“A solution in search of a problem” is a low-rates phenomenon
1–10 of 128 posts
Re: “A solution in search of a problem” is a low-rates phenomenon
#2I thought this article had a good rule on how to differentiate dead end "solution in search of a problem" inventions and ones that might be successful.
> whether the technology does something that would be useful if everyone had it, but is relatively useless at small scale
I've often told my partner a lot of his "smart home" devices are solutions in search of problems. It seems to ride this line. Probably why despite my protests we keep winding up with more and I have to yell at alexa more frequently
Re: “A solution in search of a problem” is a low-rates phenomenon
#3I thought this article had a good rule on how to differentiate dead end "solution in search of a problem" inventions and ones that might be successful. > whether the technology does something that would be useful if everyone had it, but is relatively useless at small scale I've often told my partner a lot of his "smart home" devices are solutions in search of problems. It seems to ride this line. Probably why despite…
What about smart home devices would be useful if everyone had them but useless if only at your house?
(I’m a tinkerer but still reluctant to deploy most smart home solutions because they usually fail the household acceptance factor.)
Re: “A solution in search of a problem” is a low-rates phenomenon
#4I thought this article had a good rule on how to differentiate dead end "solution in search of a problem" inventions and ones that might be successful. > whether the technology does something that would be useful if everyone had it, but is relatively useless at small scale I've often told my partner a lot of his "smart home" devices are solutions in search of problems. It seems to ride this line. Probably why despite…
> I've often told my partner a lot of his "smart home" devices are solutions in search of problems
"smart home" things are usually hobbies at small scale, and you never know if something ends up being useful/useless until you actually try it out
Re: “A solution in search of a problem” is a low-rates phenomenon
#5> [...] products that ultimately turned out to be dead ends, like the Palm Pilot [...]
Huh? I never had a Pilot, but from everything I've read about it (and how people who did have one describe it) it was quite amazing, and arguably the predecessor of the smartphone, no?
I get that the product line is dead, but the concept was very much viable...
Re: “A solution in search of a problem” is a low-rates phenomenon
#6I thought this article had a good rule on how to differentiate dead end "solution in search of a problem" inventions and ones that might be successful. > whether the technology does something that would be useful if everyone had it, but is relatively useless at small scale I've often told my partner a lot of his "smart home" devices are solutions in search of problems. It seems to ride this line. Probably why despite…
What about smart home devices would be useful if everyone had them but useless if only at your house? (I’m a tinkerer but still reluctant to deploy most smart home solutions because they usually fail the household acceptance factor.)
Mesh networks, maybe?
I like smart homes in principle, but the current implementations are awful. I end up sitting in the dark because software on my lightbulbs locks up, and a robot tells me "Sorry, I can't find 'lights on dammit' in your music library".
Re: “A solution in search of a problem” is a low-rates phenomenon
#7I thought this article had a good rule on how to differentiate dead end "solution in search of a problem" inventions and ones that might be successful. > whether the technology does something that would be useful if everyone had it, but is relatively useless at small scale I've often told my partner a lot of his "smart home" devices are solutions in search of problems. It seems to ride this line. Probably why despite…
What about smart home devices would be useful if everyone had them but useless if only at your house? (I’m a tinkerer but still reluctant to deploy most smart home solutions because they usually fail the household acceptance factor.)
I think it's a false dichotomy. Supposedly the GP thinks that their smart home devices are already useful, so there is no need to consider whether they would be more useful if more people had them. I think the quote from the article is a bit strange, and the example of clocks is not very good because people still had a way to tell time before clocks were invented (e.g. looking at the sun), it was just not very precise. A clock is still useful for a single person because that person now has a faster and more reliable way of telling the time without having to look out the window.
Re: “A solution in search of a problem” is a low-rates phenomenon
#8> [...] products that ultimately turned out to be dead ends, like the Palm Pilot [...] Huh? I never had a Pilot, but from everything I've read about it (and how people who did have one describe it) it was quite amazing, and arguably the predecessor of the smartphone, no? I get that the product line is dead, but the concept was very much viable...
I had several Palm devices. As I recall there was a fairly long gap between the death of PDAs and the birth of smartphones. I certainly did not replace my Palm with a smartphone; I replaced it with nothing, and then years later I got a smartphone. Most of the things that are amazing about smartphones were not present on my Palm IIIe, FWIW.
Re: “A solution in search of a problem” is a low-rates phenomenon
#9> [...] products that ultimately turned out to be dead ends, like the Palm Pilot [...] Huh? I never had a Pilot, but from everything I've read about it (and how people who did have one describe it) it was quite amazing, and arguably the predecessor of the smartphone, no? I get that the product line is dead, but the concept was very much viable...
Calling it a dead end is like calling biplanes a dead end because now airplanes only have 1 wing on each side.
And not even that analogy is apt, because even the stylus made a comeback briefly.
Re: “A solution in search of a problem” is a low-rates phenomenon
#10> [...] products that ultimately turned out to be dead ends, like the Palm Pilot [...] Huh? I never had a Pilot, but from everything I've read about it (and how people who did have one describe it) it was quite amazing, and arguably the predecessor of the smartphone, no? I get that the product line is dead, but the concept was very much viable...
I had several Palm devices. As I recall there was a fairly long gap between the death of PDAs and the birth of smartphones. I certainly did not replace my Palm with a smartphone; I replaced it with nothing, and then years later I got a smartphone. Most of the things that are amazing about smartphones were not present on my Palm IIIe, FWIW.
Are you sure? You might have replaced it with a smaller, lighter, more-powerful laptop that you could more easily use on the train or a flight, and a Blackberry phone that had a lot of Palm features built into it (minus the screen and stylus of course).