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Ask HN: What under-the-radar technology are you excited about?

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Re: Ask HN: What under-the-radar technology are you excited about?

#411

Post by extraduder_ire »

esaym wrote: post #394
worik wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are good. But not in very cold environments. I have one and when there is more than two degrees of frost it struggles. So for a lot of continental areas they are almost useless since they do not function when you really need them. For temperate climates and coastal regions they are wonderful.

> But not in very cold environments. This depends on what you mean by "cold" and there are several other factors as well. For one, they work great below 28 degrees. For the area between 28-34, there can be issues. In this range, water will more readily condense out of the air and form ice on the outdoor unit. And if it is raining and it is 34 out, you'll really have some ice. But below 28 degrees... any water in the…

Is there some reason why heat pumps don't spray some antifreeze/salt-brine on the evaporator to clear/prevent ice? Either alone, or in conjunction with heating.

You seem like the right person to ask, and this idea has been stuck in my head since seeing the technology connections video.

Re: Ask HN: What under-the-radar technology are you excited about?

#413

Post by jhayward »

pmdulaney wrote: post #46

Electric cars and planes are going to be huge, of course. Increasingly batteries will be replaced by fuel cells, and the hydrogen that powers them will be produced by means of hydrolysis produced by sunlight. https://phys.org/news/2021-04-hydrogen-fuel-machine-ultimate... https://newatlas.com/energy/osu-turro-solar-spectrum-hydroge... https://uh.edu/news-events/stories/2017/April/05152017Ren-Wa...

The goalposts are actually moving in the other direction. Batteries keep eating fuel cell's target applications.

And there is currently a very large PR effort by fossil fuel companies to promote hydrogen. I'd suggest extreme skepticism about any "news" promoting it at present. Always ask where the hydrogen is actually coming from in the present, not 30 years down the road.

Re: Ask HN: What under-the-radar technology are you excited about?

#414

Post by exporectomy »

jwalton wrote: post #406
TeMPOraL wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Fiducials If you mean what I think you mean (tiny marks on everything that encode information to help computers figure out what they're looking at), I agree. In particular, I've long been waiting for someone in self-driving sphere to give up on trying to crack the problem with just imaging the world as it is. In a saner world, countries would already be standardizing machine-readable markers on roads and posts and…

And punk kids would be covering them over with stickers that machine read as something entirely different. :P Not as easy a thing to crack as it could be. You could cryptographically sign them (sign your signs!) and maybe encode approximate GPS coordinates to prevent them from being moved too far from their original position, but that’s a lot of data to encode in a marker.

That's an over-worried worry. Just like existing road signs which also get tampered with, they would be a redundant source of information on top of the other self driving tech that would reduce instances of a human assistant or driver having to intervene.

Re: Ask HN: What under-the-radar technology are you excited about?

#415

Post by ahstilde »

pmarreck wrote: post #298
ahstilde wrote: post #202

Allergy immunotherapy. I started a company on the backs of this treatment. The way we treat allergies today, with Zyrtec and Claritin, is medieval medicine. It doesn't solve the underlying problem; it just tries to cover it up. Allergy immunotherapy is the future. Most people don't realize that allergies are now a curable disease. In the future, taking Claritin for allergies is going to seem like taking Tylenol for a…

Speaking as a very rational multiple-allergy sufferer (before 30? None. Then, like a dozen things!!) who has gotten allergy shots for years now... Have any data to back up this substitute? Also, Zyrtec and Claritin did nothing for me, I’m an Allegra guy

Tons of data!

“Patients who have done [allergy drops] and finished a course are now free of taking any allergy medications and they don’t have symptoms anymore.” Dr. Sandra Lin, video interview, Sublingual Immunotherapy (SLIT) for Allergy Treatment: Johns Hopkins | Q&A, author of Efficacy and Safety of Subcutaneous and Sublingual Immunotherapy for Allergic Rhinoconjunctivitis and Asthma (2017)

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpWomI4iPLY Paper: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28964530/

Aqueous allergy drops are both safe and effective for environmental allergies (aka allergic rhinitis): - This has been proven through 30 years of data published by leading allergists in key journals, and confirmed in 2011 independent Cochrane review Learn more: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21154351/

Aqueous allergy drops have a better safety profile than allergy shots - Unlike shots, there has never been a documented fatality to allergy drops in 30 years of use - The risk of a systemic reaction is thought to be 1 per 100 million doses or 1 per 526,000 treatment years Learn more: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22150126/

Allergy drops are equally as effective as allergy shots - They have widespread use in Europe (up to 80% of the immunotherapy market in some countries) - Comparison studies by leading allergists have shown both allergy shots and allergy drops to be effective but no clear superiority of one mode over the other. Learn more: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23557834/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26853126/

Re: Ask HN: What under-the-radar technology are you excited about?

#416

Post by ahstilde »

cpitman wrote: post #234
ahstilde wrote: post #202

Allergy immunotherapy. I started a company on the backs of this treatment. The way we treat allergies today, with Zyrtec and Claritin, is medieval medicine. It doesn't solve the underlying problem; it just tries to cover it up. Allergy immunotherapy is the future. Most people don't realize that allergies are now a curable disease. In the future, taking Claritin for allergies is going to seem like taking Tylenol for a…

Surprised to hear this is uncommon, I received allergy shots >20 years ago and it was the only allergy treatment (after many attempted medications) that had a sizable impact. Besides the delivery vehicle, what are the differences between allergy shots and these droplets?

Well, the delivery vehicle of the sublingual mucosal membrane means there's a much better safety profile! But otherwise, the mechanism of changing the immune response is the same.

Re: Ask HN: What under-the-radar technology are you excited about?

#417

Post by ahstilde »

axaxs wrote: post #350
ahstilde wrote: post #202

Allergy immunotherapy. I started a company on the backs of this treatment. The way we treat allergies today, with Zyrtec and Claritin, is medieval medicine. It doesn't solve the underlying problem; it just tries to cover it up. Allergy immunotherapy is the future. Most people don't realize that allergies are now a curable disease. In the future, taking Claritin for allergies is going to seem like taking Tylenol for a…

Definitely interested...but I couldn't find from your site exactly for how long one is to use the drops. Is this 99/mo forever? For 6 months? The answer to that question pretty much determines my interest.

Good feedback! We suggest patients try out the treatment for 6 months to make sure their body accepts the immunotherapy, and then another 4.5 years to lock-in lifelong relief.

Re: Ask HN: What under-the-radar technology are you excited about?

#418

Post by ahstilde »

hwatkins wrote: post #211
ahstilde wrote: post #202

Allergy immunotherapy. I started a company on the backs of this treatment. The way we treat allergies today, with Zyrtec and Claritin, is medieval medicine. It doesn't solve the underlying problem; it just tries to cover it up. Allergy immunotherapy is the future. Most people don't realize that allergies are now a curable disease. In the future, taking Claritin for allergies is going to seem like taking Tylenol for a…

This look interesting, it took some digging to get to what the actual treatment is, so it gets your body use to the allergen to build up tolerance. What happens when you have multiple pollen allergies, how does it track all of them. Also seems like many pollens will be region specific, different trees, etc.

We use an allergy test to diagnose your allergy profile, then we treat you for exactly what you're allergic to!

Re: Ask HN: What under-the-radar technology are you excited about?

#419

Post by ahstilde »

yomansat wrote: post #271
ahstilde wrote: post #202

Allergy immunotherapy. I started a company on the backs of this treatment. The way we treat allergies today, with Zyrtec and Claritin, is medieval medicine. It doesn't solve the underlying problem; it just tries to cover it up. Allergy immunotherapy is the future. Most people don't realize that allergies are now a curable disease. In the future, taking Claritin for allergies is going to seem like taking Tylenol for a…

I understand that each person is different, but how long does the therapy go for until someone becomes "immune"? I see other comments mentioning 20-30 years, which sounds a lot more expensive than having to take the medieval equivalent for just as long. I hope I'm wrong!

Good feedback! We suggest patients try out the treatment for 6 months to make sure their body accepts the immunotherapy, and then another 4.5 years to lock-in lifelong relief.

Re: Ask HN: What under-the-radar technology are you excited about?

#420

Post by ahstilde »

king_magic wrote: post #260
ahstilde wrote: post #202

Allergy immunotherapy. I started a company on the backs of this treatment. The way we treat allergies today, with Zyrtec and Claritin, is medieval medicine. It doesn't solve the underlying problem; it just tries to cover it up. Allergy immunotherapy is the future. Most people don't realize that allergies are now a curable disease. In the future, taking Claritin for allergies is going to seem like taking Tylenol for a…

I've had allergy immunotherapy shots going on 30 years now. I'd say there has been an improvement, but... is the technology going to get significantly better anytime soon? I'm skeptical - but happy to be convinced otherwise.

Tons of data that the drops are an improvement over shots, if only for the patient experience!

“Patients who have done [allergy drops] and finished a course are now free of taking any allergy medications and they don’t have symptoms anymore.” Dr. Sandra Lin, video interview, Sublingual Immunotherapy (SLIT) for Allergy Treatment: Johns Hopkins | Q&A, author of Efficacy and Safety of Subcutaneous and Sublingual Immunotherapy for Allergic Rhinoconjunctivitis and Asthma (2017)

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpWomI4iPLY Paper: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28964530/

Aqueous allergy drops are both safe and effective for environmental allergies (aka allergic rhinitis): - This has been proven through 30 years of data published by leading allergists in key journals, and confirmed in 2011 independent Cochrane review Learn more: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21154351/

Aqueous allergy drops have a better safety profile than allergy shots - Unlike shots, there has never been a documented fatality to allergy drops in 30 years of use - The risk of a systemic reaction is thought to be 1 per 100 million doses or 1 per 526,000 treatment years Learn more: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22150126/

Allergy drops are equally as effective as allergy shots - They have widespread use in Europe (up to 80% of the immunotherapy market in some countries) - Comparison studies by leading allergists have shown both allergy shots and allergy drops to be effective but no clear superiority of one mode over the other. Learn more: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23557834/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26853126/

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