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Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve?

We see everyday startups/projects pitches that explain what they do. There're often on hackernews lists the describe what the startups do.

But can you, in less than 140 characters, describe the PROBLEM your project/startup tries to resolve?

( 118 comments | 55 points | on HN )
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by cperciva on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:43AM (#6935744)
My startup: I want to make sure I don't lose my data if my hard drive dies. I also want to make sure the NSA doesn't get my data.

Tarsnap: http://www.tarsnap.com/

My side project: I want to run the world's best free OS on the world's best cloud computing environment.

FreeBSD/EC2: http://www.daemonology.net/freebsd-on-ec2/

My hobby: I want to have fun while bringing classical music to my community.

West Coast Symphony Orchestra: http://www.westcoastsymphony.ca/

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by acemtp on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:46AM (#6935770)
You don't really describe a problem but describe what you are doing?

The problem could be "people lose their data, NSA can access my data"

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by cperciva on Thursday December 19, 2013 @07:21PM (#6938996)
I consider an unmet desire to be a problem.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by adrianh on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:13AM (#6935511)
Amateur guitarists can't read sheet music, so they use tablature. But online tablature sucks.

Soundslice: http://www.soundslice.com/

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by dougk16 on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:25AM (#6935590)
I love your effort here, and have been meaning to ask...are you working on some means to parse old-school TXT tabs from other tab sites into your format? I always thought that would be a really interesting problem to solve, especially trying to detect alternate tunings and tempos and such. You would probably need a human to come in to do a polish pass afterwards most of the time, but still might be a net win.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by adrianh on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:34AM (#6935661)
Hey, thanks! We'll likely eventually do that, but it's low on the priority list. There are some more structured formats (e.g., Guitar Pro) that we're doing first.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by pldrnt on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:35AM (#6935665)
I LOVE this question (and it's the first thing I usually ask to myself and to others) so:

- Study scientific papers by deconstructing them through a wiki-like interface.

- Filtering news feeds, automatically removing stories and tweets I don't care about.

- Keeping an updated journal for each of my projects in the fastest and least intrusive way.

- Learning languages by cutting and pasting single expressions from podcasts into a personal audio library.

- Aggregating my soundcloud, beatport, bandcamp, youtube and shoutcast 'likes' into a single cloud playlist.

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by adrianwaj on Thursday December 19, 2013 @12:05PM (#6935920)
It's not just about solving a problem, and I'll reiterate what Guy Kawasaki says (whereby solving a problem is 2):

1) "Increase the quality of life. Make people more productive or their lives easier or more enjoyable."

2) "Right a wrong. A variant on the above. Be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem."

3) "Prevent the end of something good. Preserve something classic or historical. Save the whales."

So it's more about creating a value proposition, in which solving a problem is only part of that proposition. Thus, building something people will use entails a carrot and stick: carrot for being used, and stick for not being used. Simply solving a problem can ignore other benefits.. ideally, it's about replacing the system that created the problem in the first place that needed to be resolved (thus solving a set of problems and potential problems). Solving 1 problem only is a good start, but having a vision to lay on top of that can provide extra inspiration.

http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/gettingstarted/a/guykawasa...

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by simonsarris on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:44AM (#6935748)
Many web apps need some kind of interactive diagramming, but making and perfecting that functionality from scratch can be costly.

We thought of everything for you: http://gojs.net

~~~

I think this is an interesting side topic to get into: my above pitch can be generalized for nearly any library. Fundamentally, selling a library is about selling man-hours. Either a programming team does everything themselves, or they do some of it get one or more libraries and pay some dollar cost and learning curve cost in return for getting literal packaged man-hours, in the form of the thought and features put into the library.

So my product, like all libraries, is there for people who don't want to re-re-re-re-reinvent (and importantly re-re-re-re-retest) Diagramming concepts like node-link relationships, layouts, grouping, undo managers, performant rendering, etc. Like any library, people are buying the man-hours we put in to perfecting a set of things, so they can get on with building the more nuanced parts of their app without running in to their own set of layout/undo-manager/what-have-you bugs.

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by ericthegoodking on Saturday December 21, 2013 @04:54AM (#6946305)
Hi Simon, I was just wondering whether you get problems with people pirating your JavaScript library i.e not paying you after downloading the library. I just want to understand whether this is a huge problem.The other thing is have you found it beneficial having the evalution license? Thanks
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by markrickert on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:03AM (#6935435)
Problem I'm currently working on: How to make a long tail of passive income.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by jbrooksuk on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:24AM (#6935583)
Me too. I've got ideas, but nothing with a real market.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by abraininavat on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:45AM (#6935764)
Forgive the ignorance, but what does this mean?
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by girvo on Thursday December 19, 2013 @12:18PM (#6936049)
Think affiliate marketing, or niche product creation (targeted ebooks and the like), that require a bit of upfront effort, but little ongoing maintenance, and can scale out to many of these products/revenue streams. Lots of ongoing small hits, rather than one big payoff for one big product :)
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by markrickert on Thursday December 19, 2013 @02:40PM (#6937251)
That's exactly it. Lots of small products with microtransactions targeted towards niche markets that i barely have to touch.

Passive income generation is one of the pinnacles of what we as software engineers can do.

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by EthanHeilman on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:22AM (#6935568)
How to ensure that the RPKI[1], which is designed to prevent BGP hijacks[2], can not be abused by trusted parties[3].

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_Public_Key_Infrastruct...

[2] http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/12/bgp-hijacking-belar...

[3] http://ethanheilman.tumblr.com/post/64208098281/on-trusting-...

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by PabloOsinaga on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:38AM (#6935695)
Average amateur musicians love to make music with other people, but it is really hard to do as the whole thing involves getting together physically, practicing a lot to be decent together as a band, etc

While there has been quite a few attempts at online music collaboration, clearly the average amateur musician is not using any of them.

PROs use pro-music software to collaborate with other people, and some tech-oriented amateurs hang out in collaboration forums.

But all that is too hard/annoying for the average amateur musician.

BandHub "The Internet Music Studio" - makes it easy to make music with other people over the Internet.

http://getbandhub.com

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by utkarsh_apoorva on Friday December 20, 2013 @03:13AM (#6940506)
There seems to be a problem in streaming. I have a 16MBPS connection but the files needed to stream every second, freezing the audio and video.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by reddiric on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:41AM (#6935712)
How does it handle latency?
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by PabloOsinaga on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:46AM (#6935765)
It's not real time. It's based on overdubs - i.e., you record tracks over previously recorded tracks. You can even start with any YouTube video as a base (e.g., original song you are covering, click track, karaoke type youtube video, or a dude playing guitar+singing that you want to add bass too).
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by mindcrime on Thursday December 19, 2013 @10:56AM (#6935367)
140 characters? Probably not, but this is a relatively concise summary of the problem we're working on:

--

Knowledge workers spend too much time looking for information and knowledge[1] instead of, you know, thinking about problems. Organizations can be more effective when they provide tooling and processes to encourage and support knowledge sharing and transfer, and more efficient information retrieval.

---

[1]: according to some research, up to 50% of knowledge workers' time is spent just looking for stuff. But to be fair, other research puts the number as low as 17%. Still, we believe that facilitating more efficient knowledge use, transfer and creation, will benefit all organizations.

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by adamzerner on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:39AM (#6935705)
More concise summary:

Give workers the information they need so they could spend more time thinking/building.

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by mindcrime on Thursday December 19, 2013 @12:39PM (#6936220)
It's interesting, actually... that's definitely more concise, but I find myself wondering if it's better. What I mean is - I don't argue against being concise, but wonder "is there a point where you're so concise that you've reduced your message to a platitude that doesn't actually say anything"?

For example, we could reduce it further by saying:

"Make things better".

But I don't think that would be a very useful message.

So this, to me, is the struggle... to figure out how to be as concise as possible, while not being overly concise.

I freely admit that I'm not great at this, but it is something I hope to get better at - distilling the message to its essence, without losing the essence.

In this particular case, I will say that "Give workers the information they need so they could spend more time thinking/building" probably does strike that balance fairly well. I may have to crib that from you. :-)

Anyway, the point in saying all this was just to point out that while conciseness is a virtue, it can - I think - be taken too far if one isn't careful.

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by adamzerner on Thursday December 19, 2013 @01:29PM (#6936609)
I agree, but it depends on the context. In this case, they were just asking what the problem is, not to prove that it is indeed a problem.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by mindcrime on Thursday December 19, 2013 @01:49PM (#6936795)
True. :-)
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by girvo on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:34AM (#6935657)
Personal finance software isn't smart enough, and I'm lazy. I'm helping computers learn your spending habits, to save you money, pay off debts, and go on that holiday you want -- with as little effort from you as possible.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by DanI-S on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:59AM (#6935877)
Meat is expensive to produce. Insect protein is cheaper and more efficient, but insect farming technology is still very basic. http://www.openbugfarm.com
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by abraininavat on Thursday December 19, 2013 @12:10PM (#6935966)
How does insect protein compare to plant protein with respect to cheapness and efficiency? What's the argument for inventing an industry when an industry already exists which provides plenty of healthy, cheap, and efficient protein for humans?
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by DanI-S on Thursday December 19, 2013 @12:24PM (#6936110)
Insects are already eaten regularly by ~60% of the world's population. It's not so much inventing a new industry as improving the tooling of one of the oldest.

That said, there'll always be a demand for a variety of protein sources. We've had access to complete plant protein for thousands of years, but we consume more meat than ever. Vegetable protein will likely always be the cheapest, and that has been the case since the dawn of agriculture.

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by 23andwalnut on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:32AM (#6935641)
Almost all project management apps have a monthly fee and are SaaS apps. This isn’t appropriate for all businesses.

Duet has a one time fee and is hosted on your own server.

http://duetapp.com

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by MWil on Thursday December 19, 2013 @07:52PM (#6939162)
I sent you an email just now about updates to duet and activating since it doesn't seem to be on Envato's site any longer
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by OafTobark on Friday December 20, 2013 @03:05AM (#6940480)
It sounds like source code available for adding extras when purchased. What is this built in?
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by 23andwalnut on Saturday December 21, 2013 @05:27PM (#6948355)
Yes, the source is available. It's built with php and javascript. It has an MVC architecture, but I didn't use any frameworks. It should be pretty simple to pick up if you're familiar with the concepts of MVC or you've worked with backbone in the past...
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by girvo on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:35AM (#6935671)
Oh wow. I've been looking for something like this. Amazing :)
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by pasbesoin on Thursday December 19, 2013 @12:41PM (#6936230)
I don't have a formal project nor start up for it, but many years and many environments have overwhelmingly been influenced by one factor: Noisy neighbors.

I see the solution at a combination of factors:

- Noise ordinances and advocacy for same.

- Understanding that we are not "all the same", and that some people have a legitimate need for and function much better in a quiet environment.

- Communities established with "noise control / quiet" as a principal item in their charter, and with the boundary and means to enforce it.

- Better building materials and standards. Construction that spends that 10% or whatever extra to build in effective noise suppression. Architectural plans also focused on this.

- Continuing work on effective, after-the-fact noise suppression. Although personally I don't want to be perpetually confined to such a "bubble", even if such becomes possible. I feel much healthier as a part of the "natural world", but a world not full of car stereos, straight pipes, non-stop blaring TV's, nor 20 coworkers ongoing conversations and phone calls.

P.S. Advocacy and education, so that people don't get "worn down" by noisy environments before they learn and find their way to better. That would include assisting one's escape before the negative feedback loop traps one, economically.

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by dclara on Thursday December 19, 2013 @03:08PM (#6937452)
Provide an alternative solution for Web 3.0 as opposed to the Sematic Web with the real implementation.

The real problems people have are:

- Repeatedly search for the things they want but have no one place to save

- Have to sort out from millions of low quality search results

- Search engine is not intelligent to help people find things more efficiently online

- Businesses have problem to get their products/services listed for SEO marketing

The project description is available on Kickstarter right now at:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1986902972/bingobo-build...

The beta announcement is here:

http://bingobo.info/blog/bingobo/beta-release-announcement.j...

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by KiwiCoder on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:48AM (#6935790)
I solve 3 problems;

1. Charities don't do software development because they can't afford it.

2. Programmers who want to volunteer end up using skills other than programming (like IT support).

3. New programmers cannot get real-world experience because they don't have the necessary real-world experience to land a job

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by firefoxNX11 on Sunday December 22, 2013 @05:40PM (#6952103)
awesome!
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by abraininavat on Thursday December 19, 2013 @12:05PM (#6935928)
Link?
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by phireal on Thursday December 19, 2013 @12:12PM (#6935979)
http://socialcoder.org I would guess from KiwiCoder's profile.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by mynegation on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:49AM (#6935796)
Not a startup, more like a personal hacking project, but what I am trying to create a cross-platform backup solution that would allow me to do incremental encrypted back up a la Time Machine, for offsite backups. Currently I use duplicity, but the problem with it is I cannot remove arbitrary past back up as it will render backups based on it invalid. That makes it much harder to manage the space on backup disk.

I am aware of the solutions like Tarsnap and Spideroak and I even use some of them, but this is more about very cheap offsite backup of bulk rather infrequently changing data, measure in terabytes, that would be prohibitively expensive to store there.

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by acemtp on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:54AM (#6935834)
you don't describe the problem in a tweet :)
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by mynegation on Thursday December 19, 2013 @12:03PM (#6935911)
Need to store TiBs of backups on portable HDDs offsite, encrypted; update/remove them incrementally, with TimeMachine like interface
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by kirualex on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:23AM (#6935572)
I want a quick feeling for today's weather. But a pictogram is not enough.

Nice Weather : http://alexiscreuzot.com/apps/nice-weather-2/

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by nkvoll on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:35AM (#6935670)
Starting an Elasticsearch server is easy. Maintaining and scaling a production cluster is hard, but not optional. http://www.found.no/
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by yashshah on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:56AM (#6935845)
Concerned about your image while Gossiping? Do you Have to think twice about what people will think about you, while posting anything in a group? Difficult to Pull out the desired conversations you are looking for? So here is the a gossiping platform for you which represents ‘behind-the-scene’ notorious world of gossiping about fun and crazy stuff in an amazingly new way: http://www.Areysun.com
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by DjangoReinhardt on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:51AM (#6935813)
I am lazy when it comes to reading feeds. Even with GReader, my inbox used to pile up like crazy. So, I wrote @updt_me[0] get feed updates delivered via DM to my twitter inbox.

These days, I usually read the feed updates as soon as they come in. Since I only get links in the DM, I also end up giving the authors the (mobile) page-views they deserve for their hard work. Win-win. :)

[0]: http://twitter.com/updt_me

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by mattrichardson on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:52AM (#6935826)
Never miss another movie. Queue a movie and we'll let you know when they're showing.

(UK and US movie services, Cable TV, and movie theaters).

EDIT (Problem): Online movie streaming catalogs aren't great individually due to fragmentation of distribution across a huge amount of services. People tend to miss them. We tie all the services together, so you can be alerted when the movies you want to see are available in movie theaters, online streaming and cable TV.

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by acemtp on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:54AM (#6935832)
it s a pitch, not a problem description.

the problem is "people miss movies when they are available"

right?

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by mattrichardson on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:58AM (#6935864)
Right. Just added an edit of the problem and why it's a problem.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by kfk on Thursday December 19, 2013 @10:52AM (#6935323)
I'll describe you my latest project.

Paying outdoor writers and photographers competitive prices for their works and delivering users amazing stories in well designed, modern, web pages, only online, no print.

Link to a sample article ("real" ones will have better writing then this): http://acivitillo.com/articles/2013/vistula

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by grimtrigger on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:34AM (#6935659)
Amazon is awesome, but not very fun.

Solution? Svpply/Pinterest for Amazon.

http://www.gemsinthejungle.com

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by firefoxNX11 on Sunday December 22, 2013 @04:28PM (#6951833)
Love the idea!
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by ivan_ah on Thursday December 19, 2013 @03:09PM (#6937470)
Three problems, one solution:

Problem 1: First-year university-level math and physics textbooks are too long, too expensive, and too boring.

Problem 2: Many adults lack basic mathematical skills. Few good books exist for teaching high school math to adults.

Problem 2 prime: Many parents lack the basic knowledge of mathematics required to help their children with their schoolwork.

Solution: A math textbook for adults.

[deleted]
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by acemtp on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:58AM (#6935866)
it s out of topic but it's really cool! congrats
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by obsurvey on Friday December 20, 2013 @03:10AM (#6940498)
Problem: If you don't do anything. JavaScript errors on you sebsite are just lost. Your website can be completely malfunctioning maybe for 10% of your users on a specific browser and you will simply not know.

Solution: http://muscula.com

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by japhyr on Thursday December 19, 2013 @12:27PM (#6936134)
It is difficult for people with no technical background, who don't know any strong programmers, to learn how to program.

I'm working on an open resource for teaching and learning Python: http://introtopython.org.

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by hippich on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:51AM (#6935817)
Facebook monetize their platform by posting ads on yours and your friends timelines, but you get nothing out of it. I am trying to fix this with http://paidso.com where you will be allowed to do paid posts.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by juliangoldsmith on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:42AM (#6935730)
It's not really a startup, but Dealer Wizard uses data from a car dealer's DMS[1] to help them sell cars to previous customers.

[1]Dealership management system, where the dealer stores information about car deals, repair orders, and inventory.

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by talhof8 on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:53AM (#6935831)
People don't have much places online to express their opinions and take part in deep discussions.

Interestin: http://interestin.co (provides "follow-up essays" as well)

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by krsmith35 on Thursday December 19, 2013 @04:48PM (#6938143)
We can't find enough A Players to hire/work with because we are limited to our own networks. http://unbouncepages.com/a-players/
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by allstruck on Thursday December 19, 2013 @05:30PM (#6938409)
I think you mean that it can be difficult for most companies to find qualified candidates, for example software developers. I've heard many people complain that they can't find good coders, or any coders at all in some cases.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by krsmith35 on Thursday December 19, 2013 @05:39PM (#6938467)
Yes exactly - I got a little extreme on the 140 character cut off, but that is the idea. Everyone wants to hire great people, but the only surefire way to find them is to have worked with them in the past. I want to crowdsource this information to find out who the A Players really are. (Hint: they didn't all go to Harvard, integrate by parts, or explain why manhole covers are round.)
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by massarog on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:23AM (#6935573)
Building a promotion isn't easy. ViralSweep helps businesses quickly and easily launch a giveaway to grow their audience: http://www.viralsweep.com
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by mbesto on Thursday December 19, 2013 @12:16PM (#6936033)
Endurance athletes, mainly triathletes, find it difficult to find one place to find races to participate in. (https://www.competehub.com/)
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by beat on Thursday December 19, 2013 @12:13PM (#6935987)
Enterprise apps are complex and holistic. Configuration drift breaks apps. Find configuration inconsistencies across different systems.

http://www.baqbeat.com

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by abraininavat on Thursday December 19, 2013 @12:16PM (#6936027)
Interesting idea, but your site lacks details. Vague blurbs with no real information about what's going on always turns me away.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by beat on Thursday December 19, 2013 @12:28PM (#6936147)
It's very early stage right now. Sign up for the mailing list and I'll keep you in the loop!

I'm bootstrapping alone around a day job. It's not impossible, but it's very painful. :( Trying to use my time wisely to get to a sellable product ASAP so I can switch to full time.

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by AznHisoka on Thursday December 19, 2013 @10:37PM (#6939788)
But parent has a very good point. You need to develop clarity around what specific problem your product is solving. Especially since you're bootstrapping with a day job. You don't have the resources to tackle a general, abstract problem (ie Excel). You need a very very tight niche and a very specific target audience.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by fookyong on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:38AM (#6935696)
Create content for your social media accounts in just a few clicks. Because creating content is time-consuming but we all need to do it!

http://beatrixapp.com

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by AznHisoka on Thursday December 19, 2013 @05:32PM (#6938422)
Isn't this curating content, not creating content since it's already been created from someone else? Subtle but huge difference, as most people won't view you as a thought leader if all you're doing is curating.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by fookyong on Thursday December 19, 2013 @07:46PM (#6939131)
Depends on your definition of "create", but Beatrix also creates :) It's not just about link sharing - sign up and choose (for example) the Technology category and you'll see original pieces of content as well as link sharing in your content feed.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by waps on Friday December 20, 2013 @09:01AM (#6941377)
Given that rewriting a text using AI is not that hard, I wonder. At what point does it stop being copying and start being creating ?

I sort of wonder about stuff like that. If you look at what we know about the algorithm that "is" the human mind, it's not actually capable of creating. So nothing is created. It's copies of other things, usually mixed together.

Most commercial AI products these days avoid patent issues by using AI. Every AI program that isolates and OCR's text uses dozens of patent pending techniques. It's just that this is not visible in the actual code. The reason that it's not in there is that that code encodes something akin to a VM, and the real program is the training results. It is generally very hard to determine what exactly the program does, but for trivial patents that (e.g. energy-lines to separate individual letters, or tracing likely pen movements and recognizing the derivative) is something these algorithms can be shown to do. Yet as far as I know, no-one's been successfully sued.

The algorithms themselves have the advantage that most are quite old, and have obvious roots in the 60s and 70s. So they are not patented in the US (effectively). Is this the perfect way around software patents ?

I wonder. Copyright-wise. If I use an algorithm analyse all text from an author and then have it produce "his next book", would that be legal ?

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by girvo on Thursday December 19, 2013 @12:21PM (#6936078)
Oh wow. That's awesome. Forwarding to my Mum for her new business...
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by mikemikemike on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:49AM (#6935793)
This is exactly the kind of idea that I want to have.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by ew on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:25AM (#6935587)
Data has gravity, and too much of it makes migrating or backing up cloud storage very hard. Mover (https://mover.io) helps SMEs move their data.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by kremdela on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:58AM (#6935863)
It's difficult to learn and practice biblical hebrew without a rabbi or mentor. http://www.hebrewgenius.com/
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by veesahni on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:39AM (#6935699)
Traditional help desks are over-complicated & hide your team behind "the desk" ..

We solve both - http://www.supportfu.com

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by huntaub on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:25AM (#6935592)
Linking the decentralization of Email with the convenience of Social Networking in an extremely flexible package.

http://www.airdispat.ch

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by thurn on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:43AM (#6935738)
I would note that not everything necessarily falls into this model. I don't think Angry Birds solves an all-caps PROBLEM in my life, but I think Rovio is doing ok.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by acemtp on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:49AM (#6935792)
Indeed, the goal of this thread is not to list everything just the project who solve a problem.

For angry birds, the problem it solves could be "people have too much time with nothing to do" :)

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by girvo on Thursday December 19, 2013 @12:16PM (#6936031)
Problem: I have free time, a smartphone, and a hatred for pigs, and wish to combine those things together?
[deleted]
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by acemtp on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:52AM (#6935828)
you describe what your product does, not what the problem is
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by krapp on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:48AM (#6935781)
I'll describe a problem I wish I could solve: Successful social media platforms inevitably violate their users' privacy and exploit their data.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by meowface on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:52AM (#6935827)
It's essentially the only way they can make money, unless someone in the future invents a creative new way to monetize social networks.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by krapp on Thursday December 19, 2013 @12:24PM (#6936114)
I don't like the way these sites try to own, brand and market various aspects of their users' identity in such a strong way, and make it hard to nigh impossible to archive or remove your data, but I understand why they do it. The only ideas I've had amount to "x with anonymous posting and a big red DELETE button" or "x, but charge for y and somehow convince people to pay or y even though y is free everywhere else."

I don't think I have a good solution but given the general growing unease and distaste people seem to have with social media, I know it's needed.

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by cogniteev on Thursday December 19, 2013 @04:49PM (#6938153)
You put stuff everywhere: FB, Dropbox, Gapps, Github, Twitter, Linkedin... Impossible to search throughout all services. Until now: www.docido.com
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by chollida1 on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:50AM (#6935801)
I'm solving how to aggregate many different input streams of data:

- market data,

- order streams,

-news,

- predictive models,

- pricing models

and push out the appropriate buy and sell orders.

Tonnes of data must be processed as fast and efficiently as possible.

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by acemtp on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:51AM (#6935814)
What is the problem the user have?
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by chollida1 on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:56AM (#6935847)
Many,

- How to trade more efficiently - How to deal with the increasingly complex data that must be munged, aggregated and pushed through a decision model - How to lower commissions - How to slice up orders so large orders don't move the market and hide strategies so HFT firms don't learn about your flow.

For sell side firms, we allow their buy side clients to trade more.

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by bradleyland on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:49AM (#6935799)
Deliver savings and transparency on large capital purchases for government and private-enterprise companies through real-time reverse auctions.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by adamzerner on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:33AM (#6935649)
Providing way more information to college applicants.

http://www.collegeanswerz.com/

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by abengoam on Thursday December 19, 2013 @01:11PM (#6936453)
Removing the first hurdle for new side projects: user authentication, via a centralized REST service. Less initial friction = more projects.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by firefoxNX11 on Sunday December 22, 2013 @05:57PM (#6952152)
grails?
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by iamwil on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:44AM (#6935753)
I'm solving the problem of collaborating on hardware projects online.

https://cubehero.com

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by mcintyre1994 on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:27AM (#6935605)
People use Email as a todo list, which sucks. Nobody wants to swap from email, and converting emails into a list of tasks is lame.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by czbond on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:33AM (#6935647)
Agreed. How are you attempting to solve. This is my big bad habit.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by mcintyre1994 on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:50AM (#6935812)
The focus is on time based tasks right now, my idea is automatically building tasks by finding and extracting times. At launch it'll probably be a case of copy/paste emails in and get tasks added; the obvious next step being adding by forwarding an email. I'd almost be in a position to get a demo working if it weren't for exams :)
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by abraininavat on Thursday December 19, 2013 @12:35PM (#6936197)
the obvious next step

Not so obvious to me. Consider browser plugins, desktop application (e.g. Outlook) plugins, letting users grant your service access to their online email, etc.

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by mcintyre1994 on Thursday December 19, 2013 @07:49PM (#6939146)
You're definitely right that there are other options, and I'll be reconsidering that approach closer to the time based on what's easiest/most important for actual users. Thanks for the comment :)
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by fbueno on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:49AM (#6935795)
Its hard to the business owner or marketer to update enhance and optimize the most valuable asset of theier website siteapps.com
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by braindead_in on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:46AM (#6935769)
High quality audio transcription with least effort. http://scribie.com
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by maximgsaini on Thursday December 19, 2013 @12:10PM (#6935964)
CRM application:

- Converts English notes into organized data.

- Zero navigation interface: Everything on one page.

- Code in natural language: Make quick buttons for anything.

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by chadkruse on Thursday December 19, 2013 @01:18PM (#6936518)
Giving away money is easy. Giving away money effectively is hard.

Link: http://kyn.me

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by petercooper on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:47AM (#6935774)
Quickly remaining informed of new developments, tools and ideas in different fields of software development.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by acemtp on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:50AM (#6935804)
You don't really describe a problem but describe what you are doing?
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by robodale on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:46AM (#6935772)
Owning a swimming pool building, repair and service business is hard work. We are here to lighten your load.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by canvsly on Thursday December 19, 2013 @10:53AM (#6935333)
Canvsly helps parents everyday go clutter free and guilt free by helping them save their kids artwork
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by peterchon on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:50AM (#6935802)
Network of friendly people willing to help stranded motorists nearby.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by firefoxNX11 on Sunday December 22, 2013 @05:58PM (#6952159)
AAA or dozen other road-side assistance?
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by davidw on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:23AM (#6935579)
Not having as much money/control over my life as I want.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by makerops on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:45AM (#6935757)
Getting your lawn mowed, without a bunch of bullshit.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by dangrossman on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:38AM (#6935692)
1 in 4 ad clicks are fraudulent.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by rfnslyr on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:41AM (#6935721)
I'm solving weight and budget issues. Grocery application. Scan barcode of items you're buying in store. List is generated. Define units for each item (12 granolas in a box, 1 unit = 1 granola, etc).

When you log your calories, you can only choose from the foods that you bought and logged. When you use them, the quantity decrements.

You setup reminders for when X food is at Y stock, and get push notifications based on that, an automated grocery list application with a calorie counter to manage your spending on food and weight!

Lost 100lb so far on it.

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by cshenoy on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:46AM (#6935768)
Interesting. Is this a public-ready application? Would love to see/hear more.
Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by rfnslyr on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:48AM (#6935789)
Not for a very long time. I made it using phonegap initially but it's not in the state I want it to be in.

I'm learning OBJC & JAVA via teamtreehouse as fast as I can so I can start building it natively for Android and iPhone.

I really can't stand apps that you're not absolutely thrilled to use, so I won't be releasing my current version.

Maybe in a few months? Anyone want to help out?

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by cshenoy on Thursday December 19, 2013 @01:18PM (#6936509)
I do iOS dev so I could potentially help. Feel free to email if you want to talk more.

me AT chetanshenoy.com

Re:Ask HN: What is the problem you try to solve? by antocv on Thursday December 19, 2013 @11:05AM (#6935463)
Should I stay or should I go

Nah but really, I try to solve the music listening and artist compensation problem on my spare time. Without regard for copyright since Im not doing it to make money.