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

I replaced my son's school timetable app with an e-paper

mfasold.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 124 posts

Re: I replaced my son's school timetable app with an e-paper

#111

Post by aftbit »

mlinhares wrote: post #101
sourcepluck wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I think it's debilitating, disempowering, wholly unnecessary, and that it would be easily solvable if there existed a will to solve it. It's a cultural issue, not a technical one, I mean. I didn't mean in the first message simply knowing the difference between tabs and windows and a few other GUI bits and bobs, those were meant to be an example of a larger point. The larger point being the notion that it's fun an…

My mom doesn't want to be a "liberated computer user", she wants to use her phone to watch youtube, see pics of her grandkids and listen to music, she doesn't even care about having social networks. You're projecting your own personal interests into others, the world contains multitudes, not everyone wants to understand every little detail of how computers work. For most people computers are like cars, they couldn't…

This comment is mildly ironic because the same kind of argument has often been used around cars. Do you want to be merely a car driver, or do you want to be a car "operator", who understands (to some level of abstraction) what happens "under the hood" when you manipulate the levers and wheels in your car?

Different strokes for different folks, but never forget, knowledge is power.

Re: I replaced my son's school timetable app with an e-paper

#112

Post by crooked-v »

aftbit wrote: post #109
arrowsmith wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Teenagers sitting together and not giving each other proper attention because of constant interrupts from Snapchat. Why are phones allowed in the classroom? When I was in school, if you were caught looking at your phone in class, or if the phone made a noise from your pocket/bag, it would instantly be confiscated - no second chances. If phones are causing problems in school, maybe the school could try establishing…

I got my phone taken away in high school once because my dad called me during the lunch hour to ask me for a number on an insurance card that was in my wallet. I was sitting outside eating, answered the call, read him the number, and hung up. About thirty seconds later, a teacher came outside, took my phone away, and gave me a detention. I wasn't disrupting class or distracting myself at all. This was on a dumb phone…

The US completely gave up on the idea of actually stopping school shootings, so parents now only feel comfortable if they can contact their children 24/7.

Re: I replaced my son's school timetable app with an e-paper

#113

Post by dbbk »

modernerd wrote: post #68

A great hack that feels closer to Anjan Katta’s vision for what Daylight could become – that instead of VR or AR or projection, we end up putting high quality “natural” screens on more surfaces. This classroom timetable shows the utility of that, and it’s not so hard to imagine it extending to other interactive or non-interactive uses (meeting room reservation, digital store pricing, bus timetables, etc.).

When my company were doing RTO they had a SaaS platform to book seats, but of course that information was not displayed anywhere so people just sat wherever, making the whole process pointless.

This got me curious about small eInk labels that we could set up some API webhook to refresh. Turns out there's not really any out of the box solutions to do this.

Re: I replaced my son's school timetable app with an e-paper

#114

Post by dagss »

bityard wrote: post #103
cududa wrote: post #41

> The problem is that my son’s mobile phone is governed by strict parental controls, making this daily lookup an unpopular chore on my side This was a neat project, but I feel like this is insanely overkill for a solution that is “whitelist the app required for school”. I sort of feel bad for this kid. I mean, I graduated high school in 15+ years ago and we had a website that we had to regularly check for assignments…

It sounds like you don't have a kid who is literally incapable of self-moderating their interaction with a screen. I'm not who you are quoting, but we do. We've given him instructions, consequences, rules, expectations, strategies, time-boxing, support, and therapy. He still CANNOT have free access to an internet-connected screen or he will end up on some video site and doom-scroll tiktok videos and the like to the e…

Stronger regulation would help everyone also those with more defenses. Who in the world is saying "I spend too little of my life doomscrolling"?

And IIUC it is the same with narcotics/alcohol/nicotine: Not everyone are equally affected by them, consequence wise and/or addiction wise, whether due to genetics or social or economic status. In those cases we use the law to regulate to protect the ones most suspectible.

That wasn't the case when these things were brand new.

In some years social media might be regulated in the way alcohol and smoking is (as Australia already did). But right now it is just the tiny beginnings of getting acceptance that parents ought to regulate their kids on this issue and that this is OK and a good thing.

Re: I replaced my son's school timetable app with an e-paper

#115

Post by SoftTalker »

jeroenhd wrote: post #59
SoftTalker wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can’t recall even one time my high school schedule changed except between semesters, not any time a class met in another room. Not once. If a teacher was out sick, there was a sub but the room didn’t change.

What can I say, my school worked differently and this was a common occurrence. I do believe they tried to minimise room changes or hour changes as much as possible, but you have to do something if the only relevant substitutes would already be teaching another class at the same time.

In my experience, substitute teachers were generally not skilled in a particular subject. There were there to be an adult in the room. They typically had a lesson plan left by the regular teacher, which almost always involved just reading or working problems on your own and did not depend on the sub being able to actually teach the subject.

If you can't find enough substitutes, pay them more instead of spending money on apps to rearrange schedules.

Re: I replaced my son's school timetable app with an e-paper

#116

Post by modernerd »

konschubert wrote: post #102
modernerd wrote: post #68

A great hack that feels closer to Anjan Katta’s vision for what Daylight could become – that instead of VR or AR or projection, we end up putting high quality “natural” screens on more surfaces. This classroom timetable shows the utility of that, and it’s not so hard to imagine it extending to other interactive or non-interactive uses (meeting room reservation, digital store pricing, bus timetables, etc.).

That’s basically why I called my company “Invisible Computers”. And it’s no coincidence that the first product is an epaper calendar :D

Nice work, can see this naturally extending to commercial spaces too (e.g. coffee shop menus).

Re: I replaced my son's school timetable app with an e-paper

#117

Post by adolph »

andrepd wrote: post #77
mlinhares wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it good they don't know these differences? The fact we know is mostly due to poorly designed UX, not some high level concept that needs to be known. Modern phones are a much better UX for most people.

Jesus, no. Computer illiteracy is a growing problem, kids and teens nowadays have trouble understanding even the basics of what's going on in their computers apart from "swipe here for the next addictive depressive 5-second slop". That's very very bad at a time when these devices are more and more important in their lives.

Do you pull or push the choke knob before running the starter?

Re: I replaced my son's school timetable app with an e-paper

#118

Post by Gerard0 »

dtpro20 wrote: post #74
simon_acca wrote: post #64

Very cool! If someone is looking for something similar with less hassle, let me plug my friend’s product :) https://www.inklay.app/ I’ve been using it for the better part of a year now to show the weather, a dashboard and some comics and am very happy with it, it just works and looks great too

These are amazingly beautiful. I'd be tempted to buy one if it didn't have the brand logo etched into the wood.

This! Posting so that they might read it and reconsider that choice :)

Re: I replaced my son's school timetable app with an e-paper

#119

Post by ericd »

maccard wrote: post #106
ericd wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think digital money is just too abstract for kids, and even adults struggle with comparing amounts and truly grasping their significance. Handing over a stack of bills just feels a lot more significant than swiping your card, which is the same whether you’re buying a $5 coffee or a $5000 tranche of a home renovation. With cash, you have a lot of the stuff in your hand, and then you have less vs none.

> I think digital money is just too abstract for kids, and even adults struggle with comparing amounts and truly grasping their significance. Handing over a stack of bills just feels a lot more significant than swiping your card, which is the same whether you’re buying a $5 coffee or a $5000 tranche of a home renovation. With cash, you have a lot of the stuff in your hand, and then you have less vs none. But, that's…

Well, similar to how Montessori (and now most public schools, it seems) deal in manipulatives first, and then switch to abstract later, I think the same makes sense for money.

And I actually have been going back to cash more often, and I spend noticeably less when I do. And I’m an engineer who loves spreadsheets, so I’m guessing it causes most people bigger spending issues.

Re: I replaced my son's school timetable app with an e-paper

#120

Post by akimbostrawman »

crooked-v wrote: post #112
aftbit wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got my phone taken away in high school once because my dad called me during the lunch hour to ask me for a number on an insurance card that was in my wallet. I was sitting outside eating, answered the call, read him the number, and hung up. About thirty seconds later, a teacher came outside, took my phone away, and gave me a detention. I wasn't disrupting class or distracting myself at all. This was on a dumb phone…

The US completely gave up on the idea of actually stopping school shootings, so parents now only feel comfortable if they can contact their children 24/7.

How would a call to the parents help in such a situation and how would a dumb phone not work the same?

The only one who has given up are the parents and teachers on setting proper boundaries to children because most likely they themselves are addicted.

Post reply on HN