I wrote a simple shared budget tracking tool using Lambda, SES and SNS. https://blog.yangmillstheory.com/posts/serverless-budget-tra...
Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?
371–380 of 722 posts
Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?
#372Dodging the f *ing lightning in the desert area of FFX. I spent hours in that section as a kid, never managing to dodge more than 20 bolts in a row... When it came out for PC, it was time for revenge! I captured video input with a simple python+QT script and emitted a button-press whenever the screen flashed. The best part was that the script didn't interfere with my controller - I could run around the area opening c…
There's a spot in that area where the lightning is deterministic and you can press X repeatedly. Still, your solution is cooler!
Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?
#373Earlier quoted context omitted.
Newegg Business, Davinci XYZ jr 1.0 There's DRM on the filament and it's PLA only, but you can buy the key to unlock and rewrite the DRM NFC chip. I use an app on my phone to rewrite the values
Is that a really good printer? I’m seeing bad reviews?
It's an okay 3d printer. I use it for making toys, statues, etc. There are various companies that offer 3d printing as a service with different materials, precisions, surface finishes etc like stratasys, 3D hubs, xometry.
These printers are nice to prototype with before sending it to a more costly and less time investment forgiving production printer, or quick around the house jobs/play.
Feel free to reach out if you want help getting started: my username @gmail.com
Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?
#3741. IFTTT turns off all of my Hue lights at sunrise (task: turn off forgotten lights) 2. At one point last year, I felt that my mornings were getting slower and slower (causing me to leave later), so I set up a Dash button where I hang my keys. When I left for work, I'd press the button, and the script would log the time to a Sparkfun data feed. After a month, I reviewed it to see just how bad it was (pretty bad). (ta…
Have you tried Roll20 for D&D? We used it for our group here at work as it allowed a remote team member to play. Even if you don't use all of it, the character sheet tools and info are pretty solid (albeit missing some things like certain spells).
I looked into it before I started coding, but it seemed the 3.5 support was pretty slim, at least for the character sheets.
Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?
#375I have set up a battery of scripts on google app engine and Im pretty happy with it. 1. I have a script to automatically buy small amount of BTC every day 2. For the more knowledge-dense books I read, I write summaries of them ( https://piszek.com/books/ ). I have a script that puts a random book review to my pocket for reviewing every week 3. I have an instagram account of lego minifig ( https://www.instagram.com/le…
Why doesn't #7 send a message to you so you can wish them happy birthday?
Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?
#3761. IFTTT turns off all of my Hue lights at sunrise (task: turn off forgotten lights) 2. At one point last year, I felt that my mornings were getting slower and slower (causing me to leave later), so I set up a Dash button where I hang my keys. When I left for work, I'd press the button, and the script would log the time to a Sparkfun data feed. After a month, I reviewed it to see just how bad it was (pretty bad). (ta…
The Hue Bridge can do #1 on its own, but I don't think it's exposed with the stock app. You can set up a sunrise/sunset trigger based on your geographical location - I use this to turn my outside lights on and off.
I'll have to dig into that. Is it one of the Labs plugins? I certainly don't mind cutting out extra services where I can.
Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?
#377Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not OP, but Chase can email and send push notifications for any purchase if you set the threshold to $0.
I can't believe I never thought of this one. If real-time enough, that sounds like a very useful feature for accounting purposes. You could turn the email into a phone push notification asking you to classify the transaction as business or personal, for example. That said, does it take negative numbers? Or how would it handle refunds/returns?
> If real-time enough
From my experience it seems to be very real-time. They call them "Rapid alerts"
> Or how would it handle refunds/returns?
It doesn't notify you of refunds as far as I know. So you won't be able to track your exact account balance just based on these emails. It's good enough for knowing what's going on IMO.
Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?
#378Dodging the f *ing lightning in the desert area of FFX. I spent hours in that section as a kid, never managing to dodge more than 20 bolts in a row... When it came out for PC, it was time for revenge! I captured video input with a simple python+QT script and emitted a button-press whenever the screen flashed. The best part was that the script didn't interfere with my controller - I could run around the area opening c…
Similarly, the game "Hyper Light Drifter" had a number of challenges, and even a pretty hefty achievement, which required the character to dash really quickly without touching any boundaries.
On PC, you could use a keyboard script to repeatedly press the dash key every 500ms and steer with the mouse. Something that was pretty difficult with a controller.
Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?
#379One of the biggest automation arena improvements I've made in my life is creating visual cue reminders and systems for a sort of stateful orderliness. When the laundry basket gets full past the painter tape line, I do a load. I load the dishwasher after dinner, and unload it in the morning regardless of the volume. Got a roomba that runs every other day and cries when it's full of dirt. I have NFC stickers that link…
One of the best life hacks I found is to buy those stackable laundry baskets and sort them as you wear them instead of dumping them all in one and sorting right before doing laundry.
I've been doing the same thing for years. I have two bins each for socks, underwear, and t-shirts. when the dirty one fills, I wash it then dump into the respective clean one. The trick is to buy a full loads worth of socks, and a full loads worth of underwear which is probably an unusually large amount for most people. Throw hardware at the problem!
Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?
#380In college I wrote a script to register for classes. I'd input the potentially-full classes I'd like to register for, and it would just hammer the registration site repeatedly until someone removed themselves from the class at which point I'd be registered. I'm still amazed IT didn't pull the network connection to my dorm room or have any kind of rate limiting. No 8am sessions for me!
I occasionally hear about students in US colleges having to compete for places in classes like this. How does it happen? Why does the college admit more people than it has class space for? In the UK they don’t enroll more people than they can teach so everyone has a place.