Tips on how to choose a project topic

Approaches

• Think about the personal projects you've worked on so far
• Think about the tasks you deal with at your work (or perhaps parents' work - every night they come home and talk about how inefficient the system is, etc)
• Think about the books you've read (non-tech literature), perhaps there was something that inspired you; a novel concept, a gadget, etc.
• Make a list of questions that you want answers for - but found none. Once you have this list, try to come up with an answer and think about your skills - how can they be comined to provide that answer. Ex:
  • how to define love?
  • is there life on other planets?
  • is time travel possible?
  • would it be fun to have "multiplayer minesweeper"?
  • is it possible to use a computer to teach someone use their left hand even though they're a right-handed person?
  • is it possible to train human memory using a computer?

Rules of thumb

• it has to be something you're interested in (don't do it because you're forced to)
• it has to be based on demand coming from the real world (i.e. don't invent a solution in search of a problem)
• it has to be better than existing solutions (don't reinvent the wheel)

Misc

• Narrow the subject down to something, do not let it be too broad, unless you're planning a scientific revolution.
• Make sure you take other people's mistakes into account.