Ask HN: Looking for side project ideas - <AUTHOR> Hi HN, As I programmer I lack ideas what side project ideas should i try to make skillset strong <comment><USER3> The best products happen at the intersection of an existing niche you are some level of expert in already and a technology that has not yet been adopted in that niche.

I've found one approach work very well with my mentees:

\- Figure out which "special interest groups" you are part of beyond software engineering. That can be "aquarium owner", "coffee lover", "morning person", "diligent grandson" — the less technical, the better.

\- Among these "niches", find the ones that could benefit from a transfer of technology, like (spitballing here) "teachers who work from home" (education niche) + "automated submission and pre-grading of homework" could work (digital document collection and rule-based checking logic), or "aquarium owner" \+ "nitrate cycle tracking IoT device" (hardware-enabled analytics) + "optimal light scheduling" (machine-learning-supported recommendation engine).

Do that for all the groups you're part of, and you will find lots of ideas that aren't just "scratch-your-own-itch". They are 'scratch-an-itch-you- understand-and-know-how-to-remedy'.

<comment><USER4> _" teachers who work from home" (education niche) + "automated submission and pre-grading of homework"_

I homeschooled for a lot of years and my first blog was a homeschooling blog. I was involved with The TAG Project as part of supporting my homeschooling and I really hate this idea.

"Teaching to the test" is terrible teaching. Multi-guess answers aren't good ways to test student knowledge. They are just convenient for a teacher who needs to grade 25+ students.

Please don't run around thinking of yet more ways to making it nominally more convenient and easy for individual teachers to process tests or homework or whatever from large numbers of students. This is not a way to enhance the transfer of knowledge to the future generation and is also not a good credentialing method.

There are cool things being done with tech in the education space. There are people going online and learning things they want to learn because there are rich materials available for free. But they don't look anything like "pre- grading of homework" for teachers.

<comment><USER3> I think there are two great arguments here: nobody needs tools that perpetuate a vanishing system and there are lots of interesting things happening in EdTech. While I am grateful for your example, I would like to offer a different perspective.

I know of a university teacher who is looking into solving the arduous task of grading without going crazy. I approve of a tool being built to facilitate this.

I am torn on this issue as well: I strongly dislike formal education, with it following a metric of "teaching to the test" and "learning to test instead of retention." I wish that there was more systemic change towards a different way of assessment.

But not for one second will I assume to know what is best for the teachers in that space. If building a pre-grading (which is merely an example here) can help them shave off an hour of tedious work a day, I think it's a valid side project idea. It may even be a valid business idea.

The project that changed my life[1] was an EdTech productivity system that generated student feedback for online teachers working with young students in China. Student feedback as text-only is a horrible way of communicating individualized instruction. Yet we help teachers speed up that process, which allowed them to do one thing: teach more. Be more present in the classroom. Foster stronger relationships.

I would argue that making anything nominally more convenient is a good thing: it removes an inconvenience so that things that matter can take place. No teacher would call teaching inconvenient. Lots of them would call admin stuff very inconvenient.

Again, it's not about "teaching to the test" per see. It's about removing barriers to allow for meaningful, accomplished, and impactful work.

[1] [https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/from-founding-to-exit- in-...](https://thebootstrappedfounder.com/from-founding-to-exit-in-two-years- the-feedbackpanda-story/)

<comment><USER4> _I know of a university teacher who is looking into solving the arduous task of grading without going crazy. I approve of a tool being built to facilitate this._

This is a different thing to me and a better suggestion: Solve the problem of someone you personally know whose work you believe in.

That's completely different in my mind from "pull some generic education- related blurb off the internet and build that." Even if, nominally, the two projects sound like exactly the same thing.

In practice, they probably aren't remotely the same thing, which is part of why we have memes like "Ideas are worthless. Execution is everything."

<comment><USER3> Thanks for clarifying this. I agree with this, one hundred percent. I think that if you're not an education expert or enthusiast, you'd better go look for problems to solve somewhere else — which was the premise of my original comment. It pains me every time I see someone building a business without the passion to help their audience.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Please steal any of my ideas! :)

[https://www.dailyidea.com/ideas/eric](https://www.dailyidea.com/ideas/eric)

Some software ones that I like:

1\. A nicer web viewer for Google Spreadsheets - [https://www.dailyidea.com/ideas/d239cea3-7d1b-429f-afd4-ab9d...](https://www.dailyidea.com/ideas/d239cea3-7d1b-429f-afd4-ab9da1e91278/c578a367-0fd0-4185-ab73-136ccfc07601)

2\. Airbnb guest guidebook creator - [https://www.dailyidea.com/ideas/d239cea3-7d1b-429f-afd4-ab9d...](https://www.dailyidea.com/ideas/d239cea3-7d1b-429f-afd4-ab9da1e91278/dfff0e4a-be6d-4520-8fc9-c13a98b335de)

3\. Thai writing trainer - [https://www.dailyidea.com/ideas/d239cea3-7d1b-429f-afd4-ab9d...](https://www.dailyidea.com/ideas/d239cea3-7d1b-429f-afd4-ab9da1e91278/836a1274-ab0b-4c00-a564-9b8f3c84572c)

4\. Instagram account tracker - [https://www.dailyidea.com/ideas/d239cea3-7d1b-429f-afd4-ab9d...](https://www.dailyidea.com/ideas/d239cea3-7d1b-429f-afd4-ab9da1e91278/9ce392fa- dacf-4bbd-9094-40e85bd358e6)

<comment><USER6> I am stealing a few Eric.

<comment><USER5> Please do!

Some of these I just really want to exist, so let me know when you do execute so I can be your first customer too! :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> MAL - Make a Lisp [0]. This one has been discussed on HN before - its where I found it. I completed it last year (from Jan to May 2019) and ended up with Lisp-a-like interpreter written in C# that is sophisticated enough to self- host (i.e. it can interpret and run itself). I picked it up again when the lockdown started and I am now using it to re-implement some of the classic AI systems described in Paradigms of AI Programming [1]. I almost have Eliza (the first chatbot, from 1966!) running, which has necessitated some thinking because MAL is closer to Clojure than the Common Lisp used in PAIP. I'm also implementing what is in effect a standard library of useful MAL functions.

What I got from MAL was much better knowledge of C#, better insights into the power of lisp-like languages, some intense satisfaction when I managed some of the more complex stages, etc. MAL is progressive, supported by 100s of tests, and an amazing array of reference implementations in a huge number of different programming languages.

[Edit] My side-project before MAL involved downloading the Unity game engine and using it to explore the different aspects of game development. I discovered that I really enjoyed asset creation and in particular lighting and shader design, and (long story short - totally bizarre trajectory) ended up creating a tutorial for the Octane render engine that has had actual sales! If I was going to look at games again I'd probably start with a simpler engine such as Godot [2]

[0] [https://github.com/kanaka/mal/blob/master/process/guide.md](https://github.com/kanaka/mal/blob/master/process/guide.md)

[1] [https://github.com/norvig/paip-lisp](https://github.com/norvig/paip-lisp)

[2] [https://godotengine.org/](https://godotengine.org/)

<comment><USER8> I recommend giving Godot a look, I really like it and have been using it for small side-projects for about half a year now. I did have no "real" prior experience with unity and unreal though.

<comment><USER7> Yes - Godot looks interesting because it is simpler and seems more stable than Unity now. Coincidentally this was discussed recently on HN [0]. A lot has changed since I used Unity two years ago and it seemed easier to start from scratch with a simpler environment (Godot) rather than figure out all of the things that have changed in Unity.

[0] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23271973](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23271973)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> 1\. Write down the apps on your phone or computer that you use the most. If you want to bootstrap a profitable business, I recommend listing the apps you use for work.

2\. Write down the one feature for each app that you use the most within that app.

3\. Write down what slightly annoys you about that one feature

4\. Build the product around the one feature you feel you can cook up quickly and that will benefit your workflow

<comment><USER10> My story. I used to use news API services for my side projects. One day, I realized that I can build my own service that will be both, best quality (like real multilanguage support), and cheap.

8 months into it, it is my full-time job and we are releasing our first paid version (post-beta). We have 600 subscribers (beta-testers) and some people claiming they will become paid clients.

It is a huge experience in both, business and tech sides.

So, I would say the most important things are:

* forget "ideas"

* resolve your personal problem that you understand well

* always make a (side-)project with which you can charge people (making it "free" is just an excuse for not making something of good quality - 99.9% of cases)

* to the previous bullet point, you either ship a final solution that has business value for someone, or you are wasting your time (because no one can tell if it is of value or not (by paying))

Product: newscatcherapi.com

<comment><USER11> On side, does newscaptureapi provide author information i.e. name of author bare minimum, email will be great. And also how you tackle copyright issues?

<comment><USER10> We provide the author(s) name when possible. No email. Regarding the copyright - no. It looks like a grey area as long as you do not return the full article's text body

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I would probably get downvoted for this..

It's very rare to find those "scratch your own itch problems", the solution to that itch is most likely a google search away.

Pick a good product that you use and clone it. Keep an open mind because you can never copy the entire business since there is only so much you can see. Atleast you get some direction to start and you know that you are not trapped in building something people don't want.

Since you mentioned making your skillset strong(technical?), either way you win by just starting something.

<comment><USER13> I'm not a SWE, but this is how I sometimes make music if I'm starting without an idea.

Take a song you love—or even a song you've just heard 15 seconds of—and try to recreate it, but _extremely_ loosely, taking as many liberties as possible exploring directions the initial inspiration leads you towards.

More often than not, it'll morph into something unrecognizable compared to the source inspiration, and quickly become it's own thing.

Staring at a blank sheet of paper, or the the void of limitless options, is frozen death. Give yourself a limited toolset and an inspired spark of imagination to get yourself going, and incredible things are possible.

<comment><USER14> I discovered a long time ago that I often get lyric ideas while listening to other songs, usually in the car. What I find interesting is that most of the time the ideas that pop into my head are completely unrelated to the lyrics of the song I'm listening to.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Do something challenging but not too challenging. It should be hard enough that you can learn something without being so hard that you give up.

Some classic computer science project ideas:

\- Build a path tracer. Physically-based rendering is a topic with lots of information on the Internet. It requires some math, but at least it's fun math :)

\- Write an operating system kernel. It doesn't have to work on real hardware, just QEMU. You could even run it on a very old PC, Raspberry Pi, or TI calculator. This is a good introduction to how OSs work. Again, there's lots of courses and pages full of information online.

\- Write your own programming language. Combine ideas from existing languages. You can make an interpreter, a JIT compiler, a single-pass compiler, a nanopass compiler, or something completely different.

\- Combine multiple projects! Make your own programming language run on your own operating system and write a path tracer in your own language! Be creative, have fun, and learn useful stuff.

<comment><USER16> > a nanopass compiler

Got any good resources on this that aren't focused on the Nanopass Framework?

<comment><USER15> No, I don't, unfortunately. I haven't tried writing this kind of compiler myself, although I would like to at some point.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I'm currently working on a progressive web application for support workers in care homes.

I've seen through first hand experience how much paperwork there is in this setting (daily outcome charts, medicine administration records, abnormal behaviour records, dietary and fluid intake, etc) and how many clerical errors there are. I've also seen first hand the key-document-dependency there can be around service user files, communication notification booklets for staff, etc, where changes often happen synchronously and are forgotten because the document isn't available in the moment.

I've spent the last 4 months or so taking a sabbatical from working as a software engineer to work for £9.00/hour at a support home for people with mental and physical disabilities (think Down's syndrome or people who are unable to live in an independent setting). As a result I now know an awful lot about this setting, the people who work in this industry, the minimum feature set I would need and the legislative landscape these companies operate in.

The best way to find a profitable side project is to become familiar with a none-technical discipline which is direly in need of modernisation. If you don't want to take time out of work, then choose an industry (it could be tree felling, red-brick manufacturing, shale oil extraction or solar panel installation) and figure out what the problems are plaguing the companies, staff or end customers.

There are so many $1,000,000,000 companies out there just waiting to be founded in areas which are considered unsexy and don't involve yet-another-to- do-list application. Find one company, with one problem, fix the problem, there's your profitable side gig.

<comment><USER18> Hi this sounds really interesting - I'm currently doing a PWA for a completely different industry and use case (enterprise sales), but I'd love to compare notes sometime - especially on ios & ipados side.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> \- Make things that solve problems you have.

\- Make things that seem interesting/fun to you.

Borrowing ideas from other people seems unlikely to be very engaging, and making things just to learn skills has the same problem.

Lacking side project ideas seems kind of incomprehensible to me, as I have far more ideas than I could ever put into practice, even if I didn't need to work for a living. Therefore, I suspect you do have suitable ideas, but maybe aren't recognising them as such for some reason?

Scripting repetitive or annoying things is an easy place to start. Maybe start with simple website-improver GreaseMonkey scripts, to fix things that bug you, or make your life easier?

<comment><USER20> There is an initial phase, where a creative person is just starting out. In this phase ideas are rare and sometimes seem precious.

I don't quite understand what happens but after a while this phase passes. I think one of the core factors might be just doing stuff out of curiosity, playing, implementing things that are your own, fueled by curiosity.

Then, day after day you get showered in ideas. Good ones, crazy ones, boring ones. All kinds of solutions or new ways of doing things come to mind.

Today I find it much more challenging to filter and evaluate ideas than to get them.

Some important virtues that help in both cases: patience, practice, playfulness. Also respect of other people's work.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> Consider building completely ridiculous, useless things. It removes any mental pressures towards commercialization/viability and shifts the activity from more like work to more like art, which can open up space to flex the skills you want to flex.

<comment><USER22> This. Have fun and create.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> I don't want you to take this personally, but your post seems very low effort. How can we devote time to helping you if you only put 10 seconds into making this post without reviewing it?

For one, writing skills are important. You will have a hard time selling your project to anyone on its merits if you write incomplete sentences with lackluster English.

Second, you haven't taken the time to list out what your strengths and domains are, therefore HN can't leverage its vast knowledge to point you in the right direction.

If you want to build a useful project, you'll need to be more detail oriented and persuasive than your post here. Take the time to do things right. Feedback is worth its weight in gold, and you've given us zero to offer feedback upon except for your scanty quick query.

<comment><USER24> I love how your points make sense and seem reasonable at the same time that they were completely irrelevant to attract the right audience and feedback from the community.

A foreigner does not need a perfect English (or English at all) to create and sell a product in their countries. Please keep in mind this is an international community.

Foreigners should not be discouraged because of a broken English.

<comment><USER25> This is not a "foreigner" or "broken English" problem. I agree with the parent that this was a low-effort post. No details were included, neither emotional nor technical nor interests.

<comment><USER24> My point still stands. None of that prevented the post from reaching the front page and bringing a lot of good insights. This is a good reminder that we, as humans, sometimes focus on irrelevant things.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> What tasks do you do manually in your life/job that is boring? Automate it wherever possible.

Help users of nonprofits understand them better - watsi, Kiva etc share data that can be visualized in a variety of ways.

Teach (blog, video etc) - this is especially effective in topics you already know, but have gaps. Teaching forces you to clear those gaps.

Do exercises from project Euler, Rosetta etc

<comment><USER27> Probably a bigger time commitment than implied, but the UN [0] and code for america [1] list volunteer opportunities.

[0] [https://www.onlinevolunteering.org/en/opportunities?f[0]=fie...](https://www.onlinevolunteering.org/en/opportunities?f\[0\]=field_task_id:5)

[1] [https://brigade.codeforamerica.org/?_ga=2.40007591.405176958...](https://brigade.codeforamerica.org/?_ga=2.40007591.405176958.1590326457-721959622.1589632620)

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> I counted at least six mistakes in your question text, so I would recommend you to work on your writing skills. Luckily, writing is a universally useful skill, and almost any side project you pick should give you an opportunity to practice writing.

<comment><USER29> So you decided the best way to help was to scold OP about his English mistakes.

<comment><USER28> Come on. They asked for advice on which skills to improve. I know nothing about them except that they seem to struggle to piece together a sentence.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> If your goal is to 'make skillset strong', then I assume your want to learn. It's hard for us to guess what your interests are, so the most straightforward advice would be to join an open-source project that uses the desired technologies (language, framework, etc.) and go from there.

There's usually an issue-tracker and mailing list for the project to get some contact with other devs.

Pick an issue that has attention and which you feel you can understand. Replicate it, then try to solve it.

It's impossible __not__ to aquire new professional knowledge in such process.

It's also ok, to drop it and try to find another project, perhaps, more up to your present skill level.

The more you try, the more you'll learn...about yourself.

</comment><comment><USER31> I think it's important to find feasible projects. A full stack project will probably be left unfinished. A way to find projects is to do tasks that you'd at work if you didn't have deadlines and were allowed to do more exploratory work.

That said. If you like nodejs, you might try to do a Babel plugin. They would allow you to do meta programming and it's an area mostly unexplored (because of the great breadth). In my case that was [https://github.com/furstenheim/babel-plugin-meaningful- logs](https://github.com/furstenheim/babel-plugin-meaningful-logs) to improve error messages.

If you like java and use Intellij, give it a try at creating a plugin. You'll be able to simplify your flows. Since it's mostly self tailored it will be most probably not done. It's not extremely hard, in a couple days you might have something workable. In my case it was adding support for ZPL language, which is very niche. But most probably you can find something tailored to your dev experience.

</comment><comment><USER32> What's your level? Are you a beginner or do you already have some experience?

Also: What's your language, your target market? Suggesting a backend project for a frontend language or vice versa doesn't help you much.

In general, start with a game. You can be as creative as you like, there are no limits. On the other hand, you can keep it as simple as you feel comfortable.

That said, if you have some experience, look for an open source library that needs support. You improve the library, you improve your resume and you will get constructive feedback.

</comment><comment><USER33> \- I would suggest make a small app with just basic crud operations. It should have a front-end, backend and a database and then work incrementally to the other steps mentioned below.

\- Use k8s to deploy and run your app.

\- Add more business logic where you will be needing more tools like elasticsearch, message-queues, etc.

Some examples from the top of my head are Stock Ticker app, Ticketing software like Zendesk, Food delivery App, etc.

Note: Start small, add one feature at a time.

<comment><USER34> What are the differences and pros and cons of a Database vs local storage? I'm thinking of creating a site where users can add there own urls and titles and this information should persist after the browser is closed, should I store these strings client side and tie it to there browsers local storage or tie it to some account on a database ran by me? Keep in mind there is no limit to the amount of strings a user could make and I predict there will be lots of users with at least 200 individual strings needing storage. Don't want to commit without being sure first.

<comment><USER35> If you either want to do stuff like processing or analyzing it on the backend, or let users access their data from other devices, use a database. If not, use local storage.

Local storage has the benefit of saving you bandwidth and storage cost, no matter how much your users save, and probably more privacy.

Databases on the other hand, allow you to "do stuff" with the data when the user is offline, share it through cross-device sessions and things like that. However the users can't be sure what you are doing with it.

<comment><USER34> Aight thanks for the reply will keep this in mind

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> Build an app for finding lost pets with facial recognition. Recognizing cats is the easiest thing for neural nets, yet I haven't seen it used for lost pets yet.

Basic idea, if my pet is lost, I open up your app, upload a few images of my cat and set a monetary reward. On the backend your neural net learns how that specific cat looks like, then other users of the app can snap pictures of random cats on the street and the app will tell them if that animal is lost or not. If someone snaps a picure of a lost cat, they'll get connected to the owner and the reward is transfered, the app can take a small cut of it.

<comment><USER37> Neutal nets can definitely identify cats and also tell if it is a black or white cat. But identifing a specific cat might be difficult...

<comment><USER36> Not really, human face recognition is quite accurate and humans all look identical in comparison to the diversity of cats and dogs

<comment><USER37> ... ok what approach would you use for that? Let's say you use yolo to detect th bounding box of the cat, but how do you want to identify the cat, based on your sample images?

<comment><USER36> Re-train [https://github.com/davidsandberg/facenet](https://github.com/davidsandberg/facenet) on cats?

<comment><USER37> Ok. This could work, somebody tried it for dogs ([https://github.com/GuillaumeMougeot/DogFaceNet](https://github.com/GuillaumeMougeot/DogFaceNet))...

For the problem to solve in the first place, one might use a gps-tracker for pets or something.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> It can be difficult to find a worth while idea. I feel that it is important to come up with the idea yourself so that you feel more committed to it, but that might just be me.

Look for something you are passionate about, or for something that is useful to you. The idea doesn't have to be unique or original. For example, there are apps that track your run time and distance when exercising. Some of these apps collect your data. You could create an app that tracks your run so you know your data isn't being collected by a company.

</comment><comment><USER39> Build something that you wish you had, not what you think people need.

<comment><USER16> These tend to be the sort of things I'd already have if I knew how to build them, had enough time to build them, and/or could afford them :-(

</comment></comment><comment><USER40> Build something simple, and make it a product/tool that doesn't require many active users to work, aka, doesn't require a network effect.

I built [http://feedsub.com](http://feedsub.com) for this reason. Only a few users, but it indexes thousands of feeds and I make plenty of use out of it for myself.

My current project is deploying this app on a Raspberry Pi based cluster, and I'm going to write all the software for this myself to learn distributed programming.

</comment><comment><USER4> This was written in part to prompt people on HN to think about gig work platform ideas that actually enhance the lives of the workers:

[http://writepay.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-textbroker- solution...](http://writepay.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-textbroker- solution.html)

I've also previously talked about the fact that I live without a car in the US and when I was researching what small town to move to and using Google maps to try to figure out how to get there, if it can't give you a full solution from point A to point B, it will not tell you "There's a train that goes to X city, but that's only halfway" and it doesn't cover commuter bus routes between local cities.

I routinely went on Amtrak's site to find out how close I could get by train and then began searching for local transit options of some sort. I eventually found a solution and a city to move to and all this, but I was homeless at the time and spending all day at the library trying to figure out solutions to my problems.

As far as I know, there aren't any good apps for "How do you get there from here without a car?" for the US. Google maps does not have this problem space sorted and they seem to be the overall best solution (that I'm aware of) for finding out how you can get there from here.

<comment><USER41> My company collaborated on a project to solve this problem (currently UK only, though the tech can expand anywhere given available datasets) - [http://commuter.cc/](http://commuter.cc/). Unfortunately it's a very challenging problem and there is very little interest from travellers, at least not enough to create a profitable business! So unlikely we are going to expand this any further.

</comment></comment><comment><USER42> Well in my opinion you should create something that helps yourself (!) - <USER2> others. Think of your all day life - some things you do pretty often and try to find a project, that really would help you. If there already is a great open source project for your purpose (and probably there is), you could try to get part of it... improve things... read code (which is a good way to get a better skillset!).

Targeting a better skillset or developing just for making money most of the time does not result in good ideas or products - but a project of personal interest will motivate you for a long time.

Personally, i created software, that i always wanted to have, but did not find something, that fitted all my needs - and it is still fun to work on it... e.g.:

      - A simple tool to transfer files
      - A tool to improve scanned document images and create a pdf
      - A tool to convert audio files

Just my 2 cents.

<comment><USER43> >> \- A tool to improve scanned document images and create a pdf

Would you mind sharing the approach you used or the product page if it is public?

Incidentally, I was trying today to get two images combined into a single image and convert that into a single PDF. Tried with paint.net, MS Paint 3D etc., It was messy and the resultant PDF was also huge. Finally, gave up and manually pasted the images into a word doc and exported them as a single PDF.

<comment><USER42> My approach (in java) was using a set of filters to clean up the image with BoofCV, then using tess4j OCR to make the document searchable and then use Apache PDFBox to create a PDF with invisible text layer. Its not open source yet (i plan to do so), but you could take a look at [https://github.com/ctodobom/OpenNoteScanner](https://github.com/ctodobom/OpenNoteScanner) \- which seems to be much more advanced.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER44> a different take: why not look for existing abandoned projects that need a new maintainer. every year we have thousands of new ideas that will never survive in the long run so why not help out on something that already has a user-base but doesn't see updates? maintaining an existing system, and making it better might not give you the same glory as inventing something new, but imvho it should.

e.g.:

slide #46 and #47: [https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/packaging- tutorial/packag...](https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/packaging- tutorial/packaging-tutorial.en.pdf)

[https://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp/](https://www.debian.org/devel/wnpp/)

[https://wiki.debian.org/Teams](https://wiki.debian.org/Teams)

</comment><comment><USER45> I am working on spark tickets. Perhaps boring, but useful for others. Sometimes if you have no ideas, you can help out other projects instead.

</comment><comment><USER46> Start a community for helping people ideate on side project ideas.

</comment><comment><USER47> The CAD/CAM space is pretty out of date. Modern tooling in that space could be highly valuable. That said the industry is not that open to new ideas.

</comment><comment><USER48> Build a teleconferencing app tailored for parties rather than meetings. The needs of parties are very different than meetings. I'd suggest there be a central channel where everyone can participate and talk, with the video on that channel being something that sets the theme of the party (a bonfire, a movie, a performance). Then it should be extremely easy to click on participants and engage one or a few in conversation. Perhaps those side video conversations could bleed into the main channel (maybe audio only) so that people in the main channel can overhear and potentially decide to join in. Think about how people interact at parties and try to tailor video conferencing to work better for social gatherings. Security should be built in to reduce worries about privacy so people feel free to talk; no routing of everything through a central server, peer to peer only; recording should be only by consent (though there would be no way to stop analog recordings). There are a variety of video streaming libraries that might make building such an app easy. It should be trivially easy to understand and use. I think it might almost be possible to use existing teleconferencing apps if everyone could join two channels, the main channel and a side channel, using two devices, e.g., a laptop for the main channel shared by several people, and individual phones for the side channel for smaller conversations. Coordinating all that and explaining to people how it works might be difficult though, so putting it all into one app with an intuitive UI would be useful. There may be issues such as how to deal with audio feedback noise and easily joining and leaving side conversations though. You don't want people to have to send invites and accept them to set up a side conversation, you want it to be instant and easy.

Even if the coronavirus ended tomorrow, I think this would be a popular and widely used application.

<comment><USER49> [https://houseparty.com/](https://houseparty.com/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER50> TheMask01 from here on HN posted a project they had created called [https://decentdrops.com](https://decentdrops.com). While browsing this really great tool, I noticed the domain name EasySVG.com was available for registration.

Maybe an online tool for making SVG files from various types of image formats built on this fantastically brandable domain name?

</comment><comment><USER51> Perhaps you could develop an open-source self-hosted tool for neighbours, communities and groups to connect, share info and support each other during quarantine.

I posted this a while ago and it never received attention: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22604275](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22604275)

</comment><comment><USER52> Create cross platform GUI library for Rust programming language. If you succeed, at least you will be very famous.

</comment><comment><USER53> This is derived somewhat from a post on HN, and it would be really hard to pull off... but, An intermediary between all the automated bills you pay and your credit card. I.E. Comcast is going to bill me $89 I get a notification asking me to approve the automated payment.

<comment><USER54> In Switzerland I have that. It integrated directly into my bank account. Any automated payments goes into an inbox were I approve each payment when I want to.

</comment></comment><comment><USER55> I've been wanting to create a side project that I can expand and hire people back in my home country (there are tons of college graduates but because the country is a third world country, there aren't many tech jobs).

My goal is to bring a change on how software is developed using lean methods and based on user research and feedback so the devs aren't looked as sweat shop cheap labor from Asia.

I'm having trouble because I'm not sure how I should start. I don't think I'd want a VC to be involved. There are some great ideas here, I think approaching people and asking them about their problems and empathizing is not easy as an engineer myself but I'm learning.

Any pointers appreciated

</comment><comment><USER56> If the goal is to improve your skillset, then maybe try building a real-time multiple game. You will learn many different skills, including:

\- Graphics: Displaying 2d/3d graphics, using the GPU, shaders, etc..

\- Multiple Clients: Dealing with multiple browsers or OS's

\- Realtime Communication: Multiplayer will require sockets or web-rtc to provide a _realtime_ experience

\- Database Tech: Depending on what DB you choose, you'll learn CAP theorem and other trade-offs.

\- Algorithms: Developing gameplay logic, rendering logic, AI logic.

\- User Experience: Making the game fun, getting feedback and implementing sugguestions.

Making a game is also very satisfying, which is important to prevent burnout during the project.

</comment><comment><USER57> For me it was just looking for a procedure that annoyed me so much that I just had to build a tool to fix this.

Why do we still have to open our calendars, look through endless event notes to copy and paste a link into a browser that then launches the native meeting app? That's why I built an app called Meeter [0] for that.

[0] [https://apps.apple.com/de/app/meeter-fast-call- initiation/id...](https://apps.apple.com/de/app/meeter-fast-call- initiation/id1510445899?l=en&mt=12)

<comment><USER58> This is awesome. Do you have a website with a list of features? Does it support outlook and chime?

</comment></comment><comment><USER59> [https://github-help-wanted.com/](https://github-help-wanted.com/)

[https://what-to-code.com/](https://what-to-code.com/)

Have your pick

</comment><comment><USER60> Take any of mine you'd like: [https://github.com/cretz/software- ideas/issues](https://github.com/cretz/software-ideas/issues)

</comment><comment><USER61> Have a look through all the different side projects submitted here

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

See if you can make something better. :)

</comment><comment><USER62> a simple search engine in 200 lines - [https://gist.github.com/selimslab/7d63349e4e247fbcf7ff9dd01c...](https://gist.github.com/selimslab/7d63349e4e247fbcf7ff9dd01c300b42#file- search-py)

a simple blockchain in 100 lines - [https://gist.github.com/selimslab/4ea8e87792dec4e23ecedfd435...](https://gist.github.com/selimslab/4ea8e87792dec4e23ecedfd4353107b7#file- blockchain-py)

</comment><comment><USER63> One side project idea I am working on is a web application starter kit that may be up and running in 30 minutes, with more than 10 fundamental features for every web app. I think it can speed up the time to market of other web app based side projects. It is available at [https://turbovar.com/turbovar/index.jsp](https://turbovar.com/turbovar/index.jsp)

</comment><comment><USER64> I wrote a mildly successful article on the topic: [https://filipesilva.me/blog/12-ideas-for-programming- project...](https://filipesilva.me/blog/12-ideas-for-programming-projects-too- dangerous-not-to-build/)

I include a, not very scientific, evaluation of each idea according to profitability, complexity and complexity. Also some real examples of each idea.

</comment><comment><USER65> Give us a list of keywords to help you: languages you want to use, hobbies you have, stuff like that. We will try to come up with an idea

</comment><comment><USER66> Do something you _want_ to do. That' sit. It doesn't need to be something that whose point is to make your skillset stronger. Just have fun, and don't back down from any challenges. Having fun is a huge part of learning, and if we're driven out of interest, it's even better. So, do what you WANT to do, and the rest will follow suit.

</comment><comment><USER67> Is there something that is annoying you? Do you know there is a better way to do it?

I've spent part of the pandemic automating OpenAPI spec with minimal annotations needed for an API. I was annoyed that the existing solutions wanted more annotations than actual code, when all the information OpenAPI/Swagger needed was already right there in my code. Just an example.

</comment><comment><USER68> You could start with teaching what you know.

I've been doing that with [https://alchemist.camp](https://alchemist.camp) (screencasts for learning Elixir), and it's been a great side project. It's pushed me to learn more than I would have otherwise, built up a (small) profile online and generally lead to good things.

</comment><comment><USER69> Check out [https://trends.co/](https://trends.co/)

They release their research on upcoming trends. Some articles are awesome and lots of people seem to start side projects based on it. In addition, the community and FB group are solid. You can meet lots of makers if you have questions about a specific industry.

</comment><comment><USER70> I'm sure these already exist in some shape or form, but anyway:

1\. Grep, but as a web service for RSS/Atom feeds. Allows to filter a feed based on search terms, or by author, or by length of post, etc.

2\. A feed reader (as a web service and mobile app) that specializes on YouTube (etc.) videos, with current playback position sync and other video- specific features.

</comment><comment><USER71> auto generate react ui code based on drawing in emacs artist mode [http://www.lysator.liu.se/~tab/artist/](http://www.lysator.liu.se/~tab/artist/) . I don't have time right now else i would have pursued it.

</comment><comment><USER72> Here is a list of profitable ideas for reference [https://www.profithunt.co](https://www.profithunt.co) . I found it helpful to skim through because it isn't a list of shiny cool ideas, but projects that actually made money

Edit: add https to the URL

</comment><comment><USER73> Many innovations are two existing things combined in a novel way (phone+computer=smartphone, home+hotel=AirBnB, carriage+motor=car)

You could list things you are familiar with or use regularly and see if combining them in a novel way sparks the idea for an innovative product.

</comment><comment><USER74> I also struggle but find that if I choose a few libraries and tools that I would like to make use of, I try and build a project around them - doesn't have to be anything in particular, just a kind of playground for the cool libraries and tools.

</comment><comment><USER75> Check out the cool stuff happening in the distributed web space, as well as the Protocol/Platform Cooperative movement

It's all open source, and I believe we will go into that direction very soon!

Projects like Holochain, IPFS, DAT and Holo-REA

</comment><comment><USER76> Not sure what's your target, so it's really difficult to make suggestions.

A few things I might do in the near future: a PyQT tilemap editor which supports limited random generation; Reading CSAPP3 and work on the projects.

</comment><comment><USER77> [https://github.com/ellisgl/keyboard- schema](https://github.com/ellisgl/keyboard-schema) (or any other of the repos could always use help. Haha)

</comment><comment><USER78> I am putting together a crm and data extractor with nomad/consul/fabio. I feel there is a lack of good content on how to build cloud solutions with proper security. Feel free to reach out.

</comment><comment><USER79> Bunch of random ones I've come up with [https://www.are.na/tmm/random-public- ideas](https://www.are.na/tmm/random-public-ideas)

</comment><comment><USER80> If you're interested in politics and transparency, we're looking for help over at [https://www.govtrades.com](https://www.govtrades.com)

</comment><comment><USER81> Please build a decent vms for residential use. I will pay for it.

<comment><USER82> Could you provide more specifics? Cloud based platforms for personal computing needs is something that intrigues me. I would like to understand what is it that NextCloud or other existing offerings are lacking according to you?

<comment><USER81> Sorry. When I said vms, I meant video surveillance for residential use :)

<comment><USER83> Maybe just buy synology NAS? Some cheap network cameras, there are even ones working via wifi. Not sure how good survilence station is for your needs but I could quite easily connect 2 cameras and have it running without paying more than device price and hard drive.

<comment><USER81> The most decent I found was camect. I am considering buying it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER84> Very simple. Create something that saves a group of people time in some way. Let's say making it easier to research something / like a product they're interested in.

Saving time = value.

</comment><comment><USER85> No comment on the ethics of it, but: go to freelance sites (such as upwork), and look at what people are requesting. Lots of good (and bad) ideas are on there.

<comment><USER14> I'm not clear on the ethical problems of doing research on what problems people / companies need solving?

</comment></comment><comment><USER86> Maybe build something to learn something. Ask yourself what do you want to learn. Then go down that path.

Try to make the goal short yet difficult.

</comment><comment><USER87> I have an idea but still not implemented yet. Make a webpack plugin to have file-based routing like Next.js.

</comment><comment><USER88> Find something that you repeatedly do and try to automate it. Create things that save time.

</comment><comment><USER89> Meta advice: don't try to solve a problem you haven't personally had.

</comment><comment><USER90> Make an automated bookmarking service based on your browser history.

<comment><USER91> Thats cool idea

</comment></comment><comment><USER92> Build things for other people you like or care about.

<comment><USER83> That is easy way to lose friends :) when you get annoyed with feature requests. It is easier to build stuff for people you don't like because usually you want to cut amount of features.

</comment></comment><comment><USER93> 1\. Build an adblocker for locast.org

</comment><comment><USER94> Make something you want.

</comment><comment><USER95> If you have no idea, why do you want to have a side project? You are taking it backwards, a project is the expected solution to a problem you face. You need to find something to solve, then what can be a project will be obvious.

</comment><comment><USER96> I think you could improve your English if you have some free time.

That's a good skill to have!

</comment><comment><USER97> Cynically, this post could have been: "you aren't going to work on that potentially lucrative or rewarding idea, stop hoarding it and give it to me."

Isn't this also "I need a product-focused co-founder"?

<comment><USER98> I don't see a problem with people sharing ideas - especially for those of us who lean more to mission-driven ideas... if we have an idea that we believe would make the world a better place, then by all means, let someone go make it.</comment></comment>


Nepal Needs You - <AUTHOR> https://life.indiegogo.com/fundraisers/relief-fund-for-nepal-earthquake

<comment><USER2> Why would we not just donate to Red Cross and/or Global Giving directly instead of going through a third-party that is supposedly going to donate to them anyway and losing $3.00 per $100.00 in the process?

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Disbelief

We were woken up by a phone call in the middle of the night. Nepal had just gotten hit by a 7.9 magnitude earthquake!! We couldn't believe it.

Fear

Our thoughts immediately jumped to our families' wellbeing. We tried contacting them but couldn't get through. You tell your mind not to think about the worst, but you can't help yourself. You try to stay strong, for yourself and for those around you.

Sadness

We turned on our computers, and see the devastation engulf the country. Death and destruction all over the news. Buildings, Temples, Historical Landmarks – major portions of our country's history, culture and tradition – wiped out!

Relief

Frantic phone calls followed, and after an hour, we were able to establish that our families were safe.

Helplessness

You hear the fear in their voices, and feel helpless. You want to be there for them, but there is nothing you can do. You can only listen as your parents, siblings, uncles, aunts, grandparents recount firsthand experiences as butterflies form in the pit of your stomach –

• The ground beneath them is shaking violently, throwing them from wall to wall as they try to scramble outside to safety

• The walls of our house collapsing right before their eyes

• They cannot go back in because tremors and aftershocks continue to ripple for hours

• They sleep in their cars, only to be woken up by another tremor

• They are paralyzed in fear

Courage + Action

We consider ourselves extremely lucky that even though some of our family members suffered minor injuries, everyone is okay. But there are countless others that weren't as fortunate. Hospitals kicking out existing patients to treat critical victims. We feel very strongly, and very deeply for our country, and are determined to take action.

We spent the entire day researching the best options for collecting donations, and reaching out to our networks in Nepal to identify the best way to disburse funds to places in most need.

We are reaching out to our networks here in the US for any help we can get. The road to recovery is going to be long and painful.

We need you. Nepal needs you!!</comment>


A non-interactive zero-knowledge proof of faithful execution - <AUTHOR> https://people.xiph.org/~greg/simple_verifyable_execution.txt

<comment><USER2> Intriguing concept, but I have some doubts about its security, considering there isn't any kind of security proof at all. I'm not really an expert in zero knowledge proofs, but what I've been taught about them raises some questions here...

For starters, notice that a hash function as a commitment scheme is neither information-theoretically hiding, nor information-theoretically blinding [1], unlike e.g. a simple Pedersen commit. Another problem is that the XOR in the example table needs to be exactly one bit -- it is non-trivial to show that this actually works. Thirdly and perhaps chiefly, it is unclear why this would actually produce a zero knowledge proof, since the same inputs will produce the same circuits and the same output. Thus, I think we can build a distinguisher better than guessing to decide whether two inputs are the same given the same output (and all other inputs being equal).

Maybe these aren't a definitive end point, but they sure as hell require merit investigation.

[1] for more info on these ideas, try these: [http://www.win.tue.nl/~berry/2WC13/LectureNotes.pdf](http://www.win.tue.nl/~berry/2WC13/LectureNotes.pdf) (chapter 3) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commitment_scheme#Defining_the_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commitment_scheme#Defining_the_security_of_commitment_schemes)</comment>


How to negotiate your salary like a pro - <AUTHOR> https://fearlesssalarynegotiation.com/salary-negotiation-guide/ <comment><USER2> Do you have advice on finding companies that are more likely to give a generous salary offer?

I have friends who continually seem to get lowball offers. What other factors might play into that?

<comment><USER3> I didn't submit this, but it's my guide, so I'll answer here :)

Two things come to mind:

1\. Ask your network about companies that pay well. Pursue jobs at those who do pay well, and avoid companies that don't pay well. (Hopefully your friends getting lowball offers are telling other friends to steer clear of those companies.) 2\. Use sites like Glassdoor, PayScale, salary.com and paysa to look for companies that appear to pay well. I say "appear" because these sites are a good place to start, but they're usually working with a pretty small sample size and their data could be biased depending on how they collect it.</comment></comment>


Show HN: Word Wars- HTML5 real time word game - <AUTHOR> http://wordwars.clay.io/

<comment><AUTHOR> A couple of weeks ago, my friends and I built a word game during a hackathon and got a great reception from people who played it. Previous HN thread: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3750068> My friends have cleaned up a lot of the UI and the code, and have published it under a new name. It uses now.js in the backend, and is all html5/js. Let me know what you think!

The game works well on mobile devices too. iPad has the best experience :)

<comment><USER2> Good work. You fixed my biggest complaint with the last version (not disabling default backspace behaviour). The "Or just use your name" option is something I really appreciate. I almost left when I didn't see it at first, so you may want to consider making it a little more obvious.

<comment><USER3> Thanks! Yeah we made sure to tackle (I think) all the complaints of the previous version.

I just tweaked the font of the "Or just use your name" to be less gray, hopefully that makes it stand out a bit more.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> The English language really has a delightful amount of three-letter words. I don't know all of them, but guessing gives me a high chance it actually exists.

One issue: Sometimes I want to start with some letter, but the game only marks the second letter, rendering the selection incorrect. Might be due to my computer being busy with some simulations though.

<comment><USER3> If you're typing and hit the enter key it should start fresh so the first letter will be accepted.

I think what's happening is you're typing in a few letters of one word, then moving on to the next word with a new letter that's not adjacent to the previous ones. Typing a letter that's not adjacent causes the word to fail, and that letter won't be part of the next word. So if we had a 3x3 board

A B C D E F G H I

And I typed ABC GHI, it would only count HI since G was part of the failing word ABCG.

This is how it's supposed to work, but it can get a little trippy some times. If what I explained is not what's happening, and it's just not picking up the first letter in a normal case, let me know!

<comment><USER4> I'm using the mouse.

<comment><USER3> Pushed a fix for that, let me know if it did the trick!

<comment><USER4> Seems to be better. Ah! The game is very addicting.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Just sunk about 30 mins into this. NYT Magazine last Sunday had an article ([http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/magazine/angry-birds- farmv...](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/magazine/angry-birds-farmville- and-other-hyperaddictive-stupid-games.html?pagewanted=all)) about "stupid games" that are highly addictive. Case in point.

</comment><comment><USER6> Very nicely done! Polish up the UI and you this could be a real winner...the game play really works (and that's what really matters).

Makes me think again about updating my game, the original Word Wars (<http://www.impulsedriven.com/ww>) to the web...

I'd really be interested to hear how the dictionary parser was done.

</comment><comment><USER7> This is awesome and really pretty addictive. Although I was able to type and drag the cursor around randomly and pick up little words like 'pe' or 'th' it almost seemed like a stupid exploit. And another thing is the after game stats are really pretty interesting, if there was a way to view them longer than ten seconds that would be great!

<comment><USER3> I added it to my todo list to have an option to keep the leaderboard open until you hit close, rather than closing automatically.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> As a Scramble with Friends addict this is clearly up my ally. I actually find the mouse to be faster because the keyboard is too unpredictable and it's too disruptive to completing a word. There must be something there since I was consistently getting the top score.

<comment><USER9> My score quadrupled when I switched to keyboard. But I see the word, then type it (at ~80wpm)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Really super buggy...using Chrome on Mac 10.7...letters get stuck all the time, sometimes keys don't register...needs work, but looks like an addictive concept, if I could make it through one round without it misregistering my keystrokes...

<comment><USER3> Could you clarify what you mean by letters getting stuck?

<comment><USER11> For what it's worth, I'm using Chrome on OS 10.7 and it works flawlessly.

He _might_ be unaware that letters need to be inline. I ran into that at first when I thought I could use any of the letters on the board whether they were adjacent or not. Once I learned the mechanics, it stopped 'acting buggy'.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Great game! Although there was a problem with the leaderboard. A couple of times the leaderboard showed up only for a fraction of a second and then disappeared. I'm assuming it took too long to load and by that time the next round started.

</comment><comment><USER13> Love it! Super addicting. My only complaint with these types of games is that I always feel like people are cheating.

But at least it makes me feel better about how bad I am at these word games ;)

<comment><USER3> Glad you like it! We're doing our best to prevent cheating, but it's certainly not impossible to cheat. If it becomes a problem we'll definitely address it. As for the current scores, I don't believe they are cheating. I've been able to get 310 after playing quite a bit, and I certainly know there are people out there better than me.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I have the impression that it allows quite a lot of spanish. No german, no french, but spanish. Interesting. Where do you get the words from?

</comment><comment><USER14> I tried clicking on top words or something in the leaderboard and it just went to a new game (Win/FF).

<comment><USER3> New games start 10 seconds after the leaderboard first shows and we pretty much have to hide the leaderboard right then and there. Since it's all real- time against the world, every game runs at the same time, so there's no real choosing when to start a new one.

<comment><USER4> It would be great if I could look at the board for some more time and maybe choose to skip a game.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Does it drops high scores fron the leaderboard?

I've got 155, and then it is replaced by 147

</comment><comment><USER16> What does "We see you haven't installed Word Wars" mean? How is a web app 'installed'?

<comment><USER3> By installed, it just means it's added to your 'library' on clay.io. That way once we have more than 3 games, it will be easy to find the games you have played before and like.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Cool game. FYI, when you visit the site using IE9 it just remains stuck at "Loading".

<comment><AUTHOR> Were you able to play on other browsers? We have been told that happens on some Android devices as well. We are looking into it right :/ Thanks for pointing it out!

<comment><AUTHOR> Nvm it should be fixed now :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Using FF 9 here, and I'm stuck on the loading/waiting for next round page :(

</comment><comment><USER19> Damn, this game is a ton of fun!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! Please let us know if there is any way we can improve it.

<comment><USER19> Impossible, the game is perfect</comment></comment></comment>


Ask YC: Ajax Basics Help - <AUTHOR>

I am currently learning the basics of Ajax and going through tutorials. Right now, I'm learning how to build a simple RSS feed reader.  All of the examples I have seen so far, however, use getElementByTagName() to go through the XML document by hard coding in each of the tag's names.  This doesn't seem right to me, though; shouldn't I just be able to use the JavaScript DOM instead and write a script that would work regardless of XML input?
Here is the example I am working with: http://www.w3schools.com/Ajax/tryit.asp?filename=tryajax_httprequest_js4
Any help would be appreciated. <comment><USER2> Have you looked into using jQuery for your AJAX and XML parsing?

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm definitely going to be using jQuery or another JavaScript library in the future. However, I'd first like to understand how to do regular JavaScript XML parsing by hand.</comment></comment>


Dylan Hack-a-thon: July 13-14, 2013 - <AUTHOR> http://opendylan.org/news/2013/06/30/dylan-hack-a-thon.html

<comment><AUTHOR> We'll also be releasing the Open Dylan 2013.1 release this week in preparation. We've fixed a lot of things so far this year.

</comment><comment><USER2> Why is there no highly visible description of _what_ "Dylan" is on this website?

Clicked through to "Home" and "About" and ended going to Wikipedia to answer the question "What is Dylan?".

<comment><USER3> 1\. Click "Home".

2\. Direct your eyes to the sidebar on the right.

3\. Click the clearly visible link labelled "Introduction to Dylan".

4\. Click "Why Dylan?" at the very top.</comment></comment>


Amazing never before seen WWII photographs - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessinsider.com/amazing-never-before-seen-wwii-photographs-2015-8

<comment><USER2> Vae Victis ... WWII was such a horrible mess. And the devastation in the countries that lost is often ignored.</comment>


Military Has Been Researching "Anti-Gravity" For Nearly 70 Years - <AUTHOR> https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/30499/the-truth-is-the-military-has-been-researching-anti-gravity-for-nearly-70-years <comment><USER2> Physicists have been searching for variations in the coupling of materials to gravity for more than a century, and by some measure, for more than a millenium.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivalence_principle#Tests_of...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivalence_principle#Tests_of_the_weak_equivalence_principle)

Every experiment anyone has ever tried has come up empty. The equivalence principle is a postulate (Einstein's "happiest idea") that underlies General Relativity, making it essential to test.

(Source: This is literally what I do for a living.)

<comment><USER3> How much money does society need to spend supporting the work you do before we can safely conclude that Einstein was actually correct and we don't need to test it any more?

<comment><USER2> That's a great and important question. (doubly so for me, as constrained resources may see me leave the field, to which I have devoted my entire professional life, in the coming months) We are perennially grateful for the support we receive to do the work that we do.

To a high degree of approximation, Einstein's predictions are very, very correct. We are trying to look very carefully at Nature because we don't think we have the whole story.

It is possible that Einstein is exactly right. If so, we would never be able to describe the four forces of Nature with one unified theory. Today, we need two theories to describe everything we see -- the quantum-mechanical/particle- physics description of the Standard Model and gravity. There is no quantum- mechanical fuzziness in the mathematics of gravity, and there is no hint of the differential geometry of gravity in the mathematics of the Standard Model. The aspiration of almost every fundamental-physics physicist is to find a way to either simplify the Standard Model or connect it with gravity.

If the return on investment seems insufficent, know, too, that the technology we develop to push the boundaries of knowledge has important spin-offs. GPS is impossible without corrections from both special relativity and general relativity. The instrumentation we develop to make gravitational experiments possible on earth requires the development of new classes of seismometer [1] that may open new understanding of Earth's dynamics and allow better chip- fabrication instrumentation. The instrumentation developed to test gravity in space is also being used to measure the movement of mass (i.e. ice and water) on Earth's surface [2].

Even more important is the training we provide to students. Just as athletes train in the gym to get stronger, confrontation with the hardest known technical problems provides an efficient path for students and young faculty to become proficient at the entire range of modern measurement science. Alumni from our group have not only gone on to fancy academic positions, but also helped to redefine the kilogram, designed upgraded digital calipers used by tens of thousands of people worldwide, built key components of a major quantum-computing company's infrastructure, and more.

The people who work on these kinds of experiments are making a fraction of what they could make in industry. We are doing it for love, not money, and the returns to society are myriad.

[1] [https://arxiv.org/abs/1707.03084](https://arxiv.org/abs/1707.03084) [2] [https://gracefo.jpl.nasa.gov/](https://gracefo.jpl.nasa.gov/)

<comment><USER4> Some argue that keeping talented people out of industry is a downside of the sciences not an upside.

Personally, particle physics irritates me because I don't believe in particles... It's all vibrations, man :)

<comment><USER5> Academia isn't keeping talented people out of the industry. At any point, a talented person can leave the university, join a company, and easily quintuple their earnings.

It's the industry that's keeping talented people out by giving them mundane or bullshit jobs, and not leaving any space for long-term research and vision.

<comment><USER6> Though I might say that Academia is making a good job of keeping talented people out of it because their incentive structure is skewed.

<comment><USER7> This. I did not leave academia to search for fame and fortune. I left it because the bureaucracy and politics of it was terrible.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I love the following Feynman's quote:

``In those days, one of the theories proposed was that the planets went around because behind them were invisible angels, beating their wings and driving the planets forward. You will see that this theory is now modified! It turns out that in order to keep the planets going around, the invisible angels must fly in a different direction and they have no wings. Otherwise, it is a somewhat similar theory!``

The point is that, still today, we have no idea why mass attracts mass. We observe it. We measure it. We model it. We predict it. But, we do not understands its mechanism. At that time, it was making people crazy to think that an object could remotely affect another one. Now, people just accept it. But, when you think about it, it really sounds magic.

<comment><USER9> Gravity is very similar to magnetism, a "magically" attracting force of distinct objects. The explanation is very easy via fields. Just trying to explain it via particles will get you into trouble, e.g. the flawed standard model, or the Higgs.

Einstein was pretty close in his spacetime bending explanation, but this still doesn't explain dark matter or the recent gravity experiments with fast rotating magnets in strong supra conductors. There are better gravity field theories out there, but they are lacking experimental verification. Some experiments are cheap, but most are cosmic scale, beyond simple galaxies.

This army guy came up with nice and cheap experiments, similar to Tajmar's experiments. We will see what will come out of it. Tajmar is also holding an old patent of an Anti-Gravity device, which nobody built so far. The army device with two rotating fields seems to be much better.

<comment><USER10> > Gravity is very similar to magnetism

But magnets, how do they work? (C)

<comment><USER11> They don't understand the dirac see and how field lines work, nor how a CL node operates when it's in magnetic mode. In fact, they even think that you can describe EM with vector math, which is half bollocks. Maxwell tried to formulate Vector equations from his Quaternion equations and failed, because it's not possible without loosing certain effects.

Certain Atoms or combinations cause their sourounding CL nodes to be in paramagnetic mode. (They are dislocated from groundstate to the left part of the diagram). If you heat the material under external magnetic field, the atoms and grains order to the external field. Once the matter is cold enough, the external Electron bindings hold the atoms in place that one large magnetic field is created. Everything is basically a phase looked loop oscillator and stabilizes its frequency to neighboring nodes.

Since you most likely only had contact with the standard model, giving enough explanation for you to understand the mechanics behind it would definitely be to long.

Dr. Stoyan Sargs - Basic Structures of Matter Supergravitation unified Theory, Chapter 2, 3, 6 and partially 12 (Planet magnetic field) should answer your question :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> _If you do not work on an important problem, it 's unlikely you'll do important work. It's perfectly obvious. Great scientists have thought through, in a careful way, a number of important problems in their field, and they keep an eye on wondering how to attack them. Let me warn you, `important problem' must be phrased carefully. The three outstanding problems in physics, in a certain sense, were never worked on while I was at Bell Labs. By important I mean guaranteed a Nobel Prize and any sum of money you want to mention. We didn't work on (1) time travel, (2) teleportation, and (3) antigravity. They are not important problems because we do not have an attack. It's not the consequence that makes a problem important, it is that you have a reasonable attack. That is what makes a problem important. When I say that most scientists don't work on important problems, I mean it in that sense. The average scientist, so far as I can make out, spends almost all his time working on problems which he believes will not be important and he also doesn't believe that they will lead to important problems._

Richard Hamming, _You and Your Research_

[http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html](http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html)

<comment><USER13> Time travel back into the past is understood to be impossible.

<comment><USER14> Physicist here (by degree, not profession). What you state is not true: by currently accepted physical theories, time travel to the past IS very much possible. It's known as a "closed, time-like curve" in the literature. Now, most mechanisms explored for doing so wouldn't allow travel back further than the initial creation of the time travel device, so you could say that time travel to our past is not possible since the construction of such a thing is necessarily in the future. But as a matter of physics, general relativity allows it.

Now that said, most physicists are convinced that time travel cannot be possible, because if it were then paradoxical situations could be constructed --e.g. going back in time and killing yourself (the earlier you) before you entered the machine, or killing your grandfather before your father was born, etc. There are as many theorized rules preventing or limiting time travel as there are physicists that have looked at it, but critically they are all ADDITIONAL rules, postulated not to explain observable phenomenon but purely to think up a way time travel paradoxes might be avoided. Physics, as currently understood from available experimental evidence, 100% allows time travel to the past, paradoxes included.

<comment><USER15> _> Physics, as currently understood from available experimental evidence, 100% allows time travel to the past, paradoxes included._

General Relativity, which is where the term "closed timelike curve" is used, does _not_ allow paradoxes. A spacetime with closed timelike curves in it (for example, the Godel universe) still has only one thing happening at each event.

The real problem conceptually with such solutions is that they appear to contradict free will: since only one thing can happen at each event, if you experience visiting that event multiple times, you cannot freely choose what to do at that event.

<comment><USER16> Luckily "free will" as would fit a layman's interpretation of the term is already incompatible with physics, so the existence of CTCs doesn't pose additional problems.

<comment><USER17> I think most people would interpret free will to mean something that is perfectly compatible with any definition of determinism.

If I decide to raise my right hand, I raise it. Don't get pedantic in regards to disabled people. It doesn't matter if the universe is completely deterministic, that doesn't mean that I'm not the entity that decided to raise my right hand. The deterministic universe may have produced me, but the software I'm running _is_ me. The reason I raised my hand is _because_ of me. Sure there are an infinite number of factors that have fed into the circumstances of my birth, and everything that's happened to me, but everything that I do is specifically as a consequence of my free will. I am the software, deterministic or not.

<comment><USER18> That's an interpretation of free will that I completely subscribe to, but I do not think it is a majority view.

<comment><USER19> It's still the unavoidable consequence of the past.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> > Throughout his career, Witten conducted research into gravitation, quantum > gravity, and general relativity. The last one of these is the theory first > put forward by Albert Einstein that proposes that gravity is essentially a > warp or curve in the geometry of space-time caused by mass.

You're assuming that your readers are already familiar with quantum gravity, but need an introduction to general relativity?

<comment><USER21> They're assuming that the readers will infer, from the name "quantum gravity", that it has to do with gravity. From just the name, "general relativity," people who don't know what it is probably wouldn't guess it's a theory of gravity.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> > Throughout the expansive Project Outgrowth document, Mead and the other > scientists also explored field propulsion, defined as those concepts which > use "electric and/or magnetic fields to accelerate an ionized working fluid,

hall effect thrusters

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall- effect_thruster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall-effect_thruster)

totally compliant with conventional physics

<comment><USER23> this too?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetohydrodynamic_drive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetohydrodynamic_drive)

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> There are Gravity Stones from the 60's scattered among US colleges to

> "remind students of the blessings forthcoming when a semi-insulator is > discovered in order to harness gravity as a free power and reduce airplane > accidents"

Decent way to get students thinking about it.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_Research_Foundation#Mo...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_Research_Foundation#Monuments)

<comment><USER25> Oh the story behind that is a wild ride from start to finish. Babson's sister drowned when they were children, and he decided the real reason that happened is anti-gravity technology wasn't sufficiently advanced to prevent her drowning. He spent a large amount of his philanthropy funding anti-gravity research for the rest of his life.

Edit: Just realized this is mentioned in the article you linked.

<comment><USER26> It's still worth a call-out. The other line in the article that always gets me is "Sometimes, attendees [of the Gravity Research Foundation] sat in chairs with their feet higher than their heads, to counterbalance gravity."

It feels like absurd lore in Fallout, but probably actually happened.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> This is a terrible article that is little more than conspiracy theorist baiting. For example, the author takes this quote from Ben Rich:

>"We have some new things. We are not stagnating. What we are doing is updating ourselves, without advertising. There are some new programs, and there are certain things, some of them 20 or 30 years old, that are still breakthroughs and appropriate to keep quiet about [because] other people don't have them yet."

and by throwing the quote at the end of a long series of anti-gravity/EM papers tries to give the impression that the military is hiding something wild like a secret anti-gravity device. It's very National Enquirer.

There are other examples of this. The discussion of the WEAV pulls the quote "no moving parts and assures near-instantaneous response time", which presumably is to hint that this explains those instantly-accelerating discs seen in various videos. That "near-instantaneous response time" refers to the ability to change thrust quickly and not velocity is, of course, obscured.

<comment><USER28> >This is a terrible article

From what I have read up till now on thedrive, the whole outlet is terrible, all their articles seem to be drivel like this.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> What is the currently accepted answer to the question, "what is gravity"?

<comment><USER30> Gravity is one of the essential forces in nature. If you want to explain it in simpler terms it is not possible because gravity is the simpler thing. You can use gravity to explain other things, but you cannot use other things to explain gravity.

<comment><USER31> That's not really true. The other 3 "fundamental" forces are irreducible yet still entirely explained by the standard model.

<comment><USER18> Well, gravity is similarly explained by general relativity.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> Is this article just a derivative of the patents that were discussed on HN several weeks ago?

I liked that discussion. Plenty of varying perspectives such as "Bob Lasar was proven right!" and "in an arms race, keep your enemy busy [with disinformation]".

Is there new info here?

<comment><USER33> I agree it's just a rehashing of information they know will get a lot of clicks. I have a vested interest in this topic so I've been following it closely and I don't see anything new here.

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> I checked that this article wasn't posted on 1 April.

</comment><comment><USER35> Not surprising in the 1950's. Every other science fiction author was a believer - they wrote endlessly about shields that 'blocked' gravity, fields that interacted with gravity, materials that had variable gravitational force, and on and on. Their speculation helped fuel/was fueled by science investigation of that era.

</comment><comment><USER36> For anyone interested, a book was written on this about 15 years ago by a reporter from "Janes Defense Weekly". "The Hunt for Zero Point: Inside the Classified World of Antigravity Technology". Not as tin-hat as you might think, mostly a story of a lot of dead ends while trying to research some DARPA dark projects.

</comment><comment><USER37> If you like this, do check out Rex Research. You have to sift through a lot of BS but there's some great stuff buried in it.

[http://www.rexresearch.com/index.htm](http://www.rexresearch.com/index.htm)

</comment><comment><USER38> Not sure how this topic could be covered without a mention of Dr. Ning Li's work:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ning_Li_(physicist)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ning_Li_\(physicist\))

</comment><comment><USER39> They must have some reason to think it's possible. I've also always wondered if Coral Castle was really constructed using some ancient lost technique to harness this power. _Takes foil hat back off..._

</comment><comment><USER40> They'll at some point stumble across a Goa'uld device that does precisely that. But for the love of God, don't just plug it in!

</comment><comment><USER41> To really be able to manipulate gravity, you would also need to manipulate mass, and so far nuclear is the only way I know of, in which we do that, but uhh.. I don't think we'll get anti gravity until we can control mini stars... Little nuclear engines.

<comment><USER42> It is a common myth that nuclear reactions "turn mass into energy". What actually happens is that the products of the reaction have less binding energy than the initial nucleus. Since energy gravitates, this reduces the mass of the products. The exact same thing happens in chemical reactions. If you burn something, the product are lighter than the initial substances by the mass equivalent of the energy released.

<comment><USER43> "...energy gravitates, this reduces the mass of the products." "...the product are lighter than the initial substances by the mass equivalent of the energy released."

How are these not restating "turn mass into energy"?

Both scenarios approximate: High Mass => Low Mass + Energy

<comment><USER44> [https://youtu.be/Xo232kyTsO0](https://youtu.be/Xo232kyTsO0) check out this PBS spacetime explanation for what it means for energy to have mass. It's impossible to convert energy into mass, adding up all the mass inside a composite does not equal the true mass, because energy itself has mass. When we split an atom, we are releasing some of that extra (energy) that was stored as potential energy holding the parts together, not converting energy into matter, just moving states of energy to other types.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER45> Gravity is related to time and entropy.

</comment><comment><USER46> oh, you mean since Roswell? ok.

</comment><comment><USER47> I hear the research has been looking up.</comment>