Buying Time

The internet really is an amazing place. There's new ideas and new experiments starting all the time, some of which you've heard about on this blog. Yesterday afternoon I was reading a magazine and stumbled across another of these curious ideas. It's not based around writing, but it was so intriguing that I thought I would write a bit about it anyway: an internet entrepreneur is selling time.

Now, I don't know to much about the project at the moment as the website isn't yet live, so all the info I've got is based on the magazine article I read. Anyway, Thomas Whitfield is allowing people to buy time at $1 per minute through a website called "design the time". The idea is then that people can use their minute to upload contact about what they were doing at that time. So, for example, you could buy a minute during your wedding and upload your wedding photos, or whatever.

Sounds interesting? I think so. Will it be a success? I don't know - it's hard to say without a few more details. However, there are some people who certainly think so. With this idea, Thomas won the "Idea Idol" competition within the University of Oxford. The prize? Unlimited access to a $100 million dollar fund to develop his idea!

Wow, with that kind of backing you'd expect Thomas to be able to do some pretty big things, and the fact that I'm already reading a magazine article about the project suggests that it's going to have no trouble generating publicity. In fact, I've already seen the site listed among the top 25 UK web startups, before it's even launched.

On the one hand, I'm pleased for Thomas. I know how difficult it is to get a project up and running, and I wish him every success with it. On the other hand though, I'm a bit gutted. I don't think the idea behind "design the time" is really any better than that behind "I want a word" but it's already getting a lot more publicity, and with $100 million of backing it's hard to see how it can fail.

I guess I'm just jealous really! But I'm trying not to let it get me down: I'm going to keep plugging away with my own project, and hopefully I too will eventually be able to generate a similar level of interest. Keep checking the blog to find out if it happens!

Take care,

Chris

I want a word