I question how well Watson would handle single questions at a time being asked compared to the millions of requests a day it would get if it was setup like say, Siri. Not that you are wrong in any way, they could certainly scale into an even bigger server farm and use the internet to deliver the questions and answers, I just wonder how much more server's they'd need.
I like how someone commented on the main article that the time is getting close to where AI can step up to the plate of creativeness and how widespread and easy this will make our lives. Watson is a giant server farm, not a single PC, this stuff won't make a huge impact until IBM can shrink it or until computers get much much faster and smaller. Not that it won't happen, it's just not "around the corner" in any way.
I see where you thought I was asserting anything, when I said the 50 - 50 split was a killer for me doing most of the work. I hadn't really meant it like that but since your right in that customer acquisition isn't easy for people that have never done it then I refer you to a comment I posted below. That this is really for someone who has a crummy low wage job and would stand to gain a lot out of the deal.
As for me personally (which I said off the bat was the kind of answers I was bringing. Personal opinions on why I myself wouldn't do it.) I feel comfortable with my ability to sale to people and gain good traction and growth.
You have to question why the idea would never have seen the light of day. If it's strictly because you have a cruddy job that pays minimum wage but you are smart and capable then yeah this would be the kind of opportunity one would be able to take advantage of. If you are like many of the people here, in that we aren't making terribly low amounts of money and can save up then it's not money that's keeping you from your dreams, it's you.
I guess what I'm trying to say is it REALLY depends on the person. This isn't for everyone.
Not sure why you got down-voted so much, it didn't seem like you were being ridiculous. Maybe people didn't like when you equated the OP with a loan shark? That said sometimes people need loan sharks.
I'd take you up on the offer, but for a couple things. Maybe it just means this isn't for me.
1 - That 50 - 50 split is a killer when I'm doing most of the work.
2 - You talk about taking a month or two and full time working on this project until completion. Trust me when I say I'd love to do that, the issue is I can't just go jump back into the same job as if I didn't ditch everyone here for two months.
Like I said this is probably just not for me, but those are two things you may want to consider for version 1.1.
I'm not trying to be presumptuous, but I've never seen someone defy laws of physics by still having plenty of time to live while also spending over half that life online. It's simple math is all I'm getting at. I go through this with some friends of mine often, they insist that they still get stuff done while spending every waking moment on games and touching their computers to program or what have you for a half an hour and getting frustrated. Guess what they do to get past frustration, play games. It's not a good cycle.
Btw, I hold a full time job and played over 8 hours of Prototype 2 yesterday(just to get the platinum trophy). On days I work I still end up playing 2-3 hours a day, I don't spend 5-6 hours playing games though because it would get in the way of my programming.
I'm not sure how that researcher in that article is okay with saying that if someone is spending 10 - 14 online but isn't ruining employment, relationships and children he's fine. The reason he doesn't have a job, a relationship and children is probably directly due to not wanting to leave his game world and enter the real world. It's like he's saying oh well this guy already had no life so he's good to replace it with one online, while if he had ruined a real life by going online that would have been a bad thing.
Original quote. "I've come across very excessive players - playing for 10 to 14 hours a day - but for a lot of these people it causes no detrimental problems if they are not employed, aren't in relationships and don't have children."
If the price of patent filing was to increase it would increase the barrier for people that don't have a lot of money. Filing in the US starts at $390. http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/qs/ope/fee100512.htm. I picture a person without a job and lots of time on their hands coming up with something truly unique and amazing, only to be met with an even larger barrier to entry to make sure some big company can't rip off the idea and go to product with their budget. People already face daunting forms, making the process harder only negatively effects poor people that can't afford a team of lawyers and paralegals.
Other than that I found your points on how the current system doesn't incentivize creation but dissuades it instead good, I can say I've been put off from a few of my ideas because I find a patent that's a bit too close and I really don't want to have to face that. Maybe one day when I have billions I can be a renegade, not yet though.
I second biot's idea. I'll buy it right now though since I want to see it go further and you need money for that. Might I suggest for the time being adding in a right click and "open in browser" that leads to the comment page for the article? That ways it's at least a quick one step to get where you need to be in order to comment and upvote.
Why exactly should it be free and open source? Because last time I checked hacker news isn't specifically free or open source, it's news for hackers, and it's parent company (ycombinator) tailors itself to startups and investors. Both of which want to make money, so I'm not really getting how you came to your conclusion. I for one don't mind paying $1.49 for an app, I just spent 5 dollars on coffee...
I gave you a round of applause for stating that Americans should hold their government to a higher standard. Last time I checked we Americans walk around thinking we are the best and most free place in the world. Sometime's it feels like that's a facade though, because when things like feds reading all our emails for little to no reason occur they throw their hands up and say two things, first "I have nothing to hid so I'm not worried about this." followed by "at least we have freedom at all, in insert country name here women don't even have the right to vote." That's all fine and dandy, I'm glad we as a country are better in that regards. How much longer will it last like this though? With our rights eroding away like Niagara falls.
My point was that the ONLY thing that was listed was details being the separating point, and that there is more to it then that. It wasn't meant as a quip just a clarification, if anything a question even, not requiring a snarky answer but maybe a genuine one. But, I forget, I'm on the internet and snarky is everyone's default for whatever reason.
I'd venture to say that it takes much more then just details to separate an amateur from a master. Knowledge of theory, an eye for errors big and small, etc. Maybe the details separate the good from the best?
I've got an ASUS laptop running windows 8, I can say I'm looking forward to forgetting this dumb touchy trackpad and replacing it with a leap. (I may even try and remove the trackpad, hollowing out the space for a leap. If I feel brave :) )
Edit: Oh and yes feature set is important, but I find that just about all mid range to high end laptops have everything I want (USB 3.0, Webcam for programming stuff, 1080p screen (I chose my ASUS over a Samsung because it has excellent speakers and a sub woofer bullet. [both of which blast out beautiful sound.])
I'm one nerd, and I know a solid two hundred plus people in real life that asked me what the Instagram thing was all about because they had heard about some stuff and needed clarification. I won't run through what I talked to them about but I can assure you, it is not just nerds and geeks that care about this stuff. The key difference why I got 200+ people IRL asking me questions about Instagram? Because I am patient and can explain things in layman's terms. Non-technical people won't ever ask someone that assumes they don't want to know these things questions regarding these things.
It's interesting that at the end of the article the author mentions that the end game is often the creation of a newer better vault. I often wonder what it would be like if everything that was in the biggest best vaults was unleashed to change the wasteland into something better. As it stands so much money and technology gets sequestered away to be used in emergencies or to maintain the advantage. The world could really use some of that vault tech everyone stores away.
Edit: Almost forgot to mention that hopefully the trend of creating new vaults goes away and is replaced with that openness that would let our wasteland prosper.
That's crazy talk, like all the people that pay over a dollar in the humble bundles or actually go out and buy the music they tried out via illegal download. Just crazy talk.
Sons of Anarchy has been better and better each season, this years topped it off for me. There may be a few other shows and cartoons (Oh noooes.) But as far as live action it's SOA all the way.
(I must disclose that I haven't seen breaking bad yet, and from what I hear I need to watch it very badly. Especially since I love SOA as much as I do, or so I've heard)
He wasn't making a case for higher taxes. He was simply stating that the taxes and programs that went into our military having good medical facilities for themselves, spouses and children. The taxes that go into grants and education (and school counselors ), and the taxes that go into providing food to the least fortunate. All had a very positive effect on allowing him to turn himself into a successful and happy person.
Where's the data to support this claim? You do understand there were the crusades and all the violence out of that. (Don't get me started on the wars actually talked about in the bible as well, where god says from Deuteronomy 20:14
"As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies." So basically he gave the warriors clearance to rape and pillage.)
I feel like if they had Apple would have quietly said no, but that since they did get funded and all that they were able to get people to put pressure on Apple. Obviously it's hard to say if things would have played out like that but it's something to consider.
I'd love to read a book detailing how he went about it. (Other then the bible.) It looks beautiful. That he had the forethought to put a restaurant and theater in is topping on the cake.
I keep thinking of the crusades as a prime example of higher power gone wrong(and just how bad humans can get, and also that happened way back when and all). It's just interesting to me though that you say we need a higher power, and that higher power is often the government that is corrupt.
No worries about rants, I like reading them and trying to get myself to not just see another's point of view, but to own it, try and make it mine and get an even deeper sense of what's going on behind the words. And sleep well.
Really? No higher anything tells me to be a good person, I do it because it's the right thing to do and I've seen pain and wouldn't want people to experience it for no reason. Maybe you need someone/something to tell you what's right and wrong, but not everyone does.
For me the magic about the humble bundles was never the games, but the charities. In this case more money for them is better, and one can never have too many games anyways. For as long as the bundles are still high quality I'll always get them.