problems you have upvoted

Remember stuff using a song played at that time #music #memory

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 13:48:00 +0000

I am sure many of us remember the events which occurred when listening to the same song which we were listening to when those events occurred.

I happen to remember the things vividly when I play a song i.e. things which occurred earlier when I was listening to the same song several years ago. This happens usually with my favourite songs.

I don't know how this works, but I would like to know whether some form of technique can be developed to remember any stuff using songs or music.

Do you remember past events when listening to a song?

3 points posted by Tracy Devin

Weekly review of high profile startup lawsuits #newsletter #legal

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 13:21:00 +0000

I would like weekly updates on high profile startup legal cases and it seems there are others who would like it too.

It's getting hard to track who is suing who, updates on countersuits and legal settlements as lawsuits have become part of the business strategy.

I feel a weekly email news letter would be an appropriate medium for delivering weekly review of high profile startup lawsuits.

3 points posted by Shinzo Reyen

Offline programming course for prisoners #education #prison

Thu, 27 Aug 2020 17:48:00 +0000

I have a friend in prison to whom I am sending educational materials, I figured that learning programming could be very useful and so I searched for materials which could teach prominent programming languages without access to a computer but couldn't find anything noteworthy.

I understand that a programming language doesn't make much sense without access to a computer, but decades earlier when there were limited access to the computers people still learnt programming through books.

There is a very high population of incarcerated people in my country, I think an offline equivalent of MOOC for programming via paper medium would be very useful to the inmates anywhere in the world.

I saw other remote education related problems on this platform and So, I was motivated to post this. 3 points posted by Jonas

Display musical instruments used in a song #visualization #music

Mon, 24 Aug 2020 13:03:00 +0000

I like to visualise different musical instruments used in a song like Keyboard(Piano), Guitar, Drum, Violin, Saxophone, Flute etc. in my mind when I listen to the music. If you are like me, wouldn't it be nice to have the instruments displayed on the music app itself?

Ideally, The space beneath the progress bar as the song plays could be a great place for the visualisations of the musical instruments and could be disabled if not needed like how Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music do it for the lyrics.

That's all, let me know if you would like to have that feature in the music apps and let's get them working on it!

3 points posted by Trisha

Remote education for underprivileged #education #poverty

Mon, 17 Aug 2020 13:54:00 +0000

COVID-19 pandemic has put the world into lockdown and the children are forced to get their education through Internet - especially via video conferencing often using smartphones, radio, television and texting.

Unfortunately, even feature phones let alone smartphones are beyond the reach of many, resulting in the lack of means to get educated in the marginalised communities where education is the only way for the next generation to escape the poverty. There are several reports of children committing suicide after being distraught from not being able to afford a smartphone[1][2][3].

Pew Research centre's 2019 report says,

Across the 11 emerging economies surveyed as part of this report, up to one-in-five people do not own or even share a mobile phone.

Lack of smartphone or other electronic device is not the only problem, lack of proper electricity, cellular and Internet connectivity inhibits the underprivileged from receiving remote education.

What we can we come up with under such conditions to deliver remote education to the underprivileged? Note that several governments are trying to crack this problem as well, so any solution to fill this need gap could be a viable international social good startup idea.

3 points posted by Abishek Muthian

Simple Video editor for beginner youtubers #video #editing

Wed, 12 Aug 2020 21:46:00 +0000

We all know video editing is hard. After talking to some people, in order to create a 4-5 minute high quality video can take 4-7 hours. Which discourages a lot of people.

I want to cut down that time ten-fold.

In other words, create a video editor that will help you all the way throughout your editing workflow - save time, create HQ videos, see your subscriber count grow.

3 points posted by studiocinematic

Health insurance for sick and disabled #insurance #disability

Sat, 08 Aug 2020 05:02:00 +0000

I recently learnt that the top health insurers in my country are denying policy for the sick and disabled; putting the lives of sick and disabled at risk during COVID-19 pandemic.

As an entrepreneur I understand the risk faced by insurers, but then again such risk is part and parcel of their business model. But, denying someone a policy since they have X disease when they could offer them a coverage for rest of the ailments with a waiting period for coverage of X disease is not keeping up with the progress of medical science; especially when the Govt. guidelines suggests you to do the same.

Hence, there is a need gap for an insurer who cares about sick, disabled and has ethical policies which are developed in parallel to the progress in medical science.

Do you know such insurer, have opinions about how such insurer should be or want to build one yourself? I understand that the subject of health insurance differs widely according to the country and their health policy.

3 points posted by Abishek Muthian

Capturing good photos from any phone #photography #phone

Thu, 23 Jul 2020 13:23:00 +0000

I don't take pictures to post to social networks often, so I run my phone until software updates are available, as cameras are usually the only distinguishing feature even among flagships.

But, when I do take a photograph (usually insects, birds and animals) I would like the picture to be good. But, it is rarely the case as only few smartphone manufacturers have got the knack of capturing good photographs even though the hardware (sensor, lens, processor) are the same.

Their secret sauce lies in the machine learning powered image processing software, as spectacularly demonstrated by Google with their pixel lineup of phones and few other manufacturers.

So why not take that software to the cloud and let anyone get good quality photographs from any mobile? All current smartphones can capture images in RAW format, with better Internet bandwidth on the phone, a RAW format image can be uploaded to the cloud for ML - image processing while a lower quality JPEG can be displayed on the phone. Once processed, higher quality pictures can be shared to the social network or downloaded.

I think a phone camera app with this service can fill a large need gap of getting good photos on any phone. 3 points posted by Abishek Muthian

Show me my bank's hidden charges #banking #charges

Mon, 13 Jul 2020 12:01:00 +0000

My bank is putting a ton load of hidden charges on my account for transactions, services I never use and what not. It's a chore to find these charges from the bank statement (which we rarely do) and even if we find it there is little we could do about it.

Talking to my friends, it seems almost every major bank does this and it is a problem for many.

I would like a solution where my bank's hidden charges are clearly showcased to me and helps me reduce those charges.

3 points posted by Benny

Tell my Skype contacts that I'm on a Zoom call #status #VoIP

Mon, 06 Jul 2020 14:05:00 +0000

When I'm on an important Zoom call, I get a Skype call and it interrupts the conversation. I'm sure you all would have faced it as well.

This can be resolved if there was a way to inform my contacts on different platforms like Zoom, Skype, FaceTime, WhatsApp that I'm on a call in another platform automatically without having to set a status for it individually(As if anyone is reading it before calling) when they call me.

My 5 bucks for anyone who builds a solution for this!

3 points posted by Michael Glassman

Disinfecting amazon packages #hygiene #ecommerce

Mon, 29 Jun 2020 14:40:00 +0000

Everyone is ordering from Amazon or other ecommerce sites to stock up and prepare for the next lockdown. But when I see the packages on my door step, I'm worried whether they have COVID-19 virus on it and I'm sure there are many others who feel the same way.

I'm spending an awful lot of time disinfecting the Amazon delivery packages, before taking it inside the house. Some days, I have to repeat this 4-5 time; each time I get a package delivered. Disinfecting the package isn't an easy task as well, I have to gear up each time, ensure that the disinfectant doesn't get inside the package and dispose the protective gear carefully.

I wish there was an easy and safe way to disinfect the packages received from ecommerce sites or any other postal delivery. How are you all solving this problem? 3 points posted by Nancy Ilias

Stop my family members from touching their face #health #hygiene

Mon, 22 Jun 2020 15:59:00 +0000

In order to prevent COVID-19 coronavirus infection, its being constantly advised to not touch our face. When we are outside, we wear face mask which to some extent reminds us not to touch our face; but when we are in our house we frequently touch our face.

It seems like there's currently no solution which prevents us from touching our face at home without having to wear face mask and shields. If someone in the house is infected with COVID-19, everyone is at risk and preventing touching face could limit the chances of infection.

3 points posted by Katy Jones

Listening to obscure international radio station #radio #audio

Mon, 08 Jun 2020 13:06:00 +0000

I'm under lockdown in a foreign country, like many in my situation I'm home sick. When home sick, there are things which we can do to rejoice memories of home; for some it's cooking, watching favourite family show etc. for me it's listening to FM radio stations back home.

But, not all radio stations are available online especially when the station is from tier 3 or lower cities in India. Even when the online portal for a radio station is available, they play streams from select top-tier cities.

I would like to have a Spotify like app, which can play streams from FM radio stations from anywhere in the world.

3 points posted by Rupsana

How much will I be charged for my treatment #hospital #bills

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 13:38:00 +0000

How much a patient is charged for a treatment in a private hospital is mostly opaque, until the patient receives the bill. It's common to get 2x - 3x times the projected costs for the treatment.

But, times are not normal; COVID-19 lockdown has cut private hospital revenue extensively as very few people are visiting hospitals for non-COVID related treatment and not many private hospitals are participating in treating COVID-19 patients. Even those private hospitals who are treating COVID-19 patients are charging extraordinarily high price for their treatment.

So, as the lockdown lifts private hospitals are sure to charge exuberantly and discriminately for providing treatments to compensate for their loss of revenue.

It's now more crucial than ever for a patient to get an idea of how much they will get charged for a treatment in a hospital, There are currently no means to know that. A public database where patients can share their hospital bills for everyone to see would helpful in creating transparency for private hospital charges and may also bring accountability from private hospitals.

3 points posted by Katy Jones

Ad blocker for satellite television #adblock #television

Tue, 19 May 2020 13:19:00 +0000

Those who don't like irrelevant advertisements on Internet, especially on websites could make use of ad blockers to hide the advertisements.

But no such luck with satellite television, apart from irrelevant, irritating advertisements on television, they often target gullible with misinformation. Not all countries have regulations to prevent misinformation in television ads.

Some smart TVs seem to support ad blockers, which I guess blocks Internet ads; But, not sure how it would be useful as even on smart TVs many watch satellite television.

I would like to have ad blocker for satellite television, which can block advertisements when the shows cut to it and also on-demand ad blocker for advertisements which masquerade as regular content.

3 points posted by Bakshara

Cheat sheet for everything in same design format #education #cribsheet

Fri, 08 May 2020 13:41:00 +0000

Students and professionals of different domains use cheat sheets for remembering what they learnt at a quick glance from web, written or printed notes. Some even refer to cheat sheets to find the information at a faster rate without having to go through the full documentation.

There are cheat sheets possibly for everything from cooking to medical education. Here's a collection of cheat sheets for different programming languages.

But since cheat sheets are made by different individuals, each cheat sheet has different design format. Different colors, arrangements of columns, fonts and text sizes makes the cheat sheets disjointed.

If there is a platform which builds and curates cheat sheets in a single format i.e. like Wikipedia for cheat sheet, it would make cheat sheets more accessible, seamless and mainstream.

3 points posted by Yogesh Basu

Notification for selective portions of web/pdf #notification #webscrapping

Mon, 27 Apr 2020 07:02:00 +0000

There are still websites which provide daily updated data but don't have an app or even if they do; they don't provide notifications for the selective data I'm interested in. In such cases, I'm left with the only option to check those websites or apps regularly.

e.g. Commodity seller's price list, Banking sites which provide forex data.

Often, what I require from these pdf or other web content are just small pieces of information which can be sent over through notifications instead of having to spend the time in visiting these websites/apps or having to remember to do so.

Essentially I'm looking for a tool, which allows me to select a particular piece of information on the web or pdf to be sent as notifications at the intervals set by me, if the information is updated.

Has anyone else faced this problem? Or have a solution to this? do let me know.

3 points posted by Bakshara

Reliable, uninterrupted video conferencing #videoconferencing #Internet

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 02:50:00 +0000

Video conferencing has been in existence for over 50 years and yet it's still nearly impossible to have an uninterrupted, reliable session with multiple participants from around the world.

Don't believe me? Look at what the world's most premiere organisation tasked with preventing the next World War is facing.

It's easy to delegate the cause to the quality of the Internet itself being not equal in different parts of the world, but that's not the only problem to the issues in video conferencing. The problems range from technical to behavioural.

Technical problems include, but not limited to -

Internet QoS, latency, connectivity.
Video/Audio encoding and decoding.
Noise reduction.
Echo suppression and cancellation.
Hardware and Software incompatibilities.

Behavioural problems include, but not limited to -

Forgetting camera/mic is ON/OFF.
Obstructing the camera/mic.

There's no dearth of video conferencing tools trying to solve some these problems, but since not all of these are solved by a single system; there's still a huge need gap.

3 points posted by Abishek Muthian

Alert me when slots in BigBasket is open #India #ecommerce

Sun, 19 Apr 2020 04:57:00 +0000

Online grocery delivery sites such as BigBasket to Grofers are operating at 60-70% capacity due to manpower shortage and supply constraints from COVID-19 lockdown. But the demand for online grocery delivery has sky rocketed for obvious reasons.

BigBasket has a slot system, which opens up at random for booking and so I have to keep checking the app for open slots and I'm rarely successful. This activity is very depressing, I have spent several sleepless nights on this already.

I wish, someone could build a solution to alert the users when the slots in BigBasket is available for booking. I'm not sure why BigBasket itself hasn't provided such a feature.

I'm sure this problem is being faced by thousands in India and so a solution for this would be much welcomed.

3 points posted by Ellakiya Raju

Analysis of social media posts of anyone #socialmedia #analytics

Wed, 15 Apr 2020 16:36:00 +0000

I work as a freelance social media manager, as part of my work I have to analyse the performance of the social media posts of my clients and their competitors.

Twitter & Facebook themselves offer some form of analytics; Twitter offers for all profiles and Facebook offers it for Business pages, obviously they are limited to the user profile. Social media posting tools such as Hootsuite, Buffer offer insights for those posts posted via their platforms.

But, I need insights for the tweets and posts of others. Like their top performing tweets/posts, segmented categories, timings, gain/loss of followers according to their tweet/post, tweet/post sentiment, media categories etc.

I assume this kind of insights is possible from the public data as there are some tools like https://followerwonk.com/ which gives deep insights about twitter followers and https://foller.me/ which gives insights about public tweets although is limited to 100.

I think if this need gap is fulfilled, the product could be indispensable for social media analysts.

3 points posted by Yogesh Basu

Certifying home network's security to WFH #certification #cybersecurity

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 06:20:00 +0000

In my previous startup, the main constraint in letting the employees to work from home was their lack of operational security knowledge and poor network security of the home Internet network.

Operational security could be improved with proper training, provided an employee adheres to the best practices; but overhauling home networks for every employee for working from home is beyond most startups.

Of course VPN can help and is used by most organisations to strengthen the security of their network when accessed outside their office, but employees often connect directly to their home network also, thereby risking their devices and by extension their office network to a breach.

I see a need gap for a service which audits the security of the home network of an employee, certifies it to be fit for work depending upon the nature of sensitivity, regularly assess the state of security, updates the employer if there is any degradation of the security and perhaps even rent better home network equipments.

3 points posted by Abishek Muthian

Alert me when Netflix has the movie I want #movies #netflix

Fri, 03 Apr 2020 12:02:00 +0000

Netflix, Prime and other streaming sites have Geo-blocked content i.e. some content is available only in certain countries due to content distribution rights.

Thankfully there are VPN to bypass Geo-blocking, but checking every single country's Netflix for my favourite movie is tedious and could risk VPN IP or account getting black listed.

I would like to have an alert service which can tell me when my favourite movie is available on the streaming platforms of my choice in any particular country.

3 points posted by Yogesh Basu

Universal hyperlocal COVID-19 tracing app #coronavirus #privacy

Tue, 31 Mar 2020 05:44:00 +0000

Technology had been an indisputable force multiplier in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic in the countries such as China, Singapore and South Korea.

Apps which provided realtime anonymised movement information of infected patients such as Corona Map in South Korea and community-driven contact tracing app such as BlueTrace in Singapore proved to be hugely successful in containing the spread of COVID-19 in those respective countries.

But not all countries are equipped to deploy such apps on demand, so there is a need gap for a universal hyperlocal COVID-19 tracing app, which can be used by any country in the world with significant smartphone penetration.

The primary aspects of such application should be,

Privacy of the patient, the data should be anonymised to prevent harassment.
Dashboard for health workers to update realtime information of the places, time where the patient had visited.
Web application, to ensure compatibility with various devices and for fast update/deployment.
Open-source.

3 points posted by Abishek Muthian

Remote Daycare for Children #remote #childcare

Mon, 30 Mar 2020 09:18:00 +0000

Now that almost all of us are working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation, single parents are facing a tough time in taking care of their children and their work at the same time.

I'm unable to focus on my work and especially conference calls when having a hyperactive young child besides me. Since, we are all trying to follow physical distancing; there is no question of allowing a baby sitter from outside.

I was thinking if a remote daycare i.e. someone trusted (like those who are already working in daycare centres) could monitor the child via Skype or Facetime and engage them with games, videos etc. So that the parent can do their work in peace.

I expect this to be a need gap faced among single parents with no help all over the world, if so I would like to hear your story and solutions.

3 points posted by Angela Hemsworth

Finding correct package efficiently in a bag #package #search

Mon, 23 Mar 2020 05:42:00 +0000

I am an Amazon delivery person in India. We deliver packages here in motorcycle from a large carry/backpack bag. The packages are not-arranged in any order and has to be taken out randomly at the customer location.

Each time when I visit a customer location, I have to keep the bag on ground and search for the particular package among dozen other packages. Sometimes, when lucky the required package is at the top but most of the time I have to take out all other packages one by one till I get package I need risking loosing other packages.

I was hoping someone can solve this problem of finding correct package from a bag of random packages, to make the life of the amazon and other delivery personnel easier.

3 points posted by Suresh Kumar

External storage with hardware compression #ASIC #FPGA

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 14:59:00 +0000

Those who had to compress large assorted data and transfer it to external storage would have experienced large waiting times, once for compression and again for transfer.

Modern CPUs have have hardware based compression for multimedia(Video) in the form of instruction sets such as MMX, SSE, AVX; but lacks general purpose compression accelerators.

Hardware based compression could accelerate compression and transfer of data. Enterprise infrastructure have had hardware accelerated compression in the form of PCIe based adapters, cards, Network accelerators.

Still, a USB/Thunderbolt based USB storage with ASIC(Application-specific integrated circuit)/FPGA(Field-programmable gate array) based compression accelerators could add value to both enterprise and general consumers.

3 points posted by Abishek Muthian

Reliable, safe locks #security #locks

Sun, 15 Mar 2020 03:02:00 +0000

Locks have been around for thousands of years, although some improvements have been made throughout these years, amazingly the basic design remains the same and so are the vulnerabilities. One has to just look at the LockPickingLayer channel to find the main lock of your house or safe to be picked in under 20 seconds.

Oh, there are newer Biometric, RFID based locks you may say; see them getting picked in excruciatingly simple ways here and here respectively.

I think it's about time we consumers rise up against these subpar designs profiting over our ignorance for hundreds of years and for startups to disrupt the industry.

3 points posted by Bakshara

Weather correlation with COVID-19 #datascience #coronavirus

Mon, 09 Mar 2020 13:14:00 +0000

I see that several politicians, govt. officials mention that new cases of COVID-19 would come down as the global temperature rises owing to seasonal changes. Yet, daily reported cases around the world is growing exponentially even as the temperature rises.

I would like to know the temperature and other weather correlation with the new confirmed cases of COVID-19, I don't think there is yet a visualisation available for that.

3 points posted by Asra Banu

One hand keyboard #keyboard #accessibility

Sun, 08 Mar 2020 13:49:00 +0000

I buy accessibility products for a family member and I'm often put off by the high cost of such products, often being much higher than that of luxury brands for such regular products.

I understand that some accessibility products may require higher development costs than regular products and so would require higher retail price; but 200% higher cost is double whammy on the disabled and those who need accessibility products.

One such product is half keyboard, required by those with one active hand, even by normal people undergoing temporary wrist treatment for conditions such as Carpal tunnel syndrome.

There is a need gap for high quality, accessible (reasonable cost) accessibility products

3 points posted by Katy Jones

Fast, Inexpensive COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) test kit #coronavirus #medicaltestkit

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 13:21:00 +0000

Just took tests for flu like symptoms, turned out to be a normal flu. Owing to the flu season and COVID-19 scare; there are large number of people undergoing these tests, pushing the hospital resources to its limits.

That's why COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 has become especially dangerous. The true death rate from COVID-19 might be closer or bit higher than a severe season flu, but SARS-CoV-2 is more contagious than seasonal flu, with each person infected with it infecting 2.2 other people.

With the risk of COVID-19 disease becoming a pandemic, we need faster, inexpensive test kits available soon. WHO is developing protocols for COVID-19 tests, current available test kits are complex, expensive and are limited to only speciality disease centers even in developed countries.

Poor countries, wouldn't stand a chance if COVID-19 becomes a pandemic and hence we need fast, inexpensive test kits distributed globally to every primary care centers.

3 points posted by Abishek Muthian

Identifying gender from a name for marketing #profiling #marketing

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 12:45:00 +0000

In my job, I get to communicate with overseas customers over email; it is tough to find the gender from the foreign name which we are not used to, for using appropriate title.

I guess, this may be a problem faced by others performing similar roles and if so I would like to know how they deal with it.

3 points posted by Nancy Ilias

Focus drift #cognitivescience #neuroscience

Tue, 25 Feb 2020 12:57:00 +0000

In my earlier need gap, I posted Getting things done at individual level for which I received amazing responses. But, seeing that all of them are trying to do the same thing i.e. scheduling/time-managing the activities yet none of them seem to solve my problem directly, I started to realise there must be some greater underlying problem.

In my case, I think that is focus drift. I think, focus or attention drift is the primary reason for productivity loss for the most. So, time-management apps wouldn't do much if the particular tasks aren't completed within scheduled period due to loss of focus.

There is a need gap for a consumer friendly solution which can notice focus drift and alert the user to gain their attention back to the task they were doing.

3 points posted by Shinzo Reyen

Weight recommendations based on bone density #health #fitnessapp

Mon, 24 Feb 2020 02:24:00 +0000

I'm under treatment for improving the bone density, weight loss has been traditionally linked to loss in bone density, but recent studies have shown that higher weight can have negative impact on bones with lower density, so it has become very difficult to get problem weight recommendations based on bone density.

Bathroom scales can measure body fat using Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), which provides body fat information with fair enough accuracy along with body weight. But, since measuring bone density requires large instruments capable of performing DEXA Scan (Dual X-ray Absoptiometry), common scales cannot factor in bone density.

But, the body weighing scales doesn't necessarily need to measure bone density, fitness apps can take in bone density values from the users as they do for height, age and other factors to recommend optimum weight based on bone density. It can come a long way to help osteoporosis, osteopenia patients.

3 points posted by Abishek Muthian

Online food delivery from luxurious restaurants #food #onlinedelivery

Thu, 20 Feb 2020 16:57:00 +0000

I have some favourite luxurious restaurants in different cities I visit, sometimes I don't find time to visit them when I'm in the city and would like to order them online, but none of the luxurious restaurants deliver online. Few apps allow table booking at luxurious restaurants though.

I guess, it has to do with cost and brand name.

I would like to find out, if there are people like me who don't care much about the ambience of these restaurants but the quality of dishes being served there and so would like it to be home delivered.

3 points posted by Sonia George

Searching YouTube videos with transcript #youtube #transcript

Tue, 18 Feb 2020 13:36:00 +0000

When I have to search something within a YouTube video, I 'Open transcript' from the menu and search with 'Control + F' for the term I'm looking for and then click the same if found in the transcript for skipping to that part in the video.

I searched for an add-on which can do that automatically and found this - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/keyword-search-in-youtube/dpadfnjbfalopginhcmmmccpfdaofjco?hl=en; but it doesn't seem to work anymore.

After reading from the comments, it seems that there could be a need gap for such a tool.

3 points posted by Gibbs

Betting for a cause #gambling #fundraising

Fri, 14 Feb 2020 13:16:00 +0000

Me and my friend often go on with silly bets on anything from sports to politics, the bet amount is small, often less than $10, enough to buy the winner a treat.

Recently, we made a bet on which political candidate would win a debate and the winner had to donate the money to Wikipedia; it really felt great for both of us in-spite of one loosing the bet. It felt great, because the money went to a good cause and not just a burger.

In-fact, even the opposite can be true, According to social science research betting on causes which we don't want to support can be helpful to inhibit us from bad behaviour. Max Nesterak of NPR bet his money on quitting smoking, if he loses he had to donate the money to an organisation he hates.

So, I searched for platforms which can enable such social betting after all, social networks are filled with "I bet..., You bet.." comments. I couldn't find any, how about a platform which enables such social gambling?

Say, when someone says "I bet...", pop them with this platform's link for them to bet their money on a social cause.

3 points posted by Trevor Richmond

On-demand data science without coding #datascience #nocode

Wed, 12 Feb 2020 13:08:00 +0000

Often I'm in a position where I would like to get quick insights on a web data or pdf but not equipped to run a proper data science setup or isn't economical to task it to a data scientist.

A web scrapper with builtin insight generator would solve this problem.

Say, I spin up the scrapper in the web page, select necessary data to be scrapped, mark relationships between them and at the end of the scrapping I get neat visualisations for the insights regarding the data. It can be more useful, if input is not limited to the web pages but also pdf, spreadsheet, csv etc.

I think there is a need gap to bridge modern data science advancements to non-coders who deal with large data.

3 points posted by Bakshara

Simple CLI for cloud deployments. #cloud #DevOps

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 09:19:00 +0000

I am a DevOps cloud engineer working with a team of designers, frontend and data engineers. I am seeing that the cloud stuff goes over their heads, and they hate the deployment process. For example; spinning up a group of databases to test an ETL job, deploying a site, or putting some script on a schedule. Even stuff like TerraForm is hard for them. They use AWS Lambdas for simple setups, but when the code base gets large and complex they come running to my team to help them deploy, or create new layers for their Lambdas. Oh, and no-one I know seems to use Heroku anymore. A few frontend guys use zeit.co, but they still need to create the database elsewhere.

Lately, I am spending time creating and maintaining scripts at work to help developers and designers deploy common stuff quickly.

I feel there is a needgap for a simple CLI tool that can ease the pain of cloud provisioning. Something that abstracts scaling, security, DNS, etc, and gets resources talking to each other.

3 points posted by corpulent

On-screen QR code/barcode scanner #qrcode #barcode

Thu, 30 Jan 2020 12:40:00 +0000

QR code and barcode were originally invented to share data from physical material to digital medium. It worked great for getting information onto smartphones with the advent of good cameras. But, now QR codes are everywhere on the web and to access it we need another device to scan or take screenshot to scan with a QR code scanner app.

I would like a QR code scanner app which automatically scans the QR code on the screen (from web, social media, images etc.) and provides the data in return without having to manually take screenshot each time. The currently available apps which claim to do it don't work and are of very low quality.

3 points posted by Tracy Devin

Receiving SMS/calls to a phone in another place #smartphone #SMS

Tue, 28 Jan 2020 13:14:00 +0000

In my country OTP (One Time Password) for important transactions such as banking or any other identification is sent to the phone via SMS. This becomes cumbersome when I travel outside the country and need to conduct some banking transactions. I have to call someone at my place to relay the OTP over a phone call or chat message; the phone which receives the SMS is likely drained of power, taking considerable time to switch ON and so leading to missing the OTP in time.

One may ask, why not take the local SIM with me during travel? Well, the SMSs are not always received during roaming in other countries and when they do, they are with prohibitive roaming charges.

I would like a solution for this, preferably a system which allows me to keep a phone in my home country; receive phone calls and SMS to it via Internet in another country without much delay.

3 points posted by Shekar Gupta

Monetizing open-source projects #monetisation #opensource

Mon, 27 Jan 2020 13:16:00 +0000

Open-source software and hardware form the backbone of several early stage startup's infrastructure. Open-source projects which are not backed by large corporations are often run by the creators in their individual capacity and with the support of voluntary contributors in their free time.

These projects become successful because they create value for the consumers, but it rarely creates monetary value for its creators. If the creators, volunteers get remunerated for their time; they would be able to put more time into their projects, improving its quality and make faster releases.

On occasions, consumers do donate to these creators for their effort. But, the mechanism for donations are not straight forward, middle-men gains and the notion of donation seems altruistic where as it is not in this case (as the open-source project directly creates value to the consumer, often saving lot of money).

So, we need better monetization mechanisms for open-source projects, where the creators and contributors can outsource the business development of their project to someone else for getting compensated and focus on what they do best.

3 points posted by Abishek Muthian

Saving offer notifications on smartphone #notification #bookmark

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 14:50:00 +0000

I get offers via push notifications regularly, but when I need them I'm unable to find those as I might have dismissed those notifications.

e.g. Say, I receive Uber offer code via notification on some random day, if I fail to click that notification and apply the code immediately; I'll loose that notification as I dismiss dozens of other notifications or if I receive another notification from Uber. At-least, Uber has provision to apply offer codes as soon as we receive the notification and use it on a later date; but many apps require the offer code to be used only at the time of purchase(which can vary from the date of notification).

If there was an app to store notifications, or better just the offer notifications then this problem can be resolved.

3 points posted by Yogesh Basu

Finding local delicacies internationally #food #tourism

Thu, 16 Jan 2020 13:41:00 +0000

I travel internationally a lot and when ever I visit a new city in a country I struggle to find small restaurants or a road-side vendors which/who offer local delicacies at good quality. I prefer small restaurants or small vendor for local delicacies as they are the ones which are not available in larger restaurants in which ever city you are i.e. they are the ones which are really hard to get outside that place; but hard to find via Google because they are not mapped.

There are services like eatwith which started out as food-sharing service i.e. get the food cooked by a local, but once they get bigger they tie up with bigger restaurants/chefs like most other services. Food sharing is a no go for introverts like me as well, I prefer places where I can eat food at peace and not have lot of conversations to do it.

I would like a service which provides crowd sources data for small restaurants and road-side vendors providing local delicacies; say where to find the best Khao Soi in Chiang Mai or Pani Puri in Mumbai.

3 points posted by Jörg Rüger

USB Type-C CONDOM #USB #cybersecurity

Mon, 13 Jan 2020 13:52:00 +0000

Juice jacking is a type of cyber attack where data is stolen from the electronic devices via USB port when they are plugged in for charging. This has become so common that, Los Angeles' District Attorney's Office published an advisory to travelers about the potential dangers of public USB ports.

This works because data lines on the USB ports are not disabled during charging at the hardware level and often require the users to put their smartphones or other devices to charge only mode. Fortunately there are devices like USB CONDOM which disables the data lines during charging and prevents any form of data transfer thereby preventing juice jacking.

But since Type-C USB devices use the data lines to negotiate voltage with the source; USB CONDOM would limit its function and thereby making the devices charge slower. This is counter intuitive as, we would want the devices to charge faster at a public charging point and there is a need gap.

3 points posted by Abishek Muthian

Finding which college course help reach ambition #college #education

Thu, 09 Jan 2020 17:03:00 +0000

There are plenty of resources for finding universities, colleges and their ranking; but I'm yet to come across one which can simply tell me which course should I take based on my current skills, financial capacity and at which university to reach my ambition.

Say, if my ambition is to be an astronaut, may be I need not waste 4 years on Engineering; perhaps I can take 2 years course on Physics, Math, take up the pilot training program and apply to NASA (or) May be new space ventures such as SpaceX, Blue Origin would have Astronaut training program themselves and I should focus my education according to it.

A education/career advising web service or app should be able to give me this advise after getting the necessary inputs from me such as education, skills, grades, financial situation etc. based on up-to date information on the field of education, career, global economy, emerging technologies etc.

3 points posted by Tina Ray

Protecting one's time #lifestyle #timemanagement

Wed, 08 Jan 2020 13:30:00 +0000

Netflix's biggest competitor? Sleep. Sleep, eating, physical activities, communicating in-person etc.; anything related to healthy lifestyle of an individual has become a competitor to companies dependent upon the screen-time.

Several of the top apps have claimed to have more than an hour of screen-time on average among its consumers, so someone who consumes several such products are forced to make more time for it. Time being constant(at absolute level) for all, only way for an individual to make more time for these new lifestyle habits is to remove time from existing healthy habits.

It's not that reducing or removing smartphone altogether can solve this, the issue is not just psychological addiction but also economical and political. Companies are allowed to grow larger than the governments and their only limitation is an individual's time. Is there a need gap to protect one's time?

3 points posted by Abishek Muthian

Identifying myself from random Internet videos #video #Internet

Tue, 07 Jan 2020 13:24:00 +0000

I was checking out a random Youtube video the other day and for a pleasant surprise I was there in it. It was tourist video and I was standing outside a shop when I was captured in the video. I thought it would be nice for other strangers in the video to identify themselves in the video as well.

Then I thought, wouldn't it be cool if anyone can identify themselves in the random Internet video when they want to. I searched for such solution but couldn't find any.

Since, it's common nowadays for anyone to shoot a video and upload it to the Internet; I think it would be great if there is a tool for identifying ourself in those videos.

3 points posted by Angel Ruloph

Make TV dumb again #privacy #cybersecurity

Mon, 30 Dec 2019 13:03:00 +0000

The Operating Systems, Applications used by major Smart TV manufactures are found to be highly vulnerable to hacking. Also, updates for earlier Smart TV's isn't straightforward as many need to be flashed via SD card and which not many are going to do even if the manufacturer had updated their firmware to fix some vulnerabilities.

Smart TV manufacturer's themselves exploit the available capabilities to flash unremovable Ads and may even upload screenshots from your TV for automatic content recognition.

So, if Smart TV's are dangerous, annoying, why buy them right? Well, that's the problem I'm stating here - There aren't many options to get a dumb TV with latest display technology i.e. 4K/8K HDR if we want to supply our own apps via SBCs/Apple TV etc.

3 points posted by Abishek Muthian

Inexpensive IoT fire safety system #IoT #firesafety

Fri, 27 Dec 2019 13:12:00 +0000

Recently in Delhi, fire broke out in a factory resulting in the death of at-least 43 people and more than 50 were injured. Since this happened during early morning, most of the occupants(labourers) were sleeping and so couldn't notice the fire in time; besides the factory building itself was illegal & didn't have proper fire safety.

If there was a fire alarm, lives could have been saved and if that alarm was capable of sending alerts outside (SMS/Internet) then at-least outside help could have been received in time.

To be frank, I didn't have any fire alarm at my house. Frightened by this incident I searched for one on the market and the ones with decent ratings where overwhelmingly expensive. I'm of middle income category, if these are expensive to me, no wonder many here aren't even aware of fire safety systems let alone someone spending money on it for a building housing poor labourers.

Why are these expensive when a smartphones in the country are half the price?

3 points posted by Girish

How candidates are selected for interviews #interview #recruitment

Thu, 26 Dec 2019 13:33:00 +0000

In current leading job sites, first communication between employee and employer is monotonous; If I see an opening I apply with my stored CV and wait for the return communication from the potential employer.

The reason for an employer not selecting the candidate for an interview could be several, but since there is no feedback mechanism at this level the candidate would never know and there is no room for improvement.

As for the employer, they have to rely upon historical data on CV to make a judgement on whether the candidate is fit for their job interview; they end up loosing lot of time, money in eliminating unfit candidates during interviews and perhaps they might have lost a suitable employee since they did not offer them the interview.

I think there is a need gap for improving how the candidates are selected for the interviews with very specific job description, transparent recruitment criteria, better ways for a candidate to showcase that they have necessary skills to execute the role, transparent process and feedback.

3 points posted by Zimochrome