
Ask HN: What is everyone currently working on? - kylegalbraith
I am fairly new to HN and honestly it is a bit overwhelming initially. In a good way of course! What brought me here was to follow more software developers turned entrepreneurs. I find reading about others successes and failures to be incredibly valuable. Therefore, I am curious what others on HN are currently working on. It could be a side project, side hustle, new business idea, or just a new open source project you are starting.<p>For me, I have been working on a short book about learning AWS by using it to solve real problems. There is a sea of information out there about Amazon Web Services which makes it hard to know where to get started. My approach with the book is to learn services as you are solving a problem. Instead of reading doc after doc and article after article, you jump into a problem and learn as you go.<p>What is everyone else working on?
======
dmschaab
I left my day job at the end of July to finally start working my way through a
laundry list of ideas I've accumulated over the years. I had often toyed with
the idea of side projects, but finding and sustaining the motivation to
complete one just wasn't happening after a full day at the office. My current
"self-employed" life may turn out to be unsustainable due to lack of income,
but the jury's still out.

My current project is Move by Numbers [0], a sort of "Twitch plays chess" type
of game with a comfortable pace, points, and levels. The idea of cooperative
gaming has intrigued me recently, and this is my first foray into the space.
Building it has been entertaining, but finding users and gathering feedback
has been a struggle. I'm learning first-hand how difficult marketing is.

I also just published an article on tracing 2D metaball outlines [1], so if
you enjoy visual explanations of algorithms, check it out.

Up next on my list is either a declarative charting language and cross-
language interpreters for said language (data visualization is something I
worked with a lot in my previous job), or a Japanese grammar textbook I've
been dreaming about writing for several years now.

[0] [https://movebynumbers.com](https://movebynumbers.com)

[1]
[https://eightsquaredsoftware.com/articles/metaball.html](https://eightsquaredsoftware.com/articles/metaball.html)

------
deepakkarki
I'm working on [https://discoverdev.io](https://discoverdev.io)

A daily list of curated blog posts for developers. Focus is on minimal design
and top content. Just ten interesting links for the day!

~~~
tthisk
Thanks for this resource, looks promising. Are all stories picked by hand? It
would be useful if you could paginate instead of only being able to see the
archive for one day.

------
codegeek
I am working on building my own on-demand video delivery
(hosting/transcoding/streaming) platform. I looked for an existing open source
alternative but couldn't find any. Either there are proprietary options (wowza
etc.) or you go with providers such as Wistia, Vimeo etc. that are great but
limited when it comes to fully customizing what you want.

If I am happy enough, I will open source it :)

------
thenomad
Just finishing up my first VR game, Left-Hand Path, ready for its exit from
Steam Early Access.

It's a Dark Souls-inspired full-length game (15 hours of VR gameplay) where
you cast spells by drawing glyphs in the air. People seem to like it, at 85%
positive reviews.

Currently I'm on the non-coding part of work mostly: I still have some bugs to
clear, but after that it's beta feedback (and then more bug fixing), press
relations, trailer, and similar launch prep.

[http://store.steampowered.com/app/488760/LeftHand_Path/](http://store.steampowered.com/app/488760/LeftHand_Path/)

I'm also working on a side project using Google Cardboard, and I'm starting
testing game mechanics for my next full VR game which will probably involve
melee combat.

------
kehers
I am currently working on an opensource analytics and reporting dashboard for
Mailgun:

[https://suet.co](https://suet.co)
[https://github.com/kehers/suet](https://github.com/kehers/suet)

~~~
tixocloud
Good idea and good luck. The reporting from Mailgun leaves much to be desired.

~~~
kehers
Thanks.

------
clintonwoo
I'm currently working on a new open source project:
[https://github.com/clintonwoo/hackernews-react-
graphql](https://github.com/clintonwoo/hackernews-react-graphql)

I moved to the US recently so using it to show my skills to employers seeing
as I've been working on entrepreneurial things while traveling. I actually
found your post while browsing through my clone of Hacker News! I also have a
business Shave Like A Boss which sells traditional shaving equipment:
[https://www.shavelikeaboss.com.au/](https://www.shavelikeaboss.com.au/)

I definitely recommend working on a real idea for a project as you will be
able to use it for something in the future.

------
subsidd
I am working on learnmapp[1].

What? Inspired by Kamran Ahmed's roadmap to becoming a web developer[2],
learnmapp lets anyone create and share roadmaps for learning any
topic/subject.

Why? Everytime I want to learn something new, the biggest hurdle I face is to
find where & how to start and what to learn next. So with this tool, I want to
make it easier for beginners to find and follow a roadmap to learn better.

When? Will launch, optimistically, by this weekend.

Also, it'll be free and the code will be available on github.

[1] [https://learnmapp.com](https://learnmapp.com) (not live yet) [2]
[https://goo.gl/6fHbVH](https://goo.gl/6fHbVH)

------
sharmi
I have just completed my website
[https://www.camerasforpros.com](https://www.camerasforpros.com) which
collects mentions & reviews of Photo Gear from Reddit and StackExchange in one
place. More than cameras and lenses, I am surprised by the number of
unexpected accessories I discovered through this experiment.

Before this I did a word exploration site
[https://www.niftyword.com](https://www.niftyword.com) . It has been steadily
growing helping quite an handful of people, but is not a revenue pulling
niche. Currently makes enough for server costs and a monthly dinner.

------
archagon
I'm studying CRDTs so that I can finally add sync and real-time collaboration
to my apps without having to run my own servers. If all goes well, I'll be
able to simply push my files to any old database (e.g. CloudKit) and have the
merge conflicts always resolve deterministically for any arbitrary number of
users. Proof-of-concept using Victor Grishchenko's Causal Trees algorithm is
already working — just need to add a few refinements and write up a nice blog
post!

[https://github.com/archagon/crdt-
playground](https://github.com/archagon/crdt-playground)

~~~
UK-AL
What materials are you using to study?

~~~
archagon
Mostly the original papers on Logoot[1]/LSEQ[2], RGA[3], and Causal Trees[4],
as well as some source code analysis (Swarm, Y.js), some tangential papers
concerning comparative algorithm performance, and as many blog posts,
articles, and lectures as I could get my hands on. For reasons of efficiency,
most CRDT research is focused on operation-based CRDTs (i.e. CmRDTs) which
tend to rely on a central server, whereas I'm more interested in state-based
CRDTs (CvRDTs) that can be freely used in a P2P environment, so I'm a little
on my own when it comes to the implementation.

[1]: [https://hal.archives-
ouvertes.fr/inria-00432368/document](https://hal.archives-
ouvertes.fr/inria-00432368/document)

[2]: [https://hal.archives-
ouvertes.fr/hal-00921633/document](https://hal.archives-
ouvertes.fr/hal-00921633/document)

[3]:
[https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8470/ae40470235604f40382aea...](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8470/ae40470235604f40382aea4747275a6f6eef.pdf)

[4]:
[https://ai2-s2-pdfs.s3.amazonaws.com/6534/c371ef78979d7ed84b...](https://ai2-s2-pdfs.s3.amazonaws.com/6534/c371ef78979d7ed84b6dc19f4fd529caab43.pdf)

------
Cut_N_Paste
I've been learning as much as I can about blockchain, crypto, etc... I've
recently written sha256 and keccak in Javascript ( so as to learn how they
work at a detailed level ).
[https://github.com/jeffallen6767/sha-256-js](https://github.com/jeffallen6767/sha-256-js)
and [https://github.com/jeffallen6767/keccak-p-
js](https://github.com/jeffallen6767/keccak-p-js)

------
dhruvkar
a curated, weekly newsletter for people following (or wanting to follow) a
keto/low carb lifestyle.

[https://keto.fm](https://keto.fm)

------
rayboy1995
I'm working on [https://pupkeep.com/](https://pupkeep.com/), it is cloud based
kennel software. For places that do pet boarding and grooming.

The market has a lot of competition, but it seems most solutions are just too
bulky and slow. We recently went on a trip to various boarding places around
us and received good feedback about our product. I'm very excited to see what
happens next.

~~~
tixocloud
Wow. Had no idea that there would be that much competition in this space. I'd
love to learn more about your overall solution - is it essentially an
"e-commerce" site for pet boarders so pet owners can book their appointments
and pay online?

~~~
rayboy1995
Yeah I was surprised, though most other solutions are very old and slow so I
really only consider us having one or two other real competitors.

The booking and paying online is actually just a small portion of the needs
most of these businesses have. In addition to appointment management we also
handle keeping track of customers, customer's pets(vaccination requirements,
dietary needs, etc), inventory management, employee scheduling and role
management, and analytics for it all.

Our competitors seem to handle parts of these but we are looking to be an all
encompassing solution while simplifying the UX. We are also targeting multiple
location support for enterprise customers, with our competitors multiple
locations seem to be an afterthought. On top of that our app is faster and
cheaper per month, offering discounts for multiple locations and no setup
costs (other than buying optional hardware).

~~~
tixocloud
Very nice. How do you handle so much development work while balancing scope
creep given that you're an all encompassing solution as opposed to handling
different parts of it? I've been looking at extending my app to include many
other components without overstretching myself.

~~~
rayboy1995
Really just prioritization. We prioritize everything based on its
usefulness/need. We are also in "MVP mode" right now so anything that isn't a
part of those core features mentioned or isn't essential is put on the back
burner.

~~~
tixocloud
I would still imagine that an inventory system or analytics would take several
months unless you are also stripping those away to the bare essentials?

~~~
rayboy1995
You would be correct. Our current implementation of those are fairly bare
bones, but still encompass the main needs of the businesses we are targeting.

~~~
tixocloud
That's a great approach. I'll be "stealing" some of this great insight if you
don't mind.

~~~
rayboy1995
Haha not a problem at all.

------
git-pull
Just for show and tell purposes:

[https://devel.tech](https://devel.tech), tech tutorial website - webpack,
bulma, django, docutils + sphinx (heavily customized)

Here are some examples:

\- Powered by pure docutils: [https://devel.tech/tips/n/sNZwQvNh/django-
compressor-vs-djan...](https://devel.tech/tips/n/sNZwQvNh/django-compressor-
vs-django-webpack-loader/)

\- Powered by sphinx: [https://devel.tech/features/django-vs-
flask/](https://devel.tech/features/django-vs-flask/)

[https://www.hskflashcards.com](https://www.hskflashcards.com) \- recently
converted to bulma, webpack + django-webpack-loader (from BS4 + django-
compressor). Powered by Django + Postgres with the unaccent extension
([https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.1/static/unaccent.html](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.1/static/unaccent.html)).
Example usage:
[https://www.hskflashcards.com/search?omni=hao](https://www.hskflashcards.com/search?omni=hao)

Some comments on the stack: webpack has really grown on me, particularly
[https://github.com/ezhome/django-webpack-
loader](https://github.com/ezhome/django-webpack-loader). I've been avoiding
trying to integrate node for a long time, and found webpack to have a bit of a
learning curve, but after getting through the quirks it's great.

Another thing, looking into seeing more stuff with yarn workspaces
([https://yarnpkg.com/blog/2017/08/02/introducing-
workspaces/](https://yarnpkg.com/blog/2017/08/02/introducing-workspaces/)),
lerna, etc. Trying to make the UX customizations more modular, and I think
it's becoming more practical to separate out stuff into node packages more
often.

As for other stuff I've been liking, SASS has been good as always, as has the
bulma framework ([https://bulma.io](https://bulma.io)).

------
tyrw
I'm working on a tool you can add to any website that makes the content
editable for non-developers. [https://component.io](https://component.io)

So now you don't have to do the back and forth "hey can you make a few quick
edits" routine, and you can use whatever technology you want to build the
site.

We've been working on it a little under a year and have a couple thousand
users.

------
darrelld
Working on my own website.

I've come to realize that I do want to share pictures, funny videos and all
the internet has to offer, but I want to do it on my own terms and actually
own what I put up until I decide to take it down.

It'll be the single place to go to find out what's going on with me. If I'm
connected with you on social media that I have, you can see more details
compared to random visitor.

Not super complex, just me a WordPress install and an idea.

------
rpeden
I've been making some adjustments to my personal HN and Reddit aggregator -
[http://stories.rpeden.com](http://stories.rpeden.com)

It mostly works the way I want it to - I've just been tweaking the number of
stories it shows, and which subreddits it displays. It's not really meant to
be useful to anyone other than myself, but it's been fun to work on.

------
pigpen34
I'm rebuilding the API and admin section for CronAlarm -
[https://www.cronalarm.com](https://www.cronalarm.com) \- a cron job /
scheduled task monitoring platform. The purpose of the rewrite is for paving
the way for a native mobile app. Also working on adding Slack integrations as
well.

------
bananicorn
Right now I'm trying to get webRTC to run without ever having to use a server
- or any way of communicating between browsers without the use of a server -
for a game I'm making.

Nothing special, but good to get familiar with the tech. And definitely not
yet ready to be shown (also, currently just a ripoff of an older nintendo
game)

------
nickswan
I'm working on [https://www.sanitycheck.io](https://www.sanitycheck.io) \- a
tool to help make sense of all the data available in Google Search Console. It
archives the data too - so you aren't just limited to the 90 days that GSC
has.

------
kylegalbraith
Forgot to mention that you can check out the landing of my book and stay
updated here: [https://www.kylegalbraith.com/learn-
aws/](https://www.kylegalbraith.com/learn-aws/)

------
bradstewart
"Smart", programmable, connected LED grow lights, sensors, and control systems
for horticulture:
[https://www.natecontrols.com](https://www.natecontrols.com).

I do all of the software work for the on-device controllers, cloud backend,
and UI.

------
rwieruch
Working every minute right now on my second online course for learning
ReactJs. Hopefully I can release it next week without any quirks :)

\- [https://roadtoreact.com/](https://roadtoreact.com/)

------
tixocloud
I'm building a flexible CRM system for startups:
[http://orchestrahq.com](http://orchestrahq.com).

Been using other CRM systems but found them to be too restrictive. Salesforce
provides endless customization but costs a bomb.

------
allensallinger
I'm currently working on a weekly curated newsletter of Florida Man content,
[http://floridamannewsletter.com](http://floridamannewsletter.com) as well as
a personal blog about my projects and devops.

------
jetti
A book for Windows 10 development with C# (and UWP). As well as refocusing on
re-writing my Windows installer (MSI) creation software. The first version
makes executables (based on NSIS) but am moving to a WiX backend with a much
better UI.

------
moreoutput
Work on a websocket mud engine continues in my off hours:
[https://rockmud.herokuapp.com/](https://rockmud.herokuapp.com/)

I'm also working on a SaaS for anonymous reviews and correspondence.

------
jrm2k6
Still working on [https://iheartreading.co](https://iheartreading.co). Trying
to onboard schools to use it but so far cold emailing is not working. Thinking
about other way to market it.

------
trevordev
Building a multitasking webvr environment at niftykick.com

Demo video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3xZ1G291Ks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3xZ1G291Ks)

Starting to see some developer and beta user interest :)

------
chuhnk
Working on Micro [https://micro.mu](https://micro.mu). Basically microservices
toolkit and framework. It's pure OSS and sponsored by a big enterprise
company.

------
baccredited
Buying index funds - will allow me to retire by 2022.

Angel investing - invested in over 100 companies since 2013.

Digital Currencies - Investments in companies: Filecoin, Shapeshift, and
Balance

Oh yeah I have a full time day job as a cloud computing architect

~~~
lzy
"Buying index funds - will allow me to retire by 2022."

I understand that the returns of index funds are very low and generally
recommended as long-term investments (alternative to saving in the bank).

How much are you investing into index funds to allow you to confidently retire
in 5 years time?

Thanks!

~~~
baccredited
[http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-
sim...](http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-
behind-early-retirement/)

------
tmaly
I am working on [https://bestfoodnearme.com](https://bestfoodnearme.com) a
better way to decide what eat. Its an idea that is scratching my own itch

------
atrilumen
[https://talky.cards](https://talky.cards), a web interface for
[https://api.ai](https://api.ai).

------
cdiamand
I'm working on [https://oppslist.com](https://oppslist.com), It's an archive
of people describing software they want.

Making about $60 MRR.

~~~
tixocloud
Looks like an interesting website. How do you source these people and do you
connect them to developers for a fee?

------
ihndan
I am working on [readup.tips][1]: a service for sharing reading list, and
learning Vue.

[1]:[http://readup.tips](http://readup.tips)

------
forzo
I am working on a Lead generation product

[https://www.leadmine.net](https://www.leadmine.net)

------
jamesmp98
Learning and certifying in SugarCRM

~~~
tixocloud
Would love to get your thoughts on SugarCRM as I'm building a CRM system on my
own.

------
PaulHoule
Sales

