[phalgunr]

Just to throw in my own (non-tech) idea, which originally led me to wonder what other people's capital-intensive ideas might be:

I would open up bookstores with a Netflix-like business model. You pay something like $5/month to use it, read any books you want without buying them and not feeling like a freeloader. There can be monthly family plans etc., and when someone does buy a book, their fee for that month can be waived.

Clearly, despite having an entire bookstore in their pockets, people want a physical place to socialize and read, and this offers them a way to do that in the 21st century.

[merrua]

Are you making a joke about libraries?

[phalgunr]

No, I'm being serious! I thought about libraries being the same thing as Borders/Barnes & Noble chains (if you're in the U.S.), but there's something about the bookstore (being able to speak at a normal tone, having a coffee shop in there) that seems to attract people more.

This might be a crazy (the wrong type of crazy) idea, or coming from me being sad about the fall of Borders and the eventual demise of B&N.

But I do notice that people prefer to "hang out", stroll around, or spend an evening at a bookstore than a library.