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Ask HN: What startups are working on hard, technically challenging problems?

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Re: Ask HN: What startups are working on hard, technically challenging problems?

#91

Post by frabrunelle »

MaidSafe (http://maidsafe.net) recently raised over $8m from one of the first ever cryptocurrency-based rounds of financing. As the company approaches beta launch, they are looking for a front-end Qt Developer to create applications to sit on top of the SAFE Network, a secure and fully decentralized data management service made up by the individual users who contribute storage, computing power and bandwidth to form a world-wide autonomous system.

http://maidsafe.net/careers

"Know any #QT (C++) developers who want to help change the world from our Scottish HQ? Please ask them to get in touch: careers@maidsafe.net"

https://twitter.com/maidsafe/status/578961937981161472

Features of the SAFE Network:

- Self-authentication: users can create accounts and log in from any computer without the need or knowledge of third parties (http://systemdocs.maidsafe.net/content/en/system_components/...).

- Farming: this self-regulating network lets users offer spare drive space and in return delivers anonymous, super-fast internet (http://systemdocs.maidsafe.net/content/en/system_components/...).

- Examples of apps that can be used on the SAFE Network: cloud storage, encrypted messaging, websites, VoIP, social networks and any existing service that runs on the Internet (http://maidsafe.net/applications).

- Safecoin is the currency of the SAFE Network and a mechanism to incentivize and reward farmers and app developers as well as provide access to network services (http://systemdocs.maidsafe.net/content/en/how_it_works/safec...).

If you have any questions about the SAFE Network, please ask them on https://forum.safenetwork.io.

Re: Ask HN: What startups are working on hard, technically challenging problems?

#92

Post by monort »

MichaelGG wrote: post #77
joelrunyon wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a lot of startups are solving important problems that might not be obvious. Any Musk startup - Tesla (electric vs. oil consumption), SpaceX (building space "colonies"), SolarCity (alternate energy), Paypal (payments). You also have Uber (limiting cars on the street & oil consumption), AirBnb (better utilization of current buildings rather than building additional hotels). Even stuff like meerkat, etc could po…

AirBnB is more about exploiting cost differentials by avoiding regulation, isn't it? When i use it, and the people I know making money on it, are exactly taking advantage of this versus "better utilization". In fact, it's actually the opposite, at least in places like SF, because units that would otherwise house residents are now being used to house hotel guests.

For the purpose of "better utilization" there is no difference between residents and tourists. Airbnb puts more people into the same space.

Re: Ask HN: What startups are working on hard, technically challenging problems?

#94

Post by bresc »

zeit_geist wrote: post #9

A super incomplete list: Databases: - PipelineDB - Snowflake (Computing) Internet of Things / Communications: - Helium Robotics: - Pneubotics - Kuka, namely the research department Autonomous Systems / "Self Driving Car" et al.: - Kiva - Anki Computer-Vision / VR based: - Jaunt - Oculus VR (especially the 'research' department) Agriculture: - Blueriver http://www.bluerivert.com (there are many more super-interesting…

Any hints on where I would be able to find more in the Agriculture category?

Re: Ask HN: What startups are working on hard, technically challenging problems?

#97

Post by bostik »

chetanahuja wrote: post #86

At Packetzoom we're building up a networking protocol specifically designed for mobile networks. We've discarded the TCP/HTTP stack completely and started from scratch. The idea was to go back to the drawing board (to the lowest level possible) and ask this question: How would network protocols on mobile work if they were being designed from scratch today? And that's what we've done. Results so far are pretty amazing…

I have an honest question: what do you answer when the obvious comparison to (and lack of industry adoption of) SCTP is put forward?

In-protocol multiplexing must be pretty high up the list of necessary features, but how about transparent multi-network roaming? Not just over mobile operator networks, I'm talking about hopping between different transports.

Re: Ask HN: What startups are working on hard, technically challenging problems?

#98

Post by zerr »

fh973 wrote: post #39

Quobyte. We're building a fault-tolerant scalable distributed storage system for POSIX files, block and object storage. Lots of challenges around distributed systems, architecture and concurrency. Development is in Berlin, Germany, and we're hiring. http://www.quobyte.com

Any plans for considering remote workers?

Re: Ask HN: What startups are working on hard, technically challenging problems?

#99

Post by cipher0 »

spiritplumber wrote: post #55
cipher0 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reflects your current status I presume? http://robots-everywhere.com/re_site/

Yeah. Was trying to not link that coz I don't want to spamvertise.

I see. Nitpicks: - The twitter icon on the top right points to @spiritplumber which has the name of a "Linda Camezon", a standard issue avatar and only 1 tweet which doesn't signify anything. - The text at the bottom of the website (in green) is unreadable given the background. - I couldn't find a careers section or the location of the company. - The videos are not professionally produced which gives the feel of an amateur effort not an established company.

Re: Ask HN: What startups are working on hard, technically challenging problems?

#100

Post by mkramlich »

huhtenberg wrote: post #82
lmeyerov wrote: post #70

At Graphistry, we are powering nextgen visual analysis through real-time GPU clusters that stream right into your browser. For example, we cracked a botnet a couple days ago using it. Visually exploring millions of data points in real-time is a hard problem for both infoviz design (hairballs!) and high performance programming (1000 node GPU clusters), but unblocks some of the biggest industries (finding criminals, av…

> we cracked a botnet a couple days ago using it Do elaborate...

I love how due to the nature of the Internet that huhtenberg may be the owner of that botnet. ;-)

(note: not saying he is, obviously. just making a point we should all be aware or when communicating with strangers online.)

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