Ideas for Online Services

So after watching the Social Network, researching HouseSYSTEM, and talking to Paras Chopra about Visual Website Optimizer, I have become really interested in web applications that I can make money on. Originally, I had a not really that original idea to create an online system for the University of Texas that would allow a student to select college classes they were interested in, schedule blocks of time for whatever they want, and then add in parameters for their classes, such as the ability to minimize walking distance, or minimize dead-time in between classes, etc.

Pretty much I thought this was a brilliant idea until I found out that (at the moment), there is no way to access the catalog without a certified student login. Asking for those logins would raise a large number of privacy concerns, so the only way I would be able to get access to those logs would be to specifically ask the University for access to its catalog. This would require talking to them and the idea would likely be rejected or shut-down.

Just had another idea, combine this with something similar to CourseMash, and you would also be able to maximize classes with your friends.

So, what I want to do now is to find niches in the market that have not really been filled, or I can do a better job of, and I want to make some cool web applications that are either free, subscription based, or ad-based.

To give a little bit more background, I am not trying to find the "next big thing". I am trying to find a service that I can make modest gains on. A service that is currently not being met, or is not currently being met very well.

So, here goes for my idea dump.

• Course Scheduler
  • This is the idea I described earlier. Basically a system where one would be able to log-in, select courses they were interested in, and be able to automatically, and in seconds, generate possible schedules. There would be a lot of functionalty, and I would probably try to market this as a subscription-based. I may do it ad-based, but I may just decide to give it away for free.
  • To be honest, this is probably going to be the next project I do. I will have my system read and parse the Austin Community College schedule and it will work for that school.