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Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

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Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#81

Post by ronnwer »

dsc wrote: post #33

I think a problem that bugs me a lot is how I see lots of people wanting to do lots of cool things, but they lack the appropriate guidance. We do that on a day-to-day basis, but what about the other folks out there who don't know about this place? Usually forums, IRC, blogs help in getting immersed with anything, but I have a feeling that a startup with the primary purpose of "Enlightening" its users has yet to come.…

I agree, but how do you build such a community? Hacker News is a great example. Perhaps this could be redesigned and made available to everyone :)

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#82

Post by ronnwer »

edw519 wrote: post #6

Enterprise software sucks. We don't talk about it much here at hn, but think about it. Every man-made object you encounter every day was manufactured somewhere. And moved, more than once. Now add in all the sales, marketing, customer service, operations, accounting, finance, human resources, etc., etc., etc. needed to support that manufacturing and distribution. Next, add financial markets, healthcare, energy, entert…

What your thought on new companies like yammer.com and socialcast.com ?

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#83

Post by r0s »

fletchowns wrote: post #9

We need to eliminate packaging waste. My laundry detergent ran out, so I had to go get some more. Why am I throwing this big plastic jug back into the recycling loop? Why can't I just take it back to the store and fill it up again? I could use the same jug for years and years and years. How many of those jugs do you think are just going into landfills every day? I saw a link recently to a "bring your own container" t…

My grocery store has a liquid detergent bulk refill. The down side is only one brand offers this, but it works fine so that's what I use.

I drive about 15 minutes out of my way to go to this place, but it's worth it to me for many reasons. Plan ahead and you can do all your shopping for weeks in one trip.

Another cool thing this place does is put out used boxes by the checkout, so their own waste gets recycled directly. If you forget your re-usable bag you can just grab a box and feel good about it.

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#84

Post by seiji »

geuis wrote: post #26

How do you configure gzip for certain urls on Akamai? This is a problem I just can't find an answer to.

You don't configure it per URL, you configure it per MIME type. text/css, text/html, etc. It's under Last Mile Acceleration in EdgeControl: "Apply to content with Content-type: text/html, application/x-javascript, text/css"

If you're using the XML config it resembles:

  
    on
    on

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#85

Post by r0s »

hugh3 wrote: post #75
fletchowns wrote: post #9

We need to eliminate packaging waste. My laundry detergent ran out, so I had to go get some more. Why am I throwing this big plastic jug back into the recycling loop? Why can't I just take it back to the store and fill it up again? I could use the same jug for years and years and years. How many of those jugs do you think are just going into landfills every day? I saw a link recently to a "bring your own container" t…

I saw a link recently to a "bring your own container" type of grocery store that was in NYC. It was so small though, and I've never seen anything like that around where I live. We need something like that but on a massive scale to invoke a fundamental shift in the way every single person does grocery shopping. That sounds less like giving people what they want and more like giving people what you think they ought to…

We need something like that...

I think he's saying there should ideally be more demand, not that supply should be forced.

narrow circle of like-minded friends

There really are informed consumers out there who evaluate products based on all available information, and the people who trust them may take the lazy route and imitate. That can look like wankery if you dismiss informed consumption outright.

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#87

Post by larsberg »

keefe wrote: post #39
CytokineStorm wrote: post #14

Someone needs to prove that P != NP. Want to understand why that's important? Read this: http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2009/9/38904-the-status-of-the...

it's also extraordinarily difficult if not impossible to prove. This is a problem for researchers, not people looking for ideas for startups.

You could probably make some money on a "proof validation service" where you charge all of the crackpots who think they've solved P!=NP to validate their proof.

Or, if you just happen to find an error, send that back. But the service is free if you don't!

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#88

Post by byw »

fletchowns wrote: post #9

We need to eliminate packaging waste. My laundry detergent ran out, so I had to go get some more. Why am I throwing this big plastic jug back into the recycling loop? Why can't I just take it back to the store and fill it up again? I could use the same jug for years and years and years. How many of those jugs do you think are just going into landfills every day? I saw a link recently to a "bring your own container" t…

I think a major hurdle is that beyond a certain income level, people don't want to be seen as stingy, and refilling/buying bulk is generally associated frugality more than altruism.

In order to reach more people in developed countries you need to make things more upscale. You need high quality, long lasting, "designer" containers.

Also, a trade-in program would help a great deal. Many people don't know they want something until they see it, and they hesitate to buy a new container on the spot if they already have one. If they can simply redeem their old ones for a large portion of credits it would put their minds at ease.

The trade-in stations will need automated cleaning, since you can't guarantee their hygiene. In the end lazy folks will just swap in their dirty containers with clean ones every time they head for the shop, which also alleviates the mental hurdle of cleaning.

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#89

Post by orangecat »

hugh3 wrote: post #79
orangecat wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it will continue to be until we institute severe rationing, or cure aging. I vote for the second.

Cure aging and you either: a) Have a quite sudden and very severe overpopulation problem, or b) Are forced to ration babies. Both of these are pretty damn dystopic. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to live forever, but not necessarily at the cost of having everyone else live forever too.

c) Institute a Logan's Run policy where you get 80 or 100 years of good health and are then painlessly euthanized.

I think we can do better than c, but it's a lower bound: it avoids your concerns and is still a large improvement over the status quo.

I'd like to live forever

Curing aging doesn't let you live forever. There would still be diseases (at a much lower rate), accidents, murder, suicide, natural disasters, etc. All it would do is prevent the deterioration of our bodies and often our minds that generates large medical expenses, prevents us from being productive, and impairs our quality of life. It would also give us the option of living for several centuries longer than we do today, which we could take or not.

Re: Ask HN: What are problems that need to be solved?

#90

Post by saukrates »

orangecat wrote: post #13
JesseAldridge wrote: post #4

Healthcare is expensive.

And it will continue to be until we institute severe rationing, or cure aging. I vote for the second.

Healthcare (sick care) is expensive in the hospital setting once the problem is out of your control. Preventative Healthcare is very cheap ($1/day vs $10,000/day). How do we keep people healthy rather than treating symptoms in the hospital?
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