the 'kickstart-esque' like advertising, where there is a promo video right upfront, where your product and what it does is right center screen when you go to your website, rather than a giant banner and your logo. Call it generic, but I'm thinking of one of those medical commercials that show the problem with shaky hands, and then shows the difference with steadymouse. The manual I think would be realllly hard for my folks to understand, due to all the up-front tech talk. Rather, they'd like to know how to install it, and how to run it so that it 'just works'. For example, the entire piece you have there about versioning and user information is very confusing. Essentially, it looks like your product is only usful to very computer learned individuals who have unsteady hands. Even if I setup the software for someone, how are they going to figure out what it does or use it themselves? other than that, I think your actual product is great and I'll certainly remember it.

gottebp 9y ago
Thanks for the apt feedback. The journey to make the site and product more immediately intuitive and understandable for the elderly is ongoing. I hope to eventually incorporate much of the guidance here [1]. The software itself does have lots of tips and guidance built in with the user-manual being just a backstop to that. Indeed though, getting SteadyMouse installed the first time is the hardest part. From there it's usually smooth sailing for folks. I will work towards simplifying in the future. BTW, you may have explained why a lot of my customers are children and grandchildren finding SteadyMouse for an ailing grandparent. I did not mean to filter-out the less tech savvy! [1] http://eldertech.org/apps-for-seniors-10-technical-tips/ http://eldertech.org/apps-for-seniors-10-technical-tips/

sidlls 9y ago

What a fantastic product. Could you share some slightly more detailed info about the jitter reduction due to physical movements? The demo shows remarkable reduction of the tremor induced jitter. It looks like radar jitter I've implemented algorithms to reduce in a different life.

gottebp 9y ago
That's my secret sauce, however a RESNA[1] publication[2] a few years back seems to have done a bit of reverse-engineering on the old SteadyMouse 1 free version if you are interested. [1]https://www.resna.org/ https://www.resna.org/ [2]https://www.resna.org/sites/default/files/10400435%252E2013%252E845271.pdf https://www.resna.org/sites/default/files/10400435%252E2013%...
- sidlls 9y ago
  Very nice. Thanks. And of course I wouldn't want you to give up the secret sauce!

fancy_pantser 9y ago

Have you faced any difficulties with your target audience not being able to fill in the payment form? Have you needed to process orders by phone or alternate methods? I see it's really minimal, which is great and probably lessens form abandonment.

gottebp 9y ago
Sahil, who's a HN user here, gets the credit for that minimalist payment form design. Gumroad is my payment processor. It gets a lot right and allowed for product launch to happen about three months earlier than it would have otherwise. That said, email support for purchasing is occasionally required. Most folks get through it OK though.