The graveyard of good ideas
Solutions that were tried, and what stopped them.
Patents that were rejected or abandoned, products that shut down, projects that went quiet. Borrow the idea, avoid the dead end.
1,587 solutions
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: A New Decade. Any Predictions?
Since everybody is talking about predictions for 2010, I thought I would bump it up a notch. Anybody care to make some predictions about what we'll see in the coming decade (2010-2019)? I'll try a couple. - Major changes will happen in Iran, one way or the other. The current trajectory they are on does not seem sustainable for a decade. - Ubiquitous computing will finally arrive, with smart cards/RFID on our bodies seamlessly interacting with computers in our environment. As you walk up to your refrigerator, for instance, you're logged in and presented with a customized display. Same goes for the car or the entertainment surface at the Dentist's. - Flat panel displays will not drop to rock-bottom. Instead, a new generation of 2160 and 3240p 3-D panels will appear for consumer setting. Rock-bottom 10-20 inch panels will stabilize in the 50-100 range and stay there. Sorry, no panel/OLED wa
Why it failed: Since everybody is talking about predictions for 2010, I thought I would bump it up a notch. Anybody care to make some predictions about what we'll see in the coming decade (2010-2019)? I'll try a couple. - Major changes will happen in Iran, one way or the other. The current traj
DanielBMarkham
- startupShut down2010
TellHN : Go Test It is closing down on 22nd March
This is a mail I received from Amir Chaudhry (amir@go-test.it) : Hello, As a registered user of Go Test It, I'm writing to inform you that Go Test It is shutting down. The service will cease sometime after 5pm on Monday the 22nd of March and we encourage you to back-up your test scripts as soon as possible. We sincerely apologise for any disruption this may cause you. A lot has happened over the last few weeks and this decision has been a difficult one. We have every intention to work alongside our users to minimise the impact and have included a brief list of other automated testing services you might find useful. If you need help with backing up your scripts, please email us on support@go-test.it We really appreciate your support and patience at this time. If you have questions, please direct them to the email address above. Best wishes, Amir - Alternative Services - Some alternative s
Why it failed: This is a mail I received from Amir Chaudhry (amir@go-test.it) : Hello, As a registered user of Go Test It, I'm writing to inform you that Go Test It is shutting down. The service will cease sometime after 5pm on Monday the 22nd of March and we encourage you to back-up your test
dan_sim
- startupShut down2010
Happy New Year in Your Time Zone - What's your resolution?
Since we all live in different time zones, I wanted to post this now. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! In America, we have a tradition of making New Year's resolutions. What one thing are you going to do better this coming year, that you know you have to improve? And how are you going to do it?
Why it failed: Since we all live in different time zones, I wanted to post this now. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! In America, we have a tradition of making New Year's resolutions. What one thing are you going to do better this coming year, that you know you have to improve? And how are you going to
EGreg
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: How to be successful online without SEO bullshittery?
This is a hot topic near and dear to my heart. I create a site 4 years ago that I've been writing on every since... there are probably near 2000 articles on it. Everything from fixing your MTU settings on your Q1000 modem to Java framework tips I find handy to years worth of game and movies reviews to hilarious cat pictures. It's just anything and everything I've ever found interesting written in a slightly more professional manner than "stream of thought" with a small amount of attention paid to titles and internal links only when appropriate and valuable (I HATE how sites like Engadget inner-link every keyword for Google sake). My understanding was always that "If I wrote it, they will come". 4 years later and that's not the case at all... I seem to be hitting a goddamn glass ceiling that I cannot figure out for the life of me why it exists or who is imposing it and I want to scream. T
Why it failed: This is a hot topic near and dear to my heart. I create a site 4 years ago that I've been writing on every since... there are probably near 2000 articles on it. Everything from fixing your MTU settings on your Q1000 modem to Java framework tips I find handy to years worth of game
rkalla
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: how many years have you "wasted" on failed startups? And any regrets?
Over the last few days I've seen people post their lists of failed startups. What is not clear, however, is how many man-hours (or man-months or man-years), that were spent on these failed startups: were they working full-time on them, burning their own finances, or were these side-projects while working in full-time employment? So I was wondering: how many man-hours (man-months, man-years etc) have you spent on your "failed" projects? And do you have any regrets? (NB: I use the terms "wasted" and "failed" loosely).
Why it failed: Over the last few days I've seen people post their lists of failed startups. What is not clear, however, is how many man-hours (or man-months or man-years), that were spent on these failed startups: were they working full-time on them, burning their own finances, or were these si
resdirector
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: Problem finding/choosing an idea to work on
TL;DR: Bad at coming up with startup ideas, or possibly just think about them too critically and don't pursue them. Advice? To give context: I'm 17 and just started college (web dev. with design degree). Got my first computer at 13. Have been interested in startups and designing/coding for a couple of years. Had a job at a web dev. company in Summer '09. They offered me a full-time job as a front-end designer for when I finished high school (Summer '10), but I gracefully declined as I wanted to pursue my own projects and go to college. Debated about going to college and eventually decided to go for the networking aspect - and since my country has a free educational system, it's not as if going would put me in debt like in the US. But I have this ongoing problem. At first, I just thought I was bad at generating good startups ideas, but now I'm starting to think maybe the problem is over-t
Why it failed: TL;DR: Bad at coming up with startup ideas, or possibly just think about them too critically and don't pursue them. Advice? To give context: I'm 17 and just started college (web dev. with design degree). Got my first computer at 13. Have been interested in startups and designing/
throwAway741
- startupShut down2010
HN Rant: Come and Go Voting
So I log into HN and read the wonderful essay about healthcare and end-of-life costs. I was going to comment and vote on some of the comments, but I can't downvote. Must have ticked somebody off, I guess. I upvote a few of the better comments and move on. Then I go and read about the new Chrome HN extensions. Nice job! Now I can upvote and downvote. I go back to the healthcare essay. Still no ability to downvote. Does anybody here besides the coders of HN want to support the idea that the user can have abilities come and go on a whim and this is going to make for a enjoyable user experience? HN keeps getting more and more nuanced about who can do what when, and, quite frankly, all it seems to do is intermittently piss me off. If it's making things better I can't see it. And even if it is, you don't screw around with system behavior without notifying your user of what's going on. I'm sure
Why it failed: So I log into HN and read the wonderful essay about healthcare and end-of-life costs. I was going to comment and vote on some of the comments, but I can't downvote. Must have ticked somebody off, I guess. I upvote a few of the better comments and move on. Then I go and read about
DanielBMarkham
- startupShut down2010
End-of-Life Warning at $618,616 Makes Me Wonder Was It Worth It
Solid long-format article about the costs of healthcare for a dying husband.
Why it failed: Solid long-format article about the costs of healthcare for a dying husband.
AdamN
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: Why do I always waste time on the weekends?
There's a way for me to make some money, but it requires that I setup a fairly complicated spreadsheet to monitor several variables. All through last week, I've been printing Excel tutorials and ebooks, telling myself that I'll do the spreadsheet over the weekend, so I can start earning immediately. I want to put the money towards a startup. How did I spend my weekend? Friday Night: Listening to rap and channel surfing. I've got all weekend, right? Saturday: Spend half the day browsing, the other half watching about 4 movies. Still got all day Sunday, right? Sunday: Wake up @ 10. Watch a few World Cup matches, while surfing YouTube. I can do it later right? Now I just got to work, and I'm disgusted with myself. I want to leave this job as soon as possible (one's soul can only be sucked so much), but my constant procrastination isn't helping things. The worst part? This isn't the first ti
Why it failed: There's a way for me to make some money, but it requires that I setup a fairly complicated spreadsheet to monitor several variables. All through last week, I've been printing Excel tutorials and ebooks, telling myself that I'll do the spreadsheet over the weekend, so I can start
oz
- startupShut down2010
Hacker News London Meetup 25th Nov
The next Hacker News London meetup is on Thursday, 25th November. We've decided to split the evening into two parts, short demos and presentations first, followed by a few beers down the pub. Demos and presentations and presentations will be from 6:30 at Skills Matter, 116-120 Goswell Road, London, EC1V 7DP Beers will be at The Slaughtered Lamb, 34-35 Great Sutton St, London, EC1V 0DX, where we have an area reserved for us from 8 o'clock onwards. We have the following 5 minute talks lined up for the evening. Hrishi Mittal: PRETTY GRAPH - MAKE YOUR DATA SING! Philipp Moehring: STARTUP FINANCING FOR NORMAL PEOPLE Douglas Squirrel: INTRODUCING NARRATIVE, A FRAMEWORK FOR BEHAVIOUR-DRIVEN TESTS IN FLUENT JAVA Daniel Tenner: HOW TO GET ON TECHCRUNCH, LIFEHACKER, SLASHDOT, ETC. Lorenzo Stoakes: F# - WHY IT ROCKS Josh Liu: MICRO-CONSULTANCY IS THE NEW BLACK Ben Summers: LINKED DATA, USER EXPERIE
Why it failed: The next Hacker News London meetup is on Thursday, 25th November. We've decided to split the evening into two parts, short demos and presentations first, followed by a few beers down the pub. Demos and presentations and presentations will be from 6:30 at Skills Matter, 116-120 Go
dmitri1981
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: Your "Keeper" articles.
This being Hacker News there are many articles here that are "of the moment," items absolutely worth reading, and interesting to see, but not ones that you would refer back to. There are articles, however, that are worth filing away and coming back to read later, and I'd be interested in seeing the ones that others have kept hold of in this manner. Recently we've had "Who Can Name the Bigger Number?" ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1539538 ) as an example, an article that repays rereading, and I personally enjoyed Zed Shaw's "Ragel state charts" and PG's "The Top Idea in Your Mind" ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1536356 ) I've filed those away with some tags to help me find them again. What articles are your keepers*?
Why it failed: This being Hacker News there are many articles here that are "of the moment," items absolutely worth reading, and interesting to see, but not ones that you would refer back to. There are articles, however, that are worth filing away and coming back to read later, and I'd be inter
RiderOfGiraffes
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: Where do I go from here?
While I've never been actively engaged in the Hacker News I do know what a tremendously helpful and intelligent community it is. Time and time again I've seen people asking for help and being overwhelmed with the supportiveness from fellow members. It is with that said that I myself am in need of some guidance. My story goes like this: One lazy afternoon, while a sophomore in high school, I watched the movie Antitrust; after which I immediately knew what it was that I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be a developer of some sort. This lead me to George Mason's Computer Science programming. Prior to which I'd only fooled around with C++ and Java for a year. In May I graduated from George Mason University with a B.S. in Computer Science and a Minor in Business. Going through college I worked on a networking team (mostly helpdesk) for 5 years and considered it to be my career choice, n
Why it failed: While I've never been actively engaged in the Hacker News I do know what a tremendously helpful and intelligent community it is. Time and time again I've seen people asking for help and being overwhelmed with the supportiveness from fellow members. It is with that said that I mys
ArashEE
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: Looking for cofounders, I'll pay the bills
Summary: I am looking to create a team of three to live and work together in preparation for the next round of YC. Launching prior to YC or applying to other similar programs are also options but, think the benefits of YC are worth the extra work. Details: After researching the pros and cons of hiring, Angel investing, and finding cofounders have decided the last option is best. I will be looking for two cofounders over the next couple of months to begin work on a minimum viable product. This product will be used in our application to the next round of Y-Combinator. During this time I am offering to pay all standard expenses (rent, food, internet, development costs) as this is the most common objection to starting in my experience. I currently live in San Diego walking distance from UCSD. I would be willing to relocate to the Bay area to build the right team. I have a couple of ideas (an
Why it failed: Summary: I am looking to create a team of three to live and work together in preparation for the next round of YC. Launching prior to YC or applying to other similar programs are also options but, think the benefits of YC are worth the extra work. Details: After researching the p
omni50
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: I feel my dream slipping away
They say advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't. Well, I'm not looking for hang-in-there-buddy-advice but rather employment ideas or immigration hacks from someone in my situation or who understands it. I'm an Engineer working at a big corp in California - a job I so hate but have been needing to hold on to for green card purposes (I'm a foreign citizen). I'm still at least 2 years away from getting it. Meanwhile, in my spare time, I've been hacking away on my boostrapped startup idea. I released a MVP two months ago and it has been gaining steady traction. I intend to hit ramen profitability by early next year. This is where it gets hard on me. In spite of spending many waking hours working on it, moonlighting often translates to slow progress. At the end of a full 10 hour day working for the man, creativity and productivity are not at their peak wh
Why it failed: They say advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't. Well, I'm not looking for hang-in-there-buddy-advice but rather employment ideas or immigration hacks from someone in my situation or who understands it. I'm an Engineer working at a big corp i
whatnext
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: YC interviewees coming from outside US
We're getting on a plane from Edinburgh in about 24 hours and flying over for our YC interview this week. We want to make the most of our time out there and meet other startups, angels, find out about meetups etc. I thought it might be useful if I did a public shoutout for: 1) Anyone with a couch or floor to put up YC interviewees 2) Recommendations for which coffee shops are good to work in 3) Recommendations for good meetups over the next week 4) Anyone who wants to play tourguide or chill and work together. -- edit: from jkaljundi: 5) Also any of the other teams for YC want to meetup? email me at 'sam at getbloop dot com' and I'll try and coordinate something between us if there's demand.
Why it failed: We're getting on a plane from Edinburgh in about 24 hours and flying over for our YC interview this week. We want to make the most of our time out there and meet other startups, angels, find out about meetups etc. I thought it might be useful if I did a public shoutout for: 1) An
samcollins
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: Help, Investor wants money back in 7 days "Or else"
We recently sold a total of 22% share of our established company to an investor that also wanted to work for us as director of Sales. The person had a large rolodex in a segment of our market that we had not been able to tap and felt they could bring a lot to the table as an employee. So we put together some additional vesting based on rev targets all tied to being employed. The investment granted preferred shares and a seat on the board, voting is with ownership % and it takes 67% to pass. So here we are 8 weeks after the deal, and things could not have gone worse. From day 1 the employee made it clear they did not intend to do sales, but instead had a "vision" for the company and wanted to run it. They first tried to buy out the CEO and president to do so, but we refused. After that they refused to work the sales plan we had developed, refused to be accountable to any touches/sales goa
Why it failed: We recently sold a total of 22% share of our established company to an investor that also wanted to work for us as director of Sales. The person had a large rolodex in a segment of our market that we had not been able to tap and felt they could bring a lot to the table as an empl
anon0264
- startupShut down2010
Ask HN: What is Gravity?
While watching a documentary that mentioned gravity (forgive me the particulars escape me at the moment) my 8yo son reached across my lap and tapped the space-bar pausing the video. He then turned toward me and asked, ‘what is gravity?’ Now, in our house we require explanations for actions because we are becoming, sadly too late in life, convinced that being on purpose is paramount. Because it is our opinion that if you do not understand, even at the most base level (epistemological questions aside), why you are doing something then you will never have any power over what you do. When any of us does something that results in negative consequences we try to be in the habit of either tracing down the root of our reasoning or admitting that we had none. To this end we have made much of the distinction between description and explanation. Briefly; all explanations include description but not
Why it failed: While watching a documentary that mentioned gravity (forgive me the particulars escape me at the moment) my 8yo son reached across my lap and tapped the space-bar pausing the video. He then turned toward me and asked, ‘what is gravity?’ Now, in our house we require explanations f
shawndumas
- startupShut down2009
A book suggestion: Founders That Almost Made It
An open suggestion to the authors/producers/publishers of Founders At Work (which I'm reading at the moment): What do you think of writing a book 'Founders That Almost Made It'? Using a similar fashion, but talks to startup founders who almost made it big, but didn't quite make it. Perhaps they had to exit via Plan C rather than Plan A, or they just quietly wound down the startup. Following the adage that people learn more from mistakes, perhaps it'd be just as useful to get information on why they think they failed, than to read about those who have succeeded wildly?
Why it failed: An open suggestion to the authors/producers/publishers of Founders At Work (which I'm reading at the moment): What do you think of writing a book 'Founders That Almost Made It'? Using a similar fashion, but talks to startup founders who almost made it big, but didn't quite make i
bengtan
- startupShut down2009
MixPanel (YC S09); my mini review
After spotting the mixpanel logo at the bottom of HN I decided to give it a spin on a reasonably serious site to see what it can do. I've got some issues with GA that I can't seem to resolve so I figured maybe MixPanel can replace them. First impression is that it looks really neat and simple, but on my browser (ff 3.01) the form fields all somehow manage to hang outside the containing blocks. The sign up process is very quick, but there is no email verification, which is a bit of a pain because it could mean that people use a fake address leading to emails dumped on unsuspecting bystanders. After signing up you get a secret token and a skeleton piece of javascript that you can flesh out to track variables that are important. This is mostly a manual operation, you insert the relevant bits in strategic spots on your site, 'instrumenting' it so MixPanel can keep track of what is happening.
Why it failed: After spotting the mixpanel logo at the bottom of HN I decided to give it a spin on a reasonably serious site to see what it can do. I've got some issues with GA that I can't seem to resolve so I figured maybe MixPanel can replace them. First impression is that it looks really ne
jacquesm
- startupShut down2009
I think I just failed out of college...
(temp account) I just finished my last final today and it was yet another one where I pretended to study for an hour before the test after not having gone to class in the last 3 weeks, I guess in an attempt to not feel guilty about my lack of caring/trying. I'm a smart kid. I could do well at school if it was a priority of mine. I'm just so not focused on putting effort into it, and because my major is Philosophy, and I don't want the job lifestyle that comes from a Liberal Arts degree, this BA would not be unlocking any doors for me. The path this degree has me on is exactly opposite of what I really want. I have had a really tough year, been very depressed and have just a dark cloud over me for a long time. I fell into a really bad habit of procrastination and indifference that really flipped my world upside down. But I have been seeking counseling and have received medication and over
Why it failed: (temp account) I just finished my last final today and it was yet another one where I pretended to study for an hour before the test after not having gone to class in the last 3 weeks, I guess in an attempt to not feel guilty about my lack of caring/trying. I'm a smart kid. I cou
nodegreeforme
- startupShut down2009
A Defense of libertarianism (and response to Zed, etc.)
A few notes in defense of libertarianism: In response to the recent slew of articles posted to HN criticizing libertarianism, I have decided to jot down a few points that I think were overlooked. First, George W. Bush and the Republican party are NOT libertarians. Zed's argument was essentially this, and it's about as logical as declaring that you're going to write an essay about the flaws of vegetarianism and then proceeding to mention a bunch of bad things about pepperoni. Republicans occasionally use some libertarian rhetoric, but they do not follow it at all. George W. Bush has increased the size of government tremendously, and he's intervened in international affairs and created all kinds of entangling alliances, etc. Libertarians are also strongly opposed to the "family values" rhetoric used mostly by Republicans and by some democrats. Libertarians have been opposed to nearly every
Why it failed: A few notes in defense of libertarianism: In response to the recent slew of articles posted to HN criticizing libertarianism, I have decided to jot down a few points that I think were overlooked. First, George W. Bush and the Republican party are NOT libertarians. Zed's argument
grandalf
- startupShut down2009
Given Expert Advice, Brains "Shut Down"
Article here: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0004957
Why it failed: Article here: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0004957
robg
- startupShut down2009
Thoughts on "e-readers"
Amazon's Kindle felt right. When it was announced I thought "finally!". Seth Godin (a popular marketing author) predicted back in '98 that Amazon was building what he called a "permission asset" that would later be leveraged to disrupt the entire book publishing industry when Amazon would supplant the publisher by allowing authors to publish directly via Amazon's platform... ala what is now the Kindle and it's open "Digital Text Platform". Kindle also felt right because if felt like an iPod. Apple had already shown the world a great model for building a system capable of replacing atoms with bits: iPod + iTunes. iPod success was in the design not only of it's digital music player but of the entire music delivery/experience system; from the simplicity of the clickwheel to the immense library that would become the iTunes Music Store. Every music retail store you've stepped into at the mall
Why it failed: Amazon's Kindle felt right. When it was announced I thought "finally!". Seth Godin (a popular marketing author) predicted back in '98 that Amazon was building what he called a "permission asset" that would later be leveraged to disrupt the entire book publishing industry when Ama
jamesmcintyre
- startupShut down2009
Tell HN: 360 Voltage is out of Beta (10 PRO accounts to giveaway to HN)
360 Voltage is out of Beta, it's a set of online marketing tools that my agency envisioned for in-house use and decided to turn into a freemium web site along the way, which we now use in house (natch). To say that HN has been good to me is an understatement, it's an oasis of rational thought and discussion in a wasteland of online social media sites... (</digression>)<p>So I've got 10 yearly 360 Voltage PRO account subscriptions ($149/ea.) to give away here to some devs who would really dig into the site, use the tools, and then give us ongoing feedback as we iterate like mad and try to populate the blog with useful content. Obviously, that's all unenforceable, but you get the idea...<p>Once again, I'm giving away 10 yearly pro account subscriptions to HN users to help us prime the pump on our freemium web site, which is a search marketing tool set called 360 Vol
Why it failed: 360 Voltage is out of Beta, it's a set of online marketing tools that my agency envisioned for in-house use and decided to turn into a freemium web site along the way, which we now use in house (natch). To say that HN has been good to me is an understatement, it's an oasis of rat
wmeredith