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Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

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Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#921

Post by wenc »

cromulent wrote: post #823
wenc wrote: post #488

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is technically not incorrect, but incomplete. We know there is conservation of mass and energy in nature. Any chemical engineer can write mass and energy balance equations that represent this conservation. Calories in = Calories out is an simplified form of a more complex energy balance equation that looks something like this: (Enthalpy in) - (Enthalpy out) + (Heat/Energy crossing boundary) - (Work) = (Change in I…

According to this paper, this is not true. The weight is exhaled as CO2. http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g7257 >> Most people believed that fat is converted to energy or heat, which violates the law of conservation of mass. We suspect this misconception is caused by the “energy in/energy out” mantra and the focus on energy production in university biochemistry courses.

Enthalpy (note, not energy) is an extensive property, and is proportional to the mass/size of the system, so mass is already accounted for. CO2's enthalpy can be represented in the same equation.

The energy balance equation is a fundamental thermodynamic equation. It is inherently coupled with mass balance equations. If we didn't get this right, we wouldn't have been able to design chemical reactors all these years.

Unfortunately because enthalpy is a more abstract concept, it isn't very appealing to folks who like simplifications like calories in = calories out. It is, however, the correct concept.

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#922

Post by herbst »

JamesBarney wrote: post #154

A marketplace for specialized micro-consulting(30 minutes to an hour). I've seen plenty of projects that are rife with anti-patterns because a team was unfamiliar with a problem or technology and made a bunch of bad decisions while they were still coming up to speed. The use-case I envision would fix this. Because it's really a travesty that when we're the least familiar with technologies is when we make some of the…

I got this pitched multiple times in the last months. Nobody got the focus right in my opinion because it needs to be open and paid. I would use this from both sides i really see the potential here as well.

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#923

Post by wenc »

allwein wrote: post #659
wenc wrote: post #488

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is technically not incorrect, but incomplete. We know there is conservation of mass and energy in nature. Any chemical engineer can write mass and energy balance equations that represent this conservation. Calories in = Calories out is an simplified form of a more complex energy balance equation that looks something like this: (Enthalpy in) - (Enthalpy out) + (Heat/Energy crossing boundary) - (Work) = (Change in I…

I'll agree with you if the equation is stated like this: (Enthalpy in) - (Enthalpy out) + (Heat/Energy crossing boundary) - (Work) - (Change in Internal Energy/Accumulation) = 0 But when you state it like you did, there's an implication that the left hand side are the causal factors and that(Change in internal energy/accumulation) is the effect coming out of those causal factors. The problem is that there are many pe…

Strictly speaking, equations (note, not functions) represent equality between LHS and RHS, so there is no causality implied.

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#924

Post by pards »

koopuluri wrote: post #405

Fresh air. It's tough to breathe in many cities across the world, especially in Asia. I'd pay a lot (probably more than I would for my laptop / car) for a tool that would help me breathe fresh air in the midst of a polluted environment. Of course, a long term solution would involve actually reducing pollution, but there are enough of us suffering from a lack of fresh air, that a short-term solution would be greatly v…

Solved by a guy in England that even offers different flavours!

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/man-sells-bri...

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#925

Post by herbst »

klausjensen wrote: post #400
adventured wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is, it's Amazon. They're closing in on $20 billion in European sales, growing at double digits, with something like 50,000 employees. If you look at what they're doing in Europe, Amazon is getting more aggressive by the year in terms of expanding and investing there.

I use Amazon in Europa a LOT, but funny enough it is not ONE amazon in EU, it is many - and I have to search for products on all of them, because what is available in amazon.de might not be available in amazon.co.uk. And there are obviously language barriers - and having to do math to convert currencies etc. It is anything but smooth right now - unless you are in one of the countries, that have their own amazon.tld,…

Exactly. Amazon.de does bot ship the majority of stuff to switzerland. Amazon.it however does but i cant speak italian

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#926

Post by herbst »

cheetos wrote: post #10

Fix ads. I think there is a need for a product that allows websites to self-manage their ads, allowing them to handle display, tracking, payment, and client management internally. Imagine being able to get rid of all the third-party ad and tracking scripts on your website in favor of hosting and managing all of it on your own domain, displaying ads that are guaranteed to be relevant and attractive (since you chose th…

Also cnaming ad servers do adblocks get useless. Waiting for such a service :3 (and i hope the first good one will have only okish ads)

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#927

Post by herbst »

therealmarv wrote: post #294

Note taking done right. Android, iOS, Desktop, Markdown & HTML, easy flat file format, Web clipper, offline and do this all without wasting whitespace (no doc editor like Evernote) and good sync and instant search results. <- NO ONE is doing this! Closest is maybe Google Keep (seriously it's good at some points I'm mentioning).

I use keep. It is already there on all platforms i use and integrates with other services i use. Plus the location reminder stuff does not drain additional battery.

But honestly since i dont use it anymore i feel better and more relaxed. Relevant stuff i dont forget and irrelevant stuff is irrelevant.

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#929

Post by Lanthanide »

herbst wrote: post #925
klausjensen wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Amazon in Europa a LOT, but funny enough it is not ONE amazon in EU, it is many - and I have to search for products on all of them, because what is available in amazon.de might not be available in amazon.co.uk. And there are obviously language barriers - and having to do math to convert currencies etc. It is anything but smooth right now - unless you are in one of the countries, that have their own amazon.tld,…

Exactly. Amazon.de does bot ship the majority of stuff to switzerland. Amazon.it however does but i cant speak italian

You can switch Amazon.de to English from the account settings; is that not the case with Amazon.it?

Re: Ask HN: What is the biggest untapped opportunity for startups?

#930

Post by herbst »

Lanthanide wrote: post #929
herbst wrote: post #925

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Amazon.de does bot ship the majority of stuff to switzerland. Amazon.it however does but i cant speak italian

You can switch Amazon.de to English from the account settings; is that not the case with Amazon.it?

I think its possible, but product titles and descriptions dont care.
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