xgarland

"The same people that would reject you for having bad grammar are effectively racists."

Now, how exactly did you arrive at this conclusion? This just might be one of the most, if not the most, ridiculous statements I've ever seen on here.

I don't think any business that achieves that sort of valuation should be considered a "startup".

It'll be worth even more in the coming years, which is not hard to fathom when you look at Uber as a logistics company rather than a taxi-replacement.

Great point!

Ditto

Salves were usually forced against their will to do arduous tasks, which I'm sure none of them quite enjoyed nor voluntarily signed up for. I understand that some employers may treat their workers poorly (and some may even think of themselves as actual slavemasters) but this is a very poor comparison.

This is exciting news - great work! Look forward to seeing more smart people collaborate around speech technology in the coming years.

And I believe there is also a huge difference between someone signing up for your product and someone actively using it after signing up. In my experience, I found that many people will sign up for a product out of general interest, but won't do much beyond that stage.

Very interesting merger of social and e-commerce here. I'd expect other players in the space to follow suit, or at least discover new ways to engage their clientele via social channels.

I would not be surprised if they scoop up and acquire Postmates in the next 12-18 months.

Who are you currently for your telecom services? I'm always surprised about the amount of money businesses spend on their phone system.

Seems like people are just looking for any and everything to be offended by these days.

Agreed.

The shift towards a more affordable machine that can meet the most basic productivity needs will attract businesses, especially since we now live in world with more mobile workforces.Bloated OS's are a thing of the past and no longer needed as much now as they were 10, 15 years ago.

Wow, didn't have a clue that their terrible ads had already begun targeting Chromebooks. Seriously, someone over there really need to find a better way of trying to separate from the competition.

While I don't have any interest in shifting to Chrome OS entirely, I do think Google has made quite a leap in their recent Chromebook offerings.

I, for one, was one of the original pundits that lambasted the Chromebook movement in the beginning, but I am starting to warm up to the idea of owning one in the coming year. It surely will not replace my MBA, but there is room for it to serve as a secondary machine to people like myself.

Lastly, Microsoft should feel threatened by the recent uptick in adoption, because this kind of exodus towards ChromeOS will only eat more into their once massive share of the OS market. If Google continues to make progress in this space, $MSFT will most definitely have start paying attention and counter their growth. The new CEO in Redmond has a lot cut out for him upon taking the reins from Ballmer.

Yeah, it appears to me that the author sole purpose was to discredit the currency more out of bitterness more than actual valid data.

Even the approach of sending cold emails may not be as effective, since plenty of restaurants still don't leverage basic tools available for communication and connection, including the internet.

As Yiggy said, try sourcing targets from Yelp and Open Table, then proceed to catch someone who is willing to talk during low traffic hours.

Not sure if this strategy is the best, but just something to think about when dealing with people in and around the service industry.

Not only mail, but the native cal app has become unbearable, too! Used to be one of my favorite applications until about snow leopard.

Unfortunately, this is the shared reality of many in the Valley. And that's not to say you should feel any less or more guilty than others faced with this dilemma.

The challenges that exist with developing products for "everyone else" are nothing short of daunting. For one, anything that comes with high cost and high functionality will most likely intimidate the average consumer.

Much easier to develop for those who are more savvy than your average Joe blow who doesn't wish invest the time nor money while adopting a new product. Even with all that being said, I do believe there needs to be more of push to cater to those who aren't as sophisticated.

Agreed -- the fallacy pushed out into society that higher education is the only path to success is absolutely absurd.

Even moderate domain expertise in most fields will trump the copious amount of useless information floating around in textbooks today.

Traditional academia has already begun to erode over the past few years, but I'll be happy when society finally wakes up and recognizes that empty credentials shouldn't always serve as the absolute indication of future success or achievements.

I don't think that is the point being made. The point is that there's been a lack of transparency on Google's behalf, and a lot of users, like myself, have grown tired of it.

But I don't understand why Google refuses to just offer this as a stand alone product for those of us who actually do enjoy this service, ya know.

Is it me or has this theme of Silicon Valley's innovation, or lack thereof, become played out?

Like, it's become sort of the popular thing to do as of late, and it is such bullshit. Pundits are so quick to criticize the region as a whole yet only can point to startups they see everyday in mainstream tech media—very annoying.

I've experienced this far too often in the past few months, it's starting to become a bit unbearable. Just not sure why Uber continues to onboard drivers who seem incompetent and have no sense of direction.

It'd be nice if I can get in the car and get to my destination without feeling like a got damn TOM TOM by the time I arrive.

Ever heard of Pinterest? They definitely fall into that category of companies with little to no revenue, but have a massive valuation.

Here's the thing: While users may not be paying with their dollars just yet, almost all of them are paying with their time. So, it's not completely absurd that certain companies are able to attract such capital if investors continue to recognize huge potential in the long run.

And there's also tons of people who don't necessarily like using the service, but somewhat forced to for a number of reasons. I, for one, don't find the service that useful, however, most employers find it particularly odd if you don't have one.

So, you're kind of put into an odd position by electing to go against the service in this day and age. Granted, no one is putting a gun to your head and telling you to use LinkedIn. Yet societal pressures (specifically in professional circles) have somewhat made it difficult to go against the grain.

While I may not contribute much to the chatter here on HN, I have recognized an insane amount of whining from the MSFT community. Again, this is based upon my experience and observations during my time here :)

Agreed. The cry for attention from the Microsoft community is becoming a bit annoying, especially on HN.