Web 3.0 Concept: Software Anti-Piracy

Though I'm not a anti-piracy fan-boy, this idea came to me recently. This might sound extremely meaningless, but it has much insight in our piracy battles and state of software: "It is difficult to steal something that is no there." Everything boils down to the physical. In fact, digital is not only an analogy to physical, but also uses it as a backbone (current/voltage represent 0's and 1's) and therefore, digital interaction requires physical presence and connection. In traditional program-cracking and media-pirating, a physical medium is required, replicated usually in a static/semi-static form.

The phenomenon of the internet is that the physical is displaced to that of the servers.
Obviously, the software mantra, "nothing cannot be broken," applies as seen in the full scale server pirating of the online computer game Lineage; however, paired with anti-piracy techniques, it may prove impracticable to pirate. The solution:
- Stream in chunks, given arbitrarily (have multiple versions of each data section which cannot be paired together)
- Make the program so big that it is near impossible to obtain all the data sections and ridiculously impractical to download.
- Make physical form impossible. (create sections larger than common media)
- Decentralize products. Instead of one big product for a large amount of money, create smaller products with proportionate price. Keep product streams separate, have incompatible data chunks in saved form (data chunks from two products deliberately take same virtual memory locations causing data to be overwritten upon running other product).

This probably sounds counter-intuitive, but implemented correctly this is the golden ticket for software applications (which may realistically become Web 3.0 Applications). Seeing traditional desktop products going online [Image Editing, Office Suites, Word Processing] and online products go desktop [Adobe Apollo], this technique could be leveraged to decrease software piracy.

Web 2.0 Service: Online Realtors

Honestly, online real estate sucks. Though I may be in error, my assumption is that most people using these sites are buying to live opposed to buying to sell. Therefore, it isn't the slightest microeconomic market fluctuations and 40 different types of home categories that the user finds crucially important, but look and feel of the home itself. If their goal is merely to cut down on the time spent driving around to get a list of the houses with signs in front, they do it well; however, online real estate has so much more potential. They can do the most mashups, mushdowns, or masharounds, but they are just going to end up with the same product. Instead of eliminating time, they create more information that is not necessarily helpful - Home buying is a behavioral phenomenon, not an formulaic process. Thus, it should be treated as such. More information is not necessarily good; if it is not helpful, it just makes for clutter and confusion. So what's the point of all this? Online real estate should replace traditional realtors.

So aside from my ranting, what is good? Zillow does a mean Google Maps mashup and creates a great "bigger picture" experience through its zestimate 10 year prediction albeit it needs improvement - it had only 21% of homes within standard deviation for my area and was 60% off for my own home estimate a few months back (they apparently took the zestimate accuracy statistics down). Hotpads has a cool map interest feature - it provides options to display public/private schools, colleges, and public transportation in the area. Redfin is heading towards the right direction - it is its own online real estate brokerage.

So the solution. Create an online brokerage that tours the house online, provide the necessary statistics, and stay in sight of the larger market. House-browsing has become a hobby especially growing in the 15-25 age group a la popular TV shows. The new generation of house buyers within the 25-35 age group, categorized as the MTV generation, have learned to communicate through mixed media. Similarly, the 35+ age group has begun to utilize the internet as an essential tool. Thus, video tours based on floor plans, seamless 360 degree interactive pictures with tagged points of interest, interactive special features for highlights [home theater, pool, minibar] are all crucial, essentially giving the buyer the same experience as a house viewed in person. From a statistics standpoint, long term estimates, house history reports of problems/repairs/burglaries/estimates would prove useful, while keeping the classic house statistics to the necessary minimum. Combining this with a well-designed satellite map, house estimates of the area, and toggleable areas of interest [schools, shopping areas, public transportation, amusement parks, subdivisions, gated communities] add crucial elements in home-buying. This may also lead to advertising opportunities with subdivision developers, gated communities, shopping districts, and any area of interest.

This may be enough to sell a service, but home buying includes the payment and paperwork. Loans, credit, comparison global/local lender rates, and closing prices are aspects that are no considered in the current online real estate market. Ideally, the user could run through the entire process online (besides the recommended house-visit). I don't have the expertise to comment on this, but it definitely would be an amazing experience to buy a house without leaving your desk.

By creating a large market, niche services will also benefit. Foreclosures, co-signing, partnerships, renting, short-notice selling, and other such services would be perfect for online form. Such niche services are conventionally done by private agents in local areas, which leads to little market to drive competitive prices for those foreclosing (people receive very little from foreclosing companies) and also for those buying (who pay in large for commissions to these agents).

Market: Even at low volumes, 6.48 million units for 2006 (National Association of Realtors, 2006) is a ridiculously large market.

Competition: Zillow has taken the online real estate market by storm and now reigns as king, Redfin is the the only online real estate agency, and a large variety of sites with maps and a basic description of sites.

Potential Expansion:
- Partnerships with existing real estate agents
- Advertisements for areas of interest
- Niche markets [foreclosures, co-signing, partnerships, renting, short-notice selling, college housing markets]
- Create notices [RSS, email, instant messenger] for customized searches [features, target market, urban/suburban/rural locale]

Other Thoughts:
- This could potentially change the behaviors of the house purchasing, much like eBay changed auctions.

Web 2.0 Service: Dynamic Bookmarks and Customized Web Pages

Client-side bookmarking functionality has been in stagnant for the last ten years and lacked evolution into the Web 2.0 world. There have been attempts to integrate with tagging and social networks, but lack an overall functionality that coordinates with current user behavior instead of creating new systems. It may be argued that del.icio.us, Reddit, Digg, or social bookmarking sites replace the traditional bookmarks, but users have instead utilized these services for new web surfing instead of url saving. Furthermore, there is no offline functionality - the only service widely used for daily (offline) reading seems to be RSS/Atom feeds, yet it almost seems as a step backward instead of ahead, stripping key graphical elements, embedded flash, and essentially all the functionalities of the web site.

A toolbar, gallery, or organizational method with screenshots of all recently updated bookmarked sites would be an easy solution. It could be extremely intuitive to implement AJAX on top of each bookmarked site, highlighting new content, replacing all site ads with personal contextual ads, and synchronizing with current social bookmarking sites. The main goal is to highlight the latest content, but features could be endless - custom page editing, group page editing, keyword watches (notification on keyword), and anything to dynamically augment static pages.

Market: All people that use the computer for the internet.

Competition: Viewpoint uses a toolbar with visual bookmarks, but lacks the "recently updated" capability. Yahoo currently holds a patent on customized web pages, but could work around it (I think it only applies to server side cache). Current RSS viewers are trying to add functionality and layout, but building a generalized graphical layout is extremely difficult.

Potential Expansion:
- Social networking sites can be implemented into/with this service
- Social bookmarking functionality (commenting, tagging, interest profile) can be included
- Integrate shopping feeds (limited product/auction sites [eBay, Etsy], shopping site sales, shopping deals [Woot!, ThingFling])
- Create new aggregate feed standard that includes flash and multimedia links (Atom/RSS)
- The hot new product - Web TV, can be synchronized through checking updates on the newest episodes.

Other Thoughts:
- Customized web pages will be the Web 3.0 if enough developers get around Yahoo's patent.
- Human behavior is key. If a new system is built that does not conform to current behavior to a certain degree, there will not be many adopters.
- Deals with any company that has an online presence would be possible since this is such a general product.
- This type of platform is extremely from a product perspective, because it is client side and in continual use. This can be utilized by marketing, advertising, new feature development, and will weigh heavier against competitiors with services online since it is already installed.
- Money can be made through replacing site ads to more personalized contextual ads based on interests found from bookmarks, shopping referral links, and other ads could be added.

Product Idea: Fashionable Camera Bags

Due to the large decrease in prices for digital SLR cameras, there has been an increasing need for high-quality camera bags which hold extra lenses, bodies, flashes, and cleaning supplies. Conventional photography camera bag companies such Lowepro, Tamrac, and even more recently, Crumpler have been the mainstays of the photographer's equipment carryall; however, the current aesthetic screams photo nerd and would be horrendous fashion faux pas. More recently, trendy photographers have opted for slipons for each lens/flash/body and carried them in large messenger bags / purses; however, this is proves extremely difficult for lens swapping and overall functionality. Furthermore, current camera bags can be categorized in only a few categories: backpacks, shoulder bags, and slingpacks (rare). The functionality can be easily improved through camera-savvy industrial designers and even professional and amateur photographers. Thus, there is a natural need for fashion-friendly camera bags which provides both functionality and form, as many companies have done with laptop bags.

Market: There is an increasing niche market among SLR/DSLR owners. Logically, this would mean approximately one bag for every SLR/DSLR purchase.

Competition: Crumpler and Kodak "Fashion Series" (Womens) both of which are not very fashionable

Potential Expansion:
- Collaborations with High Fashion Brands [Prada, Armani, Dolce & Gabbana], Streetwear Brands [Headporter, Puma], Purse Brands [Louis Vuitton, Coach, Dooney & Bourke], Backpack Brands [Vitronix, Jansport, Eastsport]
- Upon brand establishment, emergence in mainstream camera bag (point and shoot digital cameras) and fashion bag businesses.
- Experimentation with different forms to improve functionality, integrate with human behavior, and create new aesthetics.

Other thoughts:
- Non-traditional materials [tarp, tire rubber, recycled material] will provide brand identity, lower costs, and is part of an increasing trend in hipster/ecofriendly circles.