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Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?

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Re: Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?

#581

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

screye wrote: post #252

A better whiteboard/notes/mindmap app. (for windows) I can't be the only person who uses graphs, flow charts and images as a primary mental model for idea representation. This a domain I have been obsessed with for ages. The tech seems to be there. Ocr, shape recognition, pen technology is all there. New devices increasingly have the ML hardware to support it. Why isn't it here yet? We are living in the midst of a re…

Not quite what you're looking for I think, but Milton[0] makes a pretty great whiteboard with its infinite canvas, infinite detail, and infinite undo.

[0] https://milton.handmade.network/

Re: Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?

#582

Post by nimski »

baron816 wrote: post #243

In-person social organizations. Social isolation is probably the biggest cause of unhappiness in advanced countries. Having a strong social network has lots of advantages including providing better romantic and career opportunities, as well as improving physical and psychological health. Humans have a long history of dishing out lots of money to be parts of strong communities too--country clubs and fraternities have…

It is possible to build technical solutions that take the work and luck out of social organization by shouldering the heavy lifting, but then get out of the way once people meet IRL.

The best tool for this right now is calendar and email. There's a lot of room for improvement.

Please PM me if you're interested in a deeper discussion. I've thought a bit about what this tool might look like and how to get it off the ground.

Re: Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?

#583

Post by _-___________-_ »

gangstertim wrote: post #317

Battery-operated household items. I have a cordless dewalt drill that I can use all day on my jobsite, but every single appliance in my kitchen needs a cord. Hand mixer? Immersion blender? Regular blender? Stand mixer? Everything has a cord. Why isn't there a kitchen battery system yet? Similarly: I'd love to have a little reading sconce on my wall next to my bed, but running a circuit through the existing walls with…

My blender has a base which is attached to the wall, and a removable part where the stuff you're blending goes. What advantage would it bring me if I could move the base? It also has a 1200W motor or something similar. The batteries required to power that for any reasonable length of time would be heavy and expensive.

This seems like a solution in search of a problem.

Re: Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?

#584

Post by DJBunnies »

MartianSquirrel wrote: post #579
lmm wrote: post #514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found the Surface Book had a wonderful premium feel; I went into the shop with a list of specs in mind, and Microsoft was the last manufacturer I'd imagine going with, but it's a powerful machine and also just a beautiful object. Metal case, relatively subtle/classy logo, absolutely beautiful screen, nothing else was compromised for the sake of touch, clean baseline first-party OS. If you really want a premium feel…

> I'd very much recommend it Same here! I've bought myself a Surface Laptop 3 (15", i7 version) 11 months ago. I had been looking for a laptop powerful enough to code on, that would look "premium" for business purposes, lightweight and the charge had to last a full workday(or more). This laptop checked all the boxes, and performed wonderfully since then. To the extend that now we're considering getting it for our emp…

This sounds so astroturfy. Nothing ever checks all the boxes.

Re: Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?

#585

Post by zeofig »

yosamino wrote: post #196

Geothermal Energy. Extremely simplified, all you need to do is drill a hole deep enough for a high temperature difference. Then stick in two pipes, on for sending water down, one for steam to come up. Run a turbine, add a valve to regulate how much water you want to converted into steam to be able to regulate output, enjoy your first mover advantage and price the competition out of the market. ... It's not that I do…

It's really good for heating/cooling buildings. Outside of that it's less clear. It's still extremely underused for heating/cooling. I think there isn't much incentive for people to incorporate it at the moment because it mostly saves on long-term costs, but let's face it most of our new buildings are made in the pursuit of short-term profit. The technology is also underdeveloped therefore expensive in most cases.

Re: Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?

#586

Post by DoingIsLearning »

pfdietz wrote: post #231
yosamino wrote: post #196

Geothermal Energy. Extremely simplified, all you need to do is drill a hole deep enough for a high temperature difference. Then stick in two pipes, on for sending water down, one for steam to come up. Run a turbine, add a valve to regulate how much water you want to converted into steam to be able to regulate output, enjoy your first mover advantage and price the competition out of the market. ... It's not that I do…

It's just not competitive with alternatives in most cases.

I agree with GP, this shouldn't be a discussion of, "we don't need geo-thermal because solar/wind is cheaper".

The issue is we are still heavily dependent on non-intermitent energy generation. Which for now is mostly Coal and Gas Power Plants. Coal is extremely poluting and Natural Gas is both polluting and has a geo-political mess of supliers.

Fusion is still years in the future and if even if there was a political will for nuclear it cannot be realistically rolled out quickly enough to decomission coal in terms of climate damage.

Without knowing all the details it seems like a much easier problem to solve:

- Get 24/7 heat out of deeper earth's crust without 'fracking' earthquake's

Vs

- Energy efficient time sustained nuclear fusion

As a bonus, if I'm allowed to be completely cynical, geo-thermal could enable much of the Oil and Gas drilling technology and know-how to transition to a new industry, giving them an exit strategy rather than continue this tactic of agressive lobbying and squeezing the final dollars out of the Petro-Chemical industry at the cost of Human Future.

Re: Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?

#587

Post by Pxtl »

lmm wrote: post #514
Klonoar wrote: post #379

Premium-feeling laptops that aren't Apple machines. Yes yes, I get the economical barriers. I'm past caring. It is so incredibly frustrating to look outside the Apple ecosystem and feel like the entire PC industry is content to sell the bare minimum of quality (outside of Gamer hardware, which looks obscene - but I get that it's subjective). It's a horrible business idea on the numbers and nobody would do this, but i…

I found the Surface Book had a wonderful premium feel; I went into the shop with a list of specs in mind, and Microsoft was the last manufacturer I'd imagine going with, but it's a powerful machine and also just a beautiful object. Metal case, relatively subtle/classy logo, absolutely beautiful screen, nothing else was compromised for the sake of touch, clean baseline first-party OS. If you really want a premium feel…

My wife has a surface laptop 2, and while it's a polished and beautiful device... It's not serviceable. In the slightest. If you want to fix something you have to cut through upholstery.

Re: Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?

#588

Post by pestatije »

peruvian wrote: post #467
baron816 wrote: post #243

In-person social organizations. Social isolation is probably the biggest cause of unhappiness in advanced countries. Having a strong social network has lots of advantages including providing better romantic and career opportunities, as well as improving physical and psychological health. Humans have a long history of dishing out lots of money to be parts of strong communities too--country clubs and fraternities have…

(Pre-covid of course) I think about this often, but then I go for a walk (or in other cities, a drive) and see packed bars and restaurants every night with people from all ages having a good time. Makes me feel like the problem is on me - people are obviously able to make friends and hang out without any special apps beyond what is available now.

The ones that don't you don't see, that's why.

Re: Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?

#589

Post by tedivm »

Pxtl wrote: post #587
lmm wrote: post #514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found the Surface Book had a wonderful premium feel; I went into the shop with a list of specs in mind, and Microsoft was the last manufacturer I'd imagine going with, but it's a powerful machine and also just a beautiful object. Metal case, relatively subtle/classy logo, absolutely beautiful screen, nothing else was compromised for the sake of touch, clean baseline first-party OS. If you really want a premium feel…

My wife has a surface laptop 2, and while it's a polished and beautiful device... It's not serviceable. In the slightest. If you want to fix something you have to cut through upholstery.

So with regards to getting as close to Apple as possible they've succeeded?

Re: Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?

#590

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

Jemaclus wrote: post #443
Klonoar wrote: post #379

Premium-feeling laptops that aren't Apple machines. Yes yes, I get the economical barriers. I'm past caring. It is so incredibly frustrating to look outside the Apple ecosystem and feel like the entire PC industry is content to sell the bare minimum of quality (outside of Gamer hardware, which looks obscene - but I get that it's subjective). It's a horrible business idea on the numbers and nobody would do this, but i…

Related to this, I'm kind of shocked that there isn't a strong third option for OSes. We've got Windows and MacOS, sure, but the nix ecosystem is so fragmented and not as well supported as the other two that it's hard to justify switching. Like you pointed out, Mac feels premium because of the software/hardware tight coupling, and it just works . Windows is the same, but for reasons can feel less polished than MacOS.…

The very most important thing an OS does is run software on hardware. Therefore any new entrant into the OS market must support as much software and hardware as possible. The former is actually kinda doable with compatibility layers and emulation, the latter is basically impossible to catch up on.
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