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Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world by storm but didn't?

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Re: Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world by storm but didn't?

#761

Post by abritinthebay »

Animats wrote: post #92

Virtual worlds. The "metaverse" of Snow Crash. "Snow Crash", the TV series, has been green-lighted by Amazon. That may drum up more interest. Second Life comes close. They've had a working system for over a decade and have with adequate solutions to most of the problems. But it's hard to use, and not that many people are interested.

The interface isn’t there. That’s the issue.

Notice how all the sf implementations have a lightweight & fully immersive interface? You need tgat tech - and at a cheap commodity price - before you’ll see virtual worlds be a thing.

Until then you just have MMPOGs with some more creative options.

Re: Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world by storm but didn't?

#762

Post by kej »

drcongo wrote: post #729
Terretta wrote: post #517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have one. Really is remarkable. No meaningful latency while writing unless you draw fast large figures while watching for lag. Upsides: Feels like pencil on paper. With iPad Pro I keep going back to paper. With this... it’s paper. Downsides: Mobile software clunky, doesn’t connect to all WiFi, hardware paging buttons should not have been on bottom.

Do you think it would work well for someone who sketches for a living? My wife is a fashion designer and her minimum setup of a MacBook Pro + Wacom is pretty unminimum. [edit: Reviews I read said that the drawings are scalable vectors, but two posts below talk about poor resolution, so maybe not the right device for her]

I have a few artist friends who are pleased with the Microsoft Surface. You get a pressure-sensitive stylus like on the Wacom and can run full versions of Photoshop or whatever.

It's not for everyone, but it might be an option for your wife to consider.

Re: Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world by storm but didn't?

#763

Post by jetti »

Sega Channel[0]. My buddy had it around ~1995 and it was amazing. Sleeping over at his house was always unique because they would change up what games they offered each month. There are game streaming services offered now, such as Playstation Now and I think Gamefly has game streaming as well, but it amazes me that it didn't catch on sooner.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Channel

Re: Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world by storm but didn't?

#764

Post by bunderbunder »

MichaelGG wrote: post #664

F#. Back in 2006 I first stumbled upon it and was amazed. It had so much potential. Everything C# did, and more, better. I was sure we'd see 20% of MS devs moving to it. I underestimated the momentum of MS, the power of embarrassment of hiring a high-profile figure to be shown up by a researcher, the incredible anti-FP and even anti-generics...resentment(?) that MS kept towards them. Plus the insane comments from act…

I'm still holding hope that F# will experience a renaissance once the whole .NET Core thing gets sorted out.

(If the whole .NET Core thing gets sorted out.)

Re: Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world by storm but didn't?

#765

Post by flush »

turc1656 wrote: post #694

Paypal used to have this feature that allowed you to install a browser add-on and you could generate a CC number on the fly that was good for either one time use or recurring use (for subscription services). This feature served two primary purposes: 1) to be able to pay using PayPal on sites that didn't support it 2) to help prevent against fraud which was becoming a massive problem at the time. If the number was sto…

You might be interested in this: https://getfinal.com/

Re: Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world by storm but didn't?

#766

Post by dquail »

Biometric Auth. My first job out of university in 2003 was with a biometric security company. even back then the technology was shockingly mature. But yet getting deployed was so difficult. I also remember in 2004 going to my favorite waterslide park and being able to use my fingerprint to get in and out of my locker - rather than an awkward key or combo. But a year later those lockers were replaced by clunky combo ones.

Re: Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world by storm but didn't?

#767

Post by ifdefdebug »

bane wrote: post #631

I thought (and still think) the phone as single computing device is going to replace desktops and laptops via some kind of dock of some sort. There's been a few attempts at it by Dell and Microsoft and a few others, but none really satisfactory. I think the most successful to date is the Nintendo Switch.

I don't think the desktop is going anywhere - only the use case will shift around. Because at the time when smartphones will be able to beat today's desktops in performance, desktops will have evolved as well - it's always possible to pack more performance into a desktop case than into a smartphone case, with the technology available in any given moment.

Re: Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world by storm but didn't?

#768

Post by muninn_ »

ekanes wrote: post #753
turc1656 wrote: post #694

Paypal used to have this feature that allowed you to install a browser add-on and you could generate a CC number on the fly that was good for either one time use or recurring use (for subscription services). This feature served two primary purposes: 1) to be able to pay using PayPal on sites that didn't support it 2) to help prevent against fraud which was becoming a massive problem at the time. If the number was sto…

This tech is available and extremely well-implemented via Final Card. I use it and have numbers stored for probably 50 sites/services/etc. Anything where I put a card in online. So next time my card gets compromised because I used it in a restaurant (seems to happen regularly) then none of those have to be reset. Just get a new "physical" card and go on my merry way. Many hours saved. https://getfinal.com/

For Final am I still able to do things like, shop through Chase for Chase Ultimate Rewards points?

Re: Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world by storm but didn't?

#770

Post by devonkim »

ZirconiumX wrote: post #595
baldfat wrote: post #552

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can get all the music I can listen to for $15 a month (Google Play Family which comes with YouTube Red) and share it with my wife and 4 kids. I think that people can get music on SoundCloud, Pandora or YouTube made the illegal less necessary. I personally prefer to just pay the money and get my music on all my devices and upload the music I have that isn't available. I also LOVE YouTube Red and it helps the content…

From a revenue point of view, streaming is not a very good way to support an artist[1][2]. The Verge article I linked to states that artists are paid "somewhere between $0.006 and $0.0084" per stream. If we are very pessimistic about the royalties of a CD sale - let's call it 20%, and say a single CD costs $10, that's ($10 x 20%) / 0.0084 = 238 streams to cover the cost of a single CD. If you take audiophile-level pa…

Buying music is primarily supporting the distribution network that supports the artist, which has its pros and cons. I normally go to live shows and buy shirts or merchandise to support an artist because the margins on shirts, for example, are a lot better for the artist compared to the CDs. The label may pay for touring needs but a ton of artists not named Taylor Swift have to pay for almost everything themselves either because the label fronts no money or because the label will force a loan on the artist by having them pay it back in the form of ticket sales. Meanwhile, the label oftentimes works with venues to get a cut of, say, alcohol sales from them too.

LPs and such, while coveted by hipsters, is really tough to recommend as a revenue stream for more mainstream genres. The music business has devolved back for many cases where it’s possibly better for an artist to experience play local shows and promote themselves as an entrepreneur rather than to be an employee of a label as almost an unpaid intern.

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