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Comment by dmbass | Hacker News Reader

So are we supposed to believe that incumbent tech companies have no investments in new tech?

Canon is not working (or already passed) on the same stuff as Lytro? Samsung is not working (or already passed) on the same stuff as Nanosys? Cisco (or whoever) is not working (or already passed) on this type of stuff?

Anybody have examples of modern (within 10 years) stealthy startups/incubators that invented new hardware that revolutionized something?

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When I look at Lytro I think of E-Ink and FingerWorks, both companies that (like Lytro) grew out of academia and both of whose technology has been significant (arguably revolutionary) in the last decade.

Those are pretty good examples but it basically means that there is no reason to get excited about this now since it is many years away from making any kind of impact.

Anybody have examples of modern (within 10 years) stealthy startups/incubators that invented new hardware that revolutionized something?

Tivo (just outside your 10 year limit though)

Flip Video

Roomba

SpaceX

Telsa

Can you really call something like Roomba a revolution? I've met a single person in my life with a Roomba. People everywhere still sweep manually.

You have to look at it context - not every market works as quickly as the consumer tech market.

In the vacuum cleaner market there have been two major revolutions in the last 30 years.

The first was the Dyson. It was launched in 1986 and has slowly taken over the high end vacuum cleaner market.

The Roomba seems to be following a similar path. I know a few people who use it, and it has been a huge success for the company.

I see most of those as "revolutionary" applications of existing technologies/hardware. When I said hardware maybe I meant "technology"?

Roku? revolutionize is a strong word, but they've had a lot of impact.

I'd throw makerbot out there as revolutionary, but that's still a very young market. - not stealthy though.

Tesla motors?

Lots of networking and database companies have invented new hardware+software combinations, upon which they are promptly acquired by Cisco and Oracle, respectively.

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