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Ask HN: Most interesting tech you built for just yourself?

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Re: Ask HN: Most interesting tech you built for just yourself?

#531

Post by JohnFen »

My current favorite: I often go camping deep in the backwoods with friends, far from any sort of cell service. So I built a LoRa radio system that allows us to text each other, physically locate each other, etc. when we go off and do our own things. The system consists of small radio units that are carried, and a larger (but still backpackable) base unit that gets set up in camp.

They run as a mesh network, so you don't have to be in range of the base unit for it to work.

Regular radios don't work well for this use case because the terrain is very mountainous.

Currently looking into making one that can be attached to a dog collar to allow for geolocating the animal.

Re: Ask HN: Most interesting tech you built for just yourself?

#532

Post by epiccoleman »

codpiece wrote: post #516

Not sure if it counts as tech, but I created a voiceboard for my mother to help her communicate while in hospice. She had a massive stroke and could no longer speak. I thought of a tablet app, but the stakes were too high, so it wound up as a laminated paper. You can read about my design decisions here: https://voiceboard.org

This absolutely counts. This is such a great testament to how simple engineering and thoughtful design can do good in the world. You're a good son!

Is there a reason besides preventing commercial use that you don't just have a PDF link on your site?

Re: Ask HN: Most interesting tech you built for just yourself?

#533

Post by roveo »

bussyfumes wrote: post #313

When I was a student there was this power-of-two game on my friend's iPhone that I was literally addicted to. I didn't have an iPhone and eventually the game even disappeared from the AppStore. I missed it very much and my friends jokingly mentioned building a copy just for me. They never got around to it but at some point I thought "maybe I should give it a try?". So I gave it a try with no game dev knowledge and th…

Thank you for your game, kind stranger, I've just wasted my day.

Re: Ask HN: Most interesting tech you built for just yourself?

#535

Post by NotYourLawyer »

Raspberry Pi temperature monitor in a big freezer full of breast milk. It would email me if the temperature got above some threshold for a certain duration.

It only fired once (outside testing anyway). But that one time made the whole endeavor more than worthwhile.

Re: Ask HN: Most interesting tech you built for just yourself?

#536

Post by emaginniss »

sriram_malhar wrote: post #149

My MIL is 93, and the only tech she can really deal with is turning on the radio and TV and changing channels. She is fond of music from old classics (from the 60's and earlier), so I hooked up a Raspberry PI with an FM transmitter and created her own private radio station. She tells me what songs she likes and I create different playlists that get broadcast on her station. It preserves the surprise element of radio,…

You should start selling ad time

Re: Ask HN: Most interesting tech you built for just yourself?

#537

Post by umvi »

sriram_malhar wrote: post #149

My MIL is 93, and the only tech she can really deal with is turning on the radio and TV and changing channels. She is fond of music from old classics (from the 60's and earlier), so I hooked up a Raspberry PI with an FM transmitter and created her own private radio station. She tells me what songs she likes and I create different playlists that get broadcast on her station. It preserves the surprise element of radio,…

Did you have to apply for some kind of permit to do that? Or is it low power enough that FCC doesn't care?

Re: Ask HN: Most interesting tech you built for just yourself?

#538

Post by rhubarbcustard »

I, like probably most other people, tend to start a habit and then it quickly fades away, not necessarily due to lack of wanting. I find that I might want to start, for example, strecthing my hamstrings regularly, I do them for some days/weeks and then I forget some days, then forget some more, and then after a while I realise I haven't done any for months.

So I wrote a webapp that I usually myself constantly now, it's very basic. I enter a habit I want to keep up and then visit the site everyday and click the "done" button when its done. It also has a calendar so I can see how often I've been doing it because not every habit is to be done every day.

I started this for exercising but i'm not using it for very basic/stupid things. One example is cleaning my glasses. I would never remember to clean them and I'd occasionally realise I'm viewing the world through a layer of grime. I now click "done" every day and the world looks crystal clear.

I guess it's just gamified habits a little bit and its working really well for me. There's a ton of habit trackers out that but I never found anything simple and quick to use.

Re: Ask HN: Most interesting tech you built for just yourself?

#540

Post by jawns »

codpiece wrote: post #516

Not sure if it counts as tech, but I created a voiceboard for my mother to help her communicate while in hospice. She had a massive stroke and could no longer speak. I thought of a tablet app, but the stakes were too high, so it wound up as a laminated paper. You can read about my design decisions here: https://voiceboard.org

When my sister was in the ICU at a hospital in a big city, I created something similar for her. The nurses complimented me on it and said it made their lives easier, but I was shocked to learn that they didn't have anything like it unless families made them themselves.
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