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Ideas for your next web app?

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48 points by shubhamharnal 16 years ago · 23 comments

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chime 16 years ago

I was kinda disappointed http://wappr.com/ didn't take off like this has. I found about it via HN a few months ago. Of course, for things like this community plays a huge role. Another site I like for ideas is: http://www.halfbakery.com/

On a slight tangent, for the past month or so I've begun making a list of all the random ideas that pop into my head or get suggested by others. My old-self would guard this list to death but having been on HN for years, I realize sharing ideas is often better. Here's my list of every idea that interests me: http://bulletxt.zetabee.com/share?n=1548888784&h=SHdydmJ... - it is in no specific order other than small/medium/large to denote the expected effort I think a project will take.

I'm very optimistic that now that I have a real list, I will be more easily able to check some of those off. Do others here on HN maintain similar lists of apps/projects that you want do some day?

  • teyc 16 years ago

    Another HN'er maintains this (New Startup Ideas)

    http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ag-R_ZlGO21NdE9HSWRk...

  • antester 16 years ago

    I like the idea of sharing todo lists, and if you don't mind some commentary on your list...

    It's clear that some of those are just thoughts you have bouncing around, and are not very well fleshed out on your list. Or in other words, I read them on your list, and I'm not sure what you are trying to propose as a project.

    I think some of the projects that you have marked "small" could easily become large projects if not careful!

    And, I think the screenshot web page is a good idea! Would you be offended if someone else did that? (I probably won't, but I still think it's a good idea.) This is one of those cases where registering the domain name (I checked) might be a good idea, if you would get offended by someone taking that idea, at least force them to choose a new name.

    • chime 16 years ago

      Thanks for your commentary. This is exactly why I feel it is such a good thing to share one's ideas openly. I agree these are not concrete ideas - they are more of a reminder for me next time I'm looking for a project. E.g. "sound-gen in flash" is basically to remind me that it is now possible to synthesize audio in Flash dynamically. You can fill an array with 44,100 bytes (0-255) and it will play that for one second. This would be a very logical extension of my research project: http://chir.ag/493 and http://chir.ag/493/water/ that was done using a Java Applet. I figure Flash work pretty well for stuff like this too.

      I have absolutely no problems with anyone else making these apps or buying the domain names including screenshotnow.com. In fact I expect others to either make these apps or completely obsolete them by making other things that work even better. I move things down to the 'baked' section once I find something has been already made well. E.g. I wanted to make an equation solver/calculator-creator using JSMath. It would let anyone with very basic math skills to create say, a mortgage calculator using simple formulas. Then anyone could fill in the variables to get the answer. And you could share your calculators with others. One day I found this: http://my.instacalc.com/calc/429c5824467344b29f3dbdb57c58498... and it does almost exactly what I wanted to do (though I would have a different/nicer UI).

  • nopassrecover 16 years ago

    Yeah, I imagine every thinker does. I'm also amazed as always how much overlap there is everytime I talk with someone else about their list.

  • marknutter 16 years ago

    The problem with these sites are the stupid jokes. Half of the ideas on wrappr are meant to be funny or ironic.

    • chime 16 years ago

      I agree. I think the top post on Wappr actually killed the concept. I'll be keeping an eye on this subreddit because it definitely has some decent ideas. And even if you don't make exactly what someone asks for, it is good to get an idea of what kind of apps average users want.

fjabre 16 years ago

And they say ideas are a dime a dozen.. Yeah they are.. but good ideas are not..

It's all about execution right? Not exactly. As this list proves: good ideas are hard to find, don't like to be let out of their secret boxes and don't exactly grow on trees.

So no.. it isn't all about execution as so many people have said on this board.. It may be that through execution you come to refine the original idea but to make something people want you need a good idea + good execution.

  • eagleal 16 years ago

    Agreed. I never implement ideas by others, like "I want X" ideas. I prefer to experience the problem I'm trying to solve, and the solve it. I'm my own costumer.

    • dunstad 16 years ago

      >>I'm my own costumer.

      Would you mind posting some designs? I'm always interested in seeing others' ingenuity in the clothing industry. (/pun)

  • marknutter 16 years ago

    It's all about execution.

matt1 16 years ago

A travel website where you enter the date and the amount of money you have to spend on a ticket, and it tells you all the places you can go.

Isn't there a YC-backed startup that does this? I seem to recall meeting one of the founders at one of the parties after last year's Startup School, but I can't remember the company's name for the life of me.

arethuza 16 years ago

What about generalizing the "Baker Street" app so that you can tag any place with music or audio? :-)

NEPatriot 16 years ago

I like the app for the wife/gf - the guy wants to call it INag. Basically an app that lets the wife/gf assign tasks to get things done.

  • awa 16 years ago

    Me and my wife use fogbugz (free 2 user license) to do this.

  • nopassrecover 16 years ago

    God I can scarcely think of few ways better to destroy your partner's respect. I know I'll get downvoted but meh. You should already have your own means of tracking 'todo' and you should be in charge of what ends up on there.

  • keefe 16 years ago

    I have friends that use google calendar for this.

  • hockeybias 16 years ago

    My wife and I engage in conversations about tasks.

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