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Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?

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Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?

#581

Post by j_s »

dpcan wrote: post #458

Does it count if it doesn't FEEEEL like work??? I started an escape room business for fun, and have been enjoying the heck out of writing custom software for the rooms. Both in-room and for administration. My favorite is a javascript "OS" that I use to put imaginary windowed environments in the room, but the players never actually leave a full-screen browser. It does full window management and all the regular UI stuf…

Awesome, not too far away from Spokane, WA!

http://www.getlockedaway.com/

I wonder if there's a market for re-selling experiences to other locations.

Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?

#582

Post by squash_2017 »

My gym allows you to book squash courts from midnight, two weeks in advance. All the prime courts are gone by the time I get to work the next morning.

I wrote a scraper with Python and selenium which books a court for my favourite days and times, and adds the appointment to my google calendar. It runs on my raspberry pi on the crontab.

Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?

#583

Post by Mantequilla »

Long time ago, when I was at the university (around 2010), I created a script that was scraping a dating website, browsing every girls profile who were in a reasonable distance from me and store all their details into a database.

Then from this point, I could search for any girls detail I wanted and find the perfect match according to my criterias.

One important drawback with that, is that the website used to send a notification to the girl everytime you were browsing her profile. My scraper was not smart enough to understand that it shouldn't scrape twice the same profile. So I had a bad moment everytime they asked me why I was so interested for in their profiles and why I used to see them, let's say 10 times a day. :D

Ah, and for those who are curious: this little side project never brought me any girls. :D

Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?

#584

Post by j_s »

artpi wrote: post #102

I 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…

There are quite a few Android apps to "Schedule SMS". Anyone have a personal recommendation?

https://play.google.com/store/search?q=schedule%20sms

This one gets bonus points for being MIT-licensed:

https://github.com/vinsol/sms-scheduler

To the best of my knowledge it is not possible to send SMS messages in an automated fashion on iPhone, you might as well use calendar reminders.

Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?

#585

Post by briandear »

t1o5 wrote: post #143

I was in the US and want to immigrate to Canada because of US broken H1B immigration system ( for me it will take 9 years to get a greencard). Here is what I did - The immigration website of Saskatchewan province opens up randomly to apply for immigration. I missed it many times because there is no indication other than the "Apply" button being enabled and a small text in their homepage which says "Applications are n…

To be clear, H1B isn’t an immigrant visa. It’s a temporary skilled worker visa. There are other visas designed for skilled immigrants. Someone on an H1B isn’t an immigrant so of course the system would be “broken” when expecting H1B to result in a green card. It’s no different than expecting a tourist visa to be the first step to getting a residency visa. H1B was never implemented as a pathway to permanent residency.

Still that aside, great ‘hack’ and congrats on getting your Canadian residency!

Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?

#586

Post by clay_to_n »

t1o5 wrote: post #143

I was in the US and want to immigrate to Canada because of US broken H1B immigration system ( for me it will take 9 years to get a greencard). Here is what I did - The immigration website of Saskatchewan province opens up randomly to apply for immigration. I missed it many times because there is no indication other than the "Apply" button being enabled and a small text in their homepage which says "Applications are n…

I used this same technique to apply for an early interview for the U.S. CBP's Global Entry program. Someone already open-sourced the tool, then I set up a cron job to run it: https://github.com/davidofwatkins/ge-cancellation-checker

Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?

#587

Post by matthieucan »

amelius wrote: post #559
sasaf5 wrote: post #537

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing fancy, I used "Tasker" on my own android phone. Ugliest thing ever, but I managed to hack it during a bus trip, and it worked.

This makes me wonder, how could one implement something like this over a service like Whatsapp?

I don't use WhatsApp, but if it allows to receive Intents (Android functions to execute something on an app, like sending a message to someone), then you can use Tasker to send the intent you want with the right parameters.

Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?

#588

Post by briandear »

aoeuasdf1 wrote: post #258
threeaccents wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you have to prove your system was logging real data?

You might be able to use https://opentimestamps.org/ to provide evidence over time (i.e. proving it wasn't fabricated all at once). Still, that doesn't prove that the individual points weren't fabricated at the time.

Blockchain?

Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?

#589

Post by AsyncAwait »

fehrm wrote: post #531
artpi wrote: post #102

I 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 do you buy BTC every day? Is it cheaper than just buying once?

I guess it just spreads the cost, as getting one bitcoin at once is getting a bit prohibitive these days.

Re: Ask HN: What non-work task have you automated?

#590

Post by jurasource »

I "automated" (trained?) my kid to make her own breakfast at the weekends so I can sleep longer.

Started when she was around 4, it's easier now she's 7.

Lots of parallels with hacking code:

  * Specific rules (if there are more than 2 stars showing on your clock, it's too early to get up)

  * Trial and error (put cereal in a jar and loosen the lid slightly, put milk in a tiny jug at the bottom of the fridge)

  * Optimisation (if you don't want cereal, don't wake me up, but have a yogurt instead)

  * Enhancement (feed the cat, so it doesn't wake me up either)
I'm not lazy, sleep is important :)

[edited formatting]

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