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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?

#701

Post by suddenclarity »

evandev wrote: post #560

I created a todo thermal printer so that I can write messages whenever I remember something. For example when I'm lying in bed and I remember that I have to do something or reading a book and think that's a great thought that I should look more into someday. Basically I have a mobile app that I can send a message to a api. Sometimes it's just a note, sometimes it is a todo item. Then I have a raspberry pi that polls…

Interesting project. What's the advantage of this over, say, an inbox folder in a todo app like Todoist or a note in Keep?

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

#702

Post by rnjailamba »

jo-m wrote: post #254

I have a rail line right under my apartment, so I built a small computer vision app running on a Rasperry Pi which records each train passing, and tries to stitch an image of it. It has a frontend at https://trains.jo-m.ch/ . Edit: it's currently raining and the rain drops are disturbing the images a bit.

Curious to know how you manage to concentrate during waking hours on work and how you sleep peacefully?

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

#703

Post by mindcrime »

This thread is giving me a complex. Why? Well, because the answer is basically "nothing". I mean, don't get me wrong - I've built all sorts of stuff, and plenty of it was not for my $DAYJOB. And I think (at times) of myself as being fairly creative and having lots of "ideas". And yet... at least in the context of this thread (the way I'm interpreting the OP's question anyway) I just don't have much to offer up.

FWIW, I interpret the question as being strictly about stuff one built for oneself in the context of everyday, day-in, day-out life. Stuff to use yourself. And on that front, I just realized I almost never build anything strictly for myself. I work on Open Source projects and work on projects at Fogbeam that I (want|hope|expect|whatever) other people to use, or things I would use myself in a business context. But I just don't build handy little gadgets to use around the house, or in my truck, or when out and about.

This may be one of the first times I've really felt a strong case of the "imposter syndrome" that one hears so much about. I feel like I should have some answers for this, so why don't I? :-(

OK, to be fair, I did built at least one thing just for myself. I have a couple of lamps that are positioned in an out of the way location in my living room, and I hate having to walk to them and stretch to reach the switch(es). So I did the whole "IP controlled lamp" thing with a relay and an Arduino Nano 33 IoT board. The power strip the lamps are plugged into is controlled by the relay, and I can send an HTTP request to turn the relay on or off. I created a shortcut on my phone's homescreen so I can easily control it from my phone. But that's such a chintzy project I almost feel worse for admitting to it. :p

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

#705

Post by kilroy123 »

HornyDude wrote: post #650

Throwaway time! I built a custom smart motorized masturbator. It borrows from 3D printer design, and has a NEMA 17 stepper motor driving a 2GT belt loop around a short length of 2020 extrusion to slide a carriage along a linear rail. The carriage has attachment points that I've put clamps on, that close around a fleshlight-style sheath. There's a brace at the business end that you put around the base of the penis and…

You can't leave us hanging like that. No pictures of this thing?

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

#706

Post by shoo »

jonplackett wrote: post #217

I made a gender swapping algorithm for my own use only. You put in any text and it outputs the exact same thing with all the genders reversed. Man to woman, he to she, Prince to princess, witch to wizard. Then got a book deal to create a series of gender swapped illustrated books ‘Gender Swapped Fairy Tales’ and ‘Gender swapped Greek myths’ It seems like a simple enough task but gets complicated in weird ways. For ex…

tangentially to swapping gender in text, there's a section in Delany's novel Babel-17 where one character is trying to teach another character the concepts and language of "I" and "me" and "you", and the other character is getting these ideas mixed up. As a reader you're trying to follow this process from the dialogue.

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

#707

Post by bazmattaz »

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,…

What app do you use to make the playlists? You could use the Spotify api for this

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

#709

Post by MandieD »

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,…

This is inspirational for my gaggle of non-tech, super-senior relatives. Thanks so much for sharing.

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

#710

Post by bluefirebrand »

mindcrime wrote: post #703

This thread is giving me a complex. Why? Well, because the answer is basically "nothing". I mean, don't get me wrong - I've built all sorts of stuff, and plenty of it was not for my $DAYJOB. And I think (at times) of myself as being fairly creative and having lots of "ideas". And yet... at least in the context of this thread (the way I'm interpreting the OP's question anyway) I just don't have much to offer up. FWIW,…

I saw this while looking through this thread and I just wanted to say you're not alone.

In my free time I play videogames mostly. I dream of making them myself, but I never have. And I generally don't do cool tech projects like this for myself either.

I made a canvassing app for my friend who was running for mayor of his town once, but yeah.

I barely even have my own github account.

So please don't feel like an imposter. It's ok to treat tech as a day job. :)

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