Amazon launches Part Finder, using technology acquired from Partpic in 2016 • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon launches Part Finder, using technology acquired from Partpic in 2016

#51

Post by swaggyBoatswain » Sat, Sep 15, 2018, 1:30 PM UTC

blt wrote: post #22

inferiorhuman wrote: post #3

I remember when Amazon bought CDNow ages ago. CDNow let me easily find specific CDs by artist and title AND they even had a great recommendation algorithm. I discovered some great new music that way. In 2002 Amazon shut down CDNow with the idea that you'd just use Amazon.com. Unfortunately, search has been one of Amazon's weakest features. Sixteen years later and I still miss CDNow. Amazon rarely shows exactly what I…

Every web designer should be required to study McMaster-Carr's interface. It's so much better than any other e-commerce site, it feels like alien technology from the future. Of course, the irony is that it could be replicated with 1998-era web technology. The difference is all in human effort and choosing the correct priorities.

Every designer period should also study it's hard catalog and mobile app, they are equally impressive too

Re: Amazon launches Part Finder, using technology acquired from Partpic in 2016

#52

Post by joe_the_user » Sat, Sep 15, 2018, 5:05 PM UTC

DanBC wrote: post #46

joe_the_user wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are two questions: one whether taking a picture and getting a part to buy would be a desirable workflow for customers - and jeesh, it should be obvious that it would be. The other question is whether the process would work. That's a matter of tech, resolution of cameras and the design of the interface. It's easy to imagine the system displaying multiple options for things like the two nearly identical bolts. As…

> one whether taking a picture and getting a part to buy would be a desirable workflow for customers - and jeesh, it should be obvious that it would be. It's useful for people buying one or two parts. Why chase that market when most of these parts are sold by the thousand?

Indeed, that's what a typical part supplier thinks.

But typical individual naturally thinks the opposite. There are probably a billion or so owners of at least one mechanism that require replacement parts at some point. Neither the manufacturer nor the suppliers wish to help them but they have to be a pretty big market altogether so it seems likely someone could profit from this if it was done in an automated fashion.

Re: Amazon launches Part Finder, using technology acquired from Partpic in 2016

#53

Post by ueuejdjd73 » Sat, Sep 15, 2018, 9:05 PM UTC

andygcook wrote: post #13

lgleason wrote: post #7

Partpic was founded by two non tech founders and Amanzon aqui hired them. Not sure what technology they are brining to the table there.....and of course the buyout was for a non disclosed amount... Typical Atlanta.

I met one of PartPic’s founders at a mutual friend’s wedding last year. Sure, maybe he wasn’t a coder, but darn was he was smart. Before I founded my latest startup I built a “skunkworks” style startup in a larger public company after being acquihired. Have to be honest, the hardest part was navigating the parent org, not building the product. PartPic’s founder and I had a super interesting conversation about getting…

Curious, how many cocks you suck each day?

Just because you had interesting conversation we are supposed to believe that?

Re: Amazon launches Part Finder, using technology acquired from Partpic in 2016

#54

Post by ueuejdjd73 » Sat, Sep 15, 2018, 9:06 PM UTC

jtowns927 wrote: post #12

lgleason wrote: post #7

Partpic was founded by two non tech founders and Amanzon aqui hired them. Not sure what technology they are brining to the table there.....and of course the buyout was for a non disclosed amount... Typical Atlanta.

Built by 'non tech' founders? So was Airbnb, Product Hunt (acq by Angel List) and a little dating app you may have heard of called Tinder... I actually know the founders of this company. Super smart, tons of hustle and product focused. What does 'typical Atlanta' mean, btw?

AirBnB is cuckold company. They discriminate against people who didn't go to Ivy. Not a thing to be proud of cuck.

Re: Amazon launches Part Finder, using technology acquired from Partpic in 2016

#55

Post by inferiorhuman » Sun, Sep 16, 2018, 2:46 AM UTC

craftyguy wrote: post #44

inferiorhuman wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In theory if you've got distance information and can keep the phone at a known angle in relation to the item differentiating between 27 and 29 mm shouldn't be an issue. What the photo bits will not be able to do without significant user interaction is determine other key properties of the fastener including material strength and likely finish. It's a cute gimmick though.

> determine other key properties of the fastener including material strength Given a random screw, can anyone determine material strength using household items? If so, I would definitely like to apply this to some personal projects I am working on!

> Given a random screw, can anyone determine material strength using household items? If so, I would definitely like to apply this to some personal projects I am working on!

Yes. Fasteners are typically marked on the head/face.

Re: Amazon launches Part Finder, using technology acquired from Partpic in 2016

#56

Post by inferiorhuman » Sun, Sep 16, 2018, 2:47 AM UTC

tcmb wrote: post #49

inferiorhuman wrote: post #3

I remember when Amazon bought CDNow ages ago. CDNow let me easily find specific CDs by artist and title AND they even had a great recommendation algorithm. I discovered some great new music that way. In 2002 Amazon shut down CDNow with the idea that you'd just use Amazon.com. Unfortunately, search has been one of Amazon's weakest features. Sixteen years later and I still miss CDNow. Amazon rarely shows exactly what I…

What you're describing is called "faceted search". For that to work properly, two things are needed: The product data needs to be structured properly, so that you can actually find the attributes on each product variant. This has to be consistent for every vendor, of which Amazon has many, of course. So they would have to define a common data format for every vendor selling M8 bolts, or convert their formats into a c…

> I suppose that a general-purpose, consumer-oriented site like Amazon doesn't put enough priority on something like M8 steel bolts. The facets for, say, computer monitors are much better, for example.

It goes beyond that. I was searching for a water pump this evening and hit Amazon out of instinct. Despite only returning 18 results across god-knows-how-many categories, there was no option to filter by manufacturer. Amazon simply doesn't get search.