diasks2

Very cool idea. I think you should add something like select2[1] to your select input. That way when a user starts typing it could automatically start to autosuggest procedures.

[1] http://ivaynberg.github.io/select2/

I only see a blank page with the title, footer and "Refresh List". Tried it in Safari and Chrome.

Looks interesting. Why not have a input on the landing page where someone can try it out without even signing up? I think then people could give it a spin before they give away their email address. Otherwise, the user just has to trust your 99% figure, which it might be helpful to give some data around, even if it is a footnote (on a corpus of x, over x period of time, etc.)

Also, I think it would be clearer if it said "A simple and scalable way to automatically classify text by language" instead of "A simple and scalable way to classify automatically text by language".

Design looks very clean though. Nice work.

EDIT: Also, your social media links at the bottom aren't hooked up yet.

Built the site with Rails and WebSockets. I hope to add WebRTC video soon. I teach some English lessons through Skype and I wanted a chat client that I could easily show my students their mistakes (and if I add video something that could completely replace Skype for teachers and students). Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Seeking work: Ruby on Rails developer who can also do front end work (JavaScript, jQuery, d3.js, HTML, CSS). I also specialize in building financial applications (portfolio management tools, analysis tools, etc.). Based in Tochigi, Japan and used to working remotely with clients from all over the globe. diasks2@gmail.com

Thanks for checking it out. I haven't gotten around to creating an API yet, but I am very interested to learn more about what your use case might be and what data you would like to be able to import, etc. Send me an email (my screenname at gmail.com).

Thanks for creating these videos. They are a GREAT resource.

For anyone looking to learn d3.js, I would highly recommend starting with the video tutorials by enjalot (the above linked or dot enter vol. 1). He does a great job of walking through how each visualization works.

Additionally, tributary (http://tributary.io/) is perfect for playing with d3.js.

That's a good list. I think the most important first step is to find what really interests you (whether that be comic books, TV shows, movies, music) and use that as a starting point. For example, a lot of people I know learned Japanese because they were interested in anime. If you are studying something that truly interests you, it is much easier to stay motivated.

In my opinion, there is still a lot of room for innovation in the online language learning space. It is a very tough problem to solve and it is one that I am currently working on with my startup - BiFluent[1]. Our thesis is that one thing that is really missing for people learning a foreign language is metrics. If you are running a startup, I'm sure you could immediately tell me how many new users signed up today, what your current conversion rate is, etc. But can you do the same thing if you are learning a foreign language? Can you tell me what your level was 1 year ago, 6 months ago, 1 month ago? Can you tell me (precisely) what your strengths are, and what your weaknesses are (speaking, pronunciation, vocabulary, idioms, grammar, etc.)? Can you tell me which words you should be studying next, based on frequency analysis and tailored to fit your study goals? I believe that if you truly know your level, and if you are able to measure your improvement over short term periods (every month), it becomes much easier to stay motivated and stay on track.

One tool we are hoping to ship in the next week or so is a vocabulary assessment tool. Historically, the only way people have measured vocabulary is by the number of words you know. For example, "I know 5,000 words". In my opinion, this is a vanity metric. It doesn't really tell us any useful, actionable information. Our new tool reports what we call your Vocabulary Coverage Ratio. This is the percentage of the total vocabulary of a language that you will know or understand (analyzed on a frequency basis). So, for example, if your Vocabulary Coverage Ratio is 85%, this means that you will understand 85% of the vocabulary in any given situation. After we ascertain your level with our tool, we can also break out your coverage ratio across different mediums (TV, newspapers, magazines, fiction) using the data in our corpus. Also, once we know your vocabulary coverage ratio, we can use the frequency analysis in our database to give you tailored study lists. These study lists will show you the next 50 most frequent words you should be studying based on your current level and interest (we have different lists for medical, business, SAT, GRE, TOEIC, etc.). If you choose the right words to target, you can quickly improve your coverage ratio.

So in conclusion, I think the best "hack" is a mix of two things. 1) You need to find what interests you and use that as a jumping point 2) you need to use science and tools to accelerate your progress (just like we use analysis tools in every other aspect of our lives).

[1] https://www.bifluent.com

Interesting interview. Although Mr. Hori seems optimistic about the younger generations in Japan (and I would like to agree with him), I still think that the "New Japan" he describes is much, much smaller than he makes it out to be. Overall though, I have seen a lot of positive progress in the entrepreneurial community in Japan over the past couple of years, especially with regards to incubators/accelerators gaining more traction.

I'm curious what a typical use case of this tool would be? It seems like the 25mb max is kind of limiting for dealing with large CSV files where this tool might be even more useful.

Thanks, that is a good point about the tooltip. I think having the collocate plus the node word in the tooltip will make it much easier to grasp. Thank you for the feedback.

Thanks for the feedback. I've considered doing a guest registration, but then decided to just put some sample questions on the front page that users can try out. Seems like we should possibly try out a guest registration.

Yes, if we can find some success in this market we plan to expand to other markets and languages.

Yes, right now we are targeting Japanese learning English as we have experience in that market. If we are able to achieve product/market fit we definitely want to expand to other languages and countries. We are still working on fully localizing the app. Thanks for checking it out!

Yes, you are correct. Right now (our MVP) we only offer tests. In the future we have plans for some other tools that are more geared toward teaching. We also hope to be able to teach through the results of the test (i.e. we offer explanations and tips for each question a user gets wrong or skips). With other tests, you typically only receive your score, but we want to offer transparent results that you can check every question and answer set and try to learn from your mistakes.

OP here. We went live with the site last week and emailed it to a few people we know in our target market. Feedback is in and we are doing a horrible job of explaining what the site is, the benefits of the site and how to actually use the site. One thing we are planning to do is create a ~1 minute video. Other than that though, I would love your feedback/ideas on how to make our onboarding process suck less.

Also, if anyone will be attending the Tokyo Hacker News Meetup tomorrow night, feel free to give me your feedback in person.

Yes, I think Super Deluxe is a good place for an event like this. Last year I went to the Mobile Monday App Exhibition [1] there and it was a nice open space that allowed people to move around and mingle.

[1] http://momoto.doorkeeper.jp/events/257-momo-tokyo-sept-12-ap...

I think you should keep going. In my opinion any materials that make it easier for beginners to get started on programming are a net benefit to society. Over the coming years I think there is going to be a divide between those that can program and those that can't as technology continues to be an ever increasing part of our lives. I am in full support of anything that helps break down the barrier to jumping in and getting started.

Great start and I look forward to seeing the finished version. Keep us updated on your progress.

If you want some awesome downloadable freebies, the artist Patrick Washburn from Tokyo has been doing these types of foldable designs for awhile now:

Spock: http://blog.patokon.com/2011/08/spock-wobblehead-papercraft....

Spidey 50th Wobblehead and Old 52: http://blog.patokon.com/2012/06/spidey-50th-wobblehead-and-o...

Captain America and Conan: http://blog.patokon.com/2011/09/marvel-comics-wobbleheads-ca...

Yoda: http://blog.patokon.com/2011/07/yoda-papercraft.html

Putter King: http://www.slideshare.net/putterking/putter-king-wobblehead

Very cool! Do you have any data on how long the "happening" lasted? Would be neat if you could somehow incorporate that into the size of the circle in the left graph, or instead of showing the number of happenings on the right graph, you could instead show the downtime.

Awesome site! I don't anything constructive to say except that this is exactly the kind of site I have been dreaming of. Unfortunately I lost my power meter on a ride about a year ago and haven't replaced it yet. If I do I will be sure to make good use of your site. I'm especially impressed with the graphs. I saw you mentioned you wrote the code yourself. Any plans to open source it?

At first I was excited as I thought you were based in Japan and you were going to give insight about payments in the Japanese market. Great post, nonetheless. Does anyone have any good info on payment options in Japan outside of PayPal. I'm aware of E-context, SBI, and Digital Check. I would greatly appreciate any anecdotes, horror stories, or recommendations of other payment options in Japan.