Why do this? Well think of it like a brute-force brainstorming method. Very low SNR but hopefully a few of these will inspire someone to come up with a realistic/sane/good idea.
Just need to find some travel companies who are willing to work with you. They just need to agree to block off X number of rooms/flights for that date.
If the site picks up steam, maybe offer products for diff regions each day (west coast, east coast, midwest, south)
Its specific to only that airline, but they sometimes have packages too and refresh every night, kiwi standard time i think
I believe the government has been doing this for a while now.
This is an interesting idea, but it seems like we're too far away from the potential userbase to make something that people would actually want.
Now, if you're actually in India, I apologize for the last critique, but my first two statements stand.
I've wondered for the last 4 or 5 years since I have had this idea whether this would actually be something to pitch to the retailers rather than the consumers.
Mine also had "GPS on phone to monitor person's level of physical activity to help tailor diet to their dietary needs"
We even worked on putting this together so that the algorithm could work automatically for a family who had different dietary requirements.
The problem we found is that it doesn't work for the consumer market. We focussed too much on the idea and not enough on consumer behaviour, which if we had done our market research would have shown this to be not so good an idea.
We found that the dietary consumer market is focussed on selling you early into things you wont use, because the people that generally need these products have low motivation.
Those people who buy dietary books, supplements, exercise equipment etc generally purchase them and might use them for a month or two before essentially "giving up" at best. That's why most businesses targetting that large market are focussed on getting your money early, because relying on longterm revenue is a bad idea.
Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig use a similar model, although the diet plans they use are actually loss leaders so they can sell you their other products, which is where they actually make their money. The diet plans in the long run is where people stop going, but they've already extracted value out of you by purchasing their material.
1) Battery life on the mobile phone... Keeping your GPS on during waking hours is a big drain in current generation phones
2) People sticking to the plan (ours was designed so that you could go "off plan" if you felt hungry and it would adapt) ... during early testing if you skipped things, it could go out of whack
3) Motivation, we let several people use it, not including ourselves (about 15 all up) and we monitored the use and we found that in almost all cases (except 1) that people just stopped using it after around a month, with it's novelty wearing off after about two weeks. That's when we started to look at how the business models of other Dietary businesses work.
Basically, it had little more than novelty value - a simple meal plan and exercise would have achieved the same result.
(On a personal note, I found it just as easy to ride my exercise bike while watching TV and eating smaller portions to keep losing weight, I just bought smaller plates and glasses to change my perspective of the amount of food I was eating.)
You made a search engine. You found you weren't making any money, so you studied how other search engines made money, and you found that they had ad and paid-position results. You didn't like that, so you didn't continue. Then google took the approach of trying to give people what they want (fast, uncluttered, relevant results), and then later (literally years later) working out how to make money from it (this was a whole project in itself: text ads, relevant to search, priced by auction: adwords, seemingly "inspired" by goto/overture).
Your point 3 (motivation) seems to be the show-stopper. My suggestion is to consider if there is a way to solve this problem - not in order for you to make money, but in order to help people diet. Illustrative examples (recall that I don't actually know anything about it):
- Make it continually novel, with new content being added all the time (like HN, or WoW), or the "achievement unlocked" of some games, or Nintendo games. Or a new diet every week. Or even as a platform with new perspectives on the diet coming out each week or day (like a daily horoscope or cartoon maybe?). Don't know if this would work, but the idea is to attack the problem of novelty wearing off.
- Or expand on the solution you found in your personal note: tell people to buy smaller plates and glasses; and buy an exercise bike, with instructions about how to set it up with the TV. Maybe this seems trivial and obvious, but I'm guessing it wasn't the first thing you tried yourself - maybe encouragement and guidance would make a huge difference for some people.
Maybe it seems that you can't make money from this; but (I believe that) if a business finds a way to help people, it will find a way to make money. The thing that is potentially exciting is that maybe there is a fantastic way to be extremely helpful to people in dieting, that all the other businesses have missed, because they were focussed on the business model that worked - instead of doing that, find a better way, like Google did.
It sounds like you've done a thorough and intelligent job (and also that you are sick to death of it), and that you were excited about your solution, not about the problem. Let me emphasise that I really have no idea if there exists such a solution as I'm outlining - I just wanted to communicate a focus on your customer's problem, not business models. Reading back that previous sentence, it sounds kind of rude to me, but I hope you'll understand how I mean it.
With our solution, we figured with the addition of the GPS, we could also do things like warn people if they went into the wrong place... eg walked into a mcdonalds, it not only could let them know that they shouldn't be there, but perhaps could provide them with alternatives close by, so instead of just a mealplanning solution but also a mentoring thing.
But in the end, it was just a novelty which wore off.
pre-existing, simple and effective solution (diet + exercise). I agree, but it doesn't yet seem to be a solved problem for many people - in practice. Still, that's a different question
People are really motivated for the first few days/weeks, after which their interest wanes it seems. That's why it's set up as a "pay early" type thing.
Honestly, I think something like the wii fit is a step in the right direction. Make it fun.
ah: wii fit for PC (but avoid patent infringement).
The benefit to the user is you don't have to cook - and you can charge a pretty good margin for making the meals.
When you can't find something, find the object on your computer and start walking around the house with a wand that beeps louder as you get closer to the object. Would also work when you lose something outdoors and you can more or less retrace your steps.
I guess "outlandish" is a bit strong, it feels like it's only a matter of time.
Instead of wireless cameras, I thought of some sort of sensor(s) embedded in the ground that could detect something about it (by sight, magnet, etc). If they were embedded poles, they could raise up once the spot was booked to prevent it from being taken, until you arrived, entered your booking code and lowered the barriers.
I think a city might need to be designed in advance for something like this though!
With video, you might not need to physically prevent park-theft - a hefty fine might be sufficient.
It quietly supplants the the private and later the public legal system by providing a superior open source alternative.
Charge double what a normal sex store does, and even if you only get a few hundred orders a day via Google you still have a decent business.
This startup needs one hacker, and three dozen lawyers.
I agree. Down with discrete; we need continuous packaging.
Pay us and we will lock you up for as many days as you paid. You get one hour per day to hang out within our establishment. Breakfast, Lunch and Diner are eaten with other prisoners. The rest of time we will lock you up in your room (with internet connection). Phones lines are only open for x hours. Emails programs are blocked most of the time... You see where I am heading with this.
It could be good for someone with a deadline to accomplish something.
Currently I'm only aware of the traffic lights which can sense when the car stopped next to the line and switch the lights accordingly.
I would like to see more. I would like the system to identify how dense the traffic is in all directions, including the right/left turn lines.
It would then adjust the duration of the green light according to the number of cars travelling in corresponding directions. It should also identify if all the cars that were waiting for the green light have crossed the intersection, and if there are no more cars it could turn then red light earlier.
So often I see the following: a jam is on a major road. A red line turns on, and a lonely car crosses a major road. The light is still red though for some time, with dozens of cars waiting for nothing ...
I agree though, the heavier the traffic the less they work. Especially when morons pull out onto it despite seeing the exit is jammed and without leaving room for other lanes to cross in front and behind of them. Also, in the UK, many drivers fail to signal correctly, giving less clues to other drivers as to when they can pull out, e.g. if you're not signalling left as you exit a roundabout, you're doing it wrong! :-)
You first visit the site and create a data structure and register it at the X service website. Then a application can send messages in that data structure to the X service. Other services/applications/websites/people can register (like following on twitter) various handlers on the X service. Any time the main application publishes a event to the X service, it's pushed out to all the listening handlers...
I guess when I write it down, doesn't so outlandish. Anyway, up for grabs.
1.) scambledporn.com - If you can remember tv before it went digital, porn used to be scambled by varying the horizontal sync of the tv signal for that channel. This made it unwatchable, unless you were really really patience. My idea is to create a website that has porn that works on the same concept; it would be scrambled until people pay to have it unscrambled. The more you pay the more unscambled it would be.
2.) Fire Energy Convertor (FEC) these are self contained devices that can be dropped into wildfires. Once placed into the fire; the device would convert the heat of the fire into electricity. After the fire subsided, the device would be placed into a grid that would provide electricity. Let's stop wasting all the energy that is release by forest fires. Eventually the device (FEC 2.0) could be placed into active volcano as well.
3.) An exercise device that can be used while you shower. It would be like killing two birds with one stone. People wouldn't have to worry about having to take a shower after working out, because they would already be in the shower and can soap up when done. The marketing plan for this device is a 30 minute infomercial that walks people through its use, with several nice looking and in good shape people. When you purchased the device, you will also receive a instructional video of your choosing (Male, Female).
I do a favor for you, woofies.com gives me a couple woofie points, which I may redeem for pron. My favor backfires (buggy code, typos, etc) and my woofie karma suffers and I must suffer pron of worse quality.
Viva la Bitchun society irl!
Note that this is completely unrealistic because no one pays for pron anymore anyway.
You would be surprised. If the following device does half of what is promised and recent sales of a device called a "monkey spanker" (I helped a female friend of mine set up an online sex store/blog a few months ago) are anything to go by, I think the future of pay for porn is very bright indeed.
http://gizmodo.com/5129520/realtouch-teledildonics-as-design...
Those guys are going to make a killing if it works as intended...
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=601648
In particular, such an app would help alleviate problems with repeated checking. The user would use the app to take a photo/video of something instead of checking it repeatedly (e.g., you locking the front door).
The photo/video would be tagged with the time and place.
To actually try to cure OCD, one might introduce a probability that the photo/video will not be taken. One can have this probability increase over time as the user's condition improves.
Another possibility is to delete the photo/video automatically after some time interval, which decreases as the user's condition improves.
This is something that I might actually consider building if there is sufficient demand.
* Online Grocery shopping with Automated reordering. The service provides a small RFID scanner for the trash can, and all items are tagged with a RFID. Anytime it's thrown away, the items are reordered (such as milk/eggs/drinks). Would work with your local grocery shop.
* A everything recommendations system (such as Amazon's you might also like) except spans all things (not just things to buy, but also places to go visit, people, idealogies, match making, hobbies, cars, music, etc). Data sources would include websites you buy stuff, social networks, your bank information, gps info, phone calls, browsing methods, your private data, your photos, music, everything. (heh, privacy nightmare).
Build game servers that serve as wireless mesh network and locate them throughout the city(Partnering with local businesses such as coffee shops). They can also store the company's weapon hardwares and suits to loan to player.
Players can also build their own weapon system and suits.
Also Stanley can't drive in traffic. What I really want is something that can commute for me from San Francisco to Silicon Valley while I play video games.
And for the serious enthusiast: http://www.rec.ri.cmu.edu/projects/crusher/
Some form of hyper-customizable newsletter service, providing updates on upcoming legislation or business deals. There are large firms who already subscribe to such things in the form of clipping services; this goes one level deeper.
The target market should be small business owners and people who have some interest in local politics.
I think you misspelled lapdog
Give me headlines new headlines (today) sorted by number of deaths in incident. Filtered globally, by country, or by city. etc etc.
Instead there should be a news site that gives you a brief quiz to determine your political bias, and then serves you biased news stories that agree with your preconceived ideas. It takes a task that people already do by hand, and automates it!
Of course, just because people vote for something doesn't mean they'll actually go to the store and pick it up.
So...how often do people know new products exist, let alone whether they want them, if the supermarket isn't already selling them?
Not trying to shoot you down, I think it's an interesting idea, just trying to make sure I understand it.
New product lines could be "featured" weekly, and the ones that pass a certain vote threshold get ordered. If a product you voted for gets added, perhaps you get an email with a coupon.
What I am saying is, even the ideas are brainstormed inside. Imagine 100 great minded people every month sitting down and choosing a good idea (that originated from the inside), and all of them putting their efforts in to implementing it. You do that every month.
I've decided to start with alcohol and work my way backwards towards groceries, but the idea is roughly the same as what you've outlined. :) Luckily here in NZ everyone except Foodstuffs (NW, Pak'n'save, Four Square) is online so getting the prices isn't too tricky...
I like app, only we always bought our beer/wine from the grocery stores. But for any liquor this looks sweet as.
What did you write it in?
It is, however, unethical, and isn't something that benefits society, despite the fact that a viable business model might exist in the short term.
Note that this would give a whole new meaning to the phrase 'Captcha farm' :-)
That rhymed!
The next generation of Intel mobile chips are supposed to run on one watt. They already sell windup flashlights that run on one watt.
A laptop with a shake-to-recharge system. You can make them fit in your CD Drive bays. Since you carry your laptop around a lot, it's constantly moving, the kinetic-drive keeps on charging the battery.
Actually would be badass for cellphones (their ALWAYS being moved around).
The idea is simple: submit transcripts of your conversations with your wife to the site, and women will translate for you.
"she said "fine." She really means she is pissed off."
For a fee, the site may also offer real-time chats for those situations where you need to figure out what a woman is thinking NOW.
;)
Ok, new idea. Mix this with the idea for an OCD iphone app, and you get a Mechanical Turk capable of giving SMS advice in real time to potential Darwin Award winners.
"should i try to skateboard off my roof?" "62% say no."
This would also work as I originally imagined it.
"I just got a kevlar vest on eBay and I told my wife I was planning on fighting crime. She said 'whatever makes you happy'" "She meant she's planning on collecting your life insurance."
I see it as a 2 story contraption, washer on top, dryer on the bottom. After the washer is done, a trap door opens and the clothes fall into the dryer, which then auto-starts.
As you can guess, I was doing laundry recently
It looks like a regular washing machine, you just put your clothes in the front, set the buttons, and 2 hours later they're clean and dry. It's awesome.
There are both advantages and disadvantages by air drying. By drying them outside, you get a more "fresh" smell. But if you use a dryer, the clothes are often "softer".
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_?url=search-alias%3D...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_?url=search-alias%3D...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_?url=search-alias%3D...
I also think that they had some problems in the past, where the clothes didn't dry as well or that the machine could wash a larger load than it could dry. If you wash a full load and need to take some of the clothes out, a combo will lose some of its practical use. But that was years ago, so they have probably improved a lot.
If you have room for a washer, you usually have room for a dryer since you can just put the dryer on top of the washer (the dryer weighs nothing)
As for the wash/dryer, haven't seen it around here.
Possibly everywhere I have lived has happened to have a broken one.
Edit: might be a 220v vs 110v issue as well.
If this means that someone has to cart them away and destroy them, I don't really care; actually it's kind of a benefit if you live in a small apartment. Most of them are not remarkable as far as physical form goes.
Bullshit about limits on the number of computers connected to my iphone, illegal file sharing, DRM, $1 for a download that has $0 marginal cost, etc. -- all of it out the window.
Give creators tools to directly engage with their audience, make all their content free and easy to consumer & share, and make money from live shows, special physical goods, and patronage.
Whenever I move, which is fairly frequently, I have to make some trip somewhere just to get boxes. Then there's the effort of breaking them down and then either storing them or throwing them away.
How about some boxes which are just a little bit sturdier than normal, which could be rented? They are delivered to your home and then picked up again (perhaps part of the moving service) and reused for other customers.
Except for the fact that existing drug cartels would kill you before you could succeed.
A information network between vehicles that share information about what their destinations and routes are. Specially for congested areas, they would all work together to find the optimal route with the least congestion.
Instead of everyone trying to take the shortest path, all the vehicles will work together to figure out the shortest-time-path based by distributing the road load levels evenly.
So, along those lines, rent a large building and turn it into a hub of some wild new ARG, with scavenger hunt aspects, physical world puzzles, and community activities.
Perhaps implausible since you can already do most of that with VPNs on the regular internet, and hardware is expensive and obvious.
That is approximately the most depressing idea ever.
This is more than just the idea and includes some proprietary assets.
Please only those who are "serious" or serial entrepreneurs respond, preferably with a Bio.
What about hiring people to make a store front of parking lot or booth look busy?
www.halfbakery.com
Why aren't these dispensed like Kleenexes or something, where just pulling one out automatically opens the mouth of the next one?