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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?

#831

Post by doctorsher »

astura wrote: post #723
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…

It's not just PayPal. I think Discover and American Express both had that feature but killed it off. Bank of America still has it and (IIRC) Chase does too.

Citibank still has this feature as well.

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

#832

Post by [deleted] »

rholdy wrote: post #800
arfrank wrote: post #758

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d suggest you look at what we built at Final. Getfinal.com We took a hard deep look at a massive stagnant industry (credit cards) and use experience and features as differentiators

Been using Final for a while. Love it and love you for building it.

[deleted]

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

#833

Post by Animats »

CodeCube wrote: post #798
mseebach wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt that the physical manifestation of the metaverse (you "plug in" and navigate in a virtual 3D-world, especially one that requires you to transport yourself around) will happen, it's simply not very compelling. What we do have, which is very similar to the substance, if not the aesthetic manifestation, of the metaverse, are online communities. Everybody and their mothers on Facebook, specialized trade communiti…

But ... I want a VR motorcycle! :P

You can get them in Second Life. I have one

Remember to slow down when crossing sim boundaries. There's a big bump as the avatar is handed off from one simulator to another. Physics engine handoff is a tough problem.

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

#834

Post by Animats »

zerostar07 wrote: post #410
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.

I think SL is sabotaging the popularity of metaverse with its pricing. They place the bulk of the cost on virtual land, which is super expensive, while their market is not very profitable and few ppl can make actual money. Another problem is underpowered laptops with intel HD graphics and tablets. I don't think the idea of metaverse is going away per se, it's a freeing and creative experience . I do think the focus o…

The land thing in SL is interesting. Eight people now own 40% of the land. Just like the real world, there are real estate magnates.

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

#835

Post by theshrike79 »

vortico wrote: post #226
theshrike79 wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But they're still amazing for status displays, e-readers and stuff that don't need low latencies. What's keeping them from being more popular is the price, anything over a 1" e-ink display costs a literal arm and a leg.

I would argue that e-readers actually do need reasonably low latencies. The reason I still read books is because I can flip through pages quickly and glance over 20 pages a second as I look for the page with a certain pattern of text or an image.

IMO eInk readers are only good for "linear fiction", books that are read from start to finish.

Anything that needs to be browsed or flipped through, nope. Very few electronic versions are usable in this case, be they normal LCD screens or eInk.

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

#836

Post by ilkan »

Google Glass. IMHO they mistakenly went after the consumer and advertising markets instead of starting with maintenance workers and hobbyists. On a related note, I also expected some mobile computers would be "cyberdecks", embedded in the keyboard. Instead, the computer is the screen.

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

#837

Post by bpyne »

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…

F# was the only reason I wanted to dip into .NET. I really expected it to take the development world by storm because it was introduced when FP was getting a lot of attention.

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

#838

Post by bpicolo »

Freak_NL wrote: post #254
superplussed wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chinese is #1 according to Wikipedia.

That list comes with a fair warning about its reliability at the top though¹. English is indisputably the largest second language (L2) spoken in the world, and is vying for the position of most spoken language with Mandarin Chinese. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_total_num...

"For example, English has about 400 million native speakers but, depending on the criterion chosen, can be said to have as many as 2 billion speakers."

So depending on how you choose you metric, English wins overall

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

#840

Post by bpicolo »

eatplayrove wrote: post #702
robodale wrote: post #635

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought this as well. I'd love to plug my phone into a laptop-looking-thingy...and instantly have a keyboard, screen, and maybe a battery (to keep the phone charged up).

What about the Intel compute stick and similar?

Can't use it as a phone. The all-purpose compute device is the shtick they want
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