I love the idea you mentioned in telegram regarding Sidechain.... not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination.

I began working on the skeleton for the sidechain BSIP after completing the 24th (was on a roll, haha), it looks like an user on github has produced some very relevant material to work from. I'm unsure if this user has continued to work on this idea since posting the issue though.

Also maybe something in relation to using smartcoin in prediction markets allowing for stability of the bet; not sure how this could works as it would mean smartcoins as collateral.

You can bet with any asset, as long as someone else has borrowed it with BTS, however you should totally be able to use smartcoins as collateral for borrowing any asset, it'd be far safer than borrowing using BTS (since you'd need to account for BTS price fluctuation instead of USD).

I think prediction markets are one of our most under utilized features. I think there is a great opportunity for an entrepreneur to really make a good business out of this (with or without smartcoin - just need to make it easy for people to understand and use).

Perhaps because the functionality is so hidden away within the BTS client? You have to click 'Settings cog -> Explore -> Assets -> Prediction Market Assets -> Search for prediction market asset -> Navigate to prediction_market_asset:BTS (or alternative asset) trading page.

It could perhaps be one of the main tabs 'predictions' with all the latest prediction markets you can gamble against, with advanced sorting functionality. It looks like several prediction market assets are very old (trigger date has passed).