Sure, it wouldn't be hard to re-load the data in a new dataset/table with more accurate types. Strings are just the default. I just wasn't sure how clean the data was and didn't want to debug bad data before loading. I was lazy basically.
But if you wanted to do it, it's pretty straightforward.
In the meantime I haven't found it to be too hard to just INTEGER(field) and FLOAT(field) wherever I need to.
I would say the value of an idea is inversely related to the difficulty to execute the idea. The idea for the million dollar homepage was extremely valuable because the execution of the idea wasn't too technically difficult. There are plenty of freelancers who could implement that idea. Same with the idea for ChatRoulette and Groupon.
If an idea is really difficult to implement, such as a better Google, then the idea is much less valuable than execution.
But if the idea is easy to implement than anyone will be able to copy that idea and the value will tend to zero.
My strategy is the opposite - take ideas that are often simple to state but whose execution is so complex as to tax the limits of the human mind. Then if I succeed I shouldn't have to worry much about competition (at least for a couple of years).
Easy to implement ideas are easy to copy, but that doesn't necessarily mean the value of the idea will tend to zero. See Woot, Groupon, Craigslist, etc. There are network effects and first mover advantages that help the first to implement an idea and gain traction.
I would say your strategy follows my point. In your case, the ideas that are often simple to state aren't valuable. The value is all in the execution.
I often wonder why the software and internet businesses seem so strongly winner take all, where the winner is most typically not the first but the best (in a sense measured by the market) to execute an idea (ie. Microsoft, Google, Facebook). It seems like the classical economic view of competitive markets is becoming more and more of a fantasy world.
Yeah, it's interesting. The reasons vary for each company and books could probably be written for each one. A key factor is network effects. Read up on network effects: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect
"In economics and business, a network effect (also called network externality) is the effect that one user of a good or service has on the value of that product to other people. When network effect is present, the value of a product or service increases as more people use it."
Not just internet and software businesses, railroads, telephone networks, and financial markets are other businesses that are impacted by network effects.
It seems to me that the ideas that you call valuable (ChatRoulette, Million Dollar Homepage), are recipes for shooting stars: they become popular overnight but have little staying power. By contrast, dumb me-too ideas (Google, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Zappos), when executed well, can create lasting businesses. Does anyone have counterexamples?
The Million Dollar Homepage may be a shooting star, but it is certainly valuable idea. You can make a decent living if you come up with an idea like it every year.
I would argue that Chatroulette has staying power. It's not as popular as it was during the media hoopla, but they still get 250k users day. That's not Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr, but that's enough to get by.
I would also look at Groupon, Woot, and HARO. Simple ideas that have created sustainable businesses.
I think ICQ is a counter example. based on great idea(for that time) and got viral very fast. stayed strong for a couple of years.
Microsoft has beaten it , using it's windows platform, so in a fair world , ICQ might have become the winner.
Stoned guy here. You just need to chill out and recognize the problem of the penis... man. It's giving the internet bad karma.
Seriously, I was a little tired, but I was not stoned. Could I have made an awesome polished video? Sure. But they said talk spontaneously as I would to a friend, and I took their instructions literally.
My recommendation would have been to seem more enthusiastic and professional. The idea seemed kind of, umm, unique. But if you had presented it more professionally and with serious facts and data, I think it would have made a better impression Also, maybe some ideas about who you will market the idea and how it could make money. You could've offered specifics about maybe marketing it to parents somehow. Or connecting your idea to some sort of succesful product that involves internet safety.
I included additional details about potential users and what not in my application.
An example use-case, which I didn't get into in the video, is an entrepreneurial designers and developers event.
Here's how it works:
1) Designers and developers RSVP in advance for an online event that takes place at a set date and time.
2) Upon joining the event, each designer is presented with a list of developers in the event with basic bio info from their LinkedIn profile. Each designer can then check off who they want to chat with in the event. The same happens for developers.
3) Once the event starts, they are placed in a series of one-on-one chat with a designer (or developer) that they've previously indicated that they're interested in meeting. During the chats, each participant can view the other participants LinkedIn profile. These chats last for a set time, say three minutes, like speed dating. In the event, participants meet a lot of people that they're interested in meeting in short one-on-one chats. That's the general idea.
There are a lot of flaws with this concept. And I've actually started working on a different idea shortly after I submitted my Ycombinator app, but I still think this idea has some limited potential.
What I submitted was this: rapidintro.com:8000 You need two people to really demo it. Oauth with LinkedIn and then you video chat. The video chat is still buggy. We didn't finish the event system. This is the first ChatRoulette configuration written in Erlang.
The reason the design looks like it was designed by Slovakian college student for $50 is, well, because it was designed by a Slovakian college student for $50.
As I said before, we are now working on a different application and we should be completing that shortly. I'm considering releasing this application, with some design tweaks, as is to Hacker News and other entrepreneurial communities and seeing what happens.
I wonder how much of their lead in traffic has to do with better SEO on Digg submissions. I see Digg submissions come up all the time in Google searches. I hardly ever see Reddit submissions.
