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Ask HN: Most interesting tech you built for just yourself?

1901 points l2silver | 2 comments | 27 Apr 23 15:04 UTC | HN request time: 0.491s | source

Maybe you've created your own AR program for wearables that shows the definition of a word when you highlight it IRL, or you've built a personal calendar app for your family to display on a monitor in the kitchen. Whatever it is, I'd love to hear it.
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dang ◴[28 Apr 23 05:08 UTC] No.35737646[source]▶
Definitely my HN moderation browser extension, which lets me flip through HN super fast and do routine mod tasks without gruntwork.

If I live long enough, I will factor out a general-reader version of this that will bring joy to HN power users everywhere.

It requires a keyboard, though. Do the kids still use those?

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sillysaurusx ◴[28 Apr 23 05:37 UTC] No.35737808[source]▶
Maybe you’re overthinking it? Just push it to GitHub and call it a day. Someone else will turn it into the general-reader version.

Unless it has a bunch of secret stuff in it. Then I guess you’d have to.

Don’t underestimate the tenacity of HN readers though. Lots of us would do that kind of thing just for fun. You don’t have to do it all yourself.

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1. dang ◴[28 Apr 23 05:54 UTC] No.35737909[source]▶
There's a bunch of secret stuff in it, in the sense of moderator-only.

I don't think there's anything sinister, but it wouldn't be very nice to release in the current form.

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2. sillysaurusx ◴[28 Apr 23 06:03 UTC] No.35737984[source]▶
Eh, just backspace the mod-only stuff and push it to GitHub. We’ll clean it up.

Easier said than done maybe, but please don’t feel like you need to get it perfect. We’ll do a lot of the legwork for you.

Also don’t underestimate how cool it is to get to see what you use in its current form, even if it’s rough. There’s an archaeological component to this that’s quite gratifying.