Brainstorm HN: Outlandish Startup Ideas Pool • Hacker News Board

Re: Brainstorm HN: Outlandish Startup Ideas Pool

#31

Post by qw » Sun, May 10, 2009, 10:04 PM UTC

anigbrowl wrote: post #13

vaksel wrote: post #9

A washer/dryer combo that works as a single unit, so that you don't have to move things manually from one to the other. 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

Already exists. These are the norm in Europe, I have no idea why they're not popular in the US. We Europeans enjoy mocking antiquated American home appliances and can't believe you still use stovetop kettles and blenders from the 1950s. http://www.gelighting.com/apo/products/appliances/clothes_ca... It looks like a regular washing machine, you just put your clothes in the front, set the buttons, and 2 hours later the…

If you have room for it, it is more practical with a separate dryer and washing machine. You will lose the ability to dry clothes while another batch is washing. But if you are single and don't have to do more than one wash at a time, it is of course not a problem.

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)

Re: Brainstorm HN: Outlandish Startup Ideas Pool

#32

Post by noamsml » Sun, May 10, 2009, 10:04 PM UTC

anigbrowl wrote: post #13

vaksel wrote: post #9

A washer/dryer combo that works as a single unit, so that you don't have to move things manually from one to the other. 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

Already exists. These are the norm in Europe, I have no idea why they're not popular in the US. We Europeans enjoy mocking antiquated American home appliances and can't believe you still use stovetop kettles and blenders from the 1950s. http://www.gelighting.com/apo/products/appliances/clothes_ca... It looks like a regular washing machine, you just put your clothes in the front, set the buttons, and 2 hours later the…

Actually, we use electric kettles here too nowadays.

As for the wash/dryer, haven't seen it around here.

Re: Brainstorm HN: Outlandish Startup Ideas Pool

#33

Post by aditya » Sun, May 10, 2009, 10:04 PM UTC

raquo wrote: post #12

makeee wrote: post #6

Hire a bunch of people to walk around large markets in other countries, such as India, with wireless webcams attached to their heads. Shoppers can then direct these people to various stands, barter, and purchase stuff through a web interface.

that doesn't really sound unrealistic though! :)

yeah, justininindia.tv?

Re: Brainstorm HN: Outlandish Startup Ideas Pool

#34

Post by timdorr » Sun, May 10, 2009, 10:04 PM UTC

alexkearns wrote: post #8

Plastic bags that are not a pain to open.

Or those hard plastic cases that don't involve cutting with scissors or a knife and possibly slicing off a finger.

Re: Brainstorm HN: Outlandish Startup Ideas Pool

#35

Post by Zev » Sun, May 10, 2009, 10:06 PM UTC

amichail wrote: post #11

Build an iphone app to alleviate OCD: 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 t…

What happens if someone's OCD ends up turning into taking pictures to make sure that they did something?

Re: Brainstorm HN: Outlandish Startup Ideas Pool

#36

Post by jrp » Sun, May 10, 2009, 10:06 PM UTC

anigbrowl wrote: post #13

vaksel wrote: post #9

A washer/dryer combo that works as a single unit, so that you don't have to move things manually from one to the other. 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

Already exists. These are the norm in Europe, I have no idea why they're not popular in the US. We Europeans enjoy mocking antiquated American home appliances and can't believe you still use stovetop kettles and blenders from the 1950s. http://www.gelighting.com/apo/products/appliances/clothes_ca... It looks like a regular washing machine, you just put your clothes in the front, set the buttons, and 2 hours later the…

I have experienced these 'spin driers' built into washers. They spin my clothes for two hours but don't contain a heating element, so nothing happens.

Possibly everywhere I have lived has happened to have a broken one.

Re: Brainstorm HN: Outlandish Startup Ideas Pool

#37

Post by diego » Sun, May 10, 2009, 10:07 PM UTC

deutronium wrote: post #27

Nuclear powered laptop never needs recharging

Fat-powered laptop (iphone, etc) plugs into your stomach and makes you lose weight.

Re: Brainstorm HN: Outlandish Startup Ideas Pool

#38

Post by puffythefish » Sun, May 10, 2009, 10:13 PM UTC

amichail wrote: post #11

Build an iphone app to alleviate OCD: 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 t…

Wouldn't they just end up compulsively checking the photo?

Re: Brainstorm HN: Outlandish Startup Ideas Pool

#39

Post by rjett » Sun, May 10, 2009, 10:20 PM UTC

alex_c wrote: post #20

Set up inexpensive wireless cameras pointed at all street parking spots in the city. (doesn't have to be wireless cameras - pick any method or device that can reliably detect whether a parking spot is empty, cameras are the most flexible). Feed that data to a server, then dish it out to mobile devices (iPhone, etc.) combined with GPS to find the nearest street parking spot. Bonus points for intelligent behavior like…

On a related note, for the past year I've lived in a city with time-limited parking spaces on the street (i.e. "Two hour parking this block this day" or something similar). I would love to have something that detects when the meter maid comes by the first time and notifies me via sms so I can stay parked for the extra time between when I park and when the mm first comes by. I've racked up way too many $15 parking violations in the past year.

Re: Brainstorm HN: Outlandish Startup Ideas Pool

#40

Post by ambition » Sun, May 10, 2009, 10:26 PM UTC

diego wrote: post #17

A search engine for your house. Tag every object that you care about with a tiny electronic label (could be an rfid chip). Some objects could come pre-tagged and added to your library the first time they cross your door. 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 somethi…

It's been done and you can read all about it: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1169006