YC’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide • Hacker News Board

Re: YC’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

#21

Post by CPLX » Mon, Nov 28, 2016, 5:40 PM UTC

joncrocks wrote: post #17

CPLX wrote: post #14

I always wonder how people can say things like this: "They've created a wifi-enabled immersion circulator called the Nomiku so every home chef can prepare simple, Michelin-starred meals." I mean, I bet that literally zero Michelin-starred meals have been prepared with this device. And the phrase "Michelin" or "Michelin-starred" is trademarked and has a clear meaning. If I was a marketer for this company I would feel…

Not this specific device perhaps, but Sous Vides (as I understand it) can form part of a commercial kitchen, at high-end restaurants. A quick google shows: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/10/michelin-restaura... - A Michelin starred restaurant, which uses a Sous Vide. They are generally quite expensive to by for home use. I won't comment on the rest, but I'd agree that the list doesn't exactly fill me with wo…

But that doesn't make sense. If I'm selling a stainless steel bowl like they use in commercial kitchens can I say "now every person ever can whip up Michelin-starred omelettes" or something?

I mean I suppose I could, but it makes me sound like an idiot. It's also plainly factually untrue. No Michelin reviewer will ever see my meal, no meal I make will receive a Michelin star. It's literal nonsense.

And Sous Vide has been around awhile and totally solid units can be had for about $100. I remain confused about what value-add YC and/or this company is bringing to the space.

Re: YC’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

#22

Post by azinman2 » Mon, Nov 28, 2016, 5:40 PM UTC

joncrocks wrote: post #17

CPLX wrote: post #14

I always wonder how people can say things like this: "They've created a wifi-enabled immersion circulator called the Nomiku so every home chef can prepare simple, Michelin-starred meals." I mean, I bet that literally zero Michelin-starred meals have been prepared with this device. And the phrase "Michelin" or "Michelin-starred" is trademarked and has a clear meaning. If I was a marketer for this company I would feel…

Not this specific device perhaps, but Sous Vides (as I understand it) can form part of a commercial kitchen, at high-end restaurants. A quick google shows: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/10/michelin-restaura... - A Michelin starred restaurant, which uses a Sous Vide. They are generally quite expensive to by for home use. I won't comment on the rest, but I'd agree that the list doesn't exactly fill me with wo…

They also use stoves -- that doesn't automatically mean you're creating Michelin worthy meals because you have a stove. Like any cooking equipment, you need skill + technique + great ingredients to create a professional-class meal.... and a lot more than just a sous vide machine.

Re: YC’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

#23

Post by qwertyuiop924 » Mon, Nov 28, 2016, 5:41 PM UTC

Man, I was hoping for books. The YC staff book recommendations are usually good.

As it is, there is nothing of value on this list. Most of these are absolute rubbish. But most outstandingly rubbish is Vidcode. It claims to teach code to teens/tweens, but speaking as one myself, this looks like the same kind of condescending, manipulative, "we be down with the kids, yo" crap that attracts teens the same way that a man covered in shit attracts high society.

Look, if you're going to try to attract teens, or any group, to coding, don't try to look hip, or trendy. Treat them like they're regular people (not just a bunch of cretins that you have to stick sparkles in front of every five seconds to keep their attention), give them real tools, and allow them to attain the knowledge to build what they want to build. That's what works.

And how do I know that it works? Because that's what I got, when I decided I wanted to learn programming. That's what countless kids got in the 80s, where children would, through self-motivation, learn assembler, and type in opcodes by hand.

And maybe those people are the minority. In fact, they almost definitely are. But you'll never get the majority, because the majority doesn't care. Making things that look like they're designed to appeal to an insipid stereotype won't change that.

Re: YC’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

#24

Post by toomuchtodo » Mon, Nov 28, 2016, 5:42 PM UTC

soylentcola wrote: post #18

dpark wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unless there's a significant financial incentive to do so (ex: 2-to-1 match), don't give people gift cards. Gift cards are the biggest scam ever pulled by the retail industry, or more specifically, perpetuating the idea that giving cash is taboo. The problem is that cash often feels like not giving a gift at all. If you exchange fifty-dollar bills with a sibling, it feels pointless. Gift cards can alleviate that fe…

My (to be fair, minor) issue with gift cards is that they're essentially saying "hey, have some money...but you can only spend it at this one place of my choosing, not yours". I'm aware that this is pretty low on the list of problems you'd hate to have but it's there nonetheless. Let's say a relative has heard me talk about some Arduino project I'm messing with or something to do with building a computer. They don't…

I loved US gov EE savings bonds. LOVED THEM. I could say, "Here. I'm giving you a gift of investment, that will grow over time." It's almost impossible to buy the paper version now unless you're using your tax refund to do so.

Re: YC’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

#25

Post by cma » Mon, Nov 28, 2016, 5:42 PM UTC

gamache wrote: post #11

Aside from the Donations section (YC's nonprofits), having much of the YC portfolio collected like this really deflates a lot of the cachet about YC, its companies, and its place at the Silicon Valley cool-kids table. I look at this list and I see problems that never needed solving, middlemen -- sorry, curators -- reselling cheap Chinese crap, and a cult of jamming Bluetooth and USB into just about anything that hold…

This was pretty shocking.. I didn't know YC had gotten so far into "As Seen on TV" or "As sold on the radio" type products. If tech valuations are going to some of these companies I'd be pretty concerned that they might just be trying to rub-off bubble pricing on top of as many product categories as they can with any tenuous tech link they can manage ("it is sold on the internet!").

Re: YC’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

#26

Post by ben1040 » Mon, Nov 28, 2016, 5:47 PM UTC

joncrocks wrote: post #17

CPLX wrote: post #14

I always wonder how people can say things like this: "They've created a wifi-enabled immersion circulator called the Nomiku so every home chef can prepare simple, Michelin-starred meals." I mean, I bet that literally zero Michelin-starred meals have been prepared with this device. And the phrase "Michelin" or "Michelin-starred" is trademarked and has a clear meaning. If I was a marketer for this company I would feel…

Not this specific device perhaps, but Sous Vides (as I understand it) can form part of a commercial kitchen, at high-end restaurants. A quick google shows: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/10/michelin-restaura... - A Michelin starred restaurant, which uses a Sous Vide. They are generally quite expensive to by for home use. I won't comment on the rest, but I'd agree that the list doesn't exactly fill me with wo…

That's like saying a MacBook Pro is often used in high-end programming shops, so buy one and you'll be churning out remarkable software.

The skill of the person wielding the tool matters way more than the tool.

Re: YC’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

#27

Post by grey-area » Mon, Nov 28, 2016, 5:47 PM UTC

cndksjc wrote: post #16

dang wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snarky dismissals of other people's work are not welcome on HN, so please don't post like this. I tend not to post as many moderation scoldings in YC-related threads, but that was such a bad HN comment that I'll break the pattern for it. Edit: you rewrote your comment to make it (somewhat) more substantive and less snarky. In principle that's fine, but it would have been more respectful to preserve the original conte…

Have you considered that these companies might not actually be that innovative and that the parent comment was a legitimate criticism?

It's terribly easy and not very useful to dismiss things in a vague way like this, and it's often wrong, particularly if talking about an entire category or market.

e.g. google could have been dismissed as just a search engine but it turned out eventually to be exactly what a lot of people wanted.

Re: YC’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

#28

Post by dang » Mon, Nov 28, 2016, 5:50 PM UTC

qwertyuiop924 wrote: post #23

Man, I was hoping for books. The YC staff book recommendations are usually good. As it is, there is nothing of value on this list. Most of these are absolute rubbish. But most outstandingly rubbish is Vidcode. It claims to teach code to teens/tweens, but speaking as one myself, this looks like the same kind of condescending, manipulative, "we be down with the kids, yo" crap that attracts teens the same way that a man…

> It claims to teach code to teens/tweens, but speaking as one myself

I'll cut you some slack for that reason, but you need to (re-)read https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and nip that internet rant thing in the bud ("the same way that a man covered in shit attracts high society"?) if you want to continue commenting here.

Re: YC’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

#29

Post by dang » Mon, Nov 28, 2016, 5:50 PM UTC

cndksjc wrote: post #16

dang wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snarky dismissals of other people's work are not welcome on HN, so please don't post like this. I tend not to post as many moderation scoldings in YC-related threads, but that was such a bad HN comment that I'll break the pattern for it. Edit: you rewrote your comment to make it (somewhat) more substantive and less snarky. In principle that's fine, but it would have been more respectful to preserve the original conte…

Have you considered that these companies might not actually be that innovative and that the parent comment was a legitimate criticism?

The parent comment has been completely rewritten.

Re: YC’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

#30

Post by xiaoma » Mon, Nov 28, 2016, 5:51 PM UTC

The thing that really strikes me about this list is how nearly everything on it is offered at a premium price.

One thing I loved about the tech world while I was growing up was that it was consistently doing more with less. Wikipedia displaced Encyclopaedia Brittanica by being both better and free. Hotmail was a clear win over AOL and Yahoo's offerings and then Gmail was faster and handled spam better while giving more at every price point (including free). Computers became both faster and cheaper. Amazon and Netflix broke down even the movie industry and ended the $70 per tape movie sale price.

The offerings on the linked page are mostly things that would be out of the budget of an American family living on a median income. I won't call out any specific examples or hurt feelings, but a random sampling of several companies of any part of the list (other than non-profits) will show a clear trend.

It's hard to say if the same was true 20 years ago and those few companies that broke out into famous successes happened to be particularly aimed towards a broad appeal, but it's clear the current trend is doing more with more.