Ideas that didn't work out / were baked:

Audio book

In the eBook file on your ipod/ mp3, the position you were at in your eBook when you paused is bookmarked and you can return to that position after playing other music ect.

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Automatic Accountant

Enter your transaction and it is automatically placed in the various accounting books, giving you an instant and accurate outlook on the current position of your small/medium business. (Sales are entered directly from till). Cuts accountants bill.

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eCards

Currently, it is possible to log onto a site, design a card and email it off to a friend. The only problem with this is this is that when the recipient gets the card you paid for, it is once read and sent to the recycle bin. There is no point in printing it out as you can only achieve a very poor quality and it appears more like an email than a post card or birthday card. It is possible to put it on a flash disk, take it to a photo shop and allow them to print the card on photo paper, but it takes time and money.

What I am proposing here is that You log onto our website, scan in your pics, make a custom drawing and write a note in your font of choice. You then pay via the credits you have purchased and send off your card with the designated address. We will then forward the card to our nearest office to the address where it is printed in high quality, on good paper and in the format of your choice.

If you pay an extra fee, you can include a short recording which is clipped in the designated area on your card.

This is particularly useful for sending custom made postcards that you have sent from remote areas where you do not have easy access to a post office, or a supply of cards for that matter.

postino for iPhone http://www.angurialab.com/apps/postino/ virtual stamps are paid for with PayPal. [jutta, flag, delete, Jul 12 2009]

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at_facebook.com

I like the fact that facebook sends you emails for pretty much everything, but it does clog up my mailbox.

I would like a special fb email address. This would allow my to quickly check if there is anything I need to log on for and I can direct all my similar mail here.

When fb asks for your email, you don't have to enter your full email address-- just timbrown123.

It is very easy to make a yahoo acc, but I would like a fb one.

An advantage here is that because this is pretty much just for spam, your emails can be on a sort of conveyor belt where they only stay in system for a few days.

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Tab with history (+9, -4)

When your mouse pointer is over a link and you push the mouse wheel in to open the link in a new tab, I would like to have the option available that allows me to carry the history of sites that brought me here to the new tab.

In my opinion, the best option would be to right click and press mouse wheel in at the same time.

This is useful when you have many tabs open and it will allow you to navigate around the net in a completely different style as you can press 'back' on any of the tabs. This will also reduce the amount of tabs required. — danman, Jul 19 2009

Halfbakery: Back in new Window Back_20in_20new_20Window Sort of related, but not the same. [jutta, flag, delete, Jul 20 2009]

Firefox Add-on: Tab History 1.0.6 https://addons.mozi.../firefox/addon/1859 "New tabs retain the session history of the originating tab. Links opened in a new tab won't have a blank history, but one that is populated from the "parent"" [jutta, flag, delete, Jul 20 2009]

Firefox Plugin: Tab-Mix Plus https://addons.mozi.../firefox/addon/1122 Does everything you mentioned [quantass, flag, delete, Jul 21 2009]

Not sure I like TAB in this case, it might contain a large portion of the as(s)-part-a-me. — 4whom, Jul 19 2009 [delete]

I suffered the problem you just found the solution for, without ever thinking about remedies. Wonderful! — loonquawl, Jul 20 2009 [delete]

... or window with history, same problem.

Well, if you're using Firefox, you're in luck; see link. Does anyone understand why this isn't just the default behavior? — jutta, Jul 20 2009 [delete]

I don't understand why it is not default. "Right click -> open in new tab" should drag history with it. Seems like common sense, "Right click -> open" drags the history...[+] — 4whom, Jul 20 2009 [delete]

Probably because the extra programming would've been more expensive than was deemed necessary at the time. I guess. Anyway, I like this. Sadly, Jutta's first link seems identical to this, so I have to bone for prior art, especially given that it's in the same category. And the second link makes it Baked (but not widely known, so I won't mfd on those grounds) [-] — 21 Quest, Jul 20 2009 [delete]

4whom, Right click -> open does not drag history in the browser I'm using - which one does it work in? — jutta, Jul 20 2009 [delete]

These links do render this idea baked, I will delete it soon. — danman, Jul 20 2009 [edit, delete]

Try using the FireFox add-on/plugin: Tab Mix Plus ... It has a default feature that duplicates the contents of a tab into a new tab and maintains its entire history. Of course this plugin has tons of other features (relating to tabs) that help enhance all versions of Firefox.

You can also set Mouse gestures in whatever combination you like to do whatever you want. — quantass, Jul 21 2009 [delete]

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Possible adjustments

I think that there is a need for things like email updates and notifications, which include; notifications of new comments on ideas that you have added to your 'please notify me' list, top ten ideas of the month and bones or buns on your ideas.

The system can be completely malleable and I think that it will be a great enhancement to the site for many amateurs and stagnant users.

For the people who do not want any change, bear in mind that the emailing system will not alter your hb experience in any negative way whatsoever, it will, however bring massive advantages to many 'bakers in the making'.

I imagine that there are an abundance of stagnant users and this should get the ball rolling even faster, bringing more unique ideas to the site.

If you think that this will enhance our halfbakery experience, please share a bun and leave a comment. If not, please explain. — danman, Jul 06 2009

I think that there is a need for things like email updates and notifications, which include; notifications of new comments on ideas that you have added to your 'please notify me' list, top ten ideas of the month and bones or buns on your ideas. The system can be completely malleable and I think that it will be a great enhancement to the site for many amateurs and stagnant users. For the people who do not want any change, bear in mind that the emailing system will not alter your hb experience in any negative way whatsoever, it will, however bring massive advantages to many 'bakers in the making'. I imagine that there are an abundance of stagnant users and this should get the ball rolling even faster, bringing more unique ideas to the site. If you think that this will enhance our halfbakery experience, please share a bun and leave a comment. If not, please explain.

Take one step towards web 2.0 and you'll fall into a steaming pile of shitformation. — daseva, Jul 06 2009 [delete]

A "definite need", really?

In the MoSCoW school of feature prioritisation, what amounts to a cosmetic enhancement surely counts as a "Would like to have" - doesn't it?

In what way does this additional feature improve the 'bakery in a way that is "necessary"?

Were this additional feature left out, in what way does this make the 'bakery unusable?

I'm not 100% sure whether it matters whether someone who looks at my profile can tell whether I've recently logged on or not - and to be honest, I kind of like it that way - sometimes, I might want to lurk quietly without feeling compelled to annotate - I might feel as though my privacy was being impinged upon if someone could tell what websites I'd been looking at. Same goes for Facebook - I've switched off the 'chat' thing, opting to "Always Appear Offline" for the same purpose. I don't necessarily want to have my movements broadcast to the world.

As for private messaging - if you choose to, you can leave an annotation to that effect, and then switch to a private messaging platform to perform that level of conversation. Redeveloping the wheel of interpersonal chat in a broadcast-style website would take a lot of work, and only provide a subset of the functionality of a dedicated inter-personal communication software suite (email, chat, tweet, facebook, take your pick) why should we widen the feature set of the halfbakery to include these functions that are already being provided perfectly well elsewhere? — zen_tom, Jul 06 2009 [delete]

Zen_Tom, in no way is the bakery unusable, I like the bakery as it is, but as a bakers apprentice and I would prefer getting an email notification of three +'s on one of my ideas, rather than having to check for each one. It will in no way be an invasion of your privacy, the system should be completely malleable. — danman, Jul 06 2009 [edit, delete]

Bakery apprenticeships! That's what the hB needs! — swimswim, Jul 06 2009 [delete]

You could always start your own rival, new, improved, bigger, better, faster Bakery, complete with spinning logos, flash animation and frequent emails. Call it The Lazybake. — xenzag, Jul 06 2009 [delete]

Hi, I saw your picture and you look really cute. I'm new here and hoping to make friends. I'm kind of shy at first but when you get to know me I open up and can be real kinky. — normzone, Jul 06 2009 [delete]

& I can attest to that!

sheesh, newbies will be insisting I use capitals next... — po, Jul 06 2009 [delete]

Hi [danman] - re your anno, you may well be right, but it's one thing to say you'd "prefer" something, and it's another to use language like "very necessary" and "definite need" - that's all I was addressing. — zen_tom, Jul 06 2009 [delete]

I am not in any way suggesting going the complete facebook way with pics of your dog ect. It will not at all be a 'meatball sundae'.

The notifications would be particularly useful for ideas that you have commented on. Also you can say what kind of ideas you are most interested in...

//Call it The Lazybake.//? The alteration would in no way negatively affect your hb experience. All it would do is remind us bakers apprentices and stagnant uses to log on every now and again. Think about the implications, we will have many more ideas and will increase the no. of active users. It will allow hb to expand and grow, giving us some more unique ideas! — danman, Jul 06 2009 [edit, delete]

[danman] - have you checked out what [jutta] has already provided for you with views & rss? It'll take care of everything except your social life, and you don't need one of those. Ask any of us. — lurch, Jul 06 2009 [delete]

//email updates// post in a thread and I'll get back to you if you have your e-mail on your blurb.

//recent activity// maybe a clickable link on the left-side menu of the page marked "recent" or for the more specific maybe a page which you can build your own database query... we could call it a "view".

Ahh you mean recent activity on one's ideas... <shrug>, if somebody is that entranced with it they'll churn it.

[-] — FlyingToaster, Jul 06 2009 [delete]

Thanks [zen_tom], problem solved. — danman, Jul 06 2009 [edit, delete]

Sometimes I think the advertising-centric ideology has taken over to such an extent that people think something is wrong when a website doesn't try to draw you in and hold you as if its life (read, advertising income) depended on it.

Halfbakery: The website that's just not that much into you. — jutta, Jul 06 2009 [delete]

Jutta I completely understand and agree with your view point (it is a lot like sifters and Seth Godin's in 'purple cow'). In fact, I think that it is that view point which makes this site so successful. Please note that this idea isn't a way of getting more ideas, that is only a by product. It is also not only for the rookies. What the site does should be for the better inventors, I am not asking you to adjust that-- It would lower the standards.

It is just a suggestion and one that I think that many people would really like to have the email service available. No more no less, its just one small addition to the services that you offer. — danman, Jul 06 2009 [edit, delete]

Not sure if it would be possible, but perhaps we should allow the baker to draw and actually write on links to illustrate the ideas. However there would be possible plagiarism problems. — danman, Jul 07 2009 [edit, delete]

//draw and illustrate// there's a section in 'help' marked 'illustrations'. Apart from that, linking to external resources works and saves HB bandwidth which us mildly weird people don't pay for;

[Jutta] gets that paid for by the various three letter acronym agencies and secret societies she works for ;) — FlyingToaster, Jul 07 2009 [delete]

... and who appear thus far not to have noticed the strange activity patterns showing up in their logs — kindachewy, Jul 07 2009 [delete]

// mildly weird people //

We don't think that merely "mildly weird people" should be allowed in here.