5 ms·

Parse (YC S11) adds User Accounts to Android.

47 points by Nemisis7654 15y ago

csmajorfive 15y ago
Hey we were just about to blog about this but you beat us to it! We also have some other good stuff we're set to announce this week so keep an eye out.
- k33n 15y ago
  Who is we? :)
  - lacker 15y ago
    "We" is Team Parse ;-) Right now we have four people, HN usernames csmajorfive, jamesjyu, tikhon, and lacker (me). If you ever have any questions or feedback on Parse, feel free to contact us at feedback@parse.com directly.
    - k33n 15y ago
      Ah, nice. Good luck with the launch!
    - cunac 15y ago
      just one , it sucks when API returns null for not found instead of some form of NullObject IMNSHO it would be nicer and semantically more pleasing to eye to have if ( user.isLogged() ) { } else { }
- Nemisis7654 15y ago
  Haha. Sorry about that. Keep up the good work. :)
tylerneylon 15y ago
It would be cool if there were custom support for linking accounts, such as with facebook. That code is never fun to write, but common.
- csmajorfive 15y ago
  Coming up!
tiles 15y ago
Just to be clear, these are User Accounts for apps built for Android using Parse, akin to iOS's single sign-in using Twitter? I was anticipating someone had built multiple user logins for Android devices, which would've also been fascinating.
- csmajorfive 15y ago
  It's per-app user accounts that people can integrate with just a few lines of code.
EGreg 15y ago
what's the business model here?
- csmajorfive 15y ago
  It's a platform as a service. Most hobbyist and small apps will be free. Those needing more resources will pay us for usage - similar to Heroku, AWS, etc.
drivebyacct2 15y ago
I sure hope this ties into Android's existing account management APIs. The one that already provides push notification support, automatic controllable data synchronization, etc. Wow, not even 10 seconds and it's been shot at. What am I missing here?
- theBobMcCormick 15y ago
  Not only should it tie into the existing account management API's, but I can't figure out why they're offering their own push notification API when Android has one built in!!
  - lacker 15y ago
    We've heard from a lot of people who weren't happy with C2DM. We think our push API is easier to set up and use. It's also compatible with pre-2.2 Android and with Android devices that don't have an attached Google account. You can also can send push notifications to both iOS and Android with one API call. That said, if C2DM works for you there's nothing wrong with using it directly.
    - theBobMcCormick 15y ago
      As a user, I'd certainly prefer for apps that I download to use the built in system functionality (like C2DM). One of the advantages of C2DM is a standard listener that used by all apps, rather than have multiple listeners (each potentially causing battery life impact). If the C2DM API is hard to use, it makes a hell of a lot more sense to write a helper wrapper around it, rather than add another listener.
      - drivebyacct2 15y ago
        No idea why you're getting downvoted. No application that uses their own push technology is as nice to my battery as C2DM is. Facebook and Twitter can't even get push notifications right, though Google refuses to put Google Voice through the push/sync that Gmail/Calendar/Contacts have. It makes no sense to me. It's there, it's easy to use, it's really battery friendly...
eric-hu 15y ago
Somewhat off topic: This page has a beautiful javascript effect if you scroll. The index follows the page smoothly and highlights the displayed section. Does anyone know if this is a public library/function?
- Swizec 15y ago
  You should look into jquery waypoints --> http://imakewebthings.github.com/jquery-waypoints/ http://imakewebthings.github.com/jquery-waypoints/ I use it on my blog to change how social buttons behave once you scroll past a certain point.
  - eric-hu 15y ago
    That is so amazingly sexy. Thank you :D These sticky elements seem to scroll with the page (or stick?) much more smoothly than I've seen on other pages. Are there crappy versions out there or could I just be experiencing a newer browser optimization?
    - Swizec 15y ago
      It's a simple trick. Instead of using JavaScript to stick them on the page, you change their positioning to fixed when they hit the window's edge. Then the browser takes care of the rest.
yason 15y ago
I wish the title would've meant the solution to the Android tablet multiuser problem¹ as well. ¹: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=15030 http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=15030

47 points by Nemisis7654 15y ago

Hey we were just about to blog about this but you beat us to it! We also have some other good stuff we're set to announce this week so keep an eye out.

k33n 15y ago
Who is we? :)
- lacker 15y ago
  "We" is Team Parse ;-) Right now we have four people, HN usernames csmajorfive, jamesjyu, tikhon, and lacker (me). If you ever have any questions or feedback on Parse, feel free to contact us at feedback@parse.com directly.
  - k33n 15y ago
    Ah, nice. Good luck with the launch!
  - cunac 15y ago
    just one , it sucks when API returns null for not found instead of some form of NullObject IMNSHO it would be nicer and semantically more pleasing to eye to have if ( user.isLogged() ) { } else { }
Nemisis7654 15y ago
Haha. Sorry about that. Keep up the good work. :)

tylerneylon 15y ago

It would be cool if there were custom support for linking accounts, such as with facebook. That code is never fun to write, but common.

csmajorfive 15y ago
Coming up!

tiles 15y ago

Just to be clear, these are User Accounts for apps built for Android using Parse, akin to iOS's single sign-in using Twitter? I was anticipating someone had built multiple user logins for Android devices, which would've also been fascinating.

csmajorfive 15y ago
It's per-app user accounts that people can integrate with just a few lines of code.

EGreg 15y ago

what's the business model here?

csmajorfive 15y ago
It's a platform as a service. Most hobbyist and small apps will be free. Those needing more resources will pay us for usage - similar to Heroku, AWS, etc.

drivebyacct2 15y ago

I sure hope this ties into Android's existing account management APIs. The one that already provides push notification support, automatic controllable data synchronization, etc. Wow, not even 10 seconds and it's been shot at. What am I missing here?

theBobMcCormick 15y ago
Not only should it tie into the existing account management API's, but I can't figure out why they're offering their own push notification API when Android has one built in!!
- lacker 15y ago
  We've heard from a lot of people who weren't happy with C2DM. We think our push API is easier to set up and use. It's also compatible with pre-2.2 Android and with Android devices that don't have an attached Google account. You can also can send push notifications to both iOS and Android with one API call. That said, if C2DM works for you there's nothing wrong with using it directly.
  - theBobMcCormick 15y ago
    As a user, I'd certainly prefer for apps that I download to use the built in system functionality (like C2DM). One of the advantages of C2DM is a standard listener that used by all apps, rather than have multiple listeners (each potentially causing battery life impact). If the C2DM API is hard to use, it makes a hell of a lot more sense to write a helper wrapper around it, rather than add another listener.
    - drivebyacct2 15y ago
      No idea why you're getting downvoted. No application that uses their own push technology is as nice to my battery as C2DM is. Facebook and Twitter can't even get push notifications right, though Google refuses to put Google Voice through the push/sync that Gmail/Calendar/Contacts have. It makes no sense to me. It's there, it's easy to use, it's really battery friendly...

eric-hu 15y ago

Somewhat off topic: This page has a beautiful javascript effect if you scroll. The index follows the page smoothly and highlights the displayed section. Does anyone know if this is a public library/function?

Swizec 15y ago
You should look into jquery waypoints --> http://imakewebthings.github.com/jquery-waypoints/ http://imakewebthings.github.com/jquery-waypoints/ I use it on my blog to change how social buttons behave once you scroll past a certain point.
- eric-hu 15y ago
  That is so amazingly sexy. Thank you :D These sticky elements seem to scroll with the page (or stick?) much more smoothly than I've seen on other pages. Are there crappy versions out there or could I just be experiencing a newer browser optimization?
  - Swizec 15y ago
    It's a simple trick. Instead of using JavaScript to stick them on the page, you change their positioning to fixed when they hit the window's edge. Then the browser takes care of the rest.

yason 15y ago

I wish the title would've meant the solution to the Android tablet multiuser problem¹ as well. ¹: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=15030 http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=15030