What a stupid idea • Hacker News Board

Re: What a stupid idea

#101

Post by d_runs_far » Wed, May 01, 2013, 2:08 AM UTC

After about two decades in 'new media' I've seen and been part of some rather stupid ideas too. Off the top of my head: - business card cd-roms: I was working on rights for Canada at one point - Flash vs. Director: I was a Director guy and thought Flash was stupid; but it sure had it's day vs. Director - Digital Signage: I had worked out a couple prototypes using CRT monitors and Mac LC pizza boxes installed in integrated cases with a modem for both control and new content. All controlled with a slick little Director application - A chat program that used proximity and interest matching to bring people together. Prototype was pretty cool for 1998 :-)

There are probably some others, but I love stupid ideas, they make things interesting.

Re: What a stupid idea

#102

Post by sramsay » Wed, May 01, 2013, 2:14 AM UTC

pfitzsimmons wrote: post #90

sramsay wrote: post #60

I more often experience the facepalm of watching an uncomplicated idea turn into a global sensation. It's 2005 (hardly the distant technological past), and someone gets the idea for a site where you can store and watch videos. This is not some kind of radical technological innovation. This is not something beyond the ambit of current capabilities. This is not some brazen insight into the future. This is a site. Where…

Well, to be sure the magic ingredient in Youtube's success was not the idea of uploading and watching videos. Many people were working on video sharing at that time (myself included). Youtube's secret was that the founders were already successful entrepreneurs who were well connected to VC's. Thus they had access to the capital that allowed them to lose ungodly amounts of money in the quest for growth.

Man, that sucks. Win a game like that, and you never have to have another idea as long as you live.

Re: What a stupid idea

#103

Post by [deleted] » Wed, May 01, 2013, 2:18 AM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #91

tikhonj wrote: post #47

Amusingly, I've had the opposite problem: I see some things, think they are the best ideas ever and then watch them fizzle away. Perhaps the largest example of this would be Wave. When I first heard about Google Wave, I was incredibly impressed and immediately signed up for the beta. I really did think it would replace email and IM--it was an elegant solution that did both, at the same time. I then played around with…

Man, you have a veritable talent for liking half-baked ho-hum stuff! I mean: 1) Google Wave -- a confused mess of a mail/im/web/social offering that didn't exactly knew what it was and solved non problems. 2) Gnome 3 -- Gnome 2 had languished for years. Why would 3 change that, especially since most of the changes planned were incremental ho-hum stuff combined with arbitrary rewrites of core technologies sure to take…

[deleted]

Re: What a stupid idea

#104

Post by jdietrich » Wed, May 01, 2013, 2:18 AM UTC

Success is not validation of an idea and we should be ashamed to think so.

Cigarettes are one of the most successful consumer products on earth. Inhaling a lungful of carcinogenic smoke several hundred times a day is undoubtedly a stupid idea. Tobacco has made a small number of people incomprehensibly rich, to the great detriment of humanity.

Personally, I think nearly all of these 'social' startups are bad news. Not as bad news as a lung cancer epidemic, but bad news nonetheless. I think they feed a culture of passivity and attention deficit. I think they fragment human interaction into the smallest possible dopamine-inducing units. I think they're essentially Skinner boxes in disguise - apps that dress up an intermittent schedule of reward as meaningful activity.

The startup culture talks the talk about "changing the world", but in truth most of us couldn't care less so long as we get our next funding round. For every Watsi, we have a hundred bullshit companies with bullshit products, providing yet another means of idle distraction for indolent westerners. We can hardly distinguish between what is worthwhile and what is popular or profitable. It has hardly occurred to Curtis or anyone in these comments that an idea could be both successful and stupid.

Is Pinterest really an innovative sharing tool, or is it merely a collaborative exercise in commodity fetishism? Is Vine really a radical new way to communicate, or is it merely the nadir of audiovisual culture, fragmenting the world into six-second shards of nothingness? Do we even care?

Re: What a stupid idea

#105

Post by dangrossman » Wed, May 01, 2013, 2:22 AM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #91

tikhonj wrote: post #47

Amusingly, I've had the opposite problem: I see some things, think they are the best ideas ever and then watch them fizzle away. Perhaps the largest example of this would be Wave. When I first heard about Google Wave, I was incredibly impressed and immediately signed up for the beta. I really did think it would replace email and IM--it was an elegant solution that did both, at the same time. I then played around with…

Man, you have a veritable talent for liking half-baked ho-hum stuff! I mean: 1) Google Wave -- a confused mess of a mail/im/web/social offering that didn't exactly knew what it was and solved non problems. 2) Gnome 3 -- Gnome 2 had languished for years. Why would 3 change that, especially since most of the changes planned were incremental ho-hum stuff combined with arbitrary rewrites of core technologies sure to take…

What a mean-spirited and off-base comment. "Nuff said"? The Zune guys were 6 years ahead of the rest of the business -- their UI & UX design work became the basis for Windows Phone, Windows 8/RT and Xbox today. Zune failed because it was an expensive MP3 player launched when MP3 players as a category were being consumed by more capable general purpose devices, not because it was half-baked.

Re: What a stupid idea

#106

Post by molsongolden » Wed, May 01, 2013, 2:33 AM UTC

At first I expected this to be a post about svbtle and all of the resistance and pushback Dustin received when he first showed us his new "blog" design and tried to explain his vision. Things seem to be picking up on that front and the content is fairly good.

Can we get an iPad or web app with an easier way to explore and stumble through "magazine articles" without knowing who or what we are looking for?

Re: What a stupid idea

#107

Post by untog » Wed, May 01, 2013, 2:35 AM UTC

nostromo wrote: post #37

rexreed wrote: post #19

A few points, some already cited here: * Survivor bias ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivor_bias ) is yielding a self-selection in the positive results. I'm sure there are plenty of stupid ideas that went nowhere. Probably as much as "Great" ideas that went nowhere. So, I think saying that his opinion that something was stupid is a counter-indicator of its degree of success doesn't have much merit. * Second, an i…

It's a bit uncharitable to call "I thought Pinterest and Vine were dumb" arrogance.

True, but something about the way the story is told is very "humblebrag"-y. I can't quite put my finger on why.

Re: What a stupid idea

#108

Post by gesman » Wed, May 01, 2013, 2:42 AM UTC

Well, between Pinterest and Vine demos - how many times you were actually right about other, really stupid ideas? :)

Re: What a stupid idea

#109

Post by robbiep » Wed, May 01, 2013, 2:44 AM UTC

jdietrich wrote: post #104

Success is not validation of an idea and we should be ashamed to think so. Cigarettes are one of the most successful consumer products on earth. Inhaling a lungful of carcinogenic smoke several hundred times a day is undoubtedly a stupid idea. Tobacco has made a small number of people incomprehensibly rich, to the great detriment of humanity. Personally, I think nearly all of these 'social' startups are bad news. Not…

Well said.

I quietly dispair at the shortened attention spans and clamour for 'likes' and 'follows' that have resulted... Whilst I browse Instagram and refresh Facebook. I am a walking contradiction...

Re: What a stupid idea

#110

Post by codyZ » Wed, May 01, 2013, 2:45 AM UTC

jdietrich wrote: post #104

Success is not validation of an idea and we should be ashamed to think so. Cigarettes are one of the most successful consumer products on earth. Inhaling a lungful of carcinogenic smoke several hundred times a day is undoubtedly a stupid idea. Tobacco has made a small number of people incomprehensibly rich, to the great detriment of humanity. Personally, I think nearly all of these 'social' startups are bad news. Not…

>For every Watsi, we have a hundred bullshit companies with bullshit products,

Unfortunate, but true. Everything is suddenly an app. Is there a difference between 'social' startup and 'tech' startup? I think the culture, particularly the media, is making those synonymous for the worst...