Bond – Robowritten notes as a service • Hacker News Board

Re: Bond – Robowritten notes as a service

#11

Post by joshmlewis » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 4:43 AM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #9

joshmlewis wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I mean though, is the cure for email handwritten notes? Maybe there will be in person couriers for all important communication now. /s

I actually think a short handwritten note to thank someone for meeting with you or whatever is a nice gesture that stands out from the standard email and doesn't take much effort. Of course, that's real handwritten, not faux handwritten. I do receive marketing materials from time to time that make a particular effort to stand out--sent FedEx or physical swag of some sort or gimmicky attempts at games/contests/etc. I…

I agree handwritten notes or physical communication of some sort can be effective if people think it's genuine. The problem with making a startup out of this is you are inherently fighting virality because once you do go mainstream you lose the personal value of it.

An interesting comparison is how Facebook started charging to get into a strangers inbox. The intentions behind this seem to be the same. A world fighting for each others attention...

Re: Bond – Robowritten notes as a service

#12

Post by prawn » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 4:58 AM UTC

My handwriting is inconsistent and after decades of typing, I'm prone to making mistakes when writing by hand which quickly renders writing thankyous a painful chore. If the choice is between me sending something like this or not getting around to sending anything, I think this has its place.

My wife uses TouchNote to send physical postcards from her phone of photos she's taken of our children to various family members. I think they're pretty cool, especially when you consider that doing this otherwise is painful enough that it never happened.

If they're using your handwriting, I wonder if they randomise between a few instances of each letter rather than having one of each. I imagine all of us check convincing handwriting fonts by comparing multiple instances of the same letter?

Re: Bond – Robowritten notes as a service

#13

Post by nl » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 4:59 AM UTC

Maybe now someone can create a scan-handwritten-notes-and-email-me-the-contents-as-a-service?

Re: Bond – Robowritten notes as a service

#14

Post by wpietri » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 5:03 AM UTC

tdicola wrote: post #10

wpietri wrote: post #5

Whew! I was worried there was something that marketing people couldn't cheapen. Thank goodness technologists have labored night and day to counterfeit handwriting. I especially like their oxymoronic slogan, "The Personal Touch, at Scale". As has long been said, "If you can fake sincerity, you've got it made." I guess they're all set.

These guys are far from being the first to automate handwriting and signatures. Chances are if you get a form letter back from a politician, important person, etc. it's been signed by a robot like this.

Ok, sure? I read the tone as contradiction, but I don't think I said that they were first to do signatures.

Re: Bond – Robowritten notes as a service

#15

Post by joshu » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 5:10 AM UTC

From a purely mechanical point of view, writing is fairly hard. You have to do more than bring a pen into a position, you have to apply some pressure, as well.

I'm currently building a whiteboard plotter (as opposed to a pen) and it is a PITA.

Re: Bond – Robowritten notes as a service

#16

Post by ghaff » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 5:14 AM UTC

joshmlewis wrote: post #11

ghaff wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually think a short handwritten note to thank someone for meeting with you or whatever is a nice gesture that stands out from the standard email and doesn't take much effort. Of course, that's real handwritten, not faux handwritten. I do receive marketing materials from time to time that make a particular effort to stand out--sent FedEx or physical swag of some sort or gimmicky attempts at games/contests/etc. I…

I agree handwritten notes or physical communication of some sort can be effective if people think it's genuine. The problem with making a startup out of this is you are inherently fighting virality because once you do go mainstream you lose the personal value of it. An interesting comparison is how Facebook started charging to get into a strangers inbox. The intentions behind this seem to be the same. A world fightin…

Yeah. It only really works if it's not the norm, i.e. it stands out. If every donation thank you letter over $20 starts being sent out this way, then it becomes worthless in a hurry. The other downside is that it encourages outsourcing the personal touch. If you're a charity, you should individually reach out to your large donors, not outsource that to a faux handwritten form letter. (Though as others have noted, politicians use robo-signers a lot.)

Re: Bond – Robowritten notes as a service

#17

Post by Animats » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 5:20 AM UTC

Artisanal spam. Why not?

It's not a new idea, though. The direct mail industry already does this. See

  http://www.getitopened.com/

"NEW! Use our proprietary technology to hand-address your envelopes! We specialize in production methods for high volume mailers that will incorporate realistic hand addressing at a fraction of what it would cost to contract a workroom to do the job. Simulated fonts made from real handwriting samples are also available."

They can also put stamps on slightly crooked so it looks hand-mailed, have hand-written sticky notes attached to the contents, or include a hand-written letter on yellow lined paper.

Re: Bond – Robowritten notes as a service

#18

Post by CoreFailure » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 5:22 AM UTC

Interesting, I don't think that this has a big place in the consumer market, but I do think this could be valuable to companies wishing to make a statement in some select letters. Maybe just as that top tier "because we could" category. When you need to stand out, they could provide that opportunity.

Re: Bond – Robowritten notes as a service

#19

Post by m_mueller » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 5:56 AM UTC

wpietri wrote: post #5

Whew! I was worried there was something that marketing people couldn't cheapen. Thank goodness technologists have labored night and day to counterfeit handwriting. I especially like their oxymoronic slogan, "The Personal Touch, at Scale". As has long been said, "If you can fake sincerity, you've got it made." I guess they're all set.

You might enjoy the movie 'her'. And by enjoy I mean it will probably anger you :).

Re: Bond – Robowritten notes as a service

#20

Post by noufalibrahim » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 5:56 AM UTC

I practice calligraphy as a hobby and am quite amused by this. From a marketing perspective, "hand written" letters on high quality paper sealed with wax and delivered to a customer is probably a good way to get their attention.

However, because of my background, I'm looking at it from the writers point of view. The almost elaborate ritual of writing a piece starting from selecting the paper, ruling it, selecting the ink, nibs, hand (that's what we call fonts) and then getting into a semi-trance while you write it is enormously rewarding. It's the opposite of everything tech. You have to plan out the whole piece in advance and can't just "iterate". You can't backspace an error and often have to throw away an hour of work just because you lost concentration and wrote an 'e' instead of an 'a' in the last word of the piece you're working on. It's got a lot of room for "disciplined freedom". Using a non standard letter form in a place so that the overall piece is more harmonious is very gratifying. Another interesting thing is that listening to music while writing can disturb your rhythm as your hand and pen starts to pick up the beat of the song rather than the letter forms and the piece is damanged. Several things like this come into play while doing the piece and almost therapuetic for me. I wish Bond luck with their product but it'd be a loss for people to not indulge themselves in actually writing by hand just because this (or other similar) products exist.