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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: 0.437s | 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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codpiece ◴[28 Apr 23 14:54 UTC] No.35742026[source]▶
Not sure if it counts as tech, but I created a voiceboard for my mother to help her communicate while in hospice. She had a massive stroke and could no longer speak.

I thought of a tablet app, but the stakes were too high, so it wound up as a laminated paper. You can read about my design decisions here:

https://voiceboard.org

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1. Suppafly ◴[28 Apr 23 18:08 UTC] No.35744964[source]▶
They make something like that for autistic people and others that are non-verbal. The commercial product, which is essentially just a binder with printed words or pictures, is surprisingly expensive so lots of people DIY them.
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2. zamnos ◴[29 Apr 23 13:56 UTC] No.35752881[source]▶
They're called PECS, Picture Exchange Communication System. A speech therapist is trained to work with people who have verbalization or accent issues and help them work through them. Or if they can't, suggest PECS so they're still able to communicate.