Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ideas for Startups (2005)

paulgraham.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–57 of 57 posts

Re: Ideas for Startups (2005)

#51

Post by randomdata »

brian-armstrong wrote: post #32

I actually think there's still potentially room for a new phone OS, though maybe only just barely. iOS is in dire need of new UX patterns. Take the text selector for example, which felt like a stopgap when it was made and hasn't been changed since its release. There a ton of papercuts like this in iOS. I don't use Android regularly so I can't speak as much to its weaknesses, but I believe there's a lot of room for im…

> Take the text selector for example, which felt like a stopgap when it was made and hasn't been changed since its release.

It was updated for 3D Touch devices. Granted, not even the newest iPad has 3D Touch.

Re: Ideas for Startups (2005)

#52

Post by icebraining »

thewhitetulip wrote: post #50
icebraining wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to program using your phone, here's a C/C++ IDE and compiler, which doesn't even require root: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.n0n3m4.dro... There are also interpreters for many languages, various tooling and even full-blown ports of GNU/Linux distros: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cuntubuntu... Frankly, people overstate the lockdown-ness of Android itself. Maybe your…

I didn't say we need a new OS now, we need existing OSes to be a bit more open. Have you tried programming on an Android phone? I have, the experience is horrible. I used termux which is a full blown linux terminal. I installed python and wrote a few python script and later Go programs also. Wasn't able to get dependencies for Go programs because of root issue plus terrible experience with typing things on mobile. Ma…

I've written code (mainly bug fixes) on my Android tablet just fine. Used a terminal with Vim, then used SGit to commit and push my code to Gitlab. I've also written Python scripts to use in Tasker.

Yes, typing is a pain, but that's an ergonomics problems, not a lack of openness. I got a cheap BT keyboard, which works fine on Android. You can also use a plain USB keyboard with an OTG cable, though power might be an issue.

Re: Ideas for Startups (2005)

#53

Post by thewhitetulip »

BjoernKW wrote: post #45
thewhitetulip wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I met with a "startup" founder who wanted to "disrupt" hiring. His idea was to provide a platform for hiring which would be audio/video based and would use some magic to connect companies and people. As if parsing a resume wasn't enough and like recruiters don't know how to use Skype. All the time we were talking, he was explaining more about "disruption" rather than talking concretely about the idea itself. Sam Altm…

> As if parsing a resume wasn't enough and like recruiters don't know how to use Skype Actually, it isn't and no, they often don't. The way many recruiters behave makes you think they're not allowed to use the internet at all. Recruiting or rather the market for expertise is broken. It's not a problem of technology though but one of cargo cult practices and entrenched middlemen.

Correct, it is not much about technology. The process is broken.

Re: Ideas for Startups (2005)

#54

Post by Can_Not »

murukesh_s wrote: post #37
pascalxus wrote: post #16

Anyone can think of ideas. I'm sure we've all got entire documents with lists of ideas we never followed up on. The hard part is finding opportunities to create value for others (making stuff people actually want). Generally speaking, people already have the stuff they want that they can have. Now, I'm sure Paul Graham would say people's desires are infinite and there's still many unmet needs and wants. For All the s…

Adding to that I would say it's a little bit luck with an eye for disruption. Look at slack. We thought people had all the stuff they wanted but slack came out of nowhere. We thought skype/sms/gtalk was good enough and came WhatsApp. And snapchat, now it might look like a neat idea, but imagine that couple of years back. There is always room for disruption. Few categories of products are almost like fashion. There is…

> We thought skype/sms/gtalk was good enough

Nooooo we didn't. Skype is garbage (on Linux and in general), sms is fast and unreliable and expensive (to the consumers) but effectively free (to the gate keepers), gtalk was cancelled in favor of hangouts, which has lots of room for improvement (both in general and for organizations). Snapchat and WhatsApp are priming for their big sell outs where they transform into some nightmarish shitware/spyware/adware. IRC is cool for underground hacking circles, but without a good GUI and reliable offline messages, IRC is dead on arrival if you need non-techies involved in a serious work environment.

If anything, this market has been screaming and begging for disruption.

Re: Ideas for Startups (2005)

#55

Post by thewhitetulip »

icebraining wrote: post #52
thewhitetulip wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't say we need a new OS now, we need existing OSes to be a bit more open. Have you tried programming on an Android phone? I have, the experience is horrible. I used termux which is a full blown linux terminal. I installed python and wrote a few python script and later Go programs also. Wasn't able to get dependencies for Go programs because of root issue plus terrible experience with typing things on mobile. Ma…

I've written code (mainly bug fixes) on my Android tablet just fine. Used a terminal with Vim, then used SGit to commit and push my code to Gitlab. I've also written Python scripts to use in Tasker. Yes, typing is a pain, but that's an ergonomics problems, not a lack of openness. I got a cheap BT keyboard, which works fine on Android. You can also use a plain USB keyboard with an OTG cable, though power might be an i…

Yes, you are right on this one. I actually wanted my pone itself to be rooted. But then again, I'd be demanding too much.

Also I want the mobile OSes to be root friendly, I know it goes against their corporate goals. Cyanogenmod is also as good as dead now.

Re: Ideas for Startups (2005)

#56

Post by [deleted] »

icebraining wrote: post #52
thewhitetulip wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't say we need a new OS now, we need existing OSes to be a bit more open. Have you tried programming on an Android phone? I have, the experience is horrible. I used termux which is a full blown linux terminal. I installed python and wrote a few python script and later Go programs also. Wasn't able to get dependencies for Go programs because of root issue plus terrible experience with typing things on mobile. Ma…

I've written code (mainly bug fixes) on my Android tablet just fine. Used a terminal with Vim, then used SGit to commit and push my code to Gitlab. I've also written Python scripts to use in Tasker. Yes, typing is a pain, but that's an ergonomics problems, not a lack of openness. I got a cheap BT keyboard, which works fine on Android. You can also use a plain USB keyboard with an OTG cable, though power might be an i…

[deleted]

Re: Ideas for Startups (2005)

#57

Post by icebraining »

thewhitetulip wrote: post #55
icebraining wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've written code (mainly bug fixes) on my Android tablet just fine. Used a terminal with Vim, then used SGit to commit and push my code to Gitlab. I've also written Python scripts to use in Tasker. Yes, typing is a pain, but that's an ergonomics problems, not a lack of openness. I got a cheap BT keyboard, which works fine on Android. You can also use a plain USB keyboard with an OTG cable, though power might be an i…

Yes, you are right on this one. I actually wanted my pone itself to be rooted. But then again, I'd be demanding too much. Also I want the mobile OSes to be root friendly, I know it goes against their corporate goals. Cyanogenmod is also as good as dead now.

What's wrong with rooting stock Android? I've done it multiple times to my Nexus, works fine. Nowadays it's just a matter of plugging the device and clicking a few buttons on a GUI.

Of course, there are devices which aren't as open as the Nexuses. But that's not a lack of openness by the OS.

Post reply on HN