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

1901 points l2silver | 5 comments | 27 Apr 23 15:04 UTC | HN request time: 0.658s | 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.
1. busyant ◴[28 Apr 23 14:42 UTC] No.35741849[source]▶
I made a "laser-beam-break" camera trigger for my Nikon D750, which I use to capture images of hummingbirds at my feeder.

Instead of paying $125 for this ... (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1337050-REG/pluto_tri...)

I decided to build one using an Arduino. I probably spent more than $125 on the project, but I ended up buying a lot of hobbyist electronics parts, soldering gun, etc.

I learned a bit about what Arduino can do, learned some baby electronics.

And I have some nice pics of hummingbirds.

https://flickr.com/photos/184781347@N05/52648636091/in/datep...

https://flickr.com/photos/184781347@N05/52325370300/in/datep...

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2. freeplay ◴[28 Apr 23 17:49 UTC] No.35744706[source]▶
The knowledge and experience you gain from those types of projects could pay for itself several times over in the future.

Reminds me of when I was getting into woodworking and my wife wanted a new coffee table.

Why would we go buy coffee table when I could build it in a month and have it cost 3 times as much?

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3. specproc ◴[28 Apr 23 19:48 UTC] No.35746223[source]▶
Not nearly as cool, but related. I've been using yolo to pull bird frames from a GoPro left running by the bird feeder.
4. hammyhavoc ◴[29 Apr 23 00:18 UTC] No.35748731[source]▶
The story is priceless though, and I love handmade stuff.
5. BatFastard ◴[29 Apr 23 00:47 UTC] No.35748885[source]▶
Impressive shots! Very nice project.