Need a different project

posted by Jeff | Saturday, March 27, 2010, 12:03 AM | comments: 0

I'm embarrassed that we came up with the idea for MouseZoom two years ago, although then it didn't have the "hook" to make it different because the technology didn't exist yet (well, it wasn't public). It's turning into the self-loathing thing that leaving CoasterBuzz the same for six years was. And the worst thing about it is that it's actually pretty damn close. If I could put a solid three days into it, I would, and I think it'd be launchable.

But one of the things that has come out of me reading magazines and Rework the last few weeks, is how badly I need to do something remarkably different. I mean seriously, how many fucking forum and photo apps am I going to write? I've had this awful feeling that it's all I've done in ten years, and that's not a good feeling. And now I work on a forum app at work, which is pretty rewarding given its scope and scale, but I don't want to to it for myself again.

Well, with one exception. I do still want to port my forum app to an MVC app, and from what work I have done on that (starting back in August), it went pretty fast. I don't want to change any data structures or anything, just port and go. That's the next step to making CB something I can continue to grow and maintain.

So what about truly new projects? I've got a shit-ton of domain names that were hatched out of ideas, and some of them are really good ideas. I don't think I'm really giving anything away by sharing them, but here's a list of the most promising names:

  • 360girl.com - OK, I'm not sure why I still have this. Before the Xbox 360 launched, I thought about doing a site either by girl gamers or for girl gamers or something like that. I never finished it.
  • BikeMetric.com - Maybe a simple app to log your miles.
  • BugOMeter - Maybe a simple bug tracking app for devs.
  • FreeCleveland.com - I'm not even sure why I have this, but I have for about ten years.
  • VegasMakeout.com (and LasVegasMakeout.com, MakeoutVegas.com) - I've had at least a half-dozen ideas around this one.
  • NerdLifestyle.com - I actually used this as a blog for about a week before I got bored doing it. The really sad thing is that sometimes the AdSense ads on that, getting a hundred views a week at most, have made as much as five bucks.
  • NewsOversight.com - Community powered fact checking?
  • RecCenterLeague.com - Self-serve score keeping for your recreation center leagues?
  • RegistrationMachine.com - Automated event registration. This is actually for myself, for events. It's sad that I'm still using paper for this.
  • Rollercoaster.me - Waste of money. No idea why I have this.
  • Sillynonsense.com - This was actually the home of Subdivision Cam and my blog before they called them blogs.
  • UOBuzz.com - My other favorite theme parks.
  • Volleybuzz.com - Exists, but never had the follow through.

Looking at that list makes me feel like I'm too much an idea guy and not an action guy. It also makes me feel like I need to diversify my leisure time, and get back to other things I enjoy, like coaching volleyball.


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