
Like Airbnb, but for algorithms? - prostoalex
http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2015/03/21/like-airbnb-but-for-algorithms/HRx2sUg9fWQMvWZOsQ7xqL/story.html?p1=Article_Related_Box_Article_More
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danso
Jesus this is one of the most contrived "Like Airbnb[or Uber], but for XYZ"
similes I've seen in awhile...

> _Algorithms are common, but also difficult to create. Aspiring entrepreneurs
> can take an eight-week crash course and learn how to program an app, but
> writing algorithms is a specialized skill. Algorithms are usually taught in
> higher-level computer science classes, and require a strong mathematical
> background..._

 _Good_ algorithms can be hard to create, but anyone can create a algorithm,
as it's just a recipe of mechanical steps. Anyone can create a "recipe" (of
the cooking variety) for that matter.

Looking at Algorithmia's site, it basically looks like an eLance for writing
things like scraper scripts, with the additional service of running it on
their servers. Could be useful if their servers aren't EC2 and you need to run
something that makes requests to a site that has blocked EC2.

~~~
doppenhe
We run on multiple public clouds. We do have a lot of scraper algorithms
(mostly because the community created / wanted them) but also text analysis
tools, computer vision , audio and video processing etc. By operationalizing
these algorithms/functions/recipes we allow piecing together sacalable
services for larger applications . Google has been doing this internally for
years .

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smaili
I don't mean to bash, but when you have resources like
StackOverflow/StackExchange, Google Groups, and other forums that have most
questions and answers for all sorts of software topics, and eLance and oDesk
for hiring people to make whatever it is you need, what would make someone
want to use Algorithmia?

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bevan
I think there's a sizeable market for tailored code solutions that
"volunteers" wouldn't help out with. The bounty model can be more efficient /
less cumbersome than Elance for a set of problems.

A lot of people had this comment about Bountify.co; check it out to see what
kinds of code bounties people post.

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amelius
Good algorithms always end up as open source or as a scientific publication.
Therefore I'm not sure if this business model is viable.

~~~
huac
Even if the core of the algorithm is released, there can still exist better
proprietary implementations. Google Pagerank, Random Forests, ROOT/SIFT, etc
are examples of 'best in field' algorithms that aren't available for free,
public use.

~~~
GFK_of_xmaspast
Pagerank is just an eigenvector calculation, and for a sparse graph it's
linear in |V|+|E|. It's pretty easy to implement, I don't know what kinds of
improvements you'd want. There's a ton of random forest implementations out
there, what's the closed one that's so much better?

Also rootSIFT is patented so good luck with that.

~~~
huac
Google has all sorts of stuff built on top of PageRank for their search engine
- it's probably safe to say that their implementation is thus 'better' than
the released algorithm.

One of the RF creators consults with a company ([http://www.salford-
systems.com/products/randomforests](http://www.salford-
systems.com/products/randomforests)) on, I suppose, better implementations.
Some people have claimed it's better than the R implementation, I don't know.

RootSIFT being patented is kind of my point - the authors created a (good)
algorithm and haven't released it for free use. It's within these kinds of
niches that Algorithmia can succeed.

~~~
GFK_of_xmaspast
I think there's some confusion. Pagerank is the leading eigenvector of the
graph (G+1x) where G is an input graph and x is a weighting term.

This is not at all the same as modern Google ranking techniques, such as
Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird.

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itsmillertime4u
This has to be one of the worst analogies I've ever seen. This business model
is nothing like Airbnb. It's more closely aligned with something like
TemplateMonster, eLance, or oDesk.

I see no way you can rent out a algorithm for a business use and lease
basis..which is what Airbnb is.

Other then that this I see the reason that something like this exists.
Creating accurate mathematical formulas is definitely an art in itself that
not just anyone can do.

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mizzao
Uh, so is this going to be able to host the massive database used to store the
training data/model for some really large deep neural network or latent
variable model? Because it seems that's most of what the "algorithms" on this
service would be - just some application of machine learning.

No one is going to call this in order to run something like depth first
search.

~~~
doppenhe
We do have a full data api for storing those models if that's what you want to
do. We also help you train them , collect the data ,etc.

You can check out our blog at blog.Algorithmia.com for some examples.

~~~
minthd
Your platform is definitely interesting,and there's a lot of value locked in
academic algorithms , but isn't the fact that most academics haven't offered
algorithms via the cloud(it's not terribly complicated), hint to some other
barriers ? And how do you plan to remove those barriers ?

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lunactic
I really love this approach. I am currently trying to do something similar for
academics as part of my PhD project.

We have to understand that programming an algorithm actually is not always
"easy". Imagine a new method presented in an academic paper that you would
actually like to use. Re-Coding the whole thing that it works exactly the way
presented sometimes is not possible (as not all implementation details are
explained in the paper).

But imaging having a place (like Algorithmia) where researchers can upload
there implementation (without giving access to their source code) and for
others to access this algorithm with a very easy to use API would be a huge
step forward in academics.

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minthd
Why aren't academics just hosting in the cloud ?

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chatman
Here's an initiative by Jimmy Lin to standardize implementations of IR used in
Academia. Reproducibility of results is now made possible:
[https://github.com/lintool/IR-Reproducibility](https://github.com/lintool/IR-
Reproducibility)

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tonyblundell
Sounds more like $5 logos for programmers.

The technology behind it sounds really interesting - expecting programmers to
chase bounties and work for nothing up-front with only the possibility of
getting paid - not so much.

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sjg007
An algorithm defines a startup. Don't sell yourself short.

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weatherlight
Creating accurate efficient algorithms is an art in that not anyone can do.
However, the majority of problems the average engineer will run into has
already been solved and are accessible with a little searching on google or
stack overflow. Sites like this kinda make me sad.

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mwilcox
It's called a 'SaaS marketplace' or 'API marketplace'

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GFK_of_xmaspast
These people have come up here before, and I remain incapable of understanding
who exactly is (a) going to be interested in using this and (b) is incapable
of finding or implementing their own solution.

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thomasfoster96
I though Algorithmia launched years ago?

~~~
mjn
It soft-launched in 2014, I believe. I registered on their website asking for
an account sometime in 2014, and got an invite in September 2014 to what the
email described as a "private beta". The general public launch where anyone
can just click and create an account was earlier this year.

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ai_ja_nai
Mashape anyone?

