The standard (and probably true) wisdom around here is that a good way to get noticed and get the kind of job that most of us would like is to "build something".
What I'm hoping for is ideas for demo projects. I don't need anything designed to make money or steal anyone's startup idea, just things that are fun to build and show development skills.
Demos you've seen already and liked or that have gotten people job offers are also appreciated.
For example, I've recently become fascinated with data mining. To explore this area and get a basic idea of how it works, I'm playing with the Twitter API and trying to look for neat things that can be done with the data available. One idea I've come up with is an app that recommends people to follow based on the hashtags that you use frequently. It's still a "half baked" idea for now, but maybe something good will come from it.
Good luck.