ch 3.0?

Well, I was thinking a standalone site not a CH3 add-on.

You know your animated GIF is 700kb right? That's almost half of the page. I'm not criticizing. I'm just saying. Its 700kb. That's all I'm saying.
http://www.cambrianh...a962903063e21977.gif

Fear of bandwidth bills Gord?

I think Gord is probably more concerned with complaints about bad performance due to over-use of images, say like this one:
http://www.cambrianh...ion/2368/#post-18544

True, I did make a good point.

Takes me 7 seconds/17 seconds to load this page (and normally CH is very slow over here [lately it's being a little bit faster])

About the idea; I don't know if it's a good idea to make this idea into a stand alone site, maybe it's better to put it into CH3.0 (or 4.0, depending on how much it takes to finalize this idea)

OK, I updated the image for I am kind and loving to dial-up users.

Well, CH is on its own island of solitude. So, it is going to be stand alone regardless. As far as level of difficulty this would not be all that hard to make.

Any more questions?

money how?

Traditional advertising or possibly product placement.

There are a number of picture comparison sites. This is an interesting twist on those. It's actually possibly creating some value out of it. The biggest question I have is how you'll sift through all the crap to find the value.

Kevin,

I am usually really interested in lateral thinking exercises that can stimulate innovation. This idea didn't really pique my interest like that. I think techguy nailed down my main problem (sifting through random crap). Maybe if the pics were actively paired or morphed into one somehow. It sounds silly to say that, but I think the value would be in creative activity that can lead to something new. Randomly generated photo pairs sounds boring.

Hi, interesting ;-)

Yes, I think a system to ensure the quality of pictures is a must. The question is how? Interconnected mind map-like, moderation, rating, or even a completely different model?
In that lies the strongest point of this idea, imho.

About sifting through images. Could you expand on that, are you talking about the random images for the comparison to the company product? As, for that the images are supposed to be used for abstraction of ideas. Because everything has different traits that can be brought over to other ideas.

The random images brought up would be quality singular shots of objects. those images are provided by the site. There need not be any direct connections between them and the company product.

I hope that answered your questions. If not I will be sure to look into it.

I wounder if you would be interested in combining your idea with my idea:
http://www.cambrianh...er/ideas-id/9NtJqK7/

It's not sifting through the images. It's sifting through all the ideas that the images prompt people to create (ie. grips on an ipod). Some might be good, but others will be crap you can count on that. How do you sift the good from the crap?

How about combining it with a suitable GA (genetic algorithm) to help users and/or speed up the process?

Sounds like it would be easy to build and test...

stevesitv, what rule set would you use in a genetic algorithm? Typically with GA, you have to have some model that defines success so you can reinforce traits. Seems like the whole point of this app would be to brainstorm ideas which are so innovative they wouldn't fit a predefined description of "good".

"combining your idea with my idea"
Humm, seems like it would work since they have similar needs. Sure.

"sifting through all the ideas"
OK, I see.
"rule set would you use in a genetic algorithm"
Well, you could use an algorithm to detect similar matches and things like that. So, if a lot of people come up with the same idea it would raise the priority and group ideas together or have a simple voting system or just a simple moderator to glance them over.

So would the pictures be random for every user? The site picking the image.. For instance, you may see a football and Ipod and I may see a glass of orange juice and an Ipod? Orange juice and an ipod.. OJ and Ipod? Hmmm, maybe a cover that doesn't seem like it fits, but it really does? Or maybe a Ipod with a Knife that pops out for protection... I am lame.. I know. But seriously, just trying to understand it.
I think if the images were random, and maybe each user saw 5 images... It would get the company a broad spectrum of ideas. Just a thought... Good idea though!

"OJ and Ipod"
Ipod with a orange back-light, bright colored paint coatings, some kind of squishy case cover for shock resistance, possibly a ipod that the case lights up around the side.

"Ipod with a Knife"
How about fingered groves to let users have more control or make the case out of titanium for a more rugged ipod something construction workers could use.

The key to this is thinking of what you want in the random idem and then applying it in a different way. The things that you want most in a good orange, knife, etc..

I think a better implementation would be to categorize. Then provide product cross-referencing to sift out the "crap" that techguy spoke of. Maybe use a product's features as inputs and match to flickr's tags. Then you could do studies on different aspects of product development. For instance, in reference to iPod casing design, match up properties: grip, durability, et cetera. This way at least the images would have meaning to what you're brainstorming on.

I like lateral thinking tools/exercises too but I don't know if random images is the place to start. What about products that don't have images (like software or a service)?

DrV's comment on categorizing/cross-referencing would work better I think and using a list of features to represent a product would work with non-physical things as well.

There are so many ways to connect ideas. I'm curious, after images and features, what else could you do to mix ideas up? Thinking about that might strengthen this idea.

Well, I think it would be the simplest building point. Because the code work is minimal its makes for a good starting point to test the waters. As you noted I am sure this could add on to other things with more tools, exercises, etc...

I really like this idea Kevin. Very doable. You've got a 5 star vote here.
That's powerful marketing in itself.

[QUOTE]There are a number of picture comparison sites. This is an interesting twist on those. It's actually possibly creating some value out of it. The biggest question I have is how you'll sift through all the crap to find the value.[/QUOTE]

Combine my rate it idea with this.. lol

I see a picture of a bananna and an ipod. Help me.

Banana and an ipod:
Well bananas are bright yellow because they want to attract attention. How about this a fashionable ipod headphone cable that lights up. You know how in the commercial they focus on the cable and ipod. Well why not make the cable glow? People want to draw attention to themselves.

Brilliant idea right there.

I'm feeling ya. Ok one more. A rock and a bottle of spring water.

Actually I love this idea. After reading the comments and then randomly selecting images to match in my head I was able to come up with some great ideas. This will actually work for any type of product or service if you're thinking of marketing ploys and not just products. Keep it going Kevin.

Ice cube and car. Ice cube chills my drink. Chill=relax Driving this car relaxes me. I'm relaxed because its safe. I'm relaxed because ecofriendly. I'm relaxed because its affordable. It can go on and on and on...but i won't.

It's simple and its easy and thats why it will work.

One cool addon would be to have users add adjectives that describe the pictures. Maybe a tag cloud. For instance- a picture of a rock. Adjectives=strong, hard, solid, broken window, rock slide, wrestling, alcatraz, etc.

Kevin,

(Oh look now I'm commenting on the idea now that I've got past the animated GIF!)

Think this is great concept. I'd be tempted to simply leverage Flickr photos and tags. I'm not saying don't allow uploaded images. Just another approach I'd like you to consider.

Things tagged iPod might look crappy though... like naked midget holding an iPod might end up as part of an image combo. But if we can index some good Flickr images which are like product-shots... so naked midgets listening to iPods are eventually weeded out in favor or classy iPod on black background shots, you'd have an infinite array of objects to choose from.

So its not just the combos that get ranked for inspirational value... its the photos of objects themselves. Rank photos tagged "football" until a nice clean shot of a football becomes the defacto image for football as far as Idea Mixer is concerned.

A comment on my comment (my favorite thing to do!)- would one item, say an ipod, cycle through several images before moving on to a new item, say a clock radio?

micco,

Sorry about the tardiness.

GA-s are a class of evolutionary algorithms. I guess I should have suggested these, specifically the ones written for selection and crossover (recombination).

i think this is good. (period)

Goodluck!

Wow, you're generating a lot of comments, that's a great sign. And none of the comments are just glossing you. All very helpful. The stars are aligning.

I think this needs to be linked to a family of similar services like Brenden's. As completely standalone, I think it would wilt on the vine.

Also, not randomly generated images. Or at least combine with user-suggested images. But I do like the brainstorming concept. I mean, for example, I’m sure the Mac people had a million of these meetings developing the iPod. But the lone person out there needs help. Do it. You also have to think about services, not just products. But I do like this idea. It really does sound like another CH for brainstorming, and there is no reason not to think about CH 3.0. At any rate, best of luck to you.
Wes
1.20.09

This sounds like it would work with meta data and semantic web thinking. Quite well...

good stuff.

> I agree, that there should be other similar services linked in. I have been thinking of a few sweet ideas for extras.
> User suggested images are fine with me.
> Interesting Stevesitv I will have to look into that.

maybe...

It is a good idea. There is a UK http://www.brainjuicer.com/ which do online opinion testing with some similar ideas.

However i don't theingk they do it for brainstorming.

Keep me in the loop if you decide to go develop the idea further.

Will do stevesitv.

good luck moving this idea to vencorps

Me too. This idea has started a number of people thinking, so you have already achieved part of your objective!

In the examples mentioned above, the first part of the process is to identify attributes of the things in the pictures You could speed this up by providing tags for each picture that describe the attributes, or at least a way for users to add their own tags. So that even if the user isn't inspired to invent something, they will leave behind an asset that can be used by others.

You could also rank the tags by popularity for each picture. For example, a banana has colour, size, texture, flavour etc, but which is the most important?

"You could speed this up by providing tags for each picture that describe the attributes, or at least a way for users to add their own tags."
True, that would be of great help. To identify reasons why people like your product what they also like in other things. Which could provide some valuable data.

"rank the tags"
I agree, it makes a lot of sense to identify high priority areas.

The data from this could be very useful for researchers and planners. I would think that incentives or a competition scheme is necessary similar to that of CH. Maybe you could develop the idea so that the products are tailored to the users profile to encourage stimulation and interaction?

Yes, we could tailor the products to the user. That is a viable option and I will take your advice and include it. Thank you for the input.

That would be a win/win. I go on there, come up with some genius product idea. They're R&D team gets a freebie. I get paid. They make money on the product. Nice!