Terence Eden’s Blog

Signal's new(ish) URI Scheme

@edentsignal url · 5 comments · 350 words · read ~1,076 times.

A padlock engraved into a circuit board.

A few years ago, I idly wondered "Whatever happened to URI Schemes?". Older communications protocols didn't rely on http. You can use mailto:me@example.com to send email, sms:+447700900123 to send a text message, and skype:terence.eden to use Skype. There are dozens of these sorts of protocols. But modern apps seem to prefer making everything an https: link. That way, if the user doesn't have the app installed on their phone, they get taken to a friendly landing page - rather than seeing an…

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Questions to ask before launching a crypto-payments feature

@edentcrypto encryption fraud money scam signal · 5 comments · 900 words · read ~328 times.

A tiny lego Storm Trooper eats a chocolate coin.

Messaging app Signal is launching a payment service in the UK. This will allow users to send each other money cryptocurrency. Many people have written about why this is a daft idea. But they've mostly talked about why cryptocoins corrupt everything they touch. I want to talk about why this is a shitty idea from a product perspective. It all comes down to user needs. What pain point are you removing? Uber made taxis mildly less irritating, for example. But the UK already has a fairly mature…

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