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Ask HN: What are the things that you have automated in your personal life?

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Re: Ask HN: What are the things that you have automated in your personal life?

#501

Post by scraft »

amelius wrote: post #126
t0mek wrote: post #23

I used DSP to recognize the commercials in the radio broadcast on my stereo receiver and turn down the volume automatically ("adblock for the radio broadcast"). I described it here: http://blog.rekawek.eu/2016/02/24/radio-adblock/

> The commercial block starts and finishes with a jingle, so the potential software should recognize these specific sounds and turn off the volume between them. I suppose that many stations don't have such markers though.

I wonder, if you accepted a little delay, say 20 seconds, could you use Shazam to identify what song is currently playing? I have been amazed at the range of music Shazam can identify, if you could do regularly queries and separately listen out for gaps in music, it seems plausible to be able to identify when a non-song (from Shazam's perspective) is playing.

Re: Ask HN: What are the things that you have automated in your personal life?

#502

Post by speg »

DoubleGlazing wrote: post #284

I have semi-automated cooking for the week ahead. We recently started cooking meals for the week ahead on Sundays and then freezing them. The aim was to give us more time with the kids and to cut down on housework. To save time on the Sunday cooking session I have cobbled together a very clunky, and I mean VERY clunky semi-automated cooking system. It comprises a Raspberry PI which controls a couple of WiFi mains swi…

I want to try this when my wife goes back to work (Sunday meal prep, not the robots). Are you following any resources or just winging it? Ideally a single source that includes all the materials needed for the week and then recipes to make the dinners. Preferably with multiple weeks to rotate through.

Re: Ask HN: What are the things that you have automated in your personal life?

#503

Post by Bakary »

vishalsharma wrote: post #433
foolano wrote: post #110

I bought an e-reader called reMarkable [0] that I use every day to read technical stuff on it. At some point, I got tired of the process to sync files: download the document from the browser, open the reMarkable app and drag the file into it. I automated this workflow, and now I can just "print" directly to the device [1] the article/document I'm reading. [0] https://remarkable.com/ [1] https://github.com/juruen/rmap…

This is interesting but not available in India , any similar products you know as an Alternative for India?

The Onyx Boox Note may be available there. It's an android based equivalent. Has more features but a worse build quality.

Re: Ask HN: What are the things that you have automated in your personal life?

#504

Post by golergka »

DoubleGlazing wrote: post #450
elvisds wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend is getting such a system to production for Indian recipes with Mechnical Chef [1] The demo looks incredibly cool [2] [1] http://www.mechanicalchef.com/ [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBB0ZaN1paE

That's impressive, really impressive. My system looks like it was put together by a drunk person. That is somewhat true.

> My system looks like it was put together by a drunk person. That is somewhat true.

This made want to see it even more.

Re: Ask HN: What are the things that you have automated in your personal life?

#505

Post by fullstackchris »

greenyouse wrote: post #236

Digital archiving of important physical mail is a nice way to go paperless and keep track of documents. Get a good scanner and shredder, then set up a system to track your scanned documents. No more misplacing files and having to stuff cabinets with papers. Proxy phone number via Twilio or Google Voice for the times when you'd rather not give your real number out. Audio translations for digital books using espeak + p…

The SMS/Voice service sounds like a lot of fun... do you have a blog post about it or how to get started? I haven't used Twilio yet.

Re: Ask HN: What are the things that you have automated in your personal life?

#507

Post by VMG »

amelius wrote: post #126
t0mek wrote: post #23

I used DSP to recognize the commercials in the radio broadcast on my stereo receiver and turn down the volume automatically ("adblock for the radio broadcast"). I described it here: http://blog.rekawek.eu/2016/02/24/radio-adblock/

> The commercial block starts and finishes with a jingle, so the potential software should recognize these specific sounds and turn off the volume between them. I suppose that many stations don't have such markers though.

At least in Germany, they all have. Also you could almost time it, since commercials start ~5mins before the full hour (where the news comes on).

I've often toyed with the same idea of the parent poster

Re: Ask HN: What are the things that you have automated in your personal life?

#508

Post by stevekemp »

roryisok wrote: post #99
kungtotte wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the bath, couldn't you add a sensor that detects water level in the bath and use it to override the lights? Even something as simple as measuring the weight of the tub would work, and would simultaneously cover the shower cases too.

Measuring the weight of the tub doesn't sound simple. A camera or ultrasonic level meter would be easier to set up

Visitors might be alarmed to see a camera pointing at the bath!

Re: Ask HN: What are the things that you have automated in your personal life?

#509

Post by tugberkk »

robbiep wrote: post #473
radiKal07 wrote: post #456

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey man, look into the keto diet.

That is radically dangerous advice, do you have any qualifications in this matter or are you just trying to kill someone?

No it is not. He just stated that he/she "look into it".

Re: Ask HN: What are the things that you have automated in your personal life?

#510

Post by krzat »

vajenetehais wrote: post #448

We (with the wife) automated menu for the week and the shopping list. A database store all recipes (ingredients, time taken...) and the menu composer chose semi-randomly* into the list. * : Menu composer takes into account : - in season vegetables, - number of reutilisation of the ingredient, - number of reutilisation of the meal, - expiration of the ingredients (vegetables can expire rather quickly) - various parame…

Sounds very cool. It could also take local supermarket promotions into account.
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