I would love to read each and every comment, internalize them, check out related websites, build out my mental models, and reach out to you but I just can't right now as a new week begins. Therefore I have to save this for digest on my phone during transitions. Anyone use a cool tool that helps deliver content like comments based on your schedule and attention capacity?
Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund
301–310 of 401 posts
Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund
#302I'm passionate about online learning. I like James Burke's knowledge web idea [ http://www.k-web.org/ ], but I'm not terribly optimistic about their approach/implementation. The idea is to make a network of knowledge which enables self-directed learning. Could incorporate tests/games, dependencies (to learn x, you need to learn y, or even complete a subgame), external references for further reading, and possibly a lo…
I'm interested in online education too -- if interested, check out my blog at betterexplained.com.
One problem I see with education in general is that there's plenty of content (like Wikipedia), but not enough focus on the delta that takes you from "huh" to "aha!". Feel free to message me with ideas if you'd like to chat.
Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund
#303I'm passionate about online learning. I like James Burke's knowledge web idea [ http://www.k-web.org/ ], but I'm not terribly optimistic about their approach/implementation. The idea is to make a network of knowledge which enables self-directed learning. Could incorporate tests/games, dependencies (to learn x, you need to learn y, or even complete a subgame), external references for further reading, and possibly a lo…
A large and frequently overlooked part of what good teachers do: motivating . In my opinion, it's the true hard problem in online learning.
Related to that, I think one of the major problems is to motivate kids to do their damn homework, as one of the biggest hindrances to motivation is lack of comprehension. That sets in very quickly if kids only think about the material during class. Once a student drops behind, they are all but lost to you unless you're doing one on one tutoring where you can backtrack without wasting a whole lot of people's time.
I spent a while as a tutor, and I was always amazed that parents were more than happy to spend $100/hr for private tutoring, which most of the time just amounted to overpaying an over-educated person to babysit your kid while they do simple homework that they could very easily have worked through themselves, but just didn't. Yeah, I was also available to answer questions, and clarify things, and I was very good at it, but fundamentally, the most helpful thing was just that the kid was forced to be there mentally.
Crazy idea alert: why not save some money and pay your kid $10 or $20/hr to do their homework rather than paying me $100/hr to watch them do it? I'm sure dollar-for-dollar this would be far more effective. If need be, pay me the $100 a fifth as often - while I love the money, I honestly feel like most of the time I spend tutoring is wasted since the kids see it as a substitute for their own personal work, not as a supplement to it. I've often wondered if setting up an automated, pre-funded allowance system based on online homework time (or productivity, or some combination) might help this situation. I know that the idea of paying (bribing) kids to do what they "should" be doing anyways seems wrong philosophically, but I really think it might be more cost effective in the end. And if the old line that "school is your job" holds true, then perhaps kids _should_ receive a little money up front for work, especially if they won't do it otherwise. Yeah, rewards come later and all, but how many rational adults would really be willing to work at 100% effort for twelve years with only an assurance that they will be compensated for their labours with some unspecified and uncertain amount later? (no offense intended to anyone that took tech jobs for stock options during the dot-com bubble, of course :) )
Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund
#304Earlier quoted context omitted.
To give you one idea about the design and how it would treat people like you within it, (I notice that your kama on HN (jerry5) is -10) The creatocracy recognizes that one size does not fit all, treats all according to their history and respect. You would find that your voice counted less with regards voting rights and you may well find that if your attitude became a burden on others that your tax level would rise hi…
Why do so many of the "better than capitalism" theories insist on "we will punish you for your thoughts"?
clearly if your thoughts are to pollute or exploit nature or others - you should be treated accordingly. This fuckfest that capitalism has become allows companies who exploit etc. to be treated the same as mum and pop biz's who really care to do a good job. That is insane.
Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund
#305Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, I think you're misunderstanding my statement. I did not say that people do not have new ideas. That is a blatantly ridiculous statement. I said that worthy ideas have already been had. My argument comes from looking at literary and philosophical ideas, and my comment was a jest in response to another jest, but there's truth in it. There's a persistent quest for originality in literature, and after some years of c…
> it's an illusion. All the great subjects, all the great ideas, have been had already. Arriving at this feeling is an unmistakable symptom of being physiologically incapable of creativity. My condolences. On the plus side, most of humanity is in the same boat as you.
Ah, the good old ad hominem. Always works as a backup when you don't have anything to say.
Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund
#306For your point (16) I think that searchme.com are doing a phenomenal job
Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund
#307Google is supposed to organize the world's information or something like that, but apart from their decent search engine I'm seriously not impressed by what they currently offer (I can't even use Google Maps to plan walking trips!) Are they really paying all those smart, elite hackers to play fussball and pool all day long, and write overlong, boring, pedantic essays about technology that no one really cares about?
I want a location-aware, mobile device (I don't really care whether it's an iPhone, Pocket PC, Eee PC or whatever; just something I can carry in my pocket or backpack, with good-enough battery-life, a screen, GPS and wireless link). I want to ask this device: "I want to drink this brand of beer; where is the nearest pub offering it? And please show me a map and instructions toward it. And pictures of the inside. And let me listen to the music they're currently playing, and let me know what kind of food they offer as well."
This kind of stuff (actually, it's mostly a software and "logistics" problem; all the hardware and infrastructure is ready).
Also, I have a lot more down-to-earth problems: e.g. I want to clean my bathtub/shower to a shine without using 10 different products and scrubbing for hours. It turns out that no chemical company was really able to solve this problem (seriously, I've tried everything). It looks like a stupid problem but the market is probably huge, and I expect a few smart chemical engineering students to be able to find a solution to this problem.
Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund
#308Regarding #27, is there anyone who is working on image processing for digital cameras?
What I meant by image processing, as an example, is face detection. They already do that for some cameras, but that’s just the tip of an iceberg. You can attach a digital camera to a microscope (or a telescope) and detect cells (or stars). Or consider home security...
Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund
#309Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple (or someone like them) needs to make a digital camera with iPod simplicity. I bought my parents a digital camera a few years ago and it might as well have a plutonium core the way my parents deal with it. Primarily they hand it to me on social occasions and say, "take some pictures...I don't know how to use this thing" Just a simple camera with these features and nothing more: 1. on/off button 2. zoom in /out 3…
You can get rid of a lot of those buttons too. Have it be instant-on so you don't need a power button. Just snap the photo. Get rid of the zoom. You can move yourself in / out physically if you need to be closer. Forget the delete button too. Flash memory is expansive enough that you shouldn't have to worry about it on the hardware. Make the camera have a shutter button, some simple way to view the pictures you have…
i debated on keeping the zoom feature or not. yes. you can really strip that sucker down and have an iphone-like interface (i.e. touch w/o real buttons).
Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund
#310Here's one I'd like to see:
Why not have a simple geolocation service that matched where you're going with people in cars that will be going your direction soon? Twitter that you want to go cross-town and in seconds you get a half dozen dynamically updated commuters that are going your way. Combine this with point-by-point gps instructions from point A to B, the commuter you select gets routing information that allows them to stop at an intersection and honk to let you know your ride is here. The service consists of three parts: (1) where you're going (and where you are via GPS) (2) a back end database that can figure out from all the real-time information who matches up (3) let you choose from the options - maybe based on the kind of car, their reputation/reliability, etc. Not too hard - in fact either Twitter or FriendFeed could be a big hunk of this business.
If geolocation and routing allowed people with cars to pick up people with minimum inconvenience, and if enough people with iPhone 3G-type phones could get streamed updated directions, and if there was a simple way to establish reputation, this could change how people commute and travel in cities, saving a tremendous amount of energy.
Posted on this at http://www.cartwrightreed.com/2008/07/off-topic.html