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Ask HN: An idea that you could not implement?

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Re: Ask HN: An idea that you could not implement?

#91

A couples' reading list. Step 1: My wife and I both download an app. Step 2: We link our accounts. Step 3: We each find and read articles in the app, Pocket-style. When done with an article, swipe right if I think my wife should read it. Swipe left if I don't want to pass it on. Step 4: Open the queue of articles that my wife thinks I should read. Read them. Swipe right if I want to chat about it with her. Swipe left…

To be clear: I /could/ implement this, but it would take more time to do so than I'm willing to allocate right now. I could build out a backend API though...

If anyone starts working on this, email me.

Re: Ask HN: An idea that you could not implement?

#92

I can't implement an asteroid mining program now because the cost of space launch for the preliminary/prototype mining equipment would be prohibitively high. If I had access to a space launch capability for less than $100/kg, however, I could bootstrap the whole business from my basement with an investment of ~$100-200k from some friends. [0] From SpaceX's perspective, they can put ~5 tons in lunar orbit for a cost o…

* You can work on reducing cost of space access yourself! * There are some good things to do in space. Look for ZBLAN fibers, for example.

It's actually interesting question, what price of space launch (per kg, when you have low or high kg) would enable entrepreneurs to do all sorts of crazy shit there

Re: Ask HN: An idea that you could not implement?

#94
post #34

Inverse Commerce - Customers simply type what they want. GPS locates the customer. Companies submit reverse bids both manually and algorithmically. Customer accepts what suits them best. Yay, money saved, time saved, customer happy. Specifically, I don't have enough experience building android apps to make it as slick as I would like. Happy to talk with anyone about it. Can build back end, will travel, etc :).

This is something I also have been thinking about... specially because I am useless around fixing the house.

I would love to be able to write somewhere "my backyard aluminium door has problem closing/is stuck" and get quotes from whoever is the indicated person/profession to fix that.

I started learning React Native to do that, but darn I just don't have enough time :(

Re: Ask HN: An idea that you could not implement?

#95

A Reddit alternative where the ranking for posts was personalized to each user. The ranking would be based the similarity between the voting history of the people who've voted compared to your own voting history. Think Netflix recommendation algorithm for Reddit.

I just want a "best" like sort mechanism that weights stories based on the average or maximum number of votes on each sub-reddit. Sometime there is a very voted story in an interesting sub-reddit but it only has 50 or so votes because it is very niche

Re: Ask HN: An idea that you could not implement?

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"iPlantTrees - kind of tree sharing. You want a plant, post location." the secondary market here is you search by tree and find fruit/seeds/nuts. A more generic, iPlant would also show vegetables/crops and hook this up to seasonal sales.

That's brilliant. Would definitely add it. Thanks for the suggestion!!

"show vegetables/crops and hook this up to seasonal sales"

I've been noticing the market for local fresh food is pretty big. If you have a system that decentralises the growing it could used as a peer to peer sales or arbitrage where people buy others and re-sell.

As for the iPlantTrees, yes... This is what has been done in my hometown, Melbourne ~ http://melbourneurbanforestvisual.com.au

Re: Ask HN: An idea that you could not implement?

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"iPlantTrees - kind of tree sharing. You want a plant, post location." the secondary market here is you search by tree and find fruit/seeds/nuts. A more generic, iPlant would also show vegetables/crops and hook this up to seasonal sales.

That's brilliant. Would definitely add it. Thanks for the suggestion!!

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: An idea that you could not implement?

#98
post #73

I always wanted to build an indoor navigation system for a phone. Large office buildings, hotels and especially department stores can be hard to find stuff in and you have to rely on navigation signs of inconsistent quality. I couldn't build it because I a) lack hardware expertise to figure out tricks to navigate without GPS or/and map buildings and b) never figured out a realistic GTM for this.

I've always wished there would be just a simple tablet at the entrance of grocery/supermarket stores to search for a product's location.

the reason this doesn't exist is because stores make money off you wandering around, looking for what you want, picking up other stuff along the way.

Re: Ask HN: An idea that you could not implement?

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's brilliant. Would definitely add it. Thanks for the suggestion!!

"show vegetables/crops and hook this up to seasonal sales" I've been noticing the market for local fresh food is pretty big. If you have a system that decentralises the growing it could used as a peer to peer sales or arbitrage where people buy others and re-sell. As for the iPlantTrees, yes... This is what has been done in my hometown, Melbourne ~ http://melbourneurbanforestvisual.com.au

The Melbourne site is fantastic. Lot of useful data presented in the a very digestible manner. Haven't seen such info on any US ones so far. I have reached out to them to see if there is room for knowledge sharing.

Re: Ask HN: An idea that you could not implement?

#100
An idea I've had kicking around for a few years now is an app that presents famous artworks in the context of time and place.

For people like myself who like great art but have very little knowledge about the relationships or even chronology of the various movements, it would be great to have a broad range of artworks representative of the various movements placed on a map. Together with a slider type interface to choose time periods I think you could get a really good idea of how and when the different movements evolved and how they relate to each other. You could easily see for instance that there wasn't much happening in city x in a particular decade but a lot going on in city y. Move forward a decade and while y might be in decline, you can easily see that city z is becoming active - and that the newer works have clearly been influenced by what was happening in city y a decade earlier.

I have a fairly clear idea of how something like this could be monetised, together with how to get the necessary content. Haven't given much thought to how it might be marketed though. You could call it 'Art in Space and Time' (artisat).

I like that it presents a great challenge from a UI perspective - it could be done really well or really badly.

Anyhow, work keeps getting in the way...

If anyone likes the idea, go for it. Get in touch if you'd like to hear a little more - I might even be willing to get involved.

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