Are coders running out of ideas

[Sifiso21031085]

Whats new in the software development world, last I heard wechat and instargram where the next big things

[jwenting]

coders aren't the ones inventing business plans.

There's a lot of ideas out there, problem is getting funding. You might have noticed the world's in a bit of an economic slump, which isn't helping to get investment capital for radical new business ideas.

[Reverend Jim]

That's the trouble with TNBT (the next big thing). The world seems to oscillate between hype and boredom. We get TNBT and that's all you hear about for a few months or possibly a few years. Then TNBT comes along with new hype and all you hear about TLBT (the last big thing) is "that's so yesterday". Now that everybody and their dog has a Facebook page (even grandparents for crying out loud) the "cool" people are abandoning it.

[jwenting]

yay, I'm now "kewl" for never having got on the facebook bandwagon...

[Sifiso21031085]

Guyz But whats wrong with Facebook ?

[mike_2000_17]

Whats new in the software development world, last I heard wechat and instargram where the next big things

Things like wechat and instagram have very little to do with software development. Saying that wechat and instagram are the next big thing in software development is like saying that tablets are the next big thing in the molding of plastics. Molding plastic for one thing is as easy as for another, and new products are rarely revolutionary in the techniques used.

It would be more accurate to say that these things are the next big thing in social media, or internet marketing, or in the mobile markets. But from a technical "software development" point of view, these things are trivial and are not pushing any boundaries, as far as I'm aware. So, be sure to focus on the correct terms. If you want to know what's the next "app bubble", then that's one thing, but software development is something else.

From looking at current job postings and stuff, clearly, the current big thing in software development is data mining and predictive analytics. Also, computer vision is booming (e.g., kinect on steroids, facial recognition, vision-guided self-driving cars or robots, etc.). And, of course, more distributed software paradigms (e.g. cloud stuff, more inter-connected smart devices (in home, car, etc.), etc.). I think these are the current and next big challenges in software development.

[Reverend Jim]

Too many ads.

Too little privacy.

Too high a ratio of crap to content.

It takes away from actual (as opposed to perceived) friendship and contact.

Maintaining a Facebook page has become a chore. Documenting your life has become more important than living it.

[Stuugie]

Extending software capabilities is still prevalent is it not? Take Microsoft Excel for instance, it's by no means new but there is still a high demand for Excel development in business settings. Web development is not new either but dynamically mainstreaming it for noob designers is getting bigger in the industry. Really, there doesn't need to be a "next big thing" in software when expanding capabilities of existing software is in higher demand.

[diafol]

It's just SOS (Same Old S...) isn't it? All that social media crap. A platform to tell the world that you just went to the toilet, and if yo're lucky you can post a photo of this amazing event. How absolutely wonderful and fulfilling.

You shouldn't be asking about software (or social media) development, but the challenges facing personal development, as our children become zombified while their parents look on proudly.

[Stuugie]

as our children become zombified while their parents look on proudly.

And that's a huge problem imo. Unfortunately, a lot of parents aren't looking on at all and I've seen that vicariously through my kids' accounts. I have a no-unknown-password policy in my house which swings both ways, towards my kids and back at me, when it comes to social networking. My kids, 15 and 12, don't mind at all because they've never known different and they're not little a-holes (imo) about it all. However, they do become zombies on the weekends but they should have some time to zombify with screens in general, it's good for them too.

[mike_2000_17]

A platform to tell the world that you just went to the toilet, and if yo're lucky you can post a photo of this amazing event.

That gives me an idea of a pretty useful app. How about an app that can analyse a picture of your stool and tell you if you are healthy, if you ate too much or too little of something (e.g., fiber, spices, etc.), if you drink enough water, or if you should go to the doctors right away, because experts can know a lot of stuff like that just by looking at the stool. That would really be the apogee of the "app madness", taking pictures of your own shit!

[diafol]

Great - let's fill Faceballs and Twatter with even more of the stuff.

[Reverend Jim]

A platform to tell the world that you just went to the toilet

It's been done. See here.

[jwenting]

There's now facebook users who won't let you even view their pages unless you "like" them first.
And you wonder what's wrong with Facebook?

[Stuugie]

No one can view my facebook unless we are friends. Also, the like option is supposed to be for fan pages and the likes, not just Sarah Tam from Illinois.

[jwenting]

Seeing them used for corporate advertising. "Like us to see our special offers", etc..
Dishonest.

[diafol]

I had to 'like' my local Domino's Pizza place to leave a negative comment with regard to the service and the quality of the food. Ironic.

[Dani]

Seeing them used for corporate advertising. "Like us to see our special offers", etc..
Dishonest.

I don't see that as dishonest at all. Special offers aren't a "right" that you are entitled to as the consumer. It's the company's perogative to ask for you to do something for them in exchange for special offers, discounts or coupons, which is costing the company money for your benefit. It's completely your choice to choose to not take them up on those offers, but then you don't get what they're giving away in exchange. Similar to signing up for their mailing list in exchange for coupons being mailed to you, or signing up for a store credit card in exchange for a discount.

[Reverend Jim]

When someone says "I have 537 Facebook friends", what I hear is "I don't have any real friends."

[Stuugie]

I've got 200+ FB friends and 2 real friends that I've been friends with for 20 years. That's enough for me.

[Reverend Jim]

An alternate quote is - when I hear someone say "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", what I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

[jwenting]

@Dani if you can't even see what the offers are... They're fishing for likes just to get higher FB rankings. No different from buying likes from clickfarms IMO.

[diafol]

I hate those 'like whores' on FB too. Thing is, you can always "unlike" them.

[jwenting]

or not create an FB account in the first place. Just keep running into them when redirected automatically from other pages to such FB crap...

[user304795]

Really good point posed by OP.

[Stuugie]

An alternate quote is - when I hear someone say "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", what I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

I don't really get what's imaginary about being street smart?!

Having had to spend time in the streets as a youth, and I mean living, sleeping, and surviving in the streets, there is validity to being street smart. There are a lot of dangers involved with living on the streets and you have to do things that are more unconventional to survive. That term usually applies to street survival.

Now, what I refer to happened to me a long time ago and I've grown into a guy with book smarts too but I will always cling to the fact being street smart is a very valid term.

[Stuugie]

There should be unlike buttons to go with all like buttons.

[Dani]

coders aren't the ones inventing business plans.

Among Silicon Valley and startup culture they are.

[Agilemind]

Trouble is most of the 'next big things' on the internet are having trouble becoming profitable. While many are popular translating that into money is not so straight forward. Twitter, Spotify, Instagram etc... all have huge user bases and tons of content but aren't profitable yet.