I have a USB stick 4G modem and I automated the connection setup; it has a web app (starts a small embedded webserver when you plug it in) which I "reverse engineered" and I wrote a small script which makes HTTP requests so I don't need to go to the web interface, login, enter PIN code and click connect every single day multiple times. I just run "telekom connect" and that's it. What a time saver! :D
Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?
41–50 of 722 posts
Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?
#42Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?
#43I used a raspberry pi to control my TV using HDMI-CEC and exposed a subset of the controls through a web API allowing me to turn on/off my TV from my phone or voice controlled from a google home. I did this because a chromecast will turn on my TV and set it to the correct input, but it wouldn't turn off the TV. Turning the TV off was the only reason I needed to touch my remote control at all. But just recently google…
> But just recently google added the turning off
Thanks for posting this. I was thinking about attaching an IR blaster to a Raspberry Pi to do the same thing.
Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?
#44I automated complaining once a month to the local water utility about a persistent puddle in the street in front of my home, caused by a leak.
Ohh someone should do this for the pot holes in the Bay Area.
Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?
#45I automated downloading and reconciling my financials from all my bank accounts.
Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?
#46I had a cron job that sends automatically a text to my wife each morning along with a joke, she's in another country so is something I did to keep the communication open
This sounds terrible. Even more terrible a lot of people (probably you also) don't find it terrible.
Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
In that case, I've also automated flying my own commercial airliner. I just pay someone $400 and I'm automatically flown anywhere in the continental US! Also, I automated bread baking. I just go to the supermarket and go to the bread aisle, and hey presto! Automatic bread.
I see your point. Now that I think about it laundry was a bad example of automation. But to me it feels like automation as I used to do it all myself manually. The amount of time I saved still surprises me. Especially ironing.
I empathize with that feeling! I recently "automated" washing dishes by upgrading to an apartment with a dishwasher, and it's an amazing quality of life improvement!
Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?
#48Automated almost all my bill payments to use my rewards card. I set up alerts on my online banking site so I get texted when each one clears. Saves me a couple hours of grumpy time each month, plus I get a substantial 1% cash back that ends up being about $200/year. Also, you can dispute charges on a credit card if they get it wrong. Can't do that with bill payment service.
How did you automate this? Did you use some sort of API or just set it up through the bank's website?
Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?
#49I track my visits to the gym with a geofence trigger with my phone--logs to a google spreadsheet through IFTTT.
This I would love to reproduce. How?
Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?
#50In college everyone's class registration would open at once, and classes would fill up quickly. Some people would even register for more than they were gonna take, to hold it for friends or just to figure their schedule out. If I didn't get into a class I wanted, I had a HTTPS script set to attempt registering for it every 5 minutes. As soon as somebody dropped it - boom it was mine.