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Re: Magic

#321

Post by lelandbatey »

sinwave wrote: post #68

This reminds me of an opinion that I have which I've been looking for an opportunity to flesh out and share. Despite all of the research and engineering that's gone into the user interface (and "experience") of smartphones, text messaging as an interface has one massive advantage: the perceived cost of sending a text is miniscule in comparison to other operations. I don't have units, but it's probably an order of mag…

Hmmm... I don't find using my phone for legitimate tasks tempts me to waste time with it in other ways. I find I only really "waste time" on my phone during the dead moments of a day or when I've set aside time to do things like read on the internet on my tablet at the end of the day. There's not a lot of draw towards using my phone when I shouldn't.

Re: Magic

#322

Post by vacri »

grecy wrote: post #270
vacri wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I've just arrived in this small town and I'm hungry. Send me a large pepperoni pizza" -> "There are no pizza places in this town". s/pizza place/supermarkets that deliver/florists that are either currently open for calls or have a website/etc

> "There are no pizza places in this town". "...but there is one in the town 80 miles away, so your pizza will be $95". "Would you like to go ahead with that order?"

Meh, if you're going with that argument, then their service covers the globe.

Not to mention that while the service might be Magic, pizza bags aren't, and a pizza that takes over an hour to get to you isn't going to be hot. I don't think "here's a ridiculously expensive, late, cold pizza" answers the spirit of "I'd like a pizza".

Re: Magic

#323

Post by everyone »

everyone wrote: post #307

Does no one else consider the idea of this horribly decadent? They give as an example, ordering a delivery pizza for you, which is already a decadent activity and something you can accomplish with a single phone call anyway. Maybe for the rich high-flying silicon valley types, your time and brain space is so valuable that this service makes sense. But if that is the case maybe you should re-examine your lives.

I'll elaborate a bit. I'm not concerned with criticizing this service or its users. It triggered my previous comment as it serves as another example of the life of well off westerners becoming one more step abstracted and insulated from reality, which is something that ought to be resisted. The more removed you are from your source of food, water, clothing etc. the more wasteful the process of obtaining it is in terms of resources and damage to the environment. Also, if you read Jared Diamonds book 'Collapse' (wherein he deduces from various examples of collapsed societies a framework of factors that lead to collapse) one common factor in societal collapse is: the elites and decision makers being insulated from the negative consequences of their decisions. A modern example would be, an oil magnate decides to maximise profit by using a dirty refining process, this pollutes the ground water in that area, but of course he can afford to live far away in a gated community and drink bottled water. Thus he is insulated from the negative consequence of his actions. This can lead to the elites and decision makers making a series of decision that eventually lead to the destruction of the entire society (for example cutting down all the trees on Easter island)

I'm aware that this may all seem a bit dramatic when we're talking about pizzas, but the mindset of the elites is important in this case. Services like this encourage not knowing where your food, water, clothing etc. is coming from.

Re: Magic

#324

Post by vacri »

MichaelGG wrote: post #298
vacri wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably because it's just such a PITA to do things like order pizza Is this sarcasm? I can't see how wrangling an order through an intermediary is easier than just ordering from the local pizzeria's website. Not to mention that it takes a non-trivial time to confirm - in exogen's example above, it was 69 minutes plus delivery time. Small questions about relatively trivial things really drag out that confirmation tim…

What?? No, not sarcasm at all, I'm dead serious. Often I'm just on my phone at night, no tablet/laptop. So say I want to get some food. I've got to go find the damn website. Remember a login maybe. Or deal with some JS-laden thing that doesn't render smoothly on my 6" Android. Sort all that shit out. Wonder if I have cash for a tip, cause I feel obligated most times. Or calling. I gotta actually dial, talk to someone…

If you look at exogen's example, there was the same back-and-forthing that you get on the phone or with a website. Need to spend $11 more for delivery? exogen made it easier and said "surprise me", but if he didn't, cue a back-and-forth over what would make up enough of an extra order.

Alternatively, what if exogen wasn't willing to increase the order price by 50%? Back to the drawing board for another round at a different shop. It seems like a slow way to get food unless you're particularly laid back about pricing and what arrives, or you know exactly what's available at the shops you want to source from.

Re: Magic

#325

Post by aymeric »

I do not understand the internet. This type of service has existed for ages.

Why does this one attract so much attention?

Re: Magic

#326

Post by softbuilder »

zak_mc_kracken wrote: post #175
aresant wrote: post #120

This is exactly what Siri should be. Apple has 800m credit cards on file (1) In one fell swoop Apple could own the local delivery market, shocking how perfect of a concept / execution this is. (1) http://www.businessinsider.com/credit-cards-on-file-apple-vs...

The very fact that Apple has 800M credit cards on file is the reason why they know better than offering a service like this. Even if 10% of their users started using their service to require "magic", there is no way in hell even a company like Apple could scale an operation like this that's bottlenecked by humans.

>bottlenecked by humans

I saw a profile (probably on HN) about how the Siri technology was developed. This service sounds nearly ideal for Siri. In the short term I'd bet 50% of requests could be handled with total automation. Seeing how they add functionality to the system I'd bet they can get that up into the 70+% range over time. Many things still require a human touch, but you can throttle demand with pricing.

I'd expect it to come from Amazon first though. Seems more up their alley.

Re: Magic

#327

Post by cpkpad »

cookiecaper wrote: post #220
danellis wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. I'm not sure I understand how California can make laws regulating companies in any part of the world.

They can't, but if you make CA mad and they decide to sue you, you'll be out much more than it would've cost to just copy and paste a boilerplate privacy policy. A great deal of legal mechanics work this way -- sure, someone can't technically make that kind of mandate, but since it costs a lot of money and time to have a court case where that kind of thing gets proven, you're better off just making sure no one even t…

Bad idea: Giving legal advice without a license.

Worse idea: giving incorrect legal advice without a license.

Jurisdiction is complex. With the Internet, you do not need to have a physical location somewhere to do business there.

Re: Magic

#328

Post by cpkpad »

aaronem wrote: post #99
zaroth wrote: post #85

I love the idea, and the execution, but just one nit -- you say "no hidden fees", but I think bundling the fee into the total price is the definition of a hidden fee . If your examples itemized the fee it would be a different story. Other comments here express a similar anxiety, e.g. how much [extra] am I actually paying for this? Also, I know you're busy, but FYI CA state law requires you have a Privacy Policy. I wo…

When you're using a concierge service is not the time to pinch pennies. Corollary: When you're pinching pennies is not the time to use a concierge service. The whole point of a concierge service, such as this, is to have someone on call to whom you may say "Here is my problem. Make it go away." Such services generally come at a much higher rate than Magic appear to be charging.

I hope their business model is to provide sane-cost concierge.

Re: Magic

#329

Post by cpkpad »

exogen wrote: post #137

I just decided to try this out in Seattle. Here's how it went! http://brianbeck.com/images/magic.png (the minimum was from the sushi place, not Magic)

How much did they surcharge?
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