Up to you whether you want to limit your answer to software that is possible/realistic
Let me first describe a very specific problem that I’d like to solve.
So, I make mods for some games and VN (to be more specific, it’s unofficial translations). Sometimes I have to update it and release a new version (and sometimes I just release it in an ongoing mode, part by part, when the next chapter is translated). In either case, I have to ask my audience to manually re-download the entire archive and re-apply it on top of the game directory. Although I manage to make patches pretty lightweight, it still feels so wasteful to re-download the whole archive, even if only a few files are changed!
So, I’d like to have something that could help upload these patches, distribute them, and apply them easily. It should be able to calculate the diff between the local copy and the remote origin, download only required files, and then apply them on top of the game directory. Something like Steam Depots, but standalone. And it should be easy to use, so rsync doesn’t count!
Does all of this make sense, or am I making up nonsense?
Isn’t that just a mod manager? So you want a mod manager that supports the games you work on?
Nice try, open source developers who want to make the world a better place.
A multimedia centre like Kodi or Jellyfin with the ability to schedule shows like it was a regular TV channel. With shows playing on their time slots, a random movie starting every day at ten.
There are times that I just want to turn on the TV and watch whatever is on without having to scroll through the entire library for something I could be in the mood for.
A peer-to-peer prediction market where instead of betting on forest fires, we bet on datacenter fires and mansion fires.
Who would bet against those fires in a platformike that?
You’d bet against the fires if you wanted a payoff when the fire doesn’t happen. You pay when the fire does happen. So anybody who benefits from the fire world have an incentive to bet against it.
I don’t think many people that don’t want a fire would use the platform…
Let’s say you don’t want a fire, like it’s your data center. You’ll want to get paid if the fire does happen. So you bet on fire, like you’re buying insurance against it.
Two interesting differences from existing fire insurance.
- If you’re not an asshole, then now you’re just getting insurance at a better rate because there’s more competing insurers.
- If you are an asshole, then you’ll find yourself now paying the external cost of owning the data center, as higher insurance rates.
That’s the real point of this software. It would allow crowdfunded defense against people who are destroying the world and own the legal system. Most participants would just be minimizing costs or gambling, not ideologically motivated.
My point is that people would have an incentive to bet for the fire and then cause the fire, so once a bet is published chances are that the fire will happen.
There would need to be sufficient market depth to pay someone to act. So we couldn’t just publish $0.01 bets on everything and watch the town burn. “Coasian” solutions like this are limited by transaction costs.
In practice, the owner of the datacenter would need to either eliminate the externality or watch it burn. If the datacenter is worth more than its external cost, then they can reimburse their victims or pay for cleanup. If the revenue from the datacenter is less than its external costs, then it’s a net loss for society and ought to be shut down.
There would need to be sufficient market depth to pay someone to act.
If such a platform existed so many people would bet for “fire” that there wouldn’t be depth, but if you take a look around lemmy you can see some people hate AI so much they would do it anyways.
An easy one I would do myself if I had more time. A calorie tracker that does not try to get you into a cult.
- The only time it accesses the internet is to update its on-board database.
- None of your data gets sent anywhere unless you choose to share it (for things like new foods).
- No suggestions.
- No exercise programs or tracking
- No sleep tracking.
- Tracks only what you want. Extras available through add-ons or something, but I don’t care about tracking nutrients, fat, carbs, etc. so keep them out of my way.
- In short, follow the Unix guideline of an app doing one thing and doing it well.
If you run Android, check out “Energize” on fdroid.
Got it installed. I’ll try it tomorrow.
If all you need is calories couldn’t you just use any counter app for that? At that point you’re just adding numbers in.
The key is that I don’t want it connecting to a remote site every dang time I try to make an entry. Once a day for db updates should be all it needs.
A program that uses modern language processing to let you play old or new text-based games without the annoyance of their clunky interface. Especially if it also worked with voice so you could play it as you do other menial tasks.
NOTE it would have to use minimal compute. No using Claude to do it all. Just focused AI in the language processing.
I’ve been messing around with decision models, I feel like they would be a pretty good fit for that because the only thing that would need to be done is choosing one of a finite set of commands and choosing its parameters also from a finite set of choices, which is what decision models are for, along with being very fast and having low system requirements.
I want stand-alone spreadsheet tables. Like if I wanted a 3x6 grid that acts like a spreadsheet, without out all of the chrome of a spreadsheet program.
If not that, system wide spreadsheet functionality whenever a table is invoked.
Org mode my dude or dudette.
I’ll have to give that a go. Thanks.
I mean, he’s not wrong, but it involves learning emacs and elisp, which is kind of a substantial bar.
Emacs isn’t too bad, it has a menu
Something that would remove clickbait articles, AI slop, propaganda, commercials and probably more that are poisoning our lives.
At least for YouTube clickbait there is crowdsourced DeArrow, from the same developer as SponsorBlock. And you can use it in FreeTube!
An actual, healthy, good online social ecosystem. A place with deep quality conversation without bots, trolls, rage bait, misinformation, etc. Somewhere that felt like actual community.
Sadly that’s a human problem that technology is hard-pressed to solve (if not impossible).
