Ask HN: What product/service would you be willing to pay for?
A better way to hire software engineers, or to find a software engineering job.
The problem, when I'm hiring, is that so much of the interviewing process is about determining competence. When I'm job-seeking, a lot of my time is spent determining the competence of the people in charge of the company.
In the medical field, doctors and hospitals are accredited. Thus the interviewing process isn't really about a doctor proving his or her competency, nor does a doctor have to worry about the hospital going bankrupt three years after taking the job.
We really need a professional licensing process for software engineers and the firms that hire us. Even though the tools we use change from year to year, the fundamentals of software development change about as fast as the medical field.
I haven't really come across any hiring firm or headhunter who is really good at determining the competency of a software engineer or the legitimacy of a business trying to hire. It doesn't matter who they are, they always boil down to middle men trying to sell whatever goods they have on hand while making a honest attempt to manage their reputation. They need the licensing process as much as we do because they just don't have the background to determine competence.
There are several differences between the medical field and software engineering, some of which are:
1. The former is highly regulated because of potentially highly catastrophic outcomes in most cases.
2. The former also is several thousand years older than the latter.
The modern medical field is not thousands of years old. It actually emulates the air traffic control system when it comes to its internal regulations and division of labor. This is how they keep out quacks who still believe in bloodletting.
We could do a lot better if we got over our hubris and tried to learn from how other more mature feilds run themselves.
With self-driving cars on the horizon, and with our entire communications infrastructure defined by software, the potential for catastrophe in our industry is greater than the medical industry.
It’s not like nobody’s tried before. The term ’software engineering’ precisely stems from the idea that software development should be more like other engineering disciplines.
That those attempts didn’t work out probably has less to do with developer hubris but with software engineering indeed being different from other engineering disciplines.
After all, we don’t think of medicine in terms of ‘medical engineering’ or ‘human bio-system maintenance’ either, simply because it’s something else.
Besides, certificates are rampant in the IT industry. Most of those however tend to say very little about the actual skills of the ones certified.
on a similar note, I'd like to have better job listing aggregators. Something that better understands me.
Currently, when I search for fresher jobs, I always end up getting jobs for 5-6 year experience, or those way away from cities I entered, or those from completely irrelevant fields.
NLP and Deep Learning should be able to do this.
I'd love to see a SAAS product for watching sports. Similar to Netflix in terms of UI and pricing, but also with the support for live content. I know this probably won't happen any time soon since major US telecom providers have exclusive broadcasting rights to major sports games.
DAZN is making moves in Canada + a handful of other locations
This looks promising. Although, it seems they only offer NFL, soccer, and tennis coverage currently. Hopefully some day they'll add NHL and NBA games as well.
Not just the US -- BT paid £1.18 billion for 3 years worth of football which is just insane.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/mar/06/bt-keeps-ch...
Not affiliated with them in any way. And the pricing is higher than Netflix.
Sling TV?
Potential spoiler: most people will not actually pay for something they say they will pay for when asked for an off-the-cuff idea
Seems to especially be the case on HN. Whenever someone releases something, common responses are “oh this is like X but actually worse” or “I could do this with 10 lines of code in my sleep”
Pay someone a small fraction of my salary to show up at work and pretend to be me.
Peter: "Is there any way that you could, sort of, just zonk me out so that, like, I-I don't know that I'm at work... in here? Could I come home and think that I've been fishing all day, or something?"
One of the best comedies ever.
Should that also include trolling on HN?
A phone that will last for 10+ years. Easy change of battery, glass, display, connectors, etc without specialist tools. Doesn't matter if it's a bit bigger than a nice form factor phone, I'm just sick and tired of phones dying on me and not being able to service them.
I'm convinced this is basically impossible currently.
Promising software updates alone for 10+ years is going to be a difficult sell, even if you really intend to. And it's going to cost a significant amount of money.
And 10 years is a LONG time. 10 years ago android didn't exist, iOS had JUST come out, basically every "smartphone" out there was called a "PDA" and used windows mobile with a stylus. Even getting connectivity hardware that would work on those timescales is starting to get hard.
And let's be honest, the market would be extremely small. Most people want the newest device every year, because hardware is still improving, new features are added, form factors change, and styling is important. Trying to sell a device which looks worse, costs more, is larger and has less features to the general public just isn't going to work.
I get 5 years, but 10 seems to be really pushing it.
My current laptop is nine years old. Phones are just smaller laptops without a keyboard. I don't think there a fundamental engineering problems that need to be solved before a smartphone could last as long as a laptop.
I wouldn't call it a "fundamental engineering problem", but over the past 10 years there have been some pretty insane strides in power consumption, size, screen technology, and software that have made what we consider today to be the "smartphone" possible.
The change in laptops hasn't gone a fraction as far as it has in cell phones in the past decade. That might stop soon, but until it does getting a phone to last 10 years is a pipe dream, unless you are okay with a severely out of date device, which again, I don't think that 99% of the public will be.
And without customers, a company won't be able to support a phone for that long, so you'd end up with a slow, expensive, dated looking, insecure device.
Smartphones stopped being status symbols years ago and the development of phones has stagnated. I could not tell the difference between my old and my current phone apart from battery life.
Looking back 10 years doesn't make sense because development was rapid then. But look back 5 years and there isn't a huge difference. A phone from 5 years ago would be fine in 5 more years.
Software updates and hardware serviceability are the bottle necks in phone longevity. The challenge is economical, cultural and political, not technical.
While i disagree that phones aren't status symbols any more (they absolutely are!), I agree with
>The challenge is economical, cultural and political, not technical.
While there are some technical hurdles to overcome to make a phone that lasts 10 years, they aren't that big comparatively. The real problem comes when you need to support software for a decade, getting people to buy a phone that's more expensive, larger, and slower than the competitors, selling enough to make the whole thing economically feasible, and getting people to be okay with a dated looking device.
I just don't see that being possible right now, especially while phones are still getting higher resolution, more capability, larger batteries, and smaller form factors. Maybe when phones hit the same plateau that laptops did a few years ago it will be possible, but I would not want to be part of a company attempting it right now.
While i disagree that phones aren't status symbols any more (they absolutely are!), I agree with
How is a phone a status symbol? When most people say that, they are referring to iPhones. But when 40% of all phones in the US are iPhones how is it a status symbol? Even if you refer to the price, almost anyone can afford any iPhone - all of the carriers offer monthly 0% interest payment plans.
Once anyone can afford it, it's no longer a status symbol.
>Once anyone can afford it, it's no longer a status symbol.
I completely disagree. There are plenty of things which are status symbols that aren't overly expensive. "Status symbol" doesn't mean "unobtainable", often people get them just to fit in with their perceived "status" among their peers.
Yes part of the reason people buy iPhones is because everyone else has one but it's more about network effects than a status symbol. There are just some things that work better between iPhones than between iPhones and Android phones.
Little things like being able to automatically share WiFi passwords, Apple Pay between people, FaceTime, iMessage, being able to share my location continuously with my wife when I'm on the road (or before when I was running long distances), etc.
If you're cool with only using your phone as a phone + texting device you can get 5+ years out of current day non-smartphones and it only costs like $30 to fully replace it, so there's no need to swap individual components.
My current phone's battery goes 3-4 days before I need to charge it, cost around $30 and it's currently been in use for 3 years with no signs of getting worse or breaking.
I'm not. I do need a browser and maps.
I've been considering moving to a dumb phone, but I do need some basic features.
I believe the Nokia 3310 was just relaunched this year that has 22 hours talk time, 31 days standby for just $52 https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2017/04/13/nokia-33...
Sounds great, I wonder about the maintainability, sounds like what the OP asked:
http://run-belay.ru/to-completely-disassemble-the-nokia-3310...
Do you want it to do something besides calls? I've got 2 phones that have lasted 10+ years: Nokia 1100 and Nokia 5110 (the 5125 variant).
I actually had to stop using the 5110 because the technology wasn't supported anymore (the frequencies were re-purposed for something else), and that's probably what will happen to your 10+ year phone.
You can still purchase a Nokia 1100. It's the world's best-selling handset because you can do all you mentioned.
I still have both in a drawer, and they boot when charged.
You can do this with older iphones (I have a 5s made from parts). You will need about a dollars worth of tools.
I would pay (a little) for a purchasing/problem fullfilment agent.
An example: I have one of the new macbook pros, and it came with a "free" 3rd party cheap-china usb C -> usb 3.0 hub. The problem (which I believe is quite common) is that attaching it, disables wifi - I guess it's just crappy low end chinese design and total lack of care for wireless compliance, etc.
So, I'd like to buy another hub that actually works without disabling my wifi. I don't want to pay Apple prices. I don't want to spend a day reading between-the-lines on aliexpress/ebay to ensure that it is genuinely compatible and non-interfering with my macbook wifi. I'll pay a premium (but not too much) for the best/best-value usb C hub for my purposes.
There are numerous examples of this kind of problem when buying products, particularly electronics, of having to read the fine print to get particular revisions that support some obscure use-case that I'm particularly interested in, and it's a real drag to try and hunt the right combinations.
Another example: I got interested in mechanical keyboards. (I think) I'd like a 68-key layout with rgb backlighting and gateron brown switches. Find one for me.
+ A test or a person that tests and tracks my health and body nutrients or lack thereof. Then designs a list of items or orders the food/vitamins that have all the micro nutrients that a health body would require.
+ Accurate food product reviews that test what is inside of the item and reflect if the nutrition labels are correct.
Labdoor for supermarket foods? Gotta keep them honest, as an app combine it with price comparisons (where possible I know those DBs are hard).
I live in apartment complex. I’d like to buy my own washer and dryer and be able to rent out a place with water/dryer hookups and pay a monthly and usage fees as to not use the gross common laundry machines. To my knowledge no such service exists.
Wouldn't common laundry machines that somehow don't become gross be much more efficient in terms of space and resources?
I know they are trying to do vibrating dryers which don't become as gross, but washing machines are the main problem in terms of cleanliness, but I'm not sure if there are any new advances on that front.
When I lived in an apartment without laundry services, I found it was cheaper to just pay a laundry service for pickup and drop-off at my front door. I paid about $50 a month, when an in unit washer dryer would cost a lot more.
I also looked into a washer dryer unit that I could plug into my sink. They are really common in Europe but not in the United States. The problem is that American voltage is too low to run a dryer without a dedicated outlet.
With the way that batteries are going, you could probably make a dryer that has a battery in it so it doesn't need a dedicated high voltage and high amperage plug. Because all dryers need counterweights, the battery really won't add weight to the dryer.
Without technology changes, you can still get an apartment washer dryer unit. Most appliance store should be able to special order one for you. The problem is that they will take all night to dry your clothing, because you are stuck with the limited voltage and amperage that comes out of the standard American wall outlet.
I don't understand how $50 a month can be cheaper than having your own machine. A machine should pay for itself in less than a year.
It's not just the voltage / amperage. Even if you buy a really expensive over-under that plugs into a 220 the lack of an output vent slows down drying dramatically.
Dryers are only vented in the United States. Most of the world uses condenser dryers that don't require venting. They also use less energy.
They also take significantly longer to dry your clothes.
Unfortunately laundry services also use machines of variable quality/cleanliness, so not help there for me at least.
I'd like a similar service or product. My issue with a shared solution like a common area W/D besides grossness is that I need to remove my clothes from the machines within a few minutes of cycle completeness or I risk ticking off my neighbors. I push off laundry unless I'm sure I have a 1.5 hour block to be able to tend to each load. When I had an in unit W/D that wouldn't be necessary and laundry would be a chore I managed throughout the day.
How is this use case not covered by apartments with in suite laundry?
They wouldn't use the service, I'm not sure what you are asking.
Why not use a laundromat, then?
What do you think a laundromat is?
A business devoted to maintaining clean, high-quality clothes-washing facilities. The degree to which they succeed varies.
If your criteria are specifically a single-household-only washer and dryer setup, and not just avoiding poorly-maintained central facilities, then my suggestion will not suffice.
In my experience, laundromats do not have a ton of competition outside of a dense urban center. In a region where hundreds of thousands live, and in a town 40000, there are 2 laundromats, both very unkept and with old and gross laundry machines. Business is there to make money and squeeze as much out of every machine. Talking to these people, they rarely replace a machine if its dirty or doesn't do a good job, only if its broken/unfixable. I think your view comes from a very rosy world which rarely is replicated in practice.
a good open source comment system which works with static websites which let's me avoid vendor/one-point lock in.
Take a look at https://github.com/gka/schnack https://posativ.org/isso/ https://github.com/adtac/commento :)
They all lack on one point. Schnack: Requires Github or Twitter account it seems (not everybody who comments has a twitter account). Isso: In princible ok too paranoia (strange icons, no Gravatar or any log in at all). Commento: Does not know how to handle links in comments and no login system.
So they are all ok but far away from a Disqus alternative.
There's also EffectiveDiscussions (https://www.effectivediscussions.org), which doesn't have any of those drawbacks. It has email+password login, Gmail, FB, GitHub. Open source, and hosted too, if you don't want to provision your own server.
Demo: https://www.kajmagnus.blog/new-embedded-comments
It has improvements over Disqus and HackerNews: https://www.effectivediscussions.org/-32/how-hacker-news-can.... GitHub: https://github.com/debiki/ed-server. (I'm developing it.)
Agree. I would like open source + hosted version. Really simple hosted version for a couple of $ so you can have it on personal/project pages. There is of course disqus today, but never liked their ads, and of course its lock in.
Seconded. Disqus is bloated beyond repair. Open source + hosted is a fantastic model for consumers and entrepreneurs, and the hosted money would be enough to get rid of advertisements.
@therealmarv, @gingersnap and @vortico:
I suggest you take a look at EffectiveDiscussions: it's open source + hosted for €2. Demo: https://www.kajmagnus.blog/new-embedded-comments
It has improvements over Disqus ... and HackerNews: https://www.effectivediscussions.org/-32/how-hacker-news-can....
GitHub: https://github.com/debiki/ed-server. It's more lightweight: the script bundle is just 140kb in comparison to Disqus 750kb. (I'm developing it.)
I would pay for a service that gives me constant 6% return on my money. Since all financial advisors tell me that the stock market returns are muh higher they should be all over this and make a lot of money.
The good ones subscribe to Modern Portfolio Theory and don’t tell you stock market returns are much higher than 6%. The bad ones try to sell high fee advisory with a marketing ploy of getting you “alpha” (outsized returns). It’s just a way to take 1-2% of your capital for doing nothing.
Economics isn't that magic. Everyone has to share some of the risk!
Services like this exist, but you is really need to do your own research. Your research is required in order to help keep scams out of the system.
The major investment firms, like fidelity, Ameritrade, T Rowe Price, Etc, can probably recommend conservative investment vehicles for you that get pretty close to your goal. It just takes a phone call or a chat session.
Then there are more modern investment sites where you just tell them your risk profile and they choose the Investments for you.
You could even call it Madoff Securities LLC.
I'd love to pay taxes for universal healthcare.
The future is just not evenly distributed, try Europe.
Or Uruguay here in South America, or New Zealand... You can actually emigrate here very easily.
Maintaining an U.S. lifestyle OTOH is much more expensive, but healthcare is a BIG plus.
And you WILL pay a lot of taxes - Healthcare-only taxes are 4.5 to 6% of your gross income, and sometimes more on top of it. And then you have 22% VAT and something like 30% of your salary if you're a software developer, and the 12.5% social security tax (all of those on your GROSS salary, and almost no deductions)... prepare to get paid less than half your gross salary in hand.
There’s a better way to ask this question if you want Good responses. Just ask for unsolved problems and listen or even better...go out and observe.
An app/service which provides the location of one mobile phone to another mobile phone. It should work across different manufacturers (iphone <-> blackberry), across different service providers (verizon <-> t-mobile).
Google Maps does that.
I don’t like it, but WhatsApp does that.
Good to know but it is a no go since WhatApp is ending support for BlackBerry on Dec 31st, 2017. https://blog.whatsapp.com/10000617/WhatsApp-support-for-mobi... . May be it is time for me to move away from Blackberry altogether.
Alert me when my service providers introduce newer better deals and quietly grandfather me onto older worserer ones. Like today I called my ISP to upgrade to a faster connection that is cheaper than my old slow one.
Twitter without bullshit (algorithmic timeline, "how to follow", ads, tracking, t.co).
Oh yeah? And how much do you believe you would pay for that =)
5$ per month
Mastodon?
Network effect.
Password manager!
Why would you pay for something that is already free ?