Request HN: Tell us what to build. Or hire us. (Group of Stanford Students)
8 comments
Build an app which collects medical data, behavioral data (e.g., what did you do today?), and dietary data from users who agree to a "do anything, as long as my data is kept anonymous"-ish agreement, then use their data to figure out correlations between serious illnesses, and the activities / diets that "cause" them (yes, correlation == causation once you have enough data points - else, what is "proof"?). You can provide a mobile app (HTML5 launcher to get started more quickly) and make it easy for users to cram as much data into the app as possible.
The goal of such an app would be to glean information from all the non-DNA, non-race, non-age, non-economically influenced data points, since most every other medical company (a "company" is what a startup used to be called - so yesterday) cares about the bleeding edge of science. Applying science that matters to data that matters means results.
The goal of such an app would be to glean information from all the non-DNA, non-race, non-age, non-economically influenced data points, since most every other medical company (a "company" is what a startup used to be called - so yesterday) cares about the bleeding edge of science. Applying science that matters to data that matters means results.
Here's an idea that has been on my list for years that is doable in a short time but I just haven't gotten around to it:
Build a URL shortener for directions to physical addresses. Huh?
1) get a domain, say http://right.to (I'll give that to you if you build this)
2) Users can register a nickname and location:
daves_house
123 Main St, City CA, 90210
3) When someone requests http://right.to/daves_house the page uses HTML5 to get the requestor's location and responds with a map with a route (and turn by turn directions if you wish) from where the requestor is at that moment, to the address that is registered. The directions come from Google or Bing maps or any other open directions API that your back-end fetches.
The value is that I (your customer) will have a URL that I can always give to people for directions to my house or business no matter where they are.
Bonus points: A phone app that sends SMS or email messages containing the URL http://right.to/p/xxxxx.yyyyy where xxxxx and yyyyy are not previously registered nicknames but rather encoded lat/long of the sender. Huh?
1) I launch the app on my phone. It gets my GPS coordinates and creates the encoded xxxxx, yyyyy. It opens my SMS interface with a pre-populated message: "I'm right here: http://right.co/p/xxxxx.yyyyy"
2) I enter the recipients for the text and hit send.
3) Each recipient, when they click on the link, gets located through their browser and shown directions from wherever they are, to wherever I am.
value: With a few clicks I just sent a bunch of people directions from them to me without knowing where I am, or where they are. Or maybe I tweeted that. Every viewer gets a custom route right to me.
This idea was inspired by https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2093261 wherein I discovered that an app I wanted to build already existed, so I tweaked it a little (directions instead of just locations).
*edits for spelling and formatting
Build a URL shortener for directions to physical addresses. Huh?
1) get a domain, say http://right.to (I'll give that to you if you build this)
2) Users can register a nickname and location:
daves_house
123 Main St, City CA, 90210
3) When someone requests http://right.to/daves_house the page uses HTML5 to get the requestor's location and responds with a map with a route (and turn by turn directions if you wish) from where the requestor is at that moment, to the address that is registered. The directions come from Google or Bing maps or any other open directions API that your back-end fetches.
The value is that I (your customer) will have a URL that I can always give to people for directions to my house or business no matter where they are.
Bonus points: A phone app that sends SMS or email messages containing the URL http://right.to/p/xxxxx.yyyyy where xxxxx and yyyyy are not previously registered nicknames but rather encoded lat/long of the sender. Huh?
1) I launch the app on my phone. It gets my GPS coordinates and creates the encoded xxxxx, yyyyy. It opens my SMS interface with a pre-populated message: "I'm right here: http://right.co/p/xxxxx.yyyyy"
2) I enter the recipients for the text and hit send.
3) Each recipient, when they click on the link, gets located through their browser and shown directions from wherever they are, to wherever I am.
value: With a few clicks I just sent a bunch of people directions from them to me without knowing where I am, or where they are. Or maybe I tweeted that. Every viewer gets a custom route right to me.
This idea was inspired by https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2093261 wherein I discovered that an app I wanted to build already existed, so I tweaked it a little (directions instead of just locations).
*edits for spelling and formatting
I'm currently working on http://ezsend.it but this sounds like something fun and somewhat related.
It would be great if it also offered public transit directions. One could then market it to businesses as a replacement for the static map on their contact page.
Let's keep in touch once I'm done with ezsend.it
It would be great if it also offered public transit directions. One could then market it to businesses as a replacement for the static map on their contact page.
Let's keep in touch once I'm done with ezsend.it
Once you have the endpoints, you can return any data you can get your hands on; map with route, transit options, bike paths, turn-by-turn, etc.
And yes, instead of generic directions "From I-5: take exit 999..." you can have a link that gives specific directions from where the view actually is.
And yes, instead of generic directions "From I-5: take exit 999..." you can have a link that gives specific directions from where the view actually is.
Please build an application that will allow someone to click anywhere on a map of the world and view an aggregate stream of all photos and/or video uploaded/streamed at/from that location. Content should be available from any photo or video app. Streams should be from the nearest location (if it's remote), or radius defined (if it's an urban location).
Build something you care about.
Me and a group of friends, all Computer Science students at Stanford, are ready to build something.
Technologies we work with: iOS, JavaScript, Rails, Django.
What we do: Frontend and Backend. We aren't photoshop wizards, but we can design a nice looking interface - we focus more on the UX than graphic design.
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If there's an interesting project posted in this thread that seems cool, we will build it and report back to Hacker News.
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Also - we have some extra bandwidth - if you want to hire us to build your MVP, email [email protected] with a rough project outline and a budget (we specialize in iOS and single page JavaScript applications).