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Launch HN: Exa (YC S21) – The web as a database

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111–120 of 137 posts

Re: Launch HN: Exa (YC S21) – The web as a database

#111

WHY DO YOU PEOPLE DO THIS? STOP WITH THE NAME COLLISIONS ALREADY. https://github.com/ogham/exa

A dead project that has been replaced with a fork with a different name? Maybe I’m missing something but this really doesn’t seem so bad as far as name collisions go

Yeah I realized that as I went to the site. Egg on face, I'm a big disgrace... (etc etc). Also boo to me for going against the "site vibes" here. I will admit I could have been a bit more chill about the issue.

Re: Launch HN: Exa (YC S21) – The web as a database

#112

WHY DO YOU PEOPLE DO THIS? STOP WITH THE NAME COLLISIONS ALREADY. https://github.com/ogham/exa

It's now https://github.com/eza-community/eza as from the readme

Upvoted for your rational stance and thanks for pointing that out. I could have expressed myself in a better way anyways.

Re: Launch HN: Exa (YC S21) – The web as a database

#113
post #88
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious: what is an example of a robotics servo motor with one-directional control? My experience around such started with pwm hobby servos, includes dynamixels, and I've worked with larger stuff using harmonic drive gearboxes. Can't recall encountering a "servo" that is one-directional.

PWM-controlled hobby servo (1-2mS pulse evert 20mS or so) is the one-directional control I had in mind. When you are under $100 range a surprising number of servos use the same simple 1-wire protocol, even large-ish 150 kg-cm / 100W units. Dynamixels are two-way, and they are an exact thing I'd wanted to see in search results.

Ahh, you seem to be referring to two-directional (two-way) communication, and I took it to mean rotational direction. Was imagining servos analogous to devices that simply power a motor in on/off states, so can't reverse.

Re: Launch HN: Exa (YC S21) – The web as a database

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It must be heartening for a startup trying to build the best general search engine in the world to know that Google has absolutely no interest in competing with you.

Because Google makes money from ads, they're not actually optimized to build the best general search engine in the world, they're optimized to build the search engine that makes the most from ads, which is correlated with being a good search engine but not perfectly aligned. Our business model (paying directly for the search) incentivizes us to try to return the highest quality results, without any bias toward making…

Can you provide more information (or links) about that billing model you describe?

The incentive structure behind paying by the search has diminishing returns, as I see it. You need the results to be of a high enough quality to drive the user to want to run another search with you. Beyond that point, though, in the absence of a direct competitor, where is the incentive for you to continue improving search result quality? M

Re: Launch HN: Exa (YC S21) – The web as a database

#115
I love the enrichments feature. Have you considered making it available separately from the initial web search?

I often have projects where the enrichments feature alone would be super useful: I would provide, say, a list of company names, and then use enrichments to qualify them based on location, age, founder experience etc etc.

Re: Launch HN: Exa (YC S21) – The web as a database

#116

I love the enrichments feature. Have you considered making it available separately from the initial web search? I often have projects where the enrichments feature alone would be super useful: I would provide, say, a list of company names, and then use enrichments to qualify them based on location, age, founder experience etc etc.

stay tuned!

Re: Launch HN: Exa (YC S21) – The web as a database

#117

If you require to have an account to try the web search out (which you have all the right in the world, it's your service), tell us before we enter the service and type in our search. This comes around as sneaky. You should be clear upfront.

If they put the sign up first, you wouldn't know how much more information you'd need to give before doing a search (just a string), and that seems like it would undersell themselves.

This seems a lot better than those quizzes or quotes that ask a bunch of questions first and then ask for your email at the end -- or worse -- a payment.

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