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Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” project?

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11–20 of 501 posts

Re: Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” project?

#11
My project involves turning an old Saab into a racecar, and using it to explore moonshot ideas like creating a composite from natural materials instead of fiberglass or carbon fiber. The racecar part keeps it fun, even if the ideas don't pan out.

Documenting it here: https://surjan.substack.com/

Re: Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” project?

#12
Hah. Quite a few:

https://www.3cosystem.com -- a simple startup events calendar. I'm surprised it is still up. It scrapes the Meetup API firehose, filters for tech events, and drops indexes on 65 cities world-wide. It never gets updates, and I'm surprised it still works.

Re: Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” project?

#13

https://pingtype.github.io - it helps me learn Chinese, and I'm going to keep using it even though it doesn't have any traction. Generating word spacing, pinyin, and literal translations for interesting text, rather than just homework books, is far more motivating.

This is really cool - wish I had this when I was learning chinese. Maybe I'll use it to pick it up again!

Re: Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” project?

#14
Ulysses (https://homer.sonnet.io ) - a little text editor I built when I felt burned out, so I could improve my writing fluency, de-stress (more context: https://sonnet.io/posts/ulysses/).

I have no idea how many people are using it regularly.

I think it's more than one, but I don't really care, I enjoy using it immensely and I've been writing ca. 1k words per day, consistently, for more than a year. Can't ask for more:)

Re: Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” project?

#15
I’m building a minimalistic, 1v1 MOBA game (Dota/LoL) that’s all about grand strategy at the macro level, like chess. It is designed from scratch to accommodate AI development.

OpenAI gave up after beating 99% of players in a limited version of DOTA2. They essentially just figured out how to out-micro human players. We want to let players play alongside AI assistance, like a racing car driver backed up by their team of mechanics and engineers.

https://github.com/amethyst/shotcaller

Re: Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” project?

#16
post #10

I am developing https://vocab-boost.online/ (smoke test page, extension is being reviewed in webstore). It is a Chrome extension to make language tests out of any page. I used this approach to improve my vocabular to pass German C1 exam.

This is interesting! I've never thought to test myself this way on real-world examples.

Thank you! My crux was to expand the vocabulary using texts I enjoy (not the testing itself). One could call this "very active reading", where I try to fill in words from the context.

Re: Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” project?

#18
I develop https://firedating.me - my hobby project and a place for FIRE (Financial Independence / Retire Early) enthusiasts to find friends and a partner. My goal is to help FIRE people build meaningful connections and decrease the amount of loneliness in the community.

I don't make any money, instead I've spent around $130 and 400 hours so far. It is actually a lot of fun to learn web development and encounter various unexpected challenges everyday. There are also rewarding aspects - 9 couples, who met through the site, have reached out to me and were grateful. This feeling of changing people's lives in this way is amazing! I have no clue where this brings me, but I enjoy it so much. I try to spend at least 1.5 hours a day in 2021. In 2020 I had a goal to spend at a least 1 hour a day on my side projects and that's how firedating was born ;)

Re: Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” project?

#19
https://wor.do/@aminozuur

Wordo. An English dictionary that my friends and I built. It has a handful of active users, who swear by it. Other than that, no one uses it. It's existed for a few years and I keep pushing small updated a few times a year, it makes me happy :).

Re: Ask HN: What is your “I don't care if this succeeds” project?

#20
Dev to Agency (https://devtoagency.com) - I am writing on how developers can start and run their own custom software agencies. This is from my experience starting, running, and selling my agency over 8 years...

I have never written before this, and not sure if it's something I will after this - but at this stage I need to "get it all out of my head". I don't foresee this being a forever project because ultimately I would have said all I want to say. But at this stage, it feels cathartic :)

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