Ask HN: What interesting problems are you working on? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What interesting problems are you working on?

#271

Post by sgtnoodle » Wed, Jan 29, 2020, 7:03 AM UTC

lww515 wrote: post #259

sgtnoodle wrote: post #247

I'm helping to build a scalable system for delivering high value and life saving medical supplies to hard to reach places via autonomous aircraft. The system is currently operating in Rwanda and Ghana, and aggressively expanding over the next couple years. Specifically, I spend a lot of time thinking about and writing embedded software. The aircraft is fully autonomous and needs to be able to fly home safely even aft…

Mind if I contact you and ask you questions about this? I’m interested.

Sure, or just ask them here if you think they would be of general interest.

Re: Ask HN: What interesting problems are you working on?

#272

Post by plahteenlahti » Wed, Jan 29, 2020, 7:05 AM UTC

I'm trying to get people to sleep better by providing them relevant sleep coaching by combing their sleep tracker’s data with CBT-I derived sleep coaching program. Been working on this project for a year now, and it’s finally starting to take the shape I wanted it to have.

Been a really tough journey. I’m was the only coder and designer in the project for the longest time, and my development skills weren’t really that good when I started building this.

Here’s a link to it https://nyxo.app

Re: Ask HN: What interesting problems are you working on?

#273

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jan 29, 2020, 7:06 AM UTC

brenden2 wrote: post #32

buzzert wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like something everybody wants but I’m surprised it hasn’t happened yet. What are some of the (assumingly non-technical) challenges in such an enterprise?

The biggest problem I'm facing right now is credit card processing costs. The restaurant business is a high revenue, low margin industry. The fees are higher for online transactions (no card present) vs. in person transactions (card present), on the order of 1-2%. I think this is the biggest reason it hasn't happened yet. However, I have a workaround which I think will work.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What interesting problems are you working on?

#274

Post by jlevers » Wed, Jan 29, 2020, 7:08 AM UTC

eivarv wrote: post #3

Persisting your OS state as a "context" - saving and loading your open applications, their windows, tabs, open files/documents and so on. Started because of frequent multitasking heavy work with limited resources. Open Beta (macOS) as soon as I finish license verification and delta updates. https://cleave.app

I didn't know I wanted this until now, and now I really want it. I often open a ton of related applications, and then avoid restarting my computer because it's incovenient to reopen everything.

I'm on Linux, so I won't be able to use your app, but great idea and good luck!

Re: Ask HN: What interesting problems are you working on?

#275

Post by Entangled » Wed, Jan 29, 2020, 7:09 AM UTC

Paysapp, a worldwide payment system that allows you to send money as simple as texting a message like "pay 100 to George", available right now in Whatsapp, Telegram, Keybase, Matrix, Discord, Slack and Twitter, just add the Paysapp bot to your chats and type 'help' to start.

We're at a very early stage and looking for investors.

Re: Ask HN: What interesting problems are you working on?

#276

Post by ChuckMcM » Wed, Jan 29, 2020, 7:09 AM UTC

Polyphase channelizers. I got interested in software defined radios, which lead me to getting a HackRF one, and that lead to learning how to build SDRs, and that lead to joining a company that was building cutting edge SDRs for really diverse tasks, and that lead me to diving into DSP and the mathematics of radios, which lead me into modern protocols and modulation schemes which lead me to various people doing experimental RF work and started noodling on what an SPU (Spectrum Processing Unit analog to a GPU) might look like and that lead me to Dr. Fred Harris' work on polyphase filters and channelizers and now I'm internalizing all of that so that I can build a device that processes spectrum in new and novel ways.

Re: Ask HN: What interesting problems are you working on?

#277

Post by dabockster » Wed, Jan 29, 2020, 7:11 AM UTC

I'm currently working on ways to disconnect better at the end of the day. So far, I've figured out how to create an "inverse Screen Time" on iOS so it locks me out of most of my phone except for a 3 hour window in the evening that ends one hour before bedtime. I've also began using timers to keep track of how much time each of my daily tasks are eating up.

Also the usual stuff. Hitting the gym (30 min a day, 5x a week), clearing out junk I don't need anymore, multivitamin, etc. 2020 is going to be the year of wellness for me.

EDIT: Forgot to mention this, DELETE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA APPS. All of them. Use the mobile websites if you need to read them. Not having the icons on my home screen or app drawer made all the difference and really helped fix my cyberaddiction.

Re: Ask HN: What interesting problems are you working on?

#278

Post by jlevers » Wed, Jan 29, 2020, 7:13 AM UTC

sgtnoodle wrote: post #247

I'm helping to build a scalable system for delivering high value and life saving medical supplies to hard to reach places via autonomous aircraft. The system is currently operating in Rwanda and Ghana, and aggressively expanding over the next couple years. Specifically, I spend a lot of time thinking about and writing embedded software. The aircraft is fully autonomous and needs to be able to fly home safely even aft…

That's exactly the type of project I'd like to be working on -- embedded programming that literally saves lives. Thank you for sharing.

Your path to where you are now is crazy...sounds like you've had an exciting career!

Re: Ask HN: What interesting problems are you working on?

#279

Post by jlevers » Wed, Jan 29, 2020, 7:15 AM UTC

db1 wrote: post #250

I'm working on a personal project that allows you to add notes to youtube videos, and be able to skip quickly to specific sections. I started this because I'm learning guitar mostly from YouTube, and I find myself constantly seeking videos to specific sections. I'll probably launch the site on ShowHN soon. Feel free to DM me if you can think of other uses for this, or if you're interested to know when this launches.

I'd love to have this, specifically for YT guitar lessons. Please let me know when it launches!

Re: Ask HN: What interesting problems are you working on?

#280

Post by atlasunshrugged » Wed, Jan 29, 2020, 7:20 AM UTC

gwbrooks wrote: post #229

I'm leading a startup nonprofit exploring policy solutions for America's 100 largest cities. Of course, there are plenty of national and state-level policy organizations; some even dip their toes in the municipal policy scene. But in the cities, most gropus are self-interested or focused on a single issue. We're trying to fill the gap with original research and projects that operationalize the research of others -- t…

That's really cool, I'm researching policy solutions for LMICs right now but the U.S. is home. If you ever want to talk about taxation in particular, would love to chat.