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Ask HN: What are you working on? (January 2026)

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Re: Ask HN: What are you working on? (January 2026)

#141

Post by urbandw311er »

I just completed a holiday project this week to measure the kids screen time using an Arduino device and a web app! I got frustrated trying to get so many parental control apps to play nicely, in the end this seemed like a bolder new approach to the problem.

I blogged about the whole build and coding project [here](https://partridge.works/screenie-christmas-project-2025-26/)

Code for the Arduino and also the web app is Open Sourced [here](https://screenie.org/get-device/selfbuild)

And you can play with it [here](https://www.screenie.org)

Re: Ask HN: What are you working on? (January 2026)

#142

Post by catlifeonmars »

azdle wrote: post #84

My meta side project for building other side projects: https://bodge.app/ I've always had a bunch of small side projects that I want to do that aren't worth the overhead required to actually put them together & keep them maintained. So, I built a small Lua-based FaaS platform to make each individual project less work whenever inspiration strikes. So far I've built: * A current-time API for some hacked-together IoT de…

This is great. One thing that is not immediately obvious to me is what kind of authentication it supports. Needing to authenticate the caller is the #1 piece of boilerplate that gets in the way of me completing mini-projects. It’s not hard, but it’s definitely a nonzero amount of effort. And this is coming from someone who has implemented many, many auth flows professionally.

Re: Ask HN: What are you working on? (January 2026)

#143

Post by tintor »

dewey wrote: post #122

Over the holidays I was building a wooden birdhouse with a Unifi Protect camera and a small web interface that automatically identifies the birds and shows me a simple overview over which type of bird visited how many times. Birdhouse: https://img.notmyhostna.me/cRQ1gJfZCHjQKwFrgKQj UI: - https://img.notmyhostna.me/Hnw4qcvbg1ZQCrFxzGMn - https://img.notmyhostna.me/62TFwSXSRRbCfxDz297h - https://img.notmyhostna.me/40q…

This is amazing

Re: Ask HN: What are you working on? (January 2026)

#144

Post by adityaathalye »

azdle wrote: post #84

My meta side project for building other side projects: https://bodge.app/ I've always had a bunch of small side projects that I want to do that aren't worth the overhead required to actually put them together & keep them maintained. So, I built a small Lua-based FaaS platform to make each individual project less work whenever inspiration strikes. So far I've built: * A current-time API for some hacked-together IoT de…

> My meta side project for building other side projects

Looks cool, congrats on putting it out there as priced service!

And, same!

Except, it's just a repo organisation system (structure, conventions, and tools) that lets me share common "parts" across multiple "projects". No monolithic frameworks here.

Libraries are functions. Apps are objects.

However, normally, we use these as distinct artefacts, eventually leading to the "diamond dependency" problem (and lots of other annoying development-time stuff caused by libs / code that is "over there" (elsewhere)).

My "meta side project" solves, essentially the Expression Problem as it manifests in source code management (particularly, cross library / service / project feature development).

[0] https://github.com/adityaathalye/clojure-multiproject-exampl...

Re: Ask HN: What are you working on? (January 2026)

#145

Post by Oras »

I’m working on a context aware clipboard for Mac.

I found myself switching a lot between apps to get the same info, lots of copy/pasting.

Example, URLs in bookmark (which I forget about), project descriptions , images, folders.

So I built a Mac app that is similar to Raycast, but just for notes. If I want to save a webpage, I click control+option+C and then a window pops up to describe it.

If I press control+option+V, I get a spotlight like window where it does full-text search of all my notes and descriptions and filter so I can either:

- Open

- Insert the data into the current app (chrome, slack, ChatGPT).

I’ve been using it for a few weeks now, and not sure if others will find it useful.

Re: Ask HN: What are you working on? (January 2026)

#147

Post by zero_shift »

nullbound wrote: post #40

I am devoting 2026 to focus on my rpg. The one differentiator here is something I am still not seeing: proper use of LLMs in games. The current batch is all lazy asset generation, maybe logic coding and what not, but not anything that could make the world actually feel alive. Obviously, it all comes with its own sets of issues, but I am working through those as they come. But it is still a slow move solo.

Are you thinking more, of LLM based "AI" or "director" logic? Like an LLM tailoring the challenges and randomness the player experiences?

Re: Ask HN: What are you working on? (January 2026)

#148

Post by koeng »

anfractuosity wrote: post #136
koeng wrote: post #118

I’m genetically engineering yeasts to make subtly flavored breads. I’ve already done grape aroma, now working on wintergreen. Also working on a red chamomile (using beat red biosynthesis). Just for fun. Red chamomile tea! The idea is to have niche invite-only genetically engineered flavors that I can bring to parties around SF :) what’s more special than a genetically engineered organism that you can ONLY get if I’m…

Sounds fascinating, do you have any documentation on how you modify the yeast?

I really need to do a write-up. I kinda just whip up the easiest path and do it.

For example for the grape, I needed to knock out some tryptophan synthesis genes so I could redirect the bioflux. Problem is that in bakers yeast they have a whole buncha copies of their chromosomes, so I had to knock out one of the genes and replace it with a different gene from grapes. Did that with a quick lil CRISPR switch.

Had to electroporate tho because the transformation rates on wild/bakers/non-lab yeast are so garbage

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