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RailsRumble Apps that Deserve to Be Startups

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Re: RailsRumble Apps that Deserve to Be Startups

#53

Post by thesethings »

thesethings wrote: post #48
jbr wrote: post #34

I built http://www.sharelocally.org/ for RailsRumble (solo), which I plan to open-source. Anyone interested in the concept? I've got a lot more planned I didn't fit in. This was my first rumble and learned a whole lot about exactly how much fits in 48 hours. Can't wait until next year's.

Looks great! And I think the "space" (sharing stuff/ re-thinking owning/renting) needs a lot of attention. Related: * https://neighborgoods.net/ Neighborgoods is currently in private beta right now. They seem to be a social site centered on finding people to borrow/loan/rent stuff in your immediate area for free/small fees. Hopefully they will have an API, and projects like yours could benefit. spots are a bit booked…

(oh man, too late for me to edit, pretend this line, "spots are a bit booked right now, but count me in as an enthusiastic follower if you open source it." and this line, "A related idea is being done" are erased. Sloppy me!

Re: RailsRumble Apps that Deserve to Be Startups

#54

Post by thesethings »

jbr wrote: post #50
thesethings wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks great! And I think the "space" (sharing stuff/ re-thinking owning/renting) needs a lot of attention. Related: * https://neighborgoods.net/ Neighborgoods is currently in private beta right now. They seem to be a social site centered on finding people to borrow/loan/rent stuff in your immediate area for free/small fees. Hopefully they will have an API, and projects like yours could benefit. spots are a bit booked…

It's actually really exciting that neighborgoods exists. Do you have any idea how they're planning on monetizing? I did this as a weekend project and am considering open sourcing because it doesn't really seem like there's a demographic that's clamoring to pay. I guess maybe small brick-and-mortar businesses might want hyperlocal targeting, maybe . As far as reputation system, instead of pulling eBay's reputation dat…

I know just a little about Neighborgoods. @mickipedia (twitter id) is the founder, she's based in Los Angeles, and even before starting this site, she's been interested in the environment for a bit. I don't know her personally, but she seems constructive and smart and funny.

As for monetizing it, since their system will/does support renting/loaning between people, I imagine they can take a cut of that? Maybe membership? (Now i'm just guessing)

I in no way mentioned Neighborgoods as a reason you should stop working on your project, but rather something to validate it! (Yep, I'm one of those polyanna's... :D)

I really do think you should open source it though, or at least big chunks of it, even if you do a hosted service. (I can save the reasons for this for another time.)

As for eBay rep, I don't think it should replace an internal reputation system, but especially in the early goings, what could it hurt? And not just eBay, selective data from as many 3rd party places as possible. Even a Twitter account that's more than 6 months old could make some people (like me) more comfortable loaning certain kinds of things.

And man... I think there's so much wasted cycles on sites like Freecycle and Craigslist free section... basically there is no item "management." Even when stuff is free, so many inquiries on stuff that's gone, or redundant follow-up letters to tell people it's taken, etc. I know your system is a different use-case than give-aways, but I see an overlap in need and purpose, and stuff + relationship management is applicable to multiple situations (and similar demographics of people who like to be resourceful).

As for beta of NeighborGoods, I have an invite for you. I will hit you up on the email I found in your profile.

Re: RailsRumble Apps that Deserve to Be Startups

#57

Post by jjggss »

Our team made "Diversion" - http://diversion.r09.railsrumble.com/

We want to bring to normal human beings the cool things that Git and Github bring to developers! Instead of collaborating like you would on a wiki, you "divert" (fork) other people's work, so that both can keep working on their documents and grab each other changes.

You can see the history of everybody's documents, the past and the possible futures, who grabbed from whom, etc... And it works!

Re: RailsRumble Apps that Deserve to Be Startups

#58

Post by railsjedi »

jjggss wrote: post #57

Our team made "Diversion" - http://diversion.r09.railsrumble.com/ We want to bring to normal human beings the cool things that Git and Github bring to developers! Instead of collaborating like you would on a wiki, you "divert" (fork) other people's work, so that both can keep working on their documents and grab each other changes. You can see the history of everybody's documents, the past and the possible futures, wh…

Your app is awesome. Nice job!

Re: RailsRumble Apps that Deserve to Be Startups

#59

Post by Maran »

Me and a friend created Snapshare. The design part took up way to much time for us since we are both hardcore coders, we will be bringing a dedicated designer on the team next year. It was loads of fun though and we created a good codebase to build upon.

Read about our product on http://weblog.brightlight-ict.nl/2009/08/we-are-not-trying-t....

Re: RailsRumble Apps that Deserve to Be Startups

#60

Post by r00k »

jbr wrote: post #40
r00k wrote: post #26

Our team built http://pocketsapp.com . Pockets is visual voicemail for twitter. Pick a user, and we'll call you and record a voicemail. They get an @reply with a link to the voicemail (and any others left for them). All feedback appreciated!

Hey, really nice job on pocketsapp. How did you do the phone interface? Is there a good resource for learning that tech? Thanks!

Thanks! We used Twilio for the telephony piece. They have excellent docs with everything you need to get going. Check 'em out.
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