
Ask HN: What are you working on right now and why is it cool? - sirroberttables
Last one was a few months ago--https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=8122731
======
christiangenco
[http://dbinbox.com](http://dbinbox.com)

I don't really consider the project itself to be objectively cool (it lets you
receive files that are too big to send over email directly to your Dropbox
folder - you can send files up to 1 GB to me at
[http://dbinbox.com/cgenco](http://dbinbox.com/cgenco)), but it's really cool
to me personally because:

* it's the first project I implemented payments through Stripe with (which is an amazingly cool API)

* it's the first side project that's generated enough revenue to quit my day job

* it gives me an active excuse to make other, cooler things that will eventually spin off as their own projects (like a cheaper Mailchimp integrated with Rails on SES)

* it's the first time I've ever needed to scale beyond one server, so I get to learn all about multi-server deployments and keeping your data (on RDS) separate from your app servers separate from your worker servers

* I'm getting _really_ good at chugging through support emails, and thereby email in general. I've got a really nice inbox 0 flow going on that I plan to write about soon

I also now get to work whenever I want, take as much time off as I want, and
not overanalyze small purchases because it's likely I'll get a notification
from Stripe that I've just received an order of magnitude more money than I'm
deliberating over.

It's a blast :D

~~~
dshuang
Congrats on your revenue milestone! How did you come to think of this product?

~~~
christiangenco
I was studying abroad in Australia and didn't bring any flash drives with me.
One of the labs (or tutorials, as they call them) had us working on files on
the. School computers. I needed to send them to myself somehow, but didn't
want to log in to my email or Dropbox to upload them because I didn't feel
like the computers were very secure.

I hacked up the first version in a few days and used it for the rest of the
semester, then promptly forgot about it until it started getting blogged about
:p

------
archagon
Tasty Imitation Keyboard ([https://github.com/archagon/tasty-imitation-
keyboard](https://github.com/archagon/tasty-imitation-keyboard)), a basic
replica of the default iPhone keyboard written in Swift. Features include a
close approximation of the keyboard appearance on all iPhones, entirely
programmatic art and layout, auto-capitalization, a built-in settings screen,
and easy extensibility. I've already used it to write a transliterating
Cyrillic keyboard and get it into the App Store[1], and I intend to update it
whenever I release new keyboards or patch my existing ones. Code is messy, but
I needed to get it out the door.

In the grand scheme of things it's not much, but as my first "real" open-
source project, I'm pretty proud of it! There are a few other "looks like the
system keyboard"-type keyboards in the App Store, and mine knocks them out of
the park.

(I'm also working on a blog post about the pains involved in building a 3rd
party iOS keyboard.)

[1]: Translit Keyboard, [http://translit-
keyboard.archagon.net](http://translit-keyboard.archagon.net)

------
bobbylox
A fantasy videogame that teaches programming (within the game referred to as
magic) to kids, and especially girls.
[http://codemancergame.com](http://codemancergame.com)

It's cool for many reasons. 1\. It's a game, so that's cool. 2\. Magic is
programming (and vice versa)! I invented a minimal visual programming language
for the game. 3\. The current cultural context for technology is forbidding to
some, so pulling the skill-building out of that context, and into a fantasy
world, is more inclusive than most ways of getting started in programming. 4\.
An author is working on a companion book to go along with the game. 5\. I've
also promised an online course, 'Python for Codemancers' that will help people
who beat the game transfer their skills into a real-world programming
language.

[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bobbylox/codemancer-
a-f...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bobbylox/codemancer-a-fantasy-
game-that-teaches-the-magic-o)

------
convivialdingo
Unnamed social network (#deHashed for now)

A p2p social network that utilizes djb's curve25519 crypto elements for a
fully anonymous network. Almost all networking avoids the use of servers(a DHT
server is used to locate initial nodes). A distributed hash table is used to
route messages to avoid metadata tagging. All networks are established with
ephemeral DH, all operations use authenticated & signed packets. All
networking is over UDP for now.

New connections are made person to person using QR codes on screen which are
also DH encrypted PKI signatures used as DH keys. Connections can also be
established by exchanging random word sentences or having a friend sign your
signature and vouch. Either way, we avoid all MITM attacks.

I have a few ideas to monetize, inluding secure distribution of content (micro
payments), integration with bitcoin and opt-in advertising. Again, users can
participate as they like and we won't ever force content on users without
asking first.

Aiming for basic functional iOS and OSX beta in December.

~~~
hndude
I'd like to help you work on this. Would that be doable?

~~~
convivialdingo
I'd be happy to have help. Contact me at gmail (same as my username).

------
rgbrgb
Open Listings: [https://www.openlistings.co/](https://www.openlistings.co/)

We're trying to change the way people buy homes to make home ownership easier
and more affordable. Basically if you want to put an offer in on a house,
we'll represent you in the transaction and we refund you the majority of our
commission (which is typically 3% of the sale price). We can charge
dramatically less than a traditional realtor because we're not physically
driving around and looking for the house with you (there are a plethora of
apps that make that part easy to do on your own). Saving 3% may not sound like
a lot but if you put it in the context of a typical 15-20% down payment, it's
15-20% of the upfront cost of purchasing a home. Put your refund into
overpaying your mortgage and the savings is compounded.

This problem feels important because home ownership is essential to community
-- it's hard to feel a sense of equity in your community when you have no
literal equity. The data also supports this, numerous studies have shown a
strong inverse correlation between home ownership rates and crime rates.

~~~
mrfusion
How do buyers view the house without an agent? I asked the sellers agent to
show me a house once and they wouldn't do it unless I used them as my buying
agent also :-(

~~~
rgbrgb
It's quite common to go to open houses without an agent or to ask the sellers
agent to show you around.

What that sellers agent was telling you sounds illegal, and I'd be very
surprised if they wouldn't show you the house if you insisted on not having
another agent there. They have a fiduciary duty to get offers and show all of
them to the seller they are representing.

------
MarketMatrix
MarketMatrix:
[http://marketmatrix.edgecapture.com](http://marketmatrix.edgecapture.com)

It's an app for the iPad that lets you watch tons of assets at the same time
in the stock market. It also has voice alerts for economic calendar events.

HN really isn't the target audience for this product, but I'm looking to find
people who'd give feedback and help me evolve the feature set. I'm trying to
make the app something where news, signals, and market events convert into
easy-to-spot effects on a tile grid. The app is cool because the app lets you
visualize relationships between assets and it lets you construct those groups
yourself. Oh, and the tiles in the app drift around in response to the market
during the day, so you can see relationships evolve.

The challenge with making this app though is that everyone has a different
broker for realtime data sources and different inputs, so I'm trying to work
with different types of traders to help me craft something that is more
generally usable by everyone and not just me.

------
brickcap
Great thread this :)

I am working on wrinq, an application that allows tenants to pay their rent
online. I think it's cool because it makes it convenient for tenant to pay his
rent and for the landlord by taking care of bookkeeping and reminders. I am
set for a launch in December.

Also I am working on an openresty book[2] (definitely an openresty guide)
which also should be complete by December. The official docs for openresty are
very good but when I was starting out I struggled with a few things(like
ngx.location.capture) so the goal of this book is to help someone who is new
by quickly showing him some core concepts. I think that a lot of people who
already use nginx can benefit a lot by using openresty.

[1][http://www.wrinq.com/](http://www.wrinq.com/)

[2][http://www.staticshin.com/programming/definitely-an-open-
res...](http://www.staticshin.com/programming/definitely-an-open-resty-guide/)

~~~
boca
Wrinq is an interesting idea that even I had thought about earlier. I pay my
rent using a personal check which the landlord then encashes at the bank. I
will prefer to pay my rent online using a credit or debit card. But from a
landlord's perspective, wouldn't it incur an additional processing fee if
he/she were to start accepting a credit/debit card thereby reducing the net
amount for him/her? The only way for it work for the landlord would be to
increase the rent which I, as a tenant, will not like. I understand there's
convenience but don't think it would justify a rent increase of 3% (average
credit card processing fee) which can be a lot depending on where you are. How
are you handling this problem? I know some landlords already have the option
of paying by credit/debit card. It may work out in case of a new tenant but
what about existing tenants? How does the landlord or you as a service
provider justify the not-so-insignificant increase for them?

~~~
brickcap
Good questions. Before I started building wrinq I surveyed landlords and
tenants:-

1\. Some of them flat out refused to use such a service. As you say the
increase in costs was a detriment to them.

2\. Some tenants said that it would be a very good idea and they would not
mind paying higher rent if it meant that it was more convenient for them to
pay.

Group #1 were people who had a family to support and increase in cost was
significant. Group #2 were single persons with high salaries and 30-100
additional monthly cost meant nothing to them (this includes the fees of wrinq
as well).

I also discovered a third group of people. Landlords who were willing to take
in less rent if it meant that their tenants were happier. These people did not
keep tenants for profit but for company and maintenance of their properties
("better than it being empty and gathering dust") so I will be targeting
groups #2 and #3.

Also I think you can have a tremendous advantage if you look for landlords
locally and offer them additional services. Like I have tied up with a few
agents in my locality so when the existing tenants leave I am going to make
sure that the landlords find new ones quickly without any difficulties. This
way I promise new business to agents, good tenants to landlords and continuous
income stream to myself.

Finally tie up with your local banks. Despite what most people think banks
these days are quite open do business with individuals. They can offer you a
proprietary api for a small upfront fees (and lot lesser transaction charges)
which you can use to lower your charges. But don't do this at first. This
should be a last resort when you have exhausted other methods or if you want
to grow your market to group #1.

Anyway don't give up on the idea. Talk to people in your locality maybe you
can discover some other ways that you can help them besides collecting rent.

~~~
boca
Appreciate the detailed explanation. It's very helpful. Since I hadn't done
any customer validation, I guess I was just going by my own use case (married
with 2 kids - group #1) as a reference. Now I understand and agree with you on
#2 and #3. I really like what you are doing by working with agents and the
idea of reaching out to local banks. Wish you all the best with Wrinq and the
openresty book.

~~~
brickcap
Thank you :)

------
dturnbull
A sequel to my book about the Meteor JavaScript framework.

This was the first: [http://meteortips.com](http://meteortips.com)

But since that one just hit its 2nd edition, I'm keen to talk about topics I'm
yet to cover. Lots of work ahead though.

:)

------
frading
[https://www.printmosaic.com/contest/events/1-November](https://www.printmosaic.com/contest/events/1-November)

I added a contest to my startup PrintMosaic
([https://www.printmosaic.com](https://www.printmosaic.com)).

It is cool because some people will be able to win free posters and free high
resolution images for Christmas.

To enter, you need to create a mosaic and apply with it. Creating a mosaic is
easy and is done in 2 steps (1. Choose your main image and 2. Choose the small
images)

The winner is the mosaic with the most votes. So you need to invite your
friends to vote for yours if you want to win.

------
ASquare
PlanitWide: [http://planitwide.com](http://planitwide.com)

It's cool because it solves the biggest pain points associated with finding
travel information & creating realistic itineraries

Even everyone's favorite search engine(s)contributes to the issue of
findability more than most people realize.

Wrote about the problems related to search in more detail here:
[http://blog.planitwide.com/thing-will-take-pain-planning-
tri...](http://blog.planitwide.com/thing-will-take-pain-planning-trips-
part-1-4/?hvid=6vfEii)

Subscribe if you think travel planning is stressful/painful/inefficient :)

------
maresca
Flocal : [http://goflocal.com](http://goflocal.com) \- Craigslist meets Tinder

[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flocal/id894416534?mt=8&uo=4](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flocal/id894416534?mt=8&uo=4)

It's a lot better than craigslist. It's quicker and easier to use. Immediately
see how far away a post is. There's no registrations or signins. Every post
has a pic and location, so you won't see a lot of the junk you see on
craigslist where someone posts something with no map, no pic, and no address
in the post.

------
dangrossman
Improvely: [https://www.improvely.com](https://www.improvely.com)

Conversion tracking and click fraud monitoring for online ads. I've been
working on it for about two years.

Over the past few weeks I gave it an API, which was a major milestone feature
on my long-term TODO list. Adding an API opens up a new market segment for me,
since many SaaS customers weren't able to track customer lifetime value well
without one.

I also set up 'real' load balancing for the first time. Round robin DNS,
HAProxy on all the frontend boxes, and a new sharding & replication setup for
the databases.

------
friddz
[http://plstats.com](http://plstats.com)

A site showing stats from the English Premier League that you do not see on
the usual football sites. You can for example easily see how a team is doing
compared to the same fixtures last season
([http://plstats.com/#/ComparedToLastSeason/Liverpool](http://plstats.com/#/ComparedToLastSeason/Liverpool)).

It's cool because this is my first try at a passive income (ads) and its
mostly built using tools/frameworks I have never used before: Go, MongoDB,
AngularJS, Bootstrap, Amazon EC2.

------
toumhi
I’m working on a book to help startups get more and better user feedback
(especially in the early days when you have a beta or launched recently).

You can sign up and get a discount when the book is out right here:
[http://www.saasfoundry.io/feedback-
foundry/](http://www.saasfoundry.io/feedback-foundry/)

Every one realizes the importance of user feedback to get their product in the
right direction, but there’s lot of confusion on how you get useful insights
and not just random noise.

------
adam_h
Flownote: [https://flownote.io](https://flownote.io)

Note taking and sketching software that aims to be as easy to use as a paper
notebook, with the benefit that you can have a hierarchy of notebooks and you
can share, search and export your notes. That's what makes it cool. It also
has markdown support and a really clean user interface.

After getting some initial user feedback and then changing and fixing a few
things, I'm mainly working on the UI at the moment.

~~~
convivialdingo
Looking really good! I like it.

------
ifcologne
ArangoDB, an open source NoSQL database that supports documents, key/values
and graphs in one tool.

[https://www.arangodb.com/key-features](https://www.arangodb.com/key-features)

Why is it cool?

You start with a few requirements, than learn something new about your
business and your customers every day.

With the multi-model approach of ArangoDB you can adapt and change your data
model, join between edges and documents and even extend the database by
Javascript.

------
wise_young_man
UserDeck: [http://userdeck.com](http://userdeck.com)

Embedded customer support software that works with your existing website.

The first product we have is Guides, an knowledge base that you add to any
page of your site and inherits the styling and blends right in.

We're looking for more users to provide feedback and pain points they
experience in other tools as we build more products like ticketing and live
chat in a tightly integrated way.

------
gesman
Advanced security analytics app for banking/financial Web application capable
of scanning 10,000,000 events per second to discover attack vectors, such as
sources of shellshock attacks, SQL injection attacks and similar, and present
results in half dozen highly detailed tables and charts.

It's nice to see that something that I built in 2 weeks brings as much
benefits as crappier looking multi-million dollar solutions.

------
aegabriel
Streamkeys: [http://www.streamkeys.com](http://www.streamkeys.com)

It's a Google Chrome extension that lets you control a bunch of online music
players using global hotkeys.

It's cool because it's open source! And there are quite a few contributors
adding new sites to the extension which is great :). Also, people seem to like
it and find it useful.

~~~
analogmind
This is great! I'm always switching back and forth between tabs! Thanks! Why
does the app wants to read browser history though?

~~~
aegabriel
I make use of the chrome.tabs API which (in theory) could be used to store and
track a user's browser history, which is why Chrome has started displaying
these messages.

Of course the extension isn't actually doing this :). I'm using the
chrome.tabs API as a way of communicating to individual tabs in Chrome. If you
are interested the extension source is here:
[https://github.com/berrberr/streamkeys](https://github.com/berrberr/streamkeys)

------
aroberge
Probably too late to get noticed, but here it is:

[http://reeborg.ca/world.html](http://reeborg.ca/world.html) is a "Karel the
Robot clone" with advanced features. It's completely free (no login required)
and I have no plans to monetize it.

It enables programming in Python, Javascript or CoffeeScript.

The home page links to some programming tutorials.

------
Concours
[https://www.feedsapi.org/](https://www.feedsapi.org/)

It's an all-in-one realtime monitoring and curation SaaS. Here are some of the
cool things you can do with it:

* Turn shortened RSS feeds to Full Text RSS Feeds

* Curate feeds based on Keywords and ReGex

* Convert RSS to JSON on the fly and via an API

* Push RSS News alerts to any emaik inbox in real-time and a couple of other cool things.

------
lgmspb
Staply: [https://staply.co](https://staply.co)

It is basically a file messenger. It's cool because it lets you turn files and
links you share into one easy to read feed. So that later you would know who
sent what, when and why. Think of it as a shared folder with a messenger
built-in. It also looks and works great.

------
JSeymourATL
Kickstarter: Great organic coffee direct from farmers (cut out the middle
man). 100% Farmer Owned >
[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/640878266/coffeecsaorg-...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/640878266/coffeecsaorg-100-farmer-
owned-organic-coffee-compa?ref=nav_search)

------
purans
[http://intomoviesapp.com](http://intomoviesapp.com), Community for movie and
TV show fans. Right now only available for iOS platform but also working on
android. Please try it out!

------
iSloth
Subnet Cheatsheet (only home page works) -
[http://subnet.im](http://subnet.im)

Because I'm fed up with poorly designed alternatives that are out there and
can never remember the URL's

