Ask HN: What 'product' have you done for your own use? - mezod
======
bazillion
My entire product of doing in-image advertising[1] was created in order to
build a new concept website for my uncle's nautical antique store[2]. He has a
store built out of an old lighthouse in Old Town San Diego, and it's basically
a museum (where you can buy the stuff inside it). When he came to me, he asked
me if I could build a website that has the feel of his museum-like store, so I
said, "Why don't we just take pictures inside of the store itself, and let
your customers browse the pictures by hovering their mouse over the products
and getting more info on the products they're interested in!".

The punchline: I spent months building a pretty amazing site, to have him say
that his audience was probably too old to understand how to use the site I
built. So far, that technology has led to two granted patents and my
startup![3]

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf4pE0xtYTo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf4pE0xtYTo)

[2] [http://westsea.com](http://westsea.com)

[3] [http://pleenq.com](http://pleenq.com)

------
krrishd
I've posted it here several times before, but I made this stream-of-
consciousness journalling tool for myself:
[http://write.itskrish.co](http://write.itskrish.co)

The differentiator is that you choose a fixed duration, and if you stop typing
within that duration, all your writing is erased. Such a constraint has been
effective at getting me to pour out everything on my mind, without hesitation.

Built w React and open source @
[https://github.com/krrishd/write](https://github.com/krrishd/write)

~~~
mezod
interesting approach!

------
busymichael
DNDEmail - [https://www.dndemail.com](https://www.dndemail.com) \- do not
disturb for Gmail.

I only check my email 3x a day. But, I had such a hard time maintaining the
will power to NOT check email, I had to build a tool to help. The service
holds my email outside of my inbox and only delivers it at the three times a
day I specify.

It has helped me focus on my real to do list, and not on email.

I am also working on an AI/ML bot that plays Out of the Park Baseball -- a
baseball sim where you play as the team manager. The AI manages the roster and
lineups and makes the big in game decisions. It does not handle pitches or
batting (that is not part of the game).

------
darndt
When searching for an apartment in Switzerland a few years ago I found no good
listing aggregator. So I built
[https://www.immomapper.ch/map](https://www.immomapper.ch/map) which crawls
the largest providers and currently shows over 100'000 listings on a big map
with filtering, email alerts etc

------
jasonkester
Unwaffle ([https://unwaffle.com](https://unwaffle.com)) started as an admin
feature of S3stat. I use it on a daily basis, and it has actually added enough
revenue that I'm no longer worried that it would have been a waste of time to
build it, should it turn out not to be commercially viable.

Like I said, it started internal, but it was so apparent after a few days that
it could be useful for other businesses that I separated it out with an API
and stuck it at a different URL, in case it turned out (which it did) that I
wanted to polish it into a product of its own.

------
natch
Public transit schedule checker that took into account wait times for
connecting links from light rail (Silicon Valley) to CalTrain. So it would
tell me stuff like:

\- leave in 3 minutes for 32 minute wait connecting to bullet train

\- leave in 3 minutes for 10 minute wait connecting to slow train

\- leave in 33 minutes for 2 minute wait connecting to bullet train

\- leave in 10 minutes for 3 minute wait connecting to slow train

Then I could see clearly my options in the way I preferred. I cared less about
what time I would get home, and more about how much time I would spend waiting
and sitting on a train, so this let me optimize for that.

------
znpy
I developed a simple web app that lets you create flashcards.

The nice thing is that it lets you create offline web apps that you can
actually print on paper (double sided) and cut.

It is a simple web app that basically wraps the flashcards latex package,
while giving you a nearly-complete preview using mathjax.

[http://flashcards.dokku.santoro.tk/](http://flashcards.dokku.santoro.tk/)

------
jfoster
I wanted to be able to quickly & easily resize images to particular sizes, so
I made Bulk Resize Photos
([https://bulkresizephotos.com);](https://bulkresizephotos.com\);) image
resizing in your web browser without uploading the images, and without
downloading/installing anything. Works best in Chrome.

------
rismay
I like reading the top stories by points on Hacker News, not necessarily the
front page. So I made this app:

[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/helvetica-neue-native-
open/i...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/helvetica-neue-native-
open/id931789125?mt=8)

------
tixocloud
I've built/building Orchestra
([http://orchestrahq.com](http://orchestrahq.com)) to help me build better
professional relationships. It helps me keep track of details of my
interactions and also reminds me when I've not spoken to someone for a while.

------
rpeden
[http://stories.rpeden.com](http://stories.rpeden.com)

I used to spend a bunch of time bouncing between HN and Reddit looking at
headlines. So I built myself a tiny aggregator with React and socket.io that
auto refreshes so I can glance at it throughout the day.

------
shanecleveland
Some of these are just hacked-together tools, but I can think of several:

Turn on/off Dropcam inside home when security system is armed/disarmed.

Quick way to launch baby announcement website from within delivery room,
depending on sex/name of my child, plus birth stats – my wife was thrilled ;)

My best "personal" product that I have also made available for others is
[http://footballpickempool.net](http://footballpickempool.net). There are now
great mobile apps for a pool like this, which are preferable for scoring and
season-long rankings, but some still need paper. I was putting these together
for our office each week, so I automated it.

Many webapps used internally for my job, so not personal, but a few that are
hosted on their own domains and see public traffic.

------
theak
Having to work a lot across timezones, I created a web app to track time and
weather around the world and quickly find a good time to meet across multiple
zones:

[https://www.iwantthetime.com](https://www.iwantthetime.com)

------
pigpen34
CronAlarm - [https://www.cronalarm.com](https://www.cronalarm.com) \- a cron
job monitoring service.

We had a large number of cron jobs at my regular employer that ran across
multiple servers and applications. Things started to get a bit unwieldy and
insight into any issues was negligible, so I built a cron job monitoring tool
for internal use. Eventually I figured that if we found it useful maybe others
would too. So I looked around and realized there were a few others already in
existence that seemed to be making money. Mine offered some features the
others didn't so I figured I'd go for it. It's been a lot of fun.

------
influxed
I wanted to better discover nearby architecture when walking around the city
(Chicago) on weekends, so I made
[https://chicagoarchitecturedata.com/](https://chicagoarchitecturedata.com/)

Over 13,000 Chicago buildings with architecture style, architect (sometimes),
year built, and other data points. Uses GeoDjango and browser location api to
show stuff around you when you use on a phone or you computer. Also serves as
a guide to learning about architecture styles and neighborhoods.

------
ry_ry
An app that tells me when my favourite burrito van is near the office.

Kinda underwhelming, but I have simple tastes :D

~~~
SN76477
This could really be expanded on into something great.

------
dthakur
I made a user tagger for HN. Makes it much more fun to navigate the threads as
I see familiar users with their interests showing through.

Interesting timing for this question, as I just released it _today_[1].

[1] [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/momento-for-
hacker...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/momento-for-hacker-
news/ldamdlljpkkejoiohakbapncdjfolgfh)

~~~
mezod
wow, really nice stuff!

------
sjmulder
I write tiny programs in the Unix tradition: (mostly) stream based primitives
that fit together with other tools, like format conversion (json-yaml) or
command repeater rept(1), which is great together with lam(1).

I also enjoy writing the man pages, porting to very old compilers, creating
packages, etc. It's a refreshing distraction from working with enterprise
CMSes.

------
jaflo
Ctrl-F Video ([https://video.loud.red/](https://video.loud.red/)) to look for
keywords in YouTube videos. Needed it to quickly jump to relevant places in
videos. Works well, even with YouTube's auto-generated CC, which surprised me.
For some reason it is really popular in China.

------
jenkstom
I made an app that notifies family when a QR code is scanned. It also provides
information for ems providers and allows for several levels of interaction
between the two. It works well for the few people that use it.
[https://emsinfo.me](https://emsinfo.me).

------
gmemstr
I want to start podcasting so I built myself a podcast CMS/RSS generator
[https://github.com/gmemstr/whiterabbit](https://github.com/gmemstr/whiterabbit)
it's my first go at Golang so I'm still learning slowly.

------
MortenK
I made a little file archiving tool for Windows, because I wanted to be able
to archive stuff and find it again quickly:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm7wimDNTZ8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm7wimDNTZ8)

------
jbrooksuk
I made Cachet ([https://cachethq.io](https://cachethq.io)) as I didn't want to
pay for alternatives. In the end, the system I built for this to sit behind
didn't get any love.

It's not a full time gig yet.

~~~
DeerSpotter
Can we do this to SoundCloud :P

------
deedubaya
I created [https://www.HireLoop.io](https://www.HireLoop.io) because I wanted
something to manage my hiring which _always_ closes the loop with my
applicants regardless of them being good or bad.

------
a1exyz
Im building a personal notes classifier, a website where I can write down
links, bookmarks, ideas, thoughts, blog posts, projects, articles, etc. and it
classifies them based on the text. It also knows whether something should be
public or private - so that just I can see it. I want to get it to the point
where I use it as part of my daily workflow as a way to organize my thoughts.
My hope is that by process of needing/using it, I will understand well what is
needed to make it better and the feedback cycle will make it a valuable tool
quickly, as opposed to me making something that is intended to be used by
someone other than me.

~~~
mezod
hey, I am really interested in learning more. I am working on something very
similar. I have already developed some apps in this direction but I am going
for a new iteration. I am just curious about your approach. The "it
classifies" means the app does it automatically? How do you go about that? do
you have something online?

~~~
a1exyz
Im still learning/building. I will link you when I have something more
substantial to show. For the first iteration, I am making it with d3.js -
something like this:
[https://bl.ocks.org/mbostock/3127661b6f13f9316be745e77fdfb08...](https://bl.ocks.org/mbostock/3127661b6f13f9316be745e77fdfb084)
where each note will be a point. The placement of the notes on screen will be
generated by the classifier model. So all bookmarks should be in one cluster,
all hobby aspirations in another cluster. I may even use k-means to cluster
them.

Then when a classification is incorrect, the user can drag the item to another
location so that it is where it should be which will trigger a callback to re-
train the classifier model so that it can continually improve.

As far as the classification itself goes, check out this recent HN thread:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14733562](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14733562)

Finally, Id love to hear about your iteration, what were you thinking? (feel
free to pm me as well)

~~~
mezod
nice! So, you are going more for the "mind map" approach right? I am a bit
confused now. So links, notes, blog posts, and other 'items' you named on your
first answer would be nodes here? I see how it would be very easy to find the
category you are looking for, but how would that visualization help at the
time to find a specific node? When you said "blog posts", "articles",
"projects" where you mostly meaning a way to link to them, or to embed them
into the app itself? In other words, is this a bookmarking tool or also a
publishing/blog tool?

My idea is quite in a different direction. My best solution so far is
[http://multikanban.com](http://multikanban.com) . It really is just a
personally customized kanban board. But it lets me navigate through multiple
boards, each board is a project/goal/collection of tasks (maybe like your
'categories'?). Inside each board I store several things, notes, bookmarks,
etc. And due to it being a kanban it helps me in the progress of getting it
done too. Getting it done might mean several things, for example I have a
Kanban board for books I want to read, so getting something done there means I
just read a book. It serves both the purpose to see what I want to do, and
what I've done, ad it helps me prioritise it too. However, it has lots of
limitations.

Even though I'm quite happy with that solution, I want to complement it with
something more along the lines of blog/publishing. I do have a blog, but I
barely write there. I want to find something in between the small notes and
the long blog posts. Which serves the purpose of storing thoughts, links, and
categorizing it with tags, but without each entry needing to be a post, as we
are used to in common blogs. I'm still conceiving it...if that wasn't obvious
yet haha

~~~
a1exyz
Yep, every item would be a node. Similar items like bookmarks would be in 1
cluster while blog posts would be in another.

As far as publishing, its mainly for my own personal use, for me to organize
my thoughts, bookmarks, aspirations, etc. Im not sure how to integrate that
part (what a visitor might see)

I started on this road because I have a lot of notes in a variety of
apps/files on different devices and every three months or so, I write them all
down on a big whiteboard to see any common threads/themes, and to try and
reorganize/prioritize my life. Its very helpful but every time I do it I have
re-erase the whiteboard. This is a more permanent tool to replace that need.

However, finding a specific node might be tricky. Maybe something like a
search bar up top with a zoom to node function (like google maps). Or a sort
by feature? I haven't thought that out yet.

Ill try out your multikanban site and get some feedback to you. My initial
impression is that setting up a kanban board is work - work that could be
spent doing other things. To use it in the first place is a time investment. I
wonder if it could provide intermediary benefits before the long term benefit
of getting your work done more efficiently? So for instance, if you were using
it to blog somehow, and a kanban board was created just by happenstance, the
user could kill two birds with 1 stone! Anyways, Ill give it a go and let you
know what I think.

------
assafmo
[https://github.com/assafmo/SQLiteProxy](https://github.com/assafmo/SQLiteProxy)
\- sqlite over http for remote queries

[https://github.com/assafmo/DownloadMyEpisodes](https://github.com/assafmo/DownloadMyEpisodes)
\- Auto-download my shows every day

[https://github.com/assafmo/nba-espn-stats-and-info-
telegram-...](https://github.com/assafmo/nba-espn-stats-and-info-telegram-bot)
\- A telegram bot and channel with cool NBA statistics from eapn

------
ioddly
[https://github.com/ioddly/meditations](https://github.com/ioddly/meditations)

A daily todo that results in long-term stats and habit formation.

Using my own 'product' every day has been a good exercise in thinking about UX
and maintenance (I've had the same DB for several years now with little
breaking changes). It's also a responsible-way to do resume-driven development
and use something weird or unconventional just because.

~~~
mezod
haha nice, it's related to my
[https://everydaycheck.com](https://everydaycheck.com) :-)

~~~
ioddly
Aaaah, I thought your username was familiar! I was talking to 'hsribei the
other day and opined that I'd never thought of putting it up as a SaaS product
because I didn't think anyone would buy it.

I'm glad someone is putting it out there because the concept has been very
helpful to me. Hope it continues to do well.

~~~
mezod
haha awesome! :-)

~~~
hsribei
Hi guys! Small world =)

------
miloszpp
I've made Friendtainer - an app which reminds me to meet with friends often:
[http://friendtainer.com](http://friendtainer.com)

------
Kevin_S
Well, not done, but I am working on basically an information hub for myself.
Unfortunately I am not a software engineer, so I am slowly learning python to
get it set up.

Basically it will pull a variety of information and display it on a simple
website. Things like notifications for social media, my to do list, sports
scores/times, weather, etc.

It's a larger task than I realized. I'll probably never finish it tbh haha.

~~~
mezod
just divide it into subprojects and tackle them individually :P it sounds like
a dashboard tool with gadgets that you can build with time

------
asteriske
I made a python module / cli utility to collect all the log events that would
usually be emailed to me throughout the day, aggregate them, and send digests
on schedules based on their importance:
[https://github.com/asteriske/translogrify](https://github.com/asteriske/translogrify)

~~~
DeerSpotter
i love the transmuted theology :P

------
andriussev
I made [https://sysplatter.com](https://sysplatter.com). I don't know how much
other people's use cases it accomplishes but for me, I like a lot of
customization of my statistics so it helps with my other stuff.

Not really used that much by other people; didn't click at all with anyone on
HN, sadly.

------
cv0x
Deduplicated File Storage CLI with compression and encryption. Still a little
buggy, but I needed some way to slim down my data archives while still being
able to access them rather quickly.

------
wheresvic1
I built [https://ewolo.fitness](https://ewolo.fitness) \- a workout logging
tool to track my progress :)

------
Nicholas_C
I used the google directions API and Twilio to text me when my commute would
be longer than n minutes.

