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Brainstorm HN: Outlandish Startup Ideas Pool

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Re: Brainstorm HN: Outlandish Startup Ideas Pool

#71

Post by maggie »

aditya wrote: post #33
raquo wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that doesn't really sound unrealistic though! :)

yeah, justininindia.tv?

Depending on what 'large markets in other countries' you're talking about, I see a few immediate problems: -monetizing: a lot of these people don't have the money for additional services like this. Additionally, they /know/ the markets well, they're their markets! It's home! -customer base: this is similar to monetizing. How many people are you going to reach that would actually want your service?

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.

Re: Brainstorm HN: Outlandish Startup Ideas Pool

#72

Post by prawn »

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…

Set it so that you can book a parking space (for a fee) ahead of time while you're driving there.

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!

Re: Brainstorm HN: Outlandish Startup Ideas Pool

#73

Post by zackattack »

pookleblinky wrote: post #64
zackattack wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You actually just gave me a great idea...CPA porn. Complete CPA offers, get access to porn. Perfect, because that way no credit card is involved...

Why not extend it into a Cory Doctorow Woofie system? 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 are incorrect sir, porn is a 14 billion dollar industry.

Re: Brainstorm HN: Outlandish Startup Ideas Pool

#74

Post by rnugent »

dryicerx wrote: post #62

A startup factory. A collection of hackers, marketing people, business minded people, and their product is making startups. The basic infrastructure very very fast. Then selling them out.

This is a really good idea. VCs sort of do this but they exact to high a price. YC sort of does this but they are more focused on funding. Then there are the legions of consultants that do some part of this but not the whole thing.

Re: Brainstorm HN: Outlandish Startup Ideas Pool

#75

Post by DTrejo »

antidaily wrote: post #46

every day one person dies in a high speed chase. street spikes work if you can get them down and back up again before the chase car runs over them. there must be a way to shut a car down by addressing its computer system with rfid or something.

Check out the shoot-able car-stopping nets developed for the military:

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2007/04/xnet_car_arrest/

Re: Brainstorm HN: Outlandish Startup Ideas Pool

#76

Post by Alex3917 »

I'm tired of sex shops that ship their products using discrete packaging. I want a store that ships products in packaging purposely designed to be as embarrassing as is plausibly possible.

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.

Re: Brainstorm HN: Outlandish Startup Ideas Pool

#78

Post by randomwalker »

Train chimps to break CAPTCHAs. My guess is that it's feasible. E.g, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTgeLEWr614

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' :-)

Re: Brainstorm HN: Outlandish Startup Ideas Pool

#79

Post by bbuffone »

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…

Here is a cool startup that I talked to recently. http://www.spotscout.com/. They are making parking spot finding and trading possible.

Re: Brainstorm HN: Outlandish Startup Ideas Pool

#80

Post by ivankirigin »

A music service that actually reflected the reality of today's tech: ubiquitous access to all the music ever made. My iphone should be able to store or stream anything. I should be able to send anything I'm listening to to a friend.

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.

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