Ask HN: What are you working on (August 2024)?

What are you working on? Any new ideas that you're thinking about?

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mattkevan ◴[25 Aug 24 00:17 UTC] No.41343107[source]▶

>>41342017 (OP) #

I’m working on a collaborative ebook reading app. The idea is that you can create a reading group, invite people and then share comments and highlights and see each other’s reading progress.

It’s something I’ve been wanting for a while, for example to read a book with a group of friends or with a work team, but there’s lots of other possibilities including author reading parties, proofing and education. Got the basics of it working now, need to polish the UI and add the commenting and highlighting features.

I’m using Next.js and Supabase, neither of which I’ve used before so it’s been a fun but often frustrating process. Claude has been an amazing assistance, fixing my mistakes and countless type errors.

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1. digdugdirk ◴[25 Aug 24 01:06 UTC] No.41343417[source]▶

>>41343107 #

Ooooo.... Idea! One thing I've always wanted is an "asynchronous" book group. Basically, some way to tie the questions and conversation to a page or chapter, and then you can follow along at your own speed. Just passing the idea along since I'll never do anything with it.

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2. whycome ◴[25 Aug 24 03:17 UTC] No.41344065[source]▶

>>41343417 (TP) #

I wish there were discussion websites for media like this. If I've finally watched a tv show, everyone is already talking about another season. I want some sort of "season one insulated forum" or something. For all those that are in the same "temporal" spot.

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3. FrequentLurker ◴[25 Aug 24 03:39 UTC] No.41344170[source]▶

>>41344065 #

Not the same thing but if your show has a subreddit, they will probably also have discussion threads for each episode.

4. mattkevan ◴[25 Aug 24 04:10 UTC] No.41344312[source]▶

>>41343417 (TP) #

That’s a cool idea, thank you for sharing. Yes, I want to tie conversations to specific locations in the text, but I love the idea of being able to set discussion questions as well. Will look into that.

5. sundarurfriend ◴[25 Aug 24 05:53 UTC] No.41344756[source]▶

>>41344065 #

Somewhat similar to r/patientgamers - so r/patientreaders, r/patientwatchers, etc.?

6. NullParameter ◴[25 Aug 24 18:40 UTC] No.41349985[source]▶

>>41343417 (TP) #

Storygraph[1] does this with their Buddy Read feature. My wife and I use it to read books together and leave messages about different happenings, which only get unlocked when you mark that you've read up to that page in the book. It's a great feature, and we really enjoy it.

[1] https://www.thestorygraph.com/

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