Comments on: InstaCalc: A Shared Embeddable Calculator

By: Bryan Starbuck

Bryan Starbuck — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 03:44:16 +0000

Web 2.0 vs Applications…

InstaCalc.com is a very creative startup that contrasts how web sites can be much better then a legacy Software Application. InstaCalc chose to be better than Excel by doing less. They focus on the scenario of getting a quick calculation…

By: Kalid

Kalid — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 02:48:08 +0000

This is Kalid from InstaCalc - thanks again for all the feedback and reviews.

I’ve made many updates to the site, including an HTML-only widget, and have several new features under development. More details here:

http://instacalc.com/blog/inst.....ial-part-2

Thanks for your comments, they help to continually improve the service.

By: Christian Libor

Christian Libor — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 06:44:45 +0000

Nice thing, although its neither comparable to calculators, sportscars or burgers.
Because you need this to document and explain any calculation, athough it should allow for more than just one presentation mode (after a while these boxes look as aweful to math allergics, such as carl, as calculators already do).
So Kalid - to start with, if you can, allow for an option to hide parts of the calulation ! Sort of tree view, as in your file manager / explorer.

By: carl rahn griffith

carl rahn griffith — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 01:27:04 +0000

too many words to explain/justify = qed.

By: Basic Thinking Blog » InstaCalc, der Kalkulator für deine Website

Basic Thinking Blog » InstaCalc, der Kalkulator für deine Website — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 22:13:26 +0000

[...] mehr dazu auf Techcrunch Trackback-URL Gelesen: 4 heute:4 [...]

By: jeff

jeff — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 21:19:51 +0000

comparing this to excel is like comparing a burger to a steak… steaks are a lot tastier , more expensive, and better overall, but for a quick meal, good flavor, and convenience, a burgers got you beat.

likewise, for the blogging community, you don’t want to be hosting an excel file for people to download nor do you want to just take a picture of your analysis…

this looks like an easy tool to has out quick analysis, i wouldn’t use it to forecast inventory reorder points, but something like the you-tube valuation makes a lot of sense.

By: SVSD Classroom Technology : InstaCalc - Embeddable Calculator

SVSD Classroom Technology : InstaCalc - Embeddable Calculator — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 21:14:18 +0000

[...] Via TechCrunch….. InstaCalc is an online calculator that can be embedded in a web page, edited by anyone, displayed in charts and shared in a given state with a link. If you’ve got a formula and some numbers, you can post it on your blog or website and I can see how things would work out with different numbers. The math is done in real time. This is a pretty cool tool….you set it up like a spreadsheet and you can then create a link to it or even embed it in your blog/website. Technorati Tags: online calculator, spreadsheet, henkelman Thursday, November 02, 2006 2:04 PM lhenkelman Filed under: K-12, GIS/GPS, Math, Early Years [...]

By: Kalid

Kalid — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 20:52:10 +0000

@cbmeeks: Glad you like it! And I agree completely - it’s not meant to be a replacement for Excel. If you need power features like pivot tables, database access or really detailed forecasting, by all means use Excel. But if you need to whip up some “fast and loose” numbers, I suggest InstaCalc.

I think of it like a sports car, filling the gap between rollerskates (calc) and Excel (an 18-wheeler). I personally think it’s more fun to use because of the instant feedback and readable equations, but opinions may vary :). Use whatever tool fits the job best. Email didn’t obliterate the phone, InstaCalc won’t obliterate Excel, and that’s ok. I think there’s room for both; there’s more info in the faq (http://instacalc.com/blog/faq).

@Steve: You might want to check out the overview on the homepage and the tour (http://instacalc.com/blog/tour) to see what makes InstaCalc different. It’s a unique hybrid between a calculator and spreadsheet, so it may not be immediately clear what it can do.

If you found specific descriptions confusing or other parts that didn’t make sense, feel free to email me (kalid@instacalc.com) and I will try to make it more clear. InstaCalc may not be for everyone (and that’s ok!), but I want to make sure that visitors have a good idea of *what* it is :).

Thanks for your comments and feedback,

-Kalid

By: Czaries

Czaries — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 19:43:51 +0000

No, you’re certainly not the only idiot. Yes, you are the only one who can’t figure it out

By: Brian Laesch

Brian Laesch — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 19:11:23 +0000

Looks good but Google seems to be taking over everything. I think this will be much more useful than ESPNMobile though.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 18:53:34 +0000

Am I the only idiot who can’t figure this thing out?

By: cbmeeks

cbmeeks — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 18:53:24 +0000

I think this is really cool. But for the guy that said it’s better than Excel, no freaking way. No offense to the creator but it has a long way to go before I ditch Excel for this.

cbmeeks
http://www.codershangout.com

By: Bitelia » InstaCalc

Bitelia » InstaCalc — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 18:26:25 +0000

[...] (Vía TechCrunch) [...]

By: TecnoMovidas.net » Blog Archive » Instacalc: calculadora online colaborativa para tu web

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 15:59:27 +0000

[...] VIA [...]

By: InstaCalc, calculadora online colaborativa desde tu web

InstaCalc, calculadora online colaborativa desde tu web — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 14:42:26 +0000

[...] Vía | TechCrunch Enlace | InstaCalc [...]

By: Wwwhat’s new? » instacalc - Calculadora online muy especial - Aplicaciones gratis web 2.0

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 14:24:37 +0000

[...] fuente: techcrunch Linkk [...]

By: Widgets Lab » Calculator widgets

Widgets Lab » Calculator widgets — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 12:56:54 +0000

[...] I see over at Tech Crunch they did a small review of Instacalc the online calculator. Tech Crunch embedded the actual widget into their post. [...]

By: Bomb Explodes outside of PayPal, Last.fm, Tioti interview Paul Cleghorn, InstaCalc, Parakey « Technically Speaking

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 12:15:39 +0000

[...] InstaCalc - looks interesting, again from yesterday! [...]

By: carl rahn griffith

carl rahn griffith — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 12:04:02 +0000

this is news?

By: Yet another interesting thing « Thoughts of an Outlier

Yet another interesting thing « Thoughts of an Outlier — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 10:33:14 +0000

[...] I almost got bored of all these web 2.0 sites.. but this one again surprised me with a simple but impressive idea : Instacalc. I just noticed that they also got crunched yesterday. That should give them lot of attention. Lets see where they will go from here. I guess they are gonna be acquired soon by.. you know who [...]

By: rxbbx - news, gadgets and other fun stuff » InstaCalc, clean, simple and powerful Calculator

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 10:20:13 +0000

[...] Related Links: - InstaCalc - Announcing InstaCalc - InstaCalc, A Shared Embeddable Calculator [...]

By: Frode Hegland

Frode Hegland — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 09:51:45 +0000

I think you got Dan’s name wrong, it’s Dan Bricklin, same guy who made the first commercial spreadsheet for personal computers, VisiCalc. Pretty cool!

By: Roshawn

Roshawn — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 08:52:04 +0000

Cool. Nice to see people thinking differently. Sure beats another photo sharing site or a Digg clone.

I agree with Gloria White. It’s only a matter of time before Google or some other company with money to burn gets a whiff of it.

Now, if only I could understand that mathematical/scientific mumbo jumbo.

By: Drew M

Drew M — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 06:45:35 +0000

This seems like a great collaborative application that will have many uses.

By: jeff

jeff — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 06:28:50 +0000

There’s something to be said for smart people who develop tools that we can use. Quick, easy, useful! that’s just plain sexy. I hope you have more cool stuff like this in the works.