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Show HN: Giving my mother-in-law an easy internet radio with real icon buttons

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Re: Show HN: Giving my mother-in-law an easy internet radio with real icon buttons

#111

Post by moepstar »

Too wrote: post #108
noisy_boy wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am probably at the opposite end of comfort with technology and still get confused on whether swiping up or swiping down will accept the call - one of the dumbest interfaces. Why, two buttons to accept and reject calls that we used to have everywhere was too complicated?!

Omg 100x yes, the answering UI on modern phones is the pinnacle example of why flat-ui needs to die. It should be the easiest UI to create with only two freaking buttons but still everyone fails so miserably bad. Shape of buttons are identical, colors are very faded and the icons to indicate phone up or down have been flattened so much you can hardly even recognize any of them is a phone. Or even worse are those you…

Considering myself pretty tech-literate, using computers for 3/4 of my lifetime - yet, i've to pause AND think each time i've to answer a Microsoft Teams call which button is going to pick up the call...

Re: Show HN: Giving my mother-in-law an easy internet radio with real icon buttons

#112

Post by maturz »

Tarsul wrote: post #30

the solution involves buying a 100 euro product with 6 customizable buttons (cool product but expensive). Anyone know of cheaper alternatives for a keyboard buttonset (between 4 and 20 keys)? Probably standalone numpad (with customizable keys) comes closest but maybe someone knows better.

Simplest solution would be to just remap keys you don't use with something like Autohotkey.

If you want a separate keypad a cheap solution would be to use any old keyboard and then remap that one specifically with a tool like http://www.hidmacros.eu/whatisit.php (optionally you can paint or add labels to the keys to make it easier to use).

Re: Show HN: Giving my mother-in-law an easy internet radio with real icon buttons

#113

Post by DonHopkins »

adrianmonk wrote: post #61
DonHopkins wrote: post #58

Does anybody sell Bluetooth Bakelite Button Boxes? http://www.johnwolff.id.au/calculators/BellPunch/PLUSBakelit...

Another retro approach: a knob that you turn that generates static when you're between stations. For extra authenticity, there should be hiss (or a station) when the knob is sitting still and crackling when it is turning.

Ideally recordings of old school retro static from the 1950's, instead the kind of modern high-tech static you get with cell phones and bluetooth and wifi and 5G networks polluting the spectrum.

Re: Show HN: Giving my mother-in-law an easy internet radio with real icon buttons

#114

Post by benhurmarcel »

dehrmann wrote: post #90
don-code wrote: post #74

This is amazing - and incidentally has given me a solution to a very real problem. My grandmother is suffering from dementia, and within the last few months has forgotten how to tune a radio. She's an avid radio listener, so I worked around this by buying her a few radios, tuning them, and labelling them - so she only has to hit the power button on the one she wants. Unfortunately, she's not thrilled by how much spac…

I think there's a business opportunity around people who aren't tech literate and want what tech they have to stay the same, but every time I think about what an ecosystem that could handle everything from photo sharing to email to even the TV, it seems like a fool's errand because the market seems small, it keeps shifting to people to are comfortable with somewhat newer things, and I don't think enough people would…

I think the last point is the most important. People who are not tech-literate usually don't want to spend much on tech, even if it solves their problems.

Just the device shown in that article is worth €100. I don't know any older relative that would pay nearly that much to listen to the radio. Same reason why most people who don't care about tech struggle with a €200 Chinese Android rather than an easier-to-use iPhone.

Re: Show HN: Giving my mother-in-law an easy internet radio with real icon buttons

#115

Post by benhurmarcel »

kingsuper20 wrote: post #57
kingsuper20 wrote: post #32

That's a really good idea. For reasons I won't trouble anyone with, I've been educating myself with accessibility features on computers/phones/tablets, smart speakers, appliances, etc. It's funny how much shittier it all is than it could be. It certainly hasn't helped that the button-per-function thinking in consumer product design has been largely replaced with low cost small displays. Maybe I'll design a piano that…

I was just thinking about how I'd like to redesign an internet radio. . Break apart the programming/setup from the physical interface. . Use a phone or pc for all setup, perhaps like a Google wifi router, a lot of the time this is done by a different person than the end user. . make it look like a Tivoli Model One, except with an 8 (or so) pole switch or button set. off/am/fm/aux/internet preset 1-5

But there's a big gap between the cost of producing such a device, and what the target market would ever accept to pay just to listen to the radio.

Re: Show HN: Giving my mother-in-law an easy internet radio with real icon buttons

#116

Post by machello13 »

kingsuper20 wrote: post #87
hawski wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you trouble me with reasons? I for one just looked around what accessibility APIs are where and am thinking about a custom widget toolkit that would go from accessibility first down to typical graphical stuff. So if that's not a trouble for you, could you expand?

You know, a reasonable place to start would be to (for example) fire up a Mac, fire up Siri, turn off the monitor, try to get anything done at all. Write some software, set up the machine differently, reboot it, turn off the monitor, try again. Wash, rinse, repeat.

By Siri you don’t actually mean Siri, but the accessibility voice controls right? Like VoiceOver or Voice Control? Siri is not an accessibility tool so if you were trying to use it as one it could explain your problems.

Re: Show HN: Giving my mother-in-law an easy internet radio with real icon buttons

#117

Post by stonesweep »

walrus01 wrote: post #102
stonesweep wrote: post #22

If the author is reading this, you've hit/stumbled on "HTTP Live Streaming" radios which are sort of the next evolution of classic Shoutcast/Icecast generated streams. There are better clients for it out there than Chrome which could probably enhance the experience (proper audio controls, etc.): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_Live_Streaming#Clients

You can do an http based live stream of any video or audio using ffmpeg as a server, and VLC as a client. With the right scripting VLC can be launched in a non interactive mode and begin playing immediately.

The author is using random online radios so they don't get to choose the server end - as a client, VLC is powerful but I prefer Audacious for the user interface. (random user survey :) ) - I have the same problem with VLC on my Android, it works but I much prefer other streaming clients for the better (subjective) UI.

Re: Show HN: Giving my mother-in-law an easy internet radio with real icon buttons

#118

Post by old_radio »

don-code wrote: post #74

This is amazing - and incidentally has given me a solution to a very real problem. My grandmother is suffering from dementia, and within the last few months has forgotten how to tune a radio. She's an avid radio listener, so I worked around this by buying her a few radios, tuning them, and labelling them - so she only has to hit the power button on the one she wants. Unfortunately, she's not thrilled by how much spac…

Hi, I made an account so I could show you what I've been working on. Maybe it will give you some ideas and hopefully you won't have to reinvent the wheel. I "restored" an old Sears radio by gutting it and adding a pi Zero W, a DAC, and some rotary encoders. [1][2] It basically works like a radio (streaming NPR in the images), but it also has local storage. My goal was to have it working pretty much the way the stock radio did (with the notable exception of the screen). It is running MPD, which means that it can be controlled by a phone app or external hardware as well as the dials on the front.

I have also rigged up a bluetooth "keyset" [3][4] after reading a how-to article about those.[5] I am currently using it to control zoom meetings, but it would be trivial to set it up so that the big clicky buttons switch the radio stations. If anyone indicates interest, I'll elaborate on the hardware and software details.

[1] https://c_return.u.blinkenshell.org/hn/1.jpg [2] https://c_return.u.blinkenshell.org/hn/2.jpg [3] https://c_return.u.blinkenshell.org/hn/3.jpg [4] https://c_return.u.blinkenshell.org/hn/4.jpg [5] https://learn.adafruit.com/ble-hid-keyboard-buttons-with-cir...

Re: Show HN: Giving my mother-in-law an easy internet radio with real icon buttons

#119

Post by kingsuper20 »

machello13 wrote: post #116
kingsuper20 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, a reasonable place to start would be to (for example) fire up a Mac, fire up Siri, turn off the monitor, try to get anything done at all. Write some software, set up the machine differently, reboot it, turn off the monitor, try again. Wash, rinse, repeat.

By Siri you don’t actually mean Siri, but the accessibility voice controls right? Like VoiceOver or Voice Control? Siri is not an accessibility tool so if you were trying to use it as one it could explain your problems.

I mean both really, and to be sure I'm no expert in it's use.

It got me to thinking about all the visual gingerbread on websites and to some extent on applications. From just a cursory look at this world, it would be interesting to design an audio-only interface to a computer rather than one that reads a display to you.

That would be a wonderful hobby project, some sort of displayless Linux with a mic and a speaker that does useful standalone things.

One thing it did occur to me to look into are (for instance) Alexa skills. That would be a natural way to provide access to a number of necessary abilities (like paying the power bill) and in many cases could work simply like traditional voice access via a phone. I see that this exists to some extent already.

Re: Show HN: Giving my mother-in-law an easy internet radio with real icon buttons

#120

Post by kingsuper20 »

benhurmarcel wrote: post #115
kingsuper20 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was just thinking about how I'd like to redesign an internet radio. . Break apart the programming/setup from the physical interface. . Use a phone or pc for all setup, perhaps like a Google wifi router, a lot of the time this is done by a different person than the end user. . make it look like a Tivoli Model One, except with an 8 (or so) pole switch or button set. off/am/fm/aux/internet preset 1-5

But there's a big gap between the cost of producing such a device, and what the target market would ever accept to pay just to listen to the radio.

That's always the problem with US-based startups it seems. Anything that involves making a device involves a lot of upfront expense, probably offshore manufacture, sometimes running into the shoals of the FDA. Consumer electronics is a tough ol' business.

Years ago, most new companies made a physical thing, and if I helped they had supporting software. The move into an economy based on surveillance advertising appears near-total.

Obviously you could sell a box with knobs and buttons and a speaker that a R-Pi is stuck into, but that's hardly mass market and itself wouldn't be cheap to build at low volume.

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