Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

401–410 of 769 posts

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#401

Post by davidgh »

jasondigitized wrote: post #223
davidgh wrote: post #191

A group of us in our community broadcast many of the local high school sports. Our original setup had a scoreboard that was really clunky to manage and was hard to learn, so I built a web-based version that pretty much any 12 year old with an iPad could use. I have worked with the logs extensively over time to convert the simple data inputs from the scoreboard controls into charts & graphs that update in real time on…

Would love to see this in action. Anything you can share? Also, what gear is used for this? Having recently been in charge of a scoreboard made by Daktronics for high school games, I was intimidated by the UX.

You can use it here: https://scoreboardmax.com/

All features are included in the free version, just some usage limits. If you decide to use it, send a message using the “Contact Us” from with the account and I’ll send you the details on the analytics / charts as they are at unpublished URLs.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#403

Post by jagged-chisel »

kacesensitive wrote: post #304
ryandrake wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was as confident as I could be. Had multiple tech counselors and A&Ps give it a good look over beforehand. Also had an emergency plan for every 100 feet of altitude post-takeoff. Did the first couple of flight tests in the vicinity of a minor (class D) Bay Area airport and then did the rest of them (including the riskier ones) over the central valley.

did you bring a parachute?

In most failure cases, it becomes a glider. I think if it was gonna fall apart around the pilot, it would be obvious long before they got it in the air.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#404

Post by NooneAtAll3 »

jcims wrote: post #62

Put it down over winter but just picking it back up. Bat detection/identification with ultrasonic recordings. It's been fun building the data pipeline to manage the ~30GB+ of WAV files generated every night, run through some identification processes (currently using https://github.com/rdz-oss/BattyBirdNET-Analyzer ) and build a UI (mostly vibe coded lol) to help with replay, cataloging, etc. I'm using an AudioMoth cu…

any particular microphones you can recommend?

or did you buy one and it was "good enough" ever since?

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#406

Post by rgoulter »

bananaflag wrote: post #264
chromacity wrote: post #148

Almost everything you can do on your own is a "solved problem". Why go into woodworking if you can buy an Ikea stool? The point of hobbies isn't to solve problems - that's called a job - but to learn and have fun. Find a niche where you can resist the temptation to constantly compare yourself to eight billion other people on the internet. Something where success isn't measured in Github stars, Youtube likes, or Reddi…

> Almost everything you can do on your own is a "solved problem". Not everything. Take cooking, one of the most basic hobbies. It's easy to come up with recipes that you enjoy that you cannot order anywhere. Or the comment here about designing your own clothes, same idea.

OP's post features he wants "that isn't absolutely crowded that I could meaningfully contribute to."

I could read that as: wanting to do something interesting that others would benefit from.

Though, I don't really think that's a good reason to filter out things to be enthusiastic about.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#407

Post by dirtybirdnj »

I like to target a very specific species (Lake Trout) using vertical jigging techniques. You can do it on a small kayak with a simple fishfinder (histogram "graph") or a large boat with livescope (active sonar).

Because of the bait available for the lakers differs from what they eat in different lakes inland and other surrounding states, they are SUPER aggressive when the fishing is good.

The game is cruising around until you find marks at the depths and/or structure you are looking for. Once you find them, you drop heavy lures down on them (1-4oz) and they will rocket up sometimes 3/4 of the water column +(70ft / 21m) and absolutely crush your lure.

This tactic also requires you to properly reel your lure to match the intensity of the fish. Too fast or slow and they will swim off. Sometimes you have to leave your bait motionless and wait for them to approach and then "fleeing" at the right time to trigger their agression and chase.

I've had fish mess with me for 5+mins and still not bite. This tactic works in both ice fishing as well as open water fishing.

I discovered this technique trying to adapt what I learned on a boat to kayak fishing. Necessity is the mother of invention, and if you want to catch fish that aren't near shore you gotta float somehow.

Part of the kayak adaptation was going from 1/8, 1/4 or 1/2oz lures up to 1, 2, 3 or 4oz. You are often dealing with not only wind that pushes your boat, but also current that pulls your lure in a different direction making it difficult to see your lure on the fishfinder.

There are a couple other ways to do the jigging thing but all of this has resulted in a new lure design i've been trying to figure out how to turn into a viable business. I'm also trying to figure out how to do some kind of kayak fishing guiding because there are much higher restrictions / licensing reqs on taking people out on boats

https://www.verticaltubejig.com

https://youtu.be/1Z5CPrB3Cpk?si=pD1oQLb6ai7rSujg

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#408

Post by johnthedebs »

Loughla wrote: post #391
johnthedebs wrote: post #282

I got into fig (and since then, more broadly, fruit) cultivation. Figs have a rich history, lots of variety, and there are very active online (and in-person) communities where you can buy or exchange plants and cuttings, advice, and fruit. This grew out of an initial interest in gardening, and the long-term goal is to create a food/fruit forest around our house where me, family, friends, and neighbors can walk around…

I started cultivating dewberries and chokecherries because they're dying out near me. The chokecherries are good for like 2 weeks, otherwise they taste like soap. Dewberries are a real bitch to get started and don't produce a ton of fruit, but are EASILY the best berries you'll ever eat in your life. The native variety are very tart compared to bred plants, but they're legitimately the best things that you can grow.…

I'll check them out - thanks for the recommendation!

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#409

Post by 101008 »

echoangle wrote: post #368
101008 wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry if this is not the place to do it. I live in a city that has bat at nights, so if you live above 6th floor and you leave your windows open, there are chances some confused bats go into your apartment. Even worse, they can go into the blind box of your rollover. After two traumatic events where I had bats going into my apartment (and it took me 5 days/nights where I didnt sleep at all to take them out alive), I…

Can’t you do some kind of mesh? For bats, it doesn’t even have to be very fine.

I asked about this to people who put meshes but they said the mesh goes into the window (it's mostly for mosquitoes), and the open would be outside the mesh, so it wouldn't cover it. I would be OK but I can't find anyone who would be willing to put the mesh on the outside of the window.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#410

Post by tobinfekkes »

achenatx wrote: post #135

Create custom software for non profits is pretty rewarding. They cant afford anything and have process flow needs that are completely unmet. The software wont be sexy, but will help the non profits and the people they serve

I do this now! It is wonderful. So many unique projects being worked on that you'd never come across in your daily life. It's always fun to experience a world that is so far removed from tech, and see how clever people are at solving problems without SaaS, apps, or spreadsheets. Not every problem has a tech solution.

And it has turned into a decent chunk of business over the long run.

Post reply on HN