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List of Genius Ideas
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* random html/css generator, 1,000 monkeys and 1,000 typewriters

  eventually a nice page would be created, no?

* implement network/internet swapping

  why swap to local disk when you could swap to RAM of other machines
  on the internet? why? why not?!

* a "LoJack"-like tracking system for stolen laptops (2009-02-25)

  install a local service that hits a web service on a regular basis and
  include tools to allow an authenticated user to track their machines.

  but it probably already exists.

* a data archival free market (2009-01-20)

  if bandwidth was relatively cheap but very high reliability storage was
  expensive, then imagine a market where individuals and even companies
  offer their files online to anyone who wishes to mirror them or parts of
  them, in exchange for the small chance that if the files should be lost or
  damaged they can negotiate a "finder's fee" for the return of the data to
  the original party. part p2p, part archival, part insurance, part free
  market.

* webshell

  Yes, it's already sort of been done <URL: http://tcl.apache.org/websh/>
  and differently <URL: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mressl/webshell/>
  but I think a set of UNIX-shell like tools that can operate on URLs, HTTP
  GET/POSTing and serving, XML and HTML parsing, etc. could be a lot of fun.

* a rent-a-gun service! 1-800-RENT-A-GUN

  rent guns out by the hour, ammo is by-the-bullet.  in today's hectic world,
  do you really have time to buy a gun, or keep up with the latest trends in
  gun-fashion? leave it to us!

* artificial rainforest in Antarctica

  hey, if they have artificial indoor skiing in the desert, why not?

* "robot" drivers

  we can do robot drivers today! in fact, many jobs can be accomplished by
  a human, remotely, via computer.

  in fact, the general populace is so fascinated with the combination of
  The Same Old Thing done in a novel way that people will PAY US to do our
  work for them.

  a whole new future economy built upon an underclass of remote workers
  working out of tiny one-room apartments is just waiting to be born.

* hand sanitizer / alcoholic beverage (evulish)

  SCOOPED <URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everclear_(alcohol)>

* compute cycle commodities market
  design and build a platform for commercial distributed computing and get
  people to install it. sell time on the grid to the highest bidder.
  why? the most-run application on the planet in terms of cycles is the
  Windows System Idle Process

* a timeline of human history plotting the evolution of modern human
  activities in an attempt to clarify how modern activities and interests are
  tied to the past.

* a coffee pot with a heater that will only function when the pot has water in
  it. coffee pots tend to crack when heated empty.

* smart traffic lights. 

* design a cheap kit for converting existing gas-powered automobiles to other
  fuels, since we'll have lots of cars sitting around after we run out
  of oil

    SCOOPED: http://e-volks.com/kit3.html

* reconstruct the entire structure of a local network by passively capturing
  all available packets and against a predefined set of 'fingerprints',
  allowing one to make an educated guess as to what is on the network and what
  hardware, operating system and applications are generating the traffic.

    I implemented a rudimentary system of this type in 2006 with my LANMap
    program <URL: http://parseerror.com/lanmap/>, which people seem to like
    and it even made in into Debian. But a far slicker implementation is
    possible.

    Apparently Windows Vista has a feature called Network Map which does this
    to a degree <URL: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/features/networking.aspx?tabid=1&catid=1>
    although it looks limited; also, it's unclear if it is passively
    generated.

    I'm working on a new implementation of this.

* a filesystem that supports things useful operations that I want to do, like
  prepending, insertion/modification/deletion at arbitrary locations,
  etc. in reasonably good time.

  who cares.

* transfer native processes between machines
  I want to be able to start an application, any application, on one
  desktop, and then drag it to another desktop of another machine and I
  want the app to continuing running on the new machine. why don't we
  already have this? this would be tricky, but goddammit, i want it

    VMotion sort of does this:
      http://www.vmware.com/products/vi/vc/vmotion_features.html

* spacial password pattern recognizer
  figure out if your password is a simple keyboard pattern, i.e.
  "qwerty", "asdf", "1q2w3e4" or "1qaz2wsx3edc4rfv5tgb"

* A long-term news aggregation and analysis project
  Track long-term trends