There are plenty of websites that allow online collaboration. Wikipedia is probably the best known example of mass collaboration, yet there are multiple others including writeboard.com which allows individual projects to be made by the users themselves. The one thing they all have in common is that they collaborate on documents, and little else. The open source revolution continually relies on collaboration, but they've yet to embrace full online collaboration. In order to build open source programs, each programmer needs to download the most up to date code and install it on their own development server. During this time, the file is considered "checked-out" and no other people can update the file. With the open-source revolution, it is suprising that there is no collaboration websites to allow entire communities to share work on the ultimate collaboration, open source software.

So picture this...
Online collaboration for online collaboration. An online IDE with script-specific tag coloring, automatic upload to the server, and version control. The programmer would go the the project page, click on the file he wants to edit, and start editing it inside his browser. The tags would all be colored appropriately, and with new ajax technology you could even offer some auto-completion capability. The user hits submit, the file is saved as his version, and he can run the application using his version to test. The project manager would still need to assign tasks and choose the best code submissions to include. Everything would be handled through the browser, which would allow work to be done anywhere there is a computer and an internet connection. The benefits become smaller as the project becomes more complicated, but its the smaller projects that would see the biggest change. Just like a wiki, if you saw some code that didn't make sense, or that created a bug, you'd just click edit, make the changes, and it would be fixed. Version control and roll-back would allow the same protections wikipedia uses to safeguard their collaborative data.

I want to take a vacation, but I don't want to spend a lot of money. No problem, I'll just check one of many web sites that give me the power to find the lowest fare. We've all used these, even to the point where the internet has been blamed as a factor in declining airline revenues. The Airlines can no longer hide their low fares, and the travel websites and ultimately the passengers benefit. But what if I want to send a package? Is there a comprehensive website with all package carriers where I can quickly compare prices? Actually, there is a website that does this (http://www.iship.com/), however you can only check domestic rates, FedEx is not included, and their price tool is downright clumsy and difficutlt to use.

So picture this...
A website where you can easily view shipping rates among the carriers. Since the prices fluctuate by up to 50%, the ability as a consumer to have all information on current shipping prices would be extraordinary. You could track the rates and receive emails when the rates change between zip codes you pre-determine. Revenues would be enhanced by advertising through the search function, recorded historical data sales, and affiliate sales. Major obstacles include developing technology to capture the shipping prices, not to mention the obstacle of FedEx not wanting anyone to be able to easily find their rates (top market share means they want a monopoly).

I've spent literally years writing an online airline management simulation. It works, has its bugs, but has a very loyal group of users. It encompasses a lot of areas of the industry, but since the economic laws have literally been written by myself, it remains restrictive to what can be done. There are so many great ideas about how an airline should operated that exist outside the envelope that this simulation (or any simulation) will never allow.
There are threads dedicated to what type of airline you would create if you had the chance. The responses are outstanding. Literally hundreds of people have composed detailed plans of a new airline on a message board.

So picture this...

A website dedicated to the great ideas people have for starting airlines. Each user would be allowed a page to pitch their idea; aircraft types, cities served, niche's, marketing plans, etc. Each user would be able to comment on the other's suggestions, and a rating system would be implemented. Logos, liveries, annual reports...if you want your airline to have it, you just make it.

Sometimes the best ideas come from those who haven't had a chance to be limited by the industry itself.

I just bought a laptop. I must have spent six hours researching what laptop to buy, and more specifically what I wanted in it. Eventually, I compromised. I got the memory, processor, and video card I wanted, but couldn't get my favored hard drive. In fact, no laptop was available with everything I wanted. Sure, Dell allows you to "build" your own, but even their options are limited to their opinions of what should or shouldn't be offered.
I've never had this problem with desktops. The simple reason is that I always build my desktops. But I can't build my laptop.
Why? Because laptop cases are designed to be as portable as possible, which means designing the case around the components, rather than allowing room for the small intricacies of the laptop.

So picture this...
A standard laptop case. You buy the case and battery, and then you build in all of your accessories seperately. Sure, the case will have to be a smidge bigger, but all laptops, even the largest, are all roughly the same size. And why not offer different sizes? It makes sense that the case size would differ based upon the size of screen, so offer a light version that can only handle certain sizes, and a heavy version that could handle whatever laptop component you could jam into it.
Getting a motherboard manufacturer to fit each case shouldn't be a problem (every laptop manufacturer does it), and after the first you'll start seeing others design to the same specifications to remain competitive. Even if they don't, you still have your one motherboard selection.
I'm sure there are plenty of reasons this wouldn't work, but plenty of reasons why it would (most of which start with the letter '$'). Perhaps its time somebody open the market to what the consumer wants, not what the manufacturer can force them to buy.

"Everything that can be invented has been invented." -- Charles H. Duell, U.S. Commissioner of Patents, in 1899.

Technology has progressed so far passed the uneducated mind, that in order for a new technology to be found, one has to be a well-learned expert in a very specialized field. To create a new type of cell-phone, you'd have to be an expert in cell-phones, which comes with years of education and experience. New aircraft, televisions, fuels, etc. all require years and years of intellectual investment before they can be sufficiently and safely improved upon. Why then does Google exist? Sure, they're technological, but I wouldn't say Google is on the leading edge. Rather, Google exists because of their ability to use other people's inventions well. They didn't invent the internet, or the search engine, or advertising, but they took what had been made, and made it better. Apple has switched from a cutting edge inventor to a smart innovator. Its a business model based on ideas. The thought that something can be done better, by breaking it down to its most basic parts, and rebuilding it. The Google search engine, the Apple iphone. Not inventions, just products of a well thought vision that always kept the focus on the main goal of each product. There are so many opportunities to innovate; To make a successful business based on an idea, not necessarily on a better technology.

So picture this... A blog dedicated to refocusing on the basics, and exploring a business "idea." I'll be posting the many random business idea's I have. Some will be far-fetched, some just plane silly, and some will strike a cord within somebody who knows this idea will work. Discuss the ideas you like, and the ones you don't. Sooner or later, we're going to find that next great idea.