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Ask HN: What are your “scratch own itch” projects?

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Re: Ask HN: What are your “scratch own itch” projects?

#121

Post by blindvenetian »

I created https://titanotes.com, an online tool/service to encrypt and store text data using a set of keys known only to the sender. The sender then shares the message URL and keys with the intended recipient via a different channel. Messages are stored for 72hrs before being automatically deleted. No client-side information (browser fingerprints, IP address, user-agents etc) is collected. So far, it has processed just over 2k messages in 3 months.

Why did I create it? I suddenly had a lot of time after leaving an exhausting corporate role. Is it perfect? No. A couple of things could be done better/differently.

The future? Knowing that text-only data is limiting, I'm working on: -encrypting attachments - images, PDFs etc. -customizable retention periods

Yes, I know there are existing products serving the same purpose but hey, why not?

Re: Ask HN: What are your “scratch own itch” projects?

#122

Post by zote »

chrisallenlane wrote: post #48

I'm the author and maintainer of `cheat`, which started life (and continues life) as a "scratch your own itch" project: https://github.com/cheat/cheat I wrote it because I often forgot the shell commands that I needed to use on a daily basis, and realized that I wasted a lot of time Googling the same thing over and over.

thank you, stumbled into your project repo months ago, and found it really useful. Sidenote: Maybe I'll add Windows installation instructions to your documentation

Re: Ask HN: What are your “scratch own itch” projects?

#123

Post by rcthompson »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #64
rcthompson wrote: post #41

Here's two of mine: A while back, I wrote a command-line dice rolling program[1] that handles a bunch of esoteric dice notation syntax, both because I was getting into a D&D game with friends, and because I wanted to practice writing a non-trivial parser. (My D&D group pressured me into buying real dice anyway after I rolled five consecutive 1s in a single session.) My current keyboard is an Ultimate Hacking Keyboard…

> My D&D group pressured me into buying real dice anyway after I rolled five consecutive 1s in a single session. Ha ha, Luddites.

See also this commit: https://github.com/DarwinAwardWinner/roll/commit/726f0510179...

Commit message:

> Use random.SystemRandom as random source

> Now all dice rolls are cryptographically secure against criticism for being ostensibly non-random.

Re: Ask HN: What are your “scratch own itch” projects?

#124

Post by the_third_wave »

Simple things like:

Spodcast, a Spofify->RSS bridge [1], made it because I listen to netcasts while working outside out of network reach (forest and field work).

Reader, a native-look epub/pdf/cb[rz] reader for Nextcloud [2], made it when my daughter was issued an iPad at school on which she was not allowed to install any "apps" while I thought the thing was tailor-made for reading books. The iPad was returned years ago but I recently updated Reader to make it run again.

...and a host of small tools which I make just when I need them, dumping them to GH for all to peruse, e.g.:

ZMapi, a Zoneminder CLI tool [3], made it when I installed a video surveillance system in the new barn which uses Chinese cameras which I do not want to be able to access the 'net directly.

bs, a Bookstack API CLI tool [4], made it when I needed to upload a large number of conference videos to a Bookstack site.

...etc

I don't have much time for these side things since I'm mostly busy on and around the farm but every now and then the weather is a good excuse to keep me inside...

[1] https://github.com/Yetangitu/Spodcast

[2] https://github.com/Yetangitu/files_reader

[3] https://github.com/Yetangitu/zmapi

[4] https://github.com/Yetangitu/bs

Re: Ask HN: What are your “scratch own itch” projects?

#125

Post by cloogshicer »

aizyuval wrote: post #100
cloogshicer wrote: post #67

I'm writing my own app for practicing the piano. The goal is to make practicing fun, while also making steady progress. I'm not a good player at all, and I've struggled with practice for years. But I have no problems playing (practicing) difficult video games, that require a lot of repetition (think Celeste). I think I've identified two major reasons why I never enjoyed it: 1. Classical music notation (sheet music) i…

I'm a beginner, learning with a teacher and practicing for 1 hour a day. Although I find myself pretty comfortable with discipline, I find what you’re saying (if true) refreshing. I’d be happy to help/or provide feedback if that can be helpful! Yuvalaizenman@gmail.com

Awesome, thanks for letting me know, this is a good signal! It's too early for feedback but I'm planning on writing an article about the design/philosophy behind the app. I'll let you know once it's up.

Re: Ask HN: What are your “scratch own itch” projects?

#128

Post by jsrober »

A non-insignificant part of my job involves saving Gmail messages and their associated attachments to specific folders in Google Drive. I wrote a Google Apps plug-in that makes this a single-click activity. It used to take ~20-30 seconds per email to properly save the email as a PDF as well as the attachments. All resulting files have to follow a specific naming convention. I use this tool several times a day and it really brings me joy each time I click the button and save some time.

Re: Ask HN: What are your “scratch own itch” projects?

#129

Post by iKlsR »

nip wrote: post #118

https://simplePDF.eu For individuals it’s a free PDF editor tailored to form filling. For organizations, a single line of code turns any PDFs into a web-form while keeping the look and feel of the PDF. As to why I’m scratching my own itch: Filling PDFs form when dealing with my country of origin has been painful every time, I wanted to make it more seamless both for me and for them

I've been using https://tools.pdf24.org/en/ for a while now, pretty good offering there.

Re: Ask HN: What are your “scratch own itch” projects?

#130

Post by anonymous344 »

rcarmo wrote: post #13

https://github.com/piku , for sure. I was getting tired of deploying stuff manually or juggling containers for the simplest of apps, so I sat down and wrote most of it in a couple of weekends. I now deploy the vast majority of my personal projects with it (including container-based ones, actually).

why would i need this ? not meaning to sound rude, haven't used containers so much and this is curiousity. Can't you just shh into the server and do git pull & restart what ever your app is?
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