Today you can find quite a few sites that list off random ideas for startups, but how often do you find a list of ideas from a venture firm that are all web2.0 related?
Check these out. They describe what they’re looking for and why. Do any of them sound interesting?
http://ycombinator.com/ideas.html
1. A cure for the disease of which the RIAA is a symptom
2. Simplified browsing
3. New news
4. Outsourced IT
5. Enterprise software 2.0
6. More variants of CRM
7. Something your company needs that doesn’t exist
8. Dating
9. Photo/video sharing services
10. Auctions
11. Web Office apps
12. Fix advertising
13. Online learning
14. Tools for measurement
15. Off the shelf security
16. A form of search that depends on design
17. New payment methods
18. The WebOS
19. Application and/or data hosting
20. Shopping guides
21. Finance software for individuals and small businesses
22. A web-based Excel/database hybrid
23. More open alternatives to Wikipedia
24. A buffer against bad customer service
25. A Craigslist competitor
26. Better video chat
27. Hardware/software hybrids
28. Fixing email overload
29. Easy site builders for specific markets
30. Startups for startups
http://pragdave.blogs.pragprog.com/pragdave/2008/07/if-you-work-for.html
The phone itself is a great device. But the company behind the phone makes me very upset. Apple seems to enjoy making things very difficult for developers. First, you can only write applications using a Mac and now they basically don’t let you share anything about developing on the iPhone.
The only reason Apple can even do such things is because they are the only players in the game right now. Google, wake up and jump in already.
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/07/14/asp-net-mvc-preview-4-release-part-1.aspx
Another exciting preview will be released very soon. It seems this release will have a few new things for authenticating users as well as Ajax support.
I also learned that PostSharp is not needed for what I was using it for. The framework has something called ActionFilterAttributes that basically do the same thing and more! By providing an ActionExecutingContext value when overriding OnActionExecuting you can now have all sorts of information about the controller and action that have been invoked.
According to CNBC and The Wall Street Journal it seems that Google is delaying the release of it’s Android platform which could push the release of handsets back a few quarters. This isn’t good news for the developers and companies actively developing applications for the platform. Especially with the release of the new iPhone.
What I probably liked most about the article wasn’t even android related. Instead, they question Google’s various revenue generating strategies.
Still, if this is a technical issue, it speaks to Google’s deeper issues of creating new revenue streams in-house, rather than going out and acquiring the technology instead. Google still hasn’t come up with a way to make money from YouTube; the company has had enormous difficulty breaking out of its search-advertising-only model; DoubleClick gets them into display advertising but Google had to spend billions to buy it, rather than developing the technology on its own.
Android puts Google into arguably the most dynamic sector in tech, but it seems like the company is having difficulties, either with its potential customers, or with the software itself.
I also would like to point out this comment that made me laugh from the WSJ article.
But some developers say it is easier to work with Apple’s programming tools than Google’s because of the familiarity with the company’s Macintosh operating system. As a result, a wide range of software companies have been scrambling to build new iPhone applications.
Obviously people familiar with the Macintosh operating system are going to find making apps for the iPhone easier. But what about the fact that there are a LOT MORE java developers who work on Windows or Linux than those familiar with the Mac platform? FACT: C# > Java > Objective C
ScottGu’s Blog -
“The SP1 release of Visual Web Developer 2008 Express adds support for both class library projects as well as web application projects (previously only web site projects could be used with it). This new support is useful in itself, as well as in enabling both ASP.NET MVC and Silverlight project support with VWD Express. If you install the Visual Web Developer Express SP1 Beta you can start using ASP.NET MVC Preview 3 with it immediately.”
Its about time! I hated the fact that you couldnt create Web Application and Class Libraries in the express edition. Now you can do it all! You even get Asp.Net MVC support!
VentureBeat.com - Interview with Robbie Bach, part 3, on Windows Mobile
This is a pretty good Q&A article that covers how the Windows Mobile team views the mobile OS market and their competitors. The vibe I got was that they have no fears because they have been in the market for so long and any new-comers are entering an already croweded market (Android). There are also a few comments on the iPhone and the App Store.
This concept is simply amazing. The idea of making a new tab that floats makes complete sense on a phone with touch capabilities. I hope some of this stuff makes it to the final version.
Video: http://azarask.in/blog/post/firefox-mobile-concept-video/
I changed the url of my feedburner RSS link and forgot that some people had their rss readers pointing to it… so I apologize. The new URL is:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/Vyrotek
I just learned that the ASP.Net team has released their 3rd preview of the new MVC Framework. Things just keep getting better and better!
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/05/27/asp-net-mvc-preview-3-release.aspx
If you’re the kind of person that likes to just dive into code to learn new things then I highly recommend that you check out the open-source twitter clone called Yonkly. The source was just made available here and was written using the ASP.Net MVC framework. I’m playing with the code right now!
http://www.emadibrahim.com/2008/05/29/yonkly-source-code/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arXolJrLVEg
Check out this video from AndroidCommunity.com taken at the Google IO Conference!
