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Ask HN: What is something you built but never marketed?

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Re: Ask HN: What is something you built but never marketed?

#281
post #275

I made a tool to export YouTube subtitles directly into Anki without downloading the video, it must be useful since it even got me a job offer by one of the users (pretty famous person). I never did more marketing than a Reddit post when the proof of concept was made. Coincidentally, I've worked on it recently and added some useful functionality. Extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/youtube2anki/boebb…

What made you build it? It looks like one would use it for learning a language... mapping written text to pronounciation on flashcards? Why do you think making your own cards from YouTube subs is better than dedicated language apps that already include spoken audio?

I was inspired by this tool, http://www.randomhacks.net/substudy/ It required to cut the video, with a lot of processing, cli knowledge and to storage the cut videos taking a lot of space, my idea was to make the process as lightweight as possible, the outcome of the extension it's a CSV with the marks for when the video starts and stops for each sentence, it has a negligible output size in comparison and can be used in low-end computers.

You described the functionality perfectly, I made it as a tool to have custom cards for practising languages without having to be locked in any platform, in my opinion language platforms are very bland with their spoken lessons and only have perfectly pronounced sentences, with the tool you can practice more real and engaging topics for yourself.

Another usage that some users commented was to use it as a learning tool for lectures and presentations, that's why I included a merge subtitles functionality recently, so the cards can hold more information as opposed a single sentence.

Re: Ask HN: What is something you built but never marketed?

#283

https://nyan.global An EVM disassembler and formal smart contract verifier (got bored, abandoned) https://atomictessellator.com Current project - small molecule chemistry simulation platform (no marketing, passion project)

Do either of your websites work? They look cool.

Do you have any contact details? Twitter?

Re: Ask HN: What is something you built but never marketed?

#284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s really cool actually! Did you discover any techniques to be particularly effective? I recall a PhD working on language “wait learning” which I’d love to use, but it never made it out of the lab. Maybe you’re also sitting on some good stuff. (If you’d prefer to link papers, that’d be great, too!)

That was a complete shitshow thanks to cultural differences, my personality and covid. I had interest in Japanese/Chinese while my lab only focussed on English. Basically whatever I proposed for 3 years was thrashed to the bin without any explanation, and when I found another lab more appreciative of my work it was already too late to switch. The only "guidance" I got during this time was to "make a quizz" (multiple…

Hrm.. that's really rough :\ I'm sorry to hear that you had some early setbacks, but I'm glad you're getting through now. Good luck with your research! The language learning space is stronger than ever with all of the GPT goings on. There was a YC-backed convo-bot startup [0] on the front page the other day, if that's any indicator. In any case, I hope to get to use some of your learning tools someday :)

[0]: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/toko

Re: Ask HN: What is something you built but never marketed?

#285
post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a cool idea. I wonder if you could make a expressive enough query language with it

If I were OP i would use one that already exists like https://jmespath.org/ https://github.com/json-path/JsonPath

Thank you both for the suggestions, I had considered adding some more expressive querying at a later stage, will have to consider these.

Re: Ask HN: What is something you built but never marketed?

#286
post #276
post #215

I made a MIDI-controller out of cheap sonars and an Arduino, that lets you control anything with movement "in the air". You can use it to control filters, or volume, or anything really. Here's me playing it with a silly wig: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgH-WU-9CZA The artist "Mezerg" uses a MIDI-enabled Theremin to do something similar, but it's costly. The BOM for my thing is around $30 when building just one at…

I love that video!

Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: What is something you built but never marketed?

#287
post #127

I built Playtune https://playtune.app - a web game where you can turn any YouTube videos into a rhythm game. It comes from a frustation from playing rhythm game but they have limited song catalog. Playtune literally have millions of song that you can play. Any song that is uploaded to YouTube can be played as long as it allow embedding. You can even make a rhythm game out of five minute craft videos if you want or li…

Very cool! https://playtune.app/play/FdC119_bm1k

This song had a super catchy tune, I enjoyed playing it! Thank you for contributing!

Re: Ask HN: What is something you built but never marketed?

#288
A very simple website that I use as a replacement for random.org when choosing between different options, or flipping a coin

https://pick.computer/

Also, I have a new song up on Spotify which is an amazing accomplishment for me but I feel too embarassed to share it with others

https://open.spotify.com/track/2GDBj4UnldTDQq7MnVDu7s?si=87e...

Re: Ask HN: What is something you built but never marketed?

#289
post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trailing slash seems to be a typing error.

oops! Yeah, to be honest, i rarely type my own url... should obviously make the trailing slash optional...

it's indeed a misconfiguration of the application and/or the webserver.

Re: Ask HN: What is something you built but never marketed?

#290
post #77

I built my own GeForce Now / Google Stadia clone for up to 8 gamepads to connect to the same instance. It's GPU-accelerated, UDP-based and all C++. It works well and I still use it with friends and family to play games together. I even designed a logo, registered it for an EU trademark, and made t-shirts. But when Steam Remote Play Together was announced, I decided that there wasn't a market for it anymore, so instea…

How much does it cost for a GPU accelerated VM in the cloud? It would be great if there was an automated way to spin up a VM, install your software and then destroy the VM when you're done. After all, GeForce Now and Google Play don't let you play your full Steam library.

congrats, you invented serverless gpus ;)...
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