
Ask HN: What will you pay for? - chegra
Yesterday, I post a list of 6 items I would pay for. I was hoping other people would chime in with problems they were having that they would pay for. So, I&#x27;m just going to ask directly: What would you pay for? Or what have you paid for recently?
======
switch33
1\. Grabbing data from any site by just highlighting the content and providing
format rules straight to JSON. This could be a plugin for a browser.

2\. A developmental IDE that targets interactive run-time development where
you see results instantly. Variables would instantly turn into scrollable bars
that you can set min and max to modify a running game window. (i'm working on
this idea.)

3\. A service that teaches me how to program distributed, peer to peer, or
machine learning step by step in implementing useable already made tools. Not
just blog posts or coursera courses how to teach yourself how to make them.

4\. An small box that you can program to respond to text with other small
parts to turn lights on and off as well as other small things around the house
for automation. But not be over the internet. A simple home automation by wifi
sounds safer to me.

5\. A plugin for the browser that track's movements and clicks of a mouse, for
later automating a specific session. Useful for automation and faking users
for social sites. This would probably have to be open source since privacy is
a concern with plugins that provide that much level of tracking.

6\. A finance screen that pulls off data in a more use-able way that isn't
just simple stock figures but gives insight into market trends. This is a
general idea, but the data needs to be useful enough. Thinknum, quantopian,
and quandl.com are all decent ideas that are like "half-there."

~~~
krapp
>Grabbing data from any site by just highlighting the content and providing
format rules straight to JSON. This could be a plugin for a browser

Would you pay for a service that collected sets of tags from a site and
returned it as JSON? Like all the links or images or script tags?

~~~
AznHisoka
YES.. but only if that services includes the actual crawling. otherwise, it's
trivial to implement.

~~~
switch33
Do you want to work on it with me? I have an idea to make it work probably
more accurate than the kimono bullshit. Add me on skype: Switch336 .

------
wikwocket
If you are trying to wrangle some ideas for startups or profitable side
projects, I think this approach is unlikely to be successful.

First of all, you cannot reliably determine what someone will pay for by
asking them directly. People frequently do not know what they want until they
see it, do not know what they will pay for until they open their wallet, and
are poor forecasters of both.

Secondly, my experience indicates that the cross-section of people who post
comments on HN is not well correlated with you average consumer or B2B market.
Or with human beings in general, for that matter. ;)

~~~
switch33
"First of all, you cannot reliably determine what someone will pay for by
asking them directly."

Sometimes people do better with "forced" creativity. By asking someone this
type of question it makes them think of quicker easier ways that may make
their lives simpler. Which sometimes can lead to better thought out ideas.

While I agree HN's isn't the average consumer or even B2B market they are
still people. . .

~~~
argonaut
I think this is actually the absolutely wrong way to do it. By asking people
what they would pay for, you often constrain your idea space to the space of
"incremental ideas that sound good that lots of people have thought of,"
rather than explore the space of "revolutionary, new-market or market-
disruptive ideas that most people think are stupid (without the benefit of
hindsight)."

The right approach, I think, is to build a prototype and then ask people if
they would pay for that prototype, rather than forcing people to imagine a
product.

------
codegeek
I will/might pay for an app that can hook up to my home appliances/circuits
and gives me a monthly dashboard of my utility usage broken down to individual
items. For example, I want to know how much electricity I used from the bulbs
in my kitchen vs bedroom. Bonus if it can tell me _how_ to improve the cost by
suggesting better alternatives. So if I use kitchen lights for 5 hours in a
day and they are not energy efficient, give me options to save money. Kinda
like a mint.com for utilities.

I will/might pay for a smart mailbox (physical not email) that can scan my
mails and tell me if I have any useful mail other than junk. Bonus point if it
organizes/separates the junk mail automatically in a separate bundle than my
regular/good mail.

Note: You can tell that I am a homeowner. In general, a lot of home related
stuff need serious fixing. So much can be done via great technology. Example:
Lockitron is cool. Need more innovative things like that for home stuff.

EDIT: I edited the mailbox to physical mailbox to clarify that i m not talking
about email.

~~~
switch33
"I will/might pay for a smart mailbox that can scan my mails and tell me if I
have any useful mail other than junk. Bonus point if it organizes/separates
the junk mail automatically in a separate bundle than my regular/good mail."

I think rabbitmq, and few other mail services may do "some" of that.

------
ezl
I will pay for Craigslist style email obfuscation as a service.

 _Problem:_

I have a marketplace type website where my users would like to be contacted
but not have their emails be made public.

 _How it works:_

I set a subdomain of my site, mail.mysite.com to an ip address you designate.
On demand, i make an API call to your service
(www.emailobfuscationasaservice.com) with

    
    
        {
        real_address:foo@bar.com,
        expiration_timestamp:2014-01-20T00:00:00.000Z,
        obfuscate_replies: true / false,
        callback_url: (optional)
        }
    

www.emailobfuscationasaservice.com responds with either:

(A) a success message and an anonymized, temporary email address like
239fag72wa@mail.mysite.com (the subdomain i gave you), or

(B) an error message like "no such user at that domain" or "domain doesn't
exist" or something.

The email address lives until the expiration timestamp. If the obfuscated
email receives a message, you forward it to the "real_address".

If "obfuscate_replies" was set to true at email creation time, then if the
person responds, you play middleman for both parties and force all their
emails to go through you (basically you create another obscured email for
person who writes to the obscured email).

If "callback_url" was set, that means that I, the operator of www.mysite.com,
want to be notified of activity at the obscured email address, so you POST
activity to the specified url. That lets me do things like update activity
feeds in my app for the user.

If you build this, I will pay for it. It seems to me that many other startups
could use something like this as well.

 _edit: formatting and owning up that this is me re-posting this
from[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7024718](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7024718)
in hopes that somebody will build this so I can pay for it._

~~~
switch33
Like a temporary e-mail service that contacts your regular e-mail service?
There is countless versions of those like 10minutemail.com or something.

This could be done by running an automated script that makes an e-mail address
temporarily adds it to your site. Then another script that check's said e-mail
address.

This is a problem with e-mail spam, but I think hiding your real e-mail from
spambots is the main concern in this if I am understanding you right.

~~~
ezl
As far as I know, 10minutemail does not do this. I personally use 33mail for
this sort of forwarding.

However these are designed around obscuring MY email address, and using
10minutemail.com or 33mail.com's domains.

I need to create emails for my customers that will forward to THEIR email
addresses when another party contacts them, preferably using my own domain.

While I guess I technically could figure out a way to use something like
10minutemail and register accounts for all of the users of my site, it would
probably require:

1\. the users of my site to tell 10minutemail that it's ok to forward to them
(during 10minutemail's registration process)

2\. i would have to post 10minutemail.com domains as the contact info for the
customers of my site, which is an undesirable UI.

If I'm missing something and I can in fact use existing services to do what I
want, please fill me in, because I want this, I just don't want to build it
(yet, anyways).

~~~
switch33
One issue I see arising is your e-mails that are sent back obfuscated, would
have trust issues, and be marked as spam in most cases because that is how it
is handled. That's the biggest issue you will have with this idea.

~~~
ezl
yes, fair enough. even without the 2 way obfuscation, I'd still pay for this.

craigslist implements something like this now. If you email a CL anonymized
email address and email back and forth, you never get the counterparty's email
address.

Basically craigslist just acts as a relay, so all communication actually
happens between $PERSON_A and Craigslist and separately between $PERSON_B and
Craigslist.

------
junto
1\. I'd pay money for software that mimicked Google+ / Facebook, but was open
source and could be self-hosted. Bonus points if it ran on my Synology.

My requirements are actually quite simple. I want a place to share posts, and
photos and have friends and family (predominantly family) would be able to
comment on those photos and posts.

It needs to look good, minimal and easy to configure. I want to get my private
stuff away from the NSA vacuum cleaner. I want to take back control.

2\. I'd also pay money for a sudo apt-get a-completely-simple-fully-featured-
email-server-that-is-bullet-proof-by-default-and-the-only-config-is-a-domain-
name(s). Ideally with a web interface. I'm praying mailpile.is will be that.

~~~
switch33
"I'd pay money for software that mimicked Google+ / Facebook, but was open
source and could be self-hosted. Bonus points if it ran on my Synology."

I've seen some decentralized facebook type stuff on github. Problem is non-
centralized social networks are hard to scale as well as a bit strange to use
for people.

~~~
svalorzen
It's called Diaspora*, looks nice and I'm planning to make an account in there
soon.

~~~
junto
I have looked at the diaspora website. I didn't get it. I'm promise you I'm
not that stupid but their website was a car crash. Why do I need to create an
account with them? I want something as simple as WordPress. If buddypress
wasn't so ugly it could be an option.

------
ahazred8ta
chegra's original list is at
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7125542](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7125542)

1\. I need a cheap gpu powered pc, something like 300 cuda cores but with the
ability to expand to 3072. I'm will to pay $1k for this plus the price of
shipping.(Don't care if the parts are old) 2\. I need to dress better. A
service to pick out the clothes that I wear and should buy. Willing to pay
$120 per year for this. 3\. A book about how to make great conversation. The
book needs to have tons of examples. Willing to pay $10 for this. 4\. A book
about 1000 ways to make people laugh. Willing to pay $10 for this. 5\. A
programmable human size android. That cost under $1k. 6\. Designs to said
programmable android. Willing to pay $100 for that. Should be able to hook it
up to a 3d printer.

------
lsiebert
A career manager/mentor would be something I, as someone retraining as a
developer, would pay for. Somone knowledgeable about development who helps me
find jobs that match my current abilities/interests , training to increase my
abilities, selks me on my abilities to companies, and perhaps provides support
for things like salary negotiations and benefits.

I suppose I could get some of that from a college, if I went back for a degree
in CS, but it seems like school is disconnected from so many aspects of
development and industry, the tools you learn are not the tools you use when
working, and it is incredibly expensive with no guarantee. I want someone in
tune with how things work in the real world to help me with my career, so I
can focus on being good at the jobs I get, not at being good at getting jobs.

------
ctb_mg
1\. A web-based email client that's as good as gmail or fastmail, but open
source, and runs on my servers.

2a. Document/file storage as good as Google Drive/Docs, that is open source
and runs on my servers. Corresponding mobile app required.

2b. Open source cloud (a la ownCloud) with a better user interface and more
features on both web and mobile (i.e.: viable as a Google drive replacement)

3\. A mobile operating system that focuses on security and isn't too
information-leaky.

4\. A very nice android tablet replacement for stock headunits in cars. The
key is that it should be easy to install and configure. One can create this
now using torque, a bluetooth OBDII adapter, and tasker to act like a genuine
headunit, but requires lots of configuration/setup.

~~~
asselinpaul
2a [https://www.aerofs.com/](https://www.aerofs.com/)

------
robbiea
A chrome extension for twitter that:

1) Tells me via a % of what type of things they post (text only vs links, vs
images, etc)

2) Tweets to followers % (If someone has 10k tweets and only 100 followers,
that usually means they aren't worth following IMO)

3) allows me to filter by media type on the twitter website. So, let's just
say I only want to view tweets that don't have media links.

I would pay about 5 dollars for that.

~~~
switch33
Now, this is a good idea.

This could also be done as a seperate website layout:

I think it'd be great to rank twitter users based on criteria: How influential
are they? What category best fits them in one word? And statistics: What % of
tweets have text, links, images? Filtering by media type.

I'd also see this as a very useful tool to pay for. If nothing else by ad
revenue on the website itself.

Edit: Actually I think [http://www.twitonomy.com/](http://www.twitonomy.com/)
or [http://bottlenose.com/](http://bottlenose.com/) are pretty nice.

------
jmathai
The problem is that you can't ask people what they'd pay for and expect a
valuable list.

There are plenty of things I think I'd pay for but when it comes to taking out
my credit card and paying for it I find something else to distract me from it.

~~~
switch33
I read this as "People don't know what they really want something until they
are shown it."

While this is true in some retrospects, it's all about solving problems. If
people say "they want to solve x need for their y idea" it is essentially the
same as "I'd pay for x so I can solve y sooner."

And in that retrospect these lists could be useful. You could try being less
negative and think for 5-10 minutes on an idea rather then being a pessimist.

------
shortsightedsid
I would pay for a good twitter app which helps me actually read stuff. There's
so much of noise on twitter that if there was a way to filter that out, it
would really be nice.

~~~
switch33
Can you elaborate, based on what criteria?

For example: Only famous people? only students? only phds? Content? Only
people with blogs?

Or maybe a better dashboard abstraction that can have conversations between
people be easier to digest?

~~~
shortsightedsid
Right now I use tweetdeck which allows me to see everything as columns. So I
can have a column for my timeline, column for hashtags etc.. But the problem
is things like - [http://askaaronlee.com/how-many-times-do-you-tweet-your-
blog...](http://askaaronlee.com/how-many-times-do-you-tweet-your-blog-post/).
The notorious ones are inc.com, fast company or mashable which seem to repeat
the same post 4-5 times a day. Plus with tools like Buffer, you can schedule
those tweets to be made multiple times. What would be nice is a tool to fight
back - say keep track of Duplicates and ignore them.

~~~
switch33
Hmm, that does seem like an interesting idea. I didn't think about that
problem but you are indeed right. Twitter is full of re-tweets of continually
the same blog post spam. I think some kind of service to monitor twitter and
filter out that would improve readability.

------
AznHisoka
I'd pay for an API that could convert a twitter username or G+ id or linkedin
ID to an email address with at least 20% recall, but 100% accuracy (no false
positives)

~~~
switch33
This sounds like a good idea, but maybe the way to go would be to search for
e-mail addresses from web-scraping?

You can put it together from google analytics + some perl regex script to just
print the e-mail addresses.

Maybe the way to go would be to look for similar names on other sites as well.

------
workhere-io
Email (IMAP plus a Gmail-like web interface that is better than RoundCube).
Preferably hosted somewhere safe(r) than the US.

------
Mankhool
I would pay for an RFID reader that I can attach to a DSLR that will dump data
it reads into an IPTC field.

~~~
switch33
Mass credit card fraud?

~~~
Mankhool
No actually. I'm a MAM and my photographers often dump photos on my desk with
ZERO metadata. I have no way of identifying everyone. If everyone had a name
badge with an RFID then taking their photo would collect their name, title and
company information. Also, do CCs use RFID?

~~~
ahazred8ta
Media asset manager? What industry/environment?

