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We already do that at ShareMeme - http://sharememe.com/welcome/quickmode. You have to a be registered user to use this, and we also offer up the simple forms as well.
I have seen a few places that do these things, but how is the question. Care to elaborate on how you go about it? What tools/libraries you use etc and how successful it has been?
My friend, I think you're more than set to get into CS grad school. Though please understand, the PhD enterpreneurs are few and far between. Most PhD students in CS and engineering don't understand how to develop their own great ideas, and they don't want to. PhD's are mostly for academics. Exceptions include places, like Harvard, MIT, and Stanford.
The upside is that you'll have lots of free time during a PhD curriculum to chase down your own ideas, and find the handful of like-minded people around campus. A PhD is a free time to pursue your own intellectual pursuit, and if you're already so energized, you'll do well.
From our experience, this has been correct. It may be better said that a lot of time with one user walking through and testing the UX of a site is worth more than several shorter tests with more people. If you start multiplying that deep dive with fewer users, you'll quickly see the major UX fixes that are needed.
Additionally, the most obvious UX fixes are the ones that will greatly improve your site anyway. As more UX fixes that are suggested, you'll find that they are a product of differentiated user preferences than needed UX fixes. That's not a UX fix. It's having certain parts of your site customizable in look and feel.
It was a great experience in DC. We met many nice people. I don't know that the startup will survive, and there were less than a handful of exceptions. But in the end it was good to feel the energy and connect with other like-minded people. I recommend it.
When I started reading voraciously, I started having better ideas. Reading is a conversation with an author. Most business and entrepreneur-themed books don't offer new ideas, but they're new to you. When you swirl them around in your own head, you'll have better ideas. For me, I always need to visualize ideas to, so I paper prototype a lot.
Though I know it may not be a single biographical book, Founders at Work is a great series of short biographies/interviews. If you're more interested in any one of them, you can probably find a biography on them or even their personal blogs.
While by no means is Dubai going to be Silicon Valley, there are very encouraging signs for business in Dubai. I have spent about a month or two there over the past two years.
As it has already been eluded to, there's tons of money there. In the last five years, every major consulting firm has an office in Dubai. Every major tech company has an office in Dubai Internet City. The city is organized into economic industrial units - Festival City, Healthcare, International Financial, Sports, Media, etc.
From the tech startup side, if you have a financial, native backer, you're fine to startup a company. There is a booming business for networking, like Cisco and Cisco partners. The market exists there for tech startups, but probably not for web startups as censorship of the Web varies.
As for lifestyle, it doesn't get much better than Dubai. It's a fantastic place to live. When you think about falseprophet's post, a lot of the same applies to LA, yet millions call it home.
As for local skilled labor, there are many people out there seeking jobs in Dubai from neighboring Gulf countries, and the growth of the Doha campuses are contributing to a young tech talent pool in the area.
