

Ask HN: Does anyone have any spare-time project ideas? - hnsparetime

I like my day job, but I find that I have a bit of spare time over the nights and weekends.<p>I'd like to put that time to productive use, but I like my job and don't want to quit. I've seen a few posts here on small web projects that people have done in their spare time, and I'm wondering if anyone has ideas they'd like to share with me. I'd like to get something that a few people think is quite good.<p>I'm looking for more "Parrot e-book" than PG's Request for Startup style problems :)<p>Here's one that I've thought of, I'd love to see what HN thinks of it:<p>"Web app for sending surprise gifts to one's romantic partner" - basically, I read once about someone with a shell script that reminded him to tell his wife he loved her at random intervals (after x commands). I thought that was really cool, and you could potentially extend it by having people sign up on a site and then the site would randomly decide to send them a surprise for their partner (based on some demographic information they provided) - for instance "We suggest you send Carla this cute picture of a cat". You could potentially monetize with a few "paid" suggestions from local restaurants, beauty parlours, bars and the like.<p>Keen to see what HN thinks of that, and what they can come up with :)
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lsiebert
What you want with small web projects are probably not things you need to get
in contact with companies every day to monetize. Sticking a suitable
advertising network should be enough, or you should do like one or two
companies at a time, changing monthly.

If you go with your idea there is room for expansion. See if you can make it
work for a broader categories then just guys getting stuff for wives and gfs.
The reverse for one. You could target it at women to get insight into what
guys like. And maybe find a way to get users to review or provide ideas...
Maybe gamify it. And there is always anonymous marketing data as a potential
money stream.

I also recall reading about a date planning site for committed couples not too
long ago. You might see what is already out there.

The best thing to monetize is perhaps something you are already doing for
yourself. You can extrapolate from your experience.

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bobbydavid
I recently read an article on HN about how the value of an idea comes from
execution, not from just having it. That ideas bounce around a lot before they
finally find a good home. It was such a romantic image that I now feel
compelled to inspire you with some sort of nascent idea.

Unfortunately, I have nothing ready.

But, off the top of my head... I think the world is missing a lot of tutorial-
ized scripts. That is, a lot of download-able programs, especially
programming-related ones like languages (Ruby/Node/Python/etc) have install
scripts that make changes to your system when you install.

I think it would be cool to have a "tutorial-ized" version where the installer
explained why it was doing things as it did them.

Of course, that would require someone with know-how to augment the script. And
it would be a nightmare to maintain. But perhaps a useful learning tool / way
to disseminate knowledge.

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jnorthrop
This post is a couple of days old already but I'll add my concept for you.
I've lost steam on this project but have a good deal of basics done if you
want to pick it up.

Here is my description: [http://jnorthrop.me/2011/11/8/take-my-idea-measure-
any-exerc...](http://jnorthrop.me/2011/11/8/take-my-idea-measure-any-
exercise/)

And here is the work in progress: <http://wodwatts.com/>

There are opportunities to extend this to smartphones and go "social" as well.
I doubt it'll make anyone rich, but I would have said that about Instagram as
well. Ping me if you're interested.

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bmelton
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3869288>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3869427>

These are stories #3 and #8 respectively, to this story's #2.

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Dassi08
HEY I HAVE A SIMILAR IDEA WITH INSTAGRAM AND GIFTING SO IF YOU ARE INTERESTED
WE CAN TALK ABOUT IT AND MAYBE WORK ON IT TOGETHER. I AM FRONT END PERSON AND
DESIGNER, ALTHOUGH I UNDERSTAND SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND PROGRAMMING CONCEPTS .. SO
YOU WOULDN'T GO AT IT ALONE.

