This is the second cool thing happening to me since I started blogging for O’Reilly: Because my original post about My Dream App apparently got the most traffic to their site, I was invited to write comments on a couple of the ideas that are in round 2. It is interesting and kind of fun to read the comments of the other guest judges. It is also an interesting model to figure out customer demand for a new cool idea, although it is certainly more than a bit biased by the audience being from a certain demographic group. My favorite ideas are Blossom (a desktop plant that blossoms or withers according to your efforts of reaching a certain goal), iGTD (a different approach to todo lists that seems to suit my chaotic personality much better than exisiting models) and Destinations (which, although the specific idea of a travel planner does not resonate too much with me, sparks my imagination on how to create a travel log template engine…). It will be fun to see which idea makes it in the end. And it will also be interesting to see how it is going to be marketed.
Lots of great ideas over there.
One thing that bugs me, though, is that I can no longer access the idea I submitted. Obviously it didn't make any kind of final cut, but I would like to refresh my memory of what I wrote.
Oliver, I think they're doing a fantastic job marketing already! Case in point, you sent traffic to their site once and are doing so again. How many websites are covering this process?
Like you, I'm pleased by Blossom -- I suggested in the forums about some algorithms for modeling plant growth. So yes, in response to your comment, there is scientific research for graphic representations of growing and wilting plants. (And they look beautiful.) Should be fun!
I'll be interested to see how this all plays out. At the very least, I think it's getting some people excited about developing Mac software!
Scratch that! I just had to jump through one more hoop to get there.
Like you, I'm pleased by Blossom -- I suggested in the forums about some algorithms for modeling plant growth. So yes, in response to your comment, there is scientific research for graphic representations of growing and wilting plants. (And they look beautiful.) Should be fun!
I was more looking for scientific work on the psychological side of it: the representation of success and motivation through a "meter" of some sort. Does it really help you achieve your goal? Most projects I've been working on have phases where it looks like you fail (your plant withers) before you pull through to fairly quick success. So, the plant could actually be de-motivational most of the time and only when you have success anyways, it reinforces this for a very brief time.