Since the early 90s I've been keeping a list of various ideas I've had for software products. It's not an exhaustive list, just the ones that I took seriously for some period of time. There are many others that never made it past the "wouldn't it be cool" concept phase and thus never made the list. Many of these listed below didn't make it much further than a couple of weeks of design and/or proof of concept coding, but some were actually pretty fully realized. Some were collaborations but the bulk were solo efforts. A lot of these read as kind of "so what" now, but at the time I was working on them, they were novel ideas that didn't really exist yet! For instance the genealogy one was a couple of years before Ancestry.com and the like appeared. I recall my beta version of that mapped out the Simpsons family tree since that was one most people knew well at the time.
I would use this list for the common "Prior Invention Disclosure" you provide when taking a new job. I'm starting a new job this morning, and it could well be the job I end up retiring from. I figured I'd retire this list as well, but posting it here for posterity. I might come back later make longer posts for some of these.
- VR app for decorating and sharing 360 media
- VR team sport game that mimics rules of rugby and can include players not in VR.
- VR training app for rugby wisdom
- AR app that allows creating puzzle mazes overlaid in the real world that can be navigated by players.
- AR app that visualizes a heliocentric stable grid of nodes through Earth’s orbit.
- Tool to create & interact with quizzes based on importing a spreadsheet.
- Periodic True/False/Confidence quiz and social system.
- Warehouse Management Tool for creating/processing picklists, and purchasing/printing shipping labels.
- Professional rugby 7s production with specialized pitch allowing multi camera option for viewers.
- Rugby club app for tracking game stats in real time
- Rugby 7s fan site for tracking players/staff across social media, collecting and visualizing data and tournament info
- BideAndSeek tool that takes text input (usually from paste buffer) and uses known patterns to match it to a particular URL.
- FamilyBank, an Alexa skill that allows a family to manage child allowance balances in Spending/Savings/Charity accounts.
- Tadima/Okaeri mobile app and server system utilizing BT beacons to do tasks when the device nears the beacon.
- Mobile phone based dating app with reverse social graph and in-app economy features. (with Romain David)
- ExqCor system for audience-collaborative real time script writing and on stage site-reading.
- Handheld locative devices and support system.
- Group notification system with web and voice drive components.
- Online retail management system with general shopping cart and browsing features.
- Online invitation management system.
- Online retailer aggregation system for gift registries.
- Ephemr: way to send ephemeral photos not subject to screenshot capture using biological vision technique.
- EyesOn: system for geolocation photos of a stationary object and aggregating into a fly-through visualization experience.
- Skedu: easy to use conference schedule creation and sharing tool with mobile app.
- iBurn: app for burning man attendees
- Real estate locative software for tracking home sales via user defined neighborhoods.
- Collaborative system for creating, distributing and reviewing instructional audio content.
- Genealogical collaborative online software.
- Personal contact organizational system for “social hubs” (with Joi Ito).
- Collaboration studies interdisciplinary mapping system (in conjunction with The Institute for the Future).
- Travel planning site that aggregates travel fares and lodging rates from a given destination.
- Adult social network with Flash-based interactive creative facilities.
- Sailors social network with educational, trip planning and historical reference facilities.
- Video blogging tools with special integration with programming interpreters.
- System for displaying synchronized videos on mobile devices for multidimensional storytelling or informational purposes.
- iNag reminder system with custom text and voice delivery (in conjunction with Todd Siegel)
- Taste Profile Builder multiplayer game (in conjunction with Todd Siegel)
- Internet loan system that facilitates offering and managing of loans.
- Blank White Server technology that allows user-driven server process customization.
- Systems that assist in strategy and real-time game history analysis for online poker players.
- 3-D anaglyphic (red/cyan) rendering and visualization software.
- Peer to peer social darknet that allows encrypted peer to peer communications via a user relative authentication and authorization system.
- Captcha software.
- Distributed (telecommuting) software engineering, consulting and management processes with a focus on “follow the sun” development.
- Virtual world/real world interface via RPC and audio/visual transmission.
- Online chess game analysis system.
- Photographic virtual tour software assembled from still photos..
- Social network and group messaging system mediated via mobile device and the internet.
- Flash mob coordination system via web network and mobile devices.
- Collaborative educational software that allows creation, sharing and engaging in “pop quizzes” tied into browser and OS activities.
- OpenCinema software that facilitates collaborative script writing, storyboarding, casting, shoot production management, marketing and distribution of cinematic works. Animation/graphical design and display software for decorative LED displays.
- Electronic Lab Notebook for chemists with fast molecular substructure search capabilities.
- Point of Sale retail management system for DOS systems.