web site idea tell me if it is the next million dollar idea

[italiano40]

My idea is a web site that you can login in and put all your contact info into this site then it will save it and give you an item to embed on your site or in your sign on a forum, but i also would have an api so what ever other people want to develop can do it, i would also talk to other BB system to implement it into their systems, what do you guys think, a bust or million dollar idea

[fluidedge]

you want people to give you all their personal info why exactly??

[italiano40]

Originally Posted by fluidedge

you want people to give you all their personal info why exactly??

not exactly, it would contain your AIM, E-mail, Twitter, phone number, many different ways of contacting you, and it would only be able to view if you embed the widget on a site, or on a forum

[Sijmen]

Making the site is not such a problem, as long as you take care of the security and privacy concerns.

But if you want to make a million dollars, you need to make money. What are your plans on that?

[italiano40]

Originally Posted by Sijmen

Making the site is not such a problem, as long as you take care of the security and privacy concerns.

But if you want to make a million dollars, you need to make money. What are your plans on that?

i know php and javascript so web site creating is not a problem, for security i was think that you can only see the contact info if you embed it and it would only contact what you want to give out.

the way i came up with this idea is that i am a member of many forums and i would like an easier way of doing the contact info quicker and this a way i came up with i just want to know what you guys think of it

i am not planning on making a million dollars on this, it was a funny title i thought

[dtyson]

I would suggest you go look at: http://www.sixapart.com/typekey/

It sounds like your idea is partially in play already, sans the widget thing.

I'm not sure I see any real value to this, particularly in today's "über-paranoid about my personal information being out there" world. I would bet that most don't even have the Autofill feature on their browsers turned on much less have a willingness to throw personal contact information out there in the form of a widget that would probably take 32 seconds to exploit in some way.

I really prefer to decide on a per site basis what info that I want to give (bank website vs. vw enthusiast forum, real email address vs. some gmail one that I don't mind being spammed). It sounds like I would have to edit your widget via another site each time, depending on the nature of whatever the registration is, just so I can send it, in which case, I'd prefer to have the information stored in my head so I can be more selective with what information goes into a form. I would also not like having to edit that information on another site.

Maybe I don't have any real vision and foresight as to the utility of this, though.

[sushi]

Originally Posted by dtyson

I'm not sure I see any real value to this, particularly in today's "über-paranoid about my personal information being out there" world.

This is a very important consideration in today's world.

I would say that 10 years ago the shift was to put more information about yourself on the web where as today the shift is towards putting less information for security and ID theft reasons.

And no offense intended to the OP, but who the heck are you and why should I trust my data with you or your web site?

[MCRunning]

Thanks for the idea, now I just have to make it better and market it.

In all seriousness don't think so.

[italiano40]

Originally Posted by dtyson

I would suggest you go look at: http://www.sixapart.com/typekey/

It sounds like your idea is partially in play already, sans the widget thing.

I'm not sure I see any real value to this, particularly in today's "über-paranoid about my personal information being out there" world. I would bet that most don't even have the Autofill feature on their browsers turned on much less have a willingness to throw personal contact information out there in the form of a widget that would probably take 32 seconds to exploit in some way.

I really prefer to decide on a per site basis what info that I want to give (bank website vs. vw enthusiast forum, real email address vs. some gmail one that I don't mind being spammed). It sounds like I would have to edit your widget via another site each time, depending on the nature of whatever the registration is, just so I can send it, in which case, I'd prefer to have the information stored in my head so I can be more selective with what information goes into a form. I would also not like having to edit that information on another site.

Maybe I don't have any real vision and foresight as to the utility of this, though.

thank you i guess my idea has been already done

Originally Posted by sushi

This is a very important consideration in today's world.

I would say that 10 years ago the shift was to put more information about yourself on the web where as today the shift is towards putting less information for security and ID theft reasons.

And no offense intended to the OP, but who the heck are you and why should I trust my data with you or your web site?

first the it was going to be just hosted on my site and it would of course be encrypted and plus you would have an alias to change and edit your profile it would just have AIM, Twitter, email, etc

[InLikeALion]

The basic principal sound a bit like the Open ID initiative, minus all the communication services. If your idea were to work, it seems like it would be better as a future addition to this existing service.

[MCRunning]

Originally Posted by italiano40

thank you i guess my idea has been already done

So take their idea and make it better...

[SrWebDeveloper]

TypeKey acts as a middle man and is unto itself exploitable, and scares me to death that they hold my data and not me.

When it comes to anything even remotely close to PII no sensible user would trust any script or software wthout a signed digital certificate verified by a certificate authority AND the data was strong encrypted on client side (browser), during transmission and storage on the remote server, on top of the data ownership issue.

Which means you need to create a "standard", give it a name, patent it and implement it so that is stored in the client side as encrypted data IN THE BROWSER. Then when connecting to a web site that supports the standard, the handshake occurs, the certificates checked, user must accept, and data is transmitted securely and strong encrypted. Would not hurt to add security questions that references that specific user/browser for purposes of updating or removing the data or using the API on authorized remote sites only. And a list of authorized sites maintained in the browser, of course, each with certificate status, last connection state, history, etc. It could be a browser plug-in as well.

But my point is, the only place these things should even be considered is in the browser itself from a user's perspective and a direct peer to peer relationship is the only thing I'd trust. And, even that, I don't trust! Where you make your money is licensing people to use the API, make the browser plug-in free.

-jim

[sushi]

Originally Posted by italiano40

first the it was going to be just hosted on my site and it would of course be encrypted and plus you would have an alias to change and edit your profile it would just have AIM, Twitter, email, etc

But how, as a customer/user, can I trust you with my data? Are you legitimate?

Sure it may be encrypted as you say. Can you get around the encryption? Are are there back doors?

Data security is becoming ever more important these days so to entice someone to use your service, you would need to be able to absolutely guarantee security of their data.

[italiano40]

Originally Posted by InLikeALion

The basic principal sound a bit like the Open ID initiative, minus all the communication services. If your idea were to work, it seems like it would be better as a future addition to this existing service.

i know that kinda give me the idea to have a standard of way showing off your contact info

Originally Posted by MCRunning

So take their idea and make it better...

i really thinking into it, i have made a test site on my macbook and so far their are some errors but not too bad, i thinking of releasing it

[SrWebDeveloper]

...their are some errors but not too bad, i thinking of releasing it...

I won't hold the language barrier against ya, but any known errors really are bad errors. I have no faith in your product based on your statements here, and actual clients might feel the same. I suggest you research into SCM and the SDLC and test both inhouse and wide beta paying careful attention to quality assurance. If you intend to do that, then don't simply call it a release, describe the type so people know what you're talking about. I'd not reply this way if PII was not involved. You can be held liable in lawsuits if you get this wrong. I honestly wish you the best of success in your endeavor, however.

-jim

[whooleytoo]

I hate to sound like a negative misery guts but...

There are no million dollar "ideas". Just million dollar products/services. If you're taking an idea you have and telling everyone about it before having implemented it yourself, you'll never make money from it, sorry.

On the idea itself, it sounds like it has merit, though I'd be surprised if it hasn't been done before.

You might investigate having different levels of security; so the object/file contains all your data but some people can only see basic details, trusted colleagues can see more, and your friends and family can read all.

[a456]

Originally Posted by whooleytoo

it sounds like it has merit, though I'd be surprised if it hasn't been done before.

Sounds like a vCard to me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VCard

Edit: On second thoughts it sounds like OpenID.

[whooleytoo]

True. You have to remember too - having the idea is just a small part of it. You could implement this and try and pitch it to the general public and it may never take off.

But, target it directly to specific businesses as a B2B solution and you might lay the groundwork there.

How you implement it, how you sell it, to whom you sell it are all important considerations.

[kkat69]

I've been holding off saying this, but since you made your idea public, whether it's a million dollar idea is now kinda moot. Meaning since it's now public, anyone who can code can take it and if they're quick enough, impliment it, pitch it, and start making money off it.

I've done something VERY similar to this already about 3 or so years ago, granted it was with a video game and was mainly for forum signatures. Basically you can import your info from game, add extra info and it will generate a graphic with all that info on it. I got the idea to code this by seeing other people with the same thing (it's actually a pretty old idea what your talking about doing) but I wanted to impliment my own version.
Mine was written in .Net C# and the whole process of generating the objects was self contained so the dll can be imported into other projects.

What your talking about is the same thing that's been done. But don't discourage, you know how many duplicate ideas are out on the net? It's all about marketing, strategy, etc.

The sad thing about all of this is... if you can think of it, chances are it's been done. But again, if you want a good example of duplicate 'million dollar' ideas here's 2, Facebook, mySpace. They both do practically the same thing, they both have api's, the are just about the same with a few exceptions, yet they are both popular and have different audiences.

Actually the worst thing you can do with a 'million dollar' idea is broadcast it for all the review without doing any preliminary work and patents, copyrights, etc. Once it's in the wild as a thought, it's already stolen.