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YC’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

ycgiftideas.com

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Re: YC’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

#171

Post by andrewksu »

sbov wrote: post #157
ashark wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Went to check them out. Their houses are beautiful, but they truly are targeting the high end—double the price of a mid-tier-fixtures McMansion-build-quality house of similar size, at least around here. I'm also not sure how I'd get one of them built anywhere near the city here without buying a house in a no-HOA, low-home-value neighborhood and demolishing the house already on it, which'd be throwing away a ton of mo…

I would question someone's actual motives if they demolished a house so they could build a new one in name of sustainability. How much time would it take to recuperate that full rebuild vs. just retrofitting the already existing house?

Embodied energy is certainly worth considering, but major retrofits of homes built in the 60's or earlier are hugely inefficient and result in a home that looks better, but performs no better energy wise. You CANNOT retrofit to Zero Energy with out significant cash outlays or at all.

Putting a new carb and a dash mat on a 70's Oldsmobile will not justify the embodied energy argument. Melt that sucker down and build a Tesla that lasts 3x longer, can be powered by the sun and is better for you in the meantime.

Our homes are also much healthier for the owners, with proper ventilation, filtering, and low/no voc materials.

Re: YC’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

#172

Post by [deleted] »

sbov wrote: post #157
ashark wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Went to check them out. Their houses are beautiful, but they truly are targeting the high end—double the price of a mid-tier-fixtures McMansion-build-quality house of similar size, at least around here. I'm also not sure how I'd get one of them built anywhere near the city here without buying a house in a no-HOA, low-home-value neighborhood and demolishing the house already on it, which'd be throwing away a ton of mo…

I would question someone's actual motives if they demolished a house so they could build a new one in name of sustainability. How much time would it take to recuperate that full rebuild vs. just retrofitting the already existing house?

[deleted]

Re: YC’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

#173

Post by mahyarm »

callmeed wrote: post #131
nostromo wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To your point, Airbnb bucks the trend you identified by making travel more affordable and accessible. It's also far and away the most successful company listed.

More accessible, maybe (unless you're black [0]) More affordable, no. In my recent travels to NYC and SF, I was always able to get a hotel room via HotelTonight or Hotwire cheaper than an AirBnB unit. I know its not always an apples-to-apples comparison but even for just a private room (not an entire home), an AirBnB in SF is $100+/night.[1] All that to say, I think you're wrong. [0] https://medium.com/stay-woke/i-re…

When you have a large group (like 6+ people) renting a house outright via airbnb is usually better. It also lets you hang out together in a living room. Also you have more location flexibility.

Private room airbnb is probably not the best deal.

Re: YC’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

#174

Post by [deleted] »

ryanlol wrote: post #41
qwertyuiop924 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are circumstances in which Gift Cards are acceptable. For example, gift cards for online stores (iTunes, Amazon, Steam, etc.). This is particularly acceptable for children, as they are otherwise unable to purchase items from such stores.

Couldn't you just give kids prepaid Visa/MC cards instead? And I'm not from the US, but the idea of school-age kids not having their own cards sounds a little funny to me.

[deleted]

Re: YC’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

#175

Post by qwertyuiop924 »

exolymph wrote: post #71
qwertyuiop924 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. Sorry dang. I'll go re-read that now, seeing as I quite clearly need of a refresher. And there's no need to cut me slack for my age (although it's nice of you to do so): I broke the rules, and I'm responsible for my actions. Just like any other member of HN. Twice in three years is too many times to have to say this to you. bows head in shame

Bummer that your apology got downvoted, since this is a gracious response to being called out. Kudos. We've all been jerks on the internet — the key is learning how to curb that behavior, which it seems like you're doing pretty well.

>Bummer that your apology got downvoted

That trend has reversed. Dramatically. I suspect your comment has something to do with it.

As for why I wrote GP in the first place, it's an important part of qwerty's code of internet interactions (yes, I have a private code of internet behavior: so do you, most likely, whether or not you've formalized it. And yes, I made up that name on the spot. It sounds pretentious, but it needed a name so I could reference it, and all the others souded equally pretentious. So there you go):

"If you were wrong (whether in your argument, or in your manner), then take the appropriate action, whether that be an apology or a concession. Do so graciously: There is no shame in being wrong. There is shame in refusing to admit it, or accepting it poorly.

They're words to live by. And you can trust me on that, because I've lived by them (or tried to), and it pays off.

Was I irritated about a product aimed at my demographic, and how dramatically it missed the mark? Yes. But that doesn't excuse my expression of that anger.

Re: YC’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

#176

Post by hahajk »

eggbrain wrote: post #98
fpgaminer wrote: post #36

Somewhat related: "Gift guides" is one service that I considered unsolved. Every holiday (Christmas, birthday, father's day, mother's day, etc) I struggle to come up with gifts for the people I care about. In many ways it's demoralizing. If I care so much about someone, why can't I think of a good gift for them? There are lots of factors here, but I think it basically boils down to, as adults we generally get what we…

I think the main reason it's unsolved is that there's a lot of personalization that needs to happen. If you (as a son, let's say), can't figure out what to give your dad, how can a site? The reason why a lot of holiday guides give common or useless stuff is because they have to generalize across age ranges, ethnicities, locations, and preferences. The best gift guide would also probably be one that gets to the core o…

Well if Spotify can figure out what I want to listen better than I can it's not unreasonable to think that Amazon or maybe my credit card could figure out my tastes better than my parents could.

Re: YC’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

#178

Post by anindha »

xiaoma wrote: post #30

The thing that really strikes me about this list is how nearly everything on it is offered at a premium price. One thing I loved about the tech world while I was growing up was that it was consistently doing more with less. Wikipedia displaced Encyclopaedia Brittanica by being both better and free. Hotmail was a clear win over AOL and Yahoo's offerings and then Gmail was faster and handled spam better while giving mo…

"NetFlix initially offered a seven-day DVD rental for $4, plus $2 shipping" [1] This is more than it costs to rent from a local video store. Especially on discount days.

Its much easier to start at a higher price point and lower volume with a small team. Hotmail and Wikipedia are businesses that scale much better because they don't handle physical goods.

[1] http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/netflix-inc...

Re: YC’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

#179

Post by ashark »

andrewksu wrote: post #162
ashark wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Went to check them out. Their houses are beautiful, but they truly are targeting the high end—double the price of a mid-tier-fixtures McMansion-build-quality house of similar size, at least around here. I'm also not sure how I'd get one of them built anywhere near the city here without buying a house in a no-HOA, low-home-value neighborhood and demolishing the house already on it, which'd be throwing away a ton of mo…

Hey, this is Andrew (Acre Founder). Thanks for the comments. Price is entirely depended on location, in Kansas City (our original hometown), our homes are in the upper most price tier. In the Bay Area we are at or below market rate for typical homes and significantly under for anything comparable in quality and efficiency. In Austin and Portland (our other two focus markets for 2017) we are about at parity and a good…

Oh, right, I knew you guys looked familiar! KC as well. You've observed the same thing about this market, then—tons of very inexpensive (and usually also cheap) houses. I think it'll be easier to justify this kind of spending if/when the market proves you can recoup the added cost on resale. That's what kept us from considering some of the pricier but more eco-friendly options when we bought a new house recently.

Re: YC’s 2016 Holiday Gift Guide

#180

Post by telesilla »

koolba wrote: post #2

Unless there's a significant financial incentive to do so (ex: 2-to-1 match), don't give people gift cards. Gift cards are the biggest scam ever pulled by the retail industry, or more specifically, perpetuating the idea that giving cash is taboo. The one exception would be giving a preloaded credit card to someone who otherwise doesn't have access to one (ex: a niece/nephew that's far away) and only if there are no f…

Growing up, my grandparents would give us cash inside a Christmas card. A perfect gift - cash, plus a personal note. Make the message special and the cash will feel special.
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