[HN Gopher] Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (October 2024)
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       Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (October 2024)
        
       What are you working on? Any new ideas that you're thinking about?
        
       Author : david927
       Score  : 7 points
       Date   : 2024-10-27 22:14 UTC (46 minutes ago)
        
       | seanwilson wrote:
       | https://www.inclusivecolors.com/
       | 
       | Iterating on an accessible color palette creator, for
       | handcrafting Tailwind-style palettes of multiple swatches, where
       | you can check your colors have sufficient WCAG/ACPA color
       | contrast on a live UI mockup. You can export the colors for use
       | with Tailwind, CSS, Figma, and Adobe.
       | 
       | I started working on this because for design projects I was often
       | getting handed brand style guides that were missing thought into
       | accessible colors pairs and lacked tints/shades, where I had to
       | fill in the gaps. There's lots of color tools out there, but this
       | supports multiple swatches and checking the contrast of multiple
       | color pairs at the same time.
       | 
       | It's really only usable on desktop right now but I'd love any
       | feedback good or bad on if it's useful and what to work on next!
       | There's actually a lot of directions to go in, and it's tricky to
       | balance more features with keeping it simple. Some tips:
       | 
       | - The "Load examples" menu in the top-left lets you compare the
       | colors from Tailwind, IBM Carbon and United States Web Design
       | System.
       | 
       | - The "contrast" menu lets you see how WCAG 2 contrast checks
       | compare against APCA when "vs black/white" is turned on. WCAG 2
       | has known inaccuracies, especially for dark mode. APCA is the
       | candidate contrast method for WCAG 3 that's meant to improve on
       | this.
       | 
       | - Use the "..." menu to create a swatch based on a brand color.
       | 
       | - Use the "..." menu to "flip to dark/light palette" to create a
       | dark theme. Or just manually flip the lightness curves
       | horizontally.
        
         | porphyra wrote:
         | I'm a big fan of HSLuv and I've been looking for a way to
         | generate 12 distinct colors for data visualization, so that
         | small points in those colors against a black or dark blue
         | background will be visually distinct to everyone including my
         | red-green colorblind coworker.
        
       | dang wrote:
       | This is an ongoing experiment that david927 has been helping with
       | (thanks!). The two previous in the sequence were:
       | 
       |  _Ask HN: What are you working on (September 2024)?_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41690087 - Sept 2024 (1041
       | comments)
       | 
       |  _Ask HN: What are you working on (August 2024)?_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41342017 - Aug 2024 (1424
       | comments)
       | 
       | One thing I'd like to hone in on is that these threads aren't
       | intended for promotion, but rather for the just-because sort of
       | project, driven by idle interest or weird obsession--the sort of
       | thing people might spend their free time on.
       | 
       | I'm not sure yet what the official "rule" should be (if any), but
       | if you're working on a startup or have had attention via Show HN,
       | maybe abstain from these discussions? It wouldn't be good for the
       | thread to get taken over by things HN already has a place for.
        
       | johnea wrote:
       | I'm working on not working!
       | 
       | Isn't this what everyone is working on?
        
       | candiddevmike wrote:
       | Knitting hats. The fall/winter is when I bury myself in knitting
       | projects to fight seasonal depression and cabin fever. Audiobook
       | + knitting == bliss.
       | 
       | The work most of us do isn't tangible. You have nothing to
       | "prove" that you made something. Creating something in meat space
       | is really rewarding.
        
       | carlos-menezes wrote:
       | I'm working on a passwordless authentication SaaS.
        
       | olzhasar wrote:
       | A small cli tool that helps to clean a messy dev folder with lots
       | of git repositories:
       | 
       | https://github.com/olzhasar/mess
        
       | dom96 wrote:
       | I'm building a social network for humans[1]. I plan to make each
       | user a verified human and disallow AI content as standard. I will
       | also ensure that each human can only have one account, to
       | eliminate the ability of state actors/rich people spreading
       | online propaganda.
       | 
       | 1 - https://onlyhumanhub.com
        
         | bilsbie wrote:
         | I've been wondering about the opposite! Imagine having
         | thousands of virtual Ai followers.
        
           | sshine wrote:
           | I've always wanted to be hugely popular among nobody.
        
         | sshine wrote:
         | > _disallow AI content_
         | 
         | How do you know something is AI content?
         | 
         | It is statistically similar to human content.
         | 
         | > _each human can only have one account_
         | 
         | Sounds like you'll need some eyeball scanners.
        
           | dom96 wrote:
           | > Sounds like you'll need some eyeball scanners.
           | 
           | Nope. All I need is a passport :)
           | 
           | > How do you know something is AI content?
           | 
           | I won't. But I will certainly ban anyone who is found to
           | definitively be sharing AI content.
        
       | billconan wrote:
       | A research paper organizer
       | https://youtu.be/YjiJ_61_zzM?feature=shared
        
       | yen223 wrote:
       | https://getselectable.com/
       | 
       | I'm working on Selectable, a mobile-friendly database management
       | app, like dbeaver but for the phone.
       | 
       | Working on this project has taught me so much about how Postgres
       | works under the hood, and has given me a deeper appreciation for
       | the folks who work on database tooling in general.
        
       | bilsbie wrote:
       | Floating a startup idea where we coordinate Airbnbs to offer
       | coworking during vacant times.
        
       | koeng wrote:
       | I'm working on synthesizing a genome at home! Here is a video
       | with more details, as well as a picture of my home lab. I've
       | always wanted to build life from scratch, and I finally have a
       | chance to do it.
       | 
       | Video on what I'm doing -
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCiuS1oHnKw
       | 
       | Picture of my home lab -
       | https://x.com/koeng101/status/1844150979484319842
       | 
       | I'm trying to build a DNA assembly company right now (been lots
       | of ups and downs lately...), and one thing I need to do is
       | validate the specs of my oligo pool synthesis provider, Agilent,
       | before I release to customers / raise a seed round. So as a
       | stress-test run of my system, I'm synthesizing a genome, and am
       | thinking about trying to livestream it. The unique technology is
       | variety of ways to assemble and validate DNA from oligo pools for
       | a lot cheaper, pretty much enabling a 10x reduction in DNA
       | synthesis cost vs commercial suppliers. I've worked my ass off
       | for nearly 2 years to get to this moment and am so excited!
        
       | bilsbie wrote:
       | Pondering doing a hardware startup to offer a battery buffered
       | electric kettle.
       | 
       | 110 volt plug, 220 volt power.
       | 
       | (You could use the same concept for lots of other appliances too)
        
         | sshine wrote:
         | I have a battery-powered espresso machine.
         | 
         | It spends ~33% of its battery on one cup.
         | 
         | It sort of works if you bring pre-heated water in a thermo.
         | 
         | Heating water with conventional batteries is a terrible idea.
        
         | squidgedcricket wrote:
         | Interesting idea! Supercaps might be a better fit than
         | batteries.
        
       | babyent wrote:
       | Collaborative management software. I've got experience in this
       | space and I want to offer software that's customizable and smart.
        
       | hoerzu wrote:
       | A sidebar for LLM power users. Use one prompt to query all
       | models:
       | 
       | https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/tabgpt-ask-chatgpt-...
        
       | abe94 wrote:
       | Been working on our startup laudspeaker (an alternative to
       | firebase cloud messaging) [1] as well as trying to write more! I
       | like science fiction thrillers similar to what michael crichton
       | used to write and have been working on a story called Panopticon
       | around encryption, spycraft, and three letter agencies [2]
       | 
       | [1] https://laudspeaker.com/ ,
       | https://github.com/laudspeaker/laudspeaker [2]
       | https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VRI4X5fCUpwurUDvKmvzJpT7...
        
       | ilrwbwrkhv wrote:
       | I am building a digital replacement of all universities in the
       | world with full courses across any subject, in any language,
       | tailored to your individual learning style all.
        
       | reducesuffering wrote:
       | I'm building https://exoroad.com to help people find US places
       | that are a better match for them to move to. Like compare stats
       | on SF vs. NYC or find the warm places with good schools and low
       | crime.
        
       | bobosha wrote:
       | I'm developing an implementation of what I call Hydra - Multi-
       | Head Prediction Embeddings [1], which I believe represents the
       | next evolution in transformer architectures.
       | 
       | [1]
       | https://www.researchgate.net/publication/381009719_Hydra_Enh...
        
       | tmshapland wrote:
       | Updating some of my negative core beliefs. Years of Buddhist
       | meditation only got me so far. But two months of this new
       | technique, and I finally see a path to being able to program my
       | emotional self like I program a computer. Here's how it works.
       | 
       | Step one. Identify the negative belief you want to change. This
       | is the core belief. It is something you feel is true. For
       | example, "I am a bad manager."
       | 
       | Step two. Create a statement related to the belief that you
       | believe is not true. This is the false statement. For example,
       | "No employees Ive managed have thought I did anything right as a
       | manager."
       | 
       | Step three. This is the training step. You spend a few minutes
       | following your breathe to quiet your mind. Then you think the
       | false statement and watch the emotional reaction the mind has to
       | it. The reaction is an aversion, a kind of disgust. Then, say the
       | false statement and the core belief together. "No employees I've
       | managed have thought I did anything right as a manager. I'm a bad
       | manager." Repay the false statement and core belief together
       | again and again, watching how the mind rejects the false
       | statement and that aversion feeling lingers as the core belief is
       | thought.
       | 
       | Step four. Repeat the training step in daily sessions. During the
       | session, repeated think the false belief and core belief. The
       | session should last at least ten minutes. The daily sessions
       | should be repeated for at least a week, and longer for more
       | deeply held core beliefs. Over time, you come to reject the core
       | belief just like you reject the false statement.
       | 
       | Here's why I think it works. There is a rational part of the mind
       | in the prefrontal cortex. It is what we think with. But it is not
       | where our beliefs are. We can rationalize our way to a new belief
       | or to change a belief. Instead, beliefs are felt. And they're
       | felt in the limbic emotional part of the brain. The limbic system
       | is mute and cannot think with words. The prefrontal cortex can't
       | directly talk to the limbic system with words. Instead, the
       | prefrontal cortex must communicate with emotion. You have to
       | train the limbic system to feel differently about a belief. You
       | can't use positive affirmations because they are not felt as
       | strongly as aversion.
        
       | laurentlb wrote:
       | https://lingostories.org (not a business, just a side-project,
       | entirely free)
       | 
       | I'm building a website with interactive stories (or story-based
       | games), intended for language learners. The idea is to make
       | stories with choices (using Ink script), including features you
       | may expect from adventure games (e.g. inventory, choices that
       | matter).
       | 
       | The text is written in simple language, it is then translated in
       | many languages, and I generate audio files. This provides input
       | for people learning a language, with multiple options to practice
       | reading or listening.
        
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       (page generated 2024-10-27 23:01 UTC)