Instead of one big, good idea to make a lot of money... a bunch of poor, small ideas to make a little money. I take pull requests.
Note: These ideas are released unencumbered (aside from the fact that they're lousy) into the public domain. See the license file for more information.
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KennelFinder.com
KennelFinder never really went anywhere. I don't own it any more, having given it to friends, but could still work on it. They've agreed to let me open source the code.
The site ended up being a use-it-once-and-done site. There's no stickiness. One option could be to extend it with boarding management. This would shift focus to vets and kennels as primary customers. Maybe pivot to helping them maintain an online presence.
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Michigan T-Shirt
Everyone that sees the t-shirt my wife and I made for the Hyrman family reunion wants one... even though it's family-specific. The design would be easy enough to re-appropriate, with a bit of work, to something more generic but Michigan themed.
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Garden Journal
There are starting to be more apps in this space, but a way to quickly catalog what you've planted, when, how it went, and help you plan out upcoming tasks would be very useful. A lot of it could be triggered off of your specific growing seasons and help with things that always suck for small-time gardeners, like succession planting schedules.
This would be a good app for an open source implementation on Nancy.
- Reading Journal
Just for the oss work... simple app to let you track and rate what you've read, books on loan to people, etc. Could be another showcase for some DDD work (simple domain, time-based intransients like book on loan). Nancy would be perfect for this. Yes, GoodReads exists, but, hey.
- Farm site template
We set up http://chickadeecreekmi.com/ for some friends. It's on wordpress.com because that's a fairly straightforward, turn-key solution. However, that hosting nickles and dimes you. It's also overkill for what they need.
There are probably others that just need a really simple interface for creating content and setting some basic styles without all of the power of Wordpress. In addition to looking at some existing solutions out there, it might be fun to use cheap hosting like Azure or DigitalOcean to launch some farm-specific things. I could see a CSA wanting to publish a farm newsletter and let people know what to expect through the growing season, for example. (ed note: this was before the rise of static site generators and free options like Netlify and Netlify CMS. At this point, maybe a turnkey farm theme with some integrations for collecting mailing list subscriptions is the best option)
- Idea development site
I've always been interested in the process of taking something from idea to concept to thing. The buzzword in the early '00's at big businesses was ideation. Ideas are a time a dozen and most ideas are shit. Hell, even good ideas are shit. If you don't believe me, buy me a beer sometime and I'll help you come up with 20 bad ideas by the time we're done. So, it'd be interesting to further explore how to generate and vette ideas. I think this can be done completely in the open (obviously, as I have everything on a public page).
I know there are some cool apps and sites in this space already. Still, in addition to more ideas, we need more people parroting existing work. (yeah!)
- Idea vote site
Brainstorming for internal company use. Post ideas, vote, comment (SO for ideas maybe?). Best and worst at the end of the week / month, whatever.
- Seedling monitoring arduino
Some simple probes to monitor moisture level as well as soil temp. Would work well to integrate into some sort of tracking site to journal plant growth. Eventually this could help advise on water / temp / light levels to keep things growing nicely.
- Plant monitoring arduino
Track moisture levels in beds. Look at weather forecast. Make intelligent decisions on when to turn on drip lines to bed (need water but rain forecast at 60% tomorrow, don't water). Would be useful to record temps several times a day as well to better determine microclimate.
- Water level monitoring arduino
Would like to start watering the garden from rain barrels. When the rain barrel levels are low, cycle on a pump from the spring to refill. Combined with the plant monitoring arduino, this would be an effective babysitting solution if we needed to get away for a weekend here and there in the summer (now, if I could come up with a weeding robot...)
- Cemetery Mananagement Software
Plot management, groundskeeping, expense reporting. Probably need trust accounting to track plot sales. Would be great to offer an api up for integrating with a site like findagrave.
- WhatTheCommit knockoff
I reference WhatTheCommit.com in my .gitconfig in an alias... an alias that happens to be shared around a lot. It'd be nice to use Nancy to build a simple little app to replicate the functionality. Could come up with a nice way for people to submit funny commit messages too.
- AintMySite
Many moons ago, I was bored in a training class on some product and wrote a little website where the front page was editable by anyone. I saved the last x (10 I think) versions of the site and thumbprinted the uploader's IP address. It actually got some traffic but I let it all die on the vine. It'd be fun to resurrect it in some form.
- RateMyPorkChop
Because you absolutely need to know when and where you had a good pork chop. Should be able to search by location and also rating.
- Bad idea Markov chain generator
Using this readme, among others, create a Markov chain generator to come up with bad ideas. Incorporate a twitter bot. Flag for follow-up random ideas that were starred. Even a Markov agent might have a good idea given the awesome source material here.
- Due Me
A to-do list that prioritizes by financial interest in completing a task. For example, a task to return library books would move up the list as their return date approaches. Color-code in red the items that are overdue and costing you money.
- Cablr
Network admins are obsessed with their cable management work. Make a site for sharing cabling pictures like HotOrNot but specifically for server racks, basically.
- WheresMyStuff
Track things you own and who you've lent them to.
- MeetDown
Like Meetup but for fight clubs. The biggest problem is how to advertise it without actually talking about it.
- FindMyMate
Post pictures of single socks you have in your drawer in hopes someone can hook you up with a match.
- cheeseHarmony
Like eHarmony but for people that really, really love dairy.
- Hinder
Tinder but for finding frienemies.
- FreshYourWork.com
Have a co-worker with an odor problem? Anonymously send them a care package that includes bathroom toiletries and a nice note explaining that they need to pay a little more attention to their hygiene.
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letstacobout.it
Track your favorite taco trucks and stands. Inference engine to suggest crunchy (or soft!) goodness based on your eating patterns.
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fromthedeskof.com
Similar to Cablr, but for work environments such as cubicals, offices and more specifically desks. Got a sweet, wall-mounted triple monitor setup? Show it off. Came by a pigsty that's still reppin' a CRT monitor? Let's see it. At work, there is a guy with the largest L-desk known to man and he's got everything set up on one end as if he's sharing a kid sized picnic table with 4 other people.
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ShameBot
A camera and a script. Set up the camera to see your kitchen; especially your kitchen sink. Script runs once a day, takes a picture, and uploads it to your social media. If your sink is full or your kitchen is a mess then everyone will know.