4 ms·
I'm fascinated by businesses that still deal in physical goods or services, but are enabled because of the web. The two best examples being netflix and city car
by far33d 19y ago
I'm fascinated by businesses that still deal in physical goods or services, but are enabled because of the web. The two best examples being netflix and city carshare-type businesses.
- danw 19y agoDon't forget threadless and moo as two other great examples of using the web to rework real world products.
- far33d 19y agoGreat examples. I think the most successful web businesses will be those that enhance one's "real" life.
- danw 19y agothe most successful web businesses will be those that enhance one's "real" life. This is why I think mobile has such great potential. A platform that the user carries around with her all day that has rich sensors such as camera, microphone and NFC. It's perfect! (apart from the small screen but thats a small price to pay for such access to an user)
- far33d 19y agoWell, perfect except for the handset manufacturers and carriers you have to deal with.
- danw 19y agoIt'll take time but eventually (5-10years) they'll stop getting in our way. For now I can keep dreaming..
- far33d 19y agoI've been thinking about this today and I realized that there's one thing that makes the carriers and handset manufacturers unimportant.... browser support. If the incumbents continue to stifle innnovation, then the best apps will come out as m.mycrazywebsite.com instead of as installed software.
- danw 19y agoJust like with webapps. The problem with mobile browsers is that it takes 5-10 seconds every time the user clicks a link which quickly gets annoying. Luckily nokia, opera and others are giving uss mobile widgets. As easy to make as web apps but run on device with full api access to hardware. We just have to wait the 2-3 years whilst it becomes standard on most handsets.
- altay 19y agooh, i totally agree, far33d... those make for the coolest companies. anyone know anything about sensor networks? lately i've been thinking that a sensor network plus an accompanying web app could be useful in lots of domains. for example, here's an idea that's been kicking around in my head. (i'm not the right guy to start this company, so i'll just throw out this there.) you know how people at the gym often track their workouts -- "3 sets, 10 reps, 150 lbs" -- with pencil and paper? that's so 20th century. why not build a sensor network for exercise equipment? you get on a scale or weight/cardio machine. it knows who you are -- RFID in your membership card? -- and it wirelessly uploads your workout data from that machine to a server. as a gym member, you get a login to an accompanying web app, which is automagically populated with your data. you can set goals, track your workouts + results with pretty graphs, etc. no more paper+pencil tracking -- just work out and log in. sell this sensor/software platform to gyms (or perhaps the equipment manufacturers), and you've got yourself a business. where does the internet come in? well, aside from the tracking app for individuals, with all this aggregate data, you'd revolutionize exercise science. is interval training really better than marathon cardio sessions? more weight+fewer reps, or less weight+more reps? even basic collaborative filtering would be cool: "people with bodies like yours got these results with this workout plan." it'd disrupt the (absurdly lucrative) personal training industry. point is, out there in the "real world," there's tons of data that's just waiting to be aggregated and analyzed. that'll certainly be the basis of many interesting companies.
- shadtchnev 19y agoI've just returned from the gym with such a system installed :) Well, not exactly. I have to enter my five-digit number at each machine, so that it knew who is exercising but apart from that it does almost everything you described. http://www.fitlinxx.com/brand.htm http://www.fitlinxx.com/brand.htm
- altay 19y agocool!! that's totally it. now if they'd only get this in my gym... =)