

Ask HN: What is something simple you would pay for if it existed? - eatonphil

In other words, what is something simple you are missing now?<p>It could be an app, a piece of hardware, a food, or anything else within the realm of simple and feasible - just not implemented yet.<p>Chances are it does exist already, but perhaps it has not been marketed aptly or the functionality is not up to par with what you think is minimally acceptable.
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Red_Tarsius
FEASIBLE

A gamified experience (a website, app...) that teaches people of all ages the
basics of farming. I don't know anything about seeds, moon cycles, tools... No
matter the progress, at the bottom of the "Society stack" there are still
simple techniques that the average man is not aware of.

UNFEASIBLE

Worldwide Sushi on demand. It's _not_ feasible, but I would love to just order
sushi with an app and receive it at my doorstep, like pizza.

That said, It would be a nightmare to scale. You would need to educate the
consumer on the quality of your fish and fight the bias "home delivery -->
cheap".

~~~
kevinrpope
Do you mean "farming" in terms of a large-scale farm where you make your
living selling produce or in terms of subsistence farming for your own
consumption (what some might call "gardening")?

Also, do apps like eat24hours, grubhub and seamlessweb have sushi delivery
available?

~~~
tobylane
a) Traditional, <£1m revenue farms. b) >£100m revenue mega automated farms (eg
the dairy farm in UK news). c) Mini farm with modern tech (LEDs, hydroponics).

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dennybritz
Healthy food as a service. Getting food delivery is easy, but if you work out
or want to lose weight you need to stick to a nutrition plan, and most of the
stuff you can order is crap. Preparing meals is a pain. I'd pay to have 3-5
snall meals per day with predefined nutritional information prepared for me,
ready to either eat at home or take with me. It can be the same meals every
day, I don't care. I'm fine with giving the person/company keys to my home so
they can put stuff into my fridge/freezer. Something like $200/week sounds
like a reasonable amount to pay for that. Addon would be maid service.

~~~
bbcbasic
+1. A socialist solution for this is to get a group of friends together and
take it in turns to cook a container of food for everyone in the group. Cheap,
reduces cooking, and ensures not only healthy food but exactly what you want
e.g. low GI, Gluten free, or whatever else floats your boat.

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ceeK
Deliver me all my daily meals on the morning of the day, already cooked that
morning, with an emphasis on it being healthy too.

Let me pick what I want for tomorrow in an app that sets out my choices.

~~~
cweagans
Man, I'd be all over this. Personal chef as a service.

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deeviant
Calendar software that is actually better than a piece of paper.

~~~
mod
Google calendar sends alerts to your Android device (and is available from
anywhere). So that's one-upped paper already imo.

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dp234
User friendly email that serves no ads and offers full privacy and encryption.

~~~
cweagans
Fastmail.fm? It's as encrypted as webmail can be, and you can send gpg
encrypted messages with a desktop client.

I've been using it for just over a year, and I'm very happy with it.

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niche
The ability to do my own plumbing, to learn simple household tasks, fixer
upper projects, that would normally be sourced out to a specialist /
technician

Include DIY cable/internet protocols for a special bonus!

~~~
DougWebb
You're willing to pay for the ability to not pay for tasks that you need to
hire experts for?

Besides the obvious "paying to not pay", this already exists. Take a class to
learn the basics of these jobs. Home Depot has classes like this all of the
time, and I'm pretty sure they're free.

If you're lucky, you'll save some money. If you're not, you'll learn that you
pay these professionals for their experience, not their basic knowledge. And
you'll know how to correctly describe what you screwed up before you called
them.

I'm a fix-it myself kind of guy, and the most valuable thing I know is how to
tell when I need a pro. I did replace an ignitor on my furnace based on
watching a youtube video once, which I was proud of. It was simpler than I
expected.

~~~
xur17
I think a curated tutorial with step by step guides, and videos could be
pretty useful. Something that covers basic home maintenance tasks that are
easy enough that it doesn't make sense to outsource.

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pythoncloner
PA as a service. Somebody needs to take care of all my shitty work like paying
my bills on time, paying loans, managing my subscriptions. When i move the
apartment, some body should take care of the whole end-end flow. I mean they
need to search and select some apartments for me, they should plan a move,
they come and pack things and ship to new home.

~~~
notduncansmith
What's wrong with existing VA services like FancyHands?

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gesman
Service that does it's best finds any service using personalized free-word
described criteria.

If taken and satisfied - I'd happily pay finder's fee. Heck, i'd even leave
escrow to cover for it.

