<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>Hacker News: bherms</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=bherms</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Wed, 23 Sep 2026 03:08:39 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=bherms" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by bherms in "Grim Fandango Puzzle Document (1996) [pdf]"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Soundtrack is dope as well</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2026 09:39:26 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49785097</link><dc:creator>bherms</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49785097</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49785097</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by bherms in "Grim Fandango Puzzle Document (1996) [pdf]"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>My favorite game of all time.  This is awesome</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2026 09:38:47 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49785094</link><dc:creator>bherms</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49785094</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49785094</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by bherms in "Peppermint oil reduces blood pressure by 8.48 mmHg in small study"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>i actually had heard it helps w/ bloating/stomach issues online and took for a while and def noticed a debloating effect and less gas... obviously 1 anecdote, but I'd assume any slight waistline reduction is due to that.  Also sidenote: pooping often made it feel like I put a breathmint... up... "there" lol</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 24 Aug 2026 21:12:41 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49425915</link><dc:creator>bherms</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49425915</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49425915</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by bherms in "Show HN: Elevators"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>We did this in college as well using microcontrollers and leds or something - i forget the exact details.  It was super fun</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 31 Jul 2026 17:39:04 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49126279</link><dc:creator>bherms</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49126279</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49126279</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by bherms in "Show HN: Orate – On-device neural text-to-speech queue for Mac"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Ahh you should've gotten an email from orate.to with the license key -- Polar generates their own license key I just found out...<p>I am updating so the polar key will work and fixing the webhook verification thing and then changing it so we re-use the key polar creates.<p>Thanks again for the help debugging!<p>Check tomorrow and it should accept the key!</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 26 Jul 2026 19:10:17 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49061337</link><dc:creator>bherms</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49061337</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49061337</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by bherms in "Show HN: Orate – On-device neural text-to-speech queue for Mac"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Not yet but that's a great idea!  I can work on that!  I'm also about a week away from an iOS app</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:57:21 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49061208</link><dc:creator>bherms</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49061208</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49061208</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by bherms in "Show HN: Orate – On-device neural text-to-speech queue for Mac"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Found the issue, published a new build, added a few features, and tested on a few devices now that I'm back home.  <i>Should</i> be fully operational for you now!</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2026 17:53:55 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49025550</link><dc:creator>bherms</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49025550</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49025550</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by bherms in "Show HN: Orate – On-device neural text-to-speech queue for Mac"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Looking into it again.. Thanks a ton for the help debugging.  I haven't run into any of these issues personally</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2026 23:45:22 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49015036</link><dc:creator>bherms</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49015036</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49015036</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by bherms in "Show HN: Orate – On-device neural text-to-speech queue for Mac"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Okay, 0.1.9 is out now and should fix the issue... I also added a way to report crashes, so IF it still gives you issues, let me know and please report the crash</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2026 15:36:19 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49008489</link><dc:creator>bherms</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49008489</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49008489</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by bherms in "Show HN: Orate – On-device neural text-to-speech queue for Mac"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Okay, 0.1.9 is out now and should fix the issue... I also added a way to report crashes, so IF it still gives you issues, let me know and please report the crash</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2026 15:35:25 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49008470</link><dc:creator>bherms</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49008470</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49008470</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by bherms in "Show HN: Orate – On-device neural text-to-speech queue for Mac"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Yep, I'm on it... Should be ready in about a week!</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2026 15:11:42 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49008077</link><dc:creator>bherms</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49008077</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49008077</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by bherms in "Show HN: Orate – On-device neural text-to-speech queue for Mac"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>On it! Pushed out a fix for something else earlier and didn’t go through a clean install to test. Should have a fix shortly. Just getting off a plane though. Will follow up when I have it nailed down.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2026 01:39:04 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49000756</link><dc:creator>bherms</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49000756</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49000756</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by bherms in "Show HN: Orate – On-device neural text-to-speech queue for Mac"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>On it! I’ll ping you when I have a culprit</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2026 01:37:31 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49000743</link><dc:creator>bherms</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49000743</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49000743</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by bherms in "Show HN: Orate – On-device neural text-to-speech queue for Mac"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Oh also, on the website, the first preview in the hero does give a real synthesized example I pulled using the app!  Its not clear that the other screenshots are not interactive</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 21 Jul 2026 23:12:56 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48999628</link><dc:creator>bherms</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48999628</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48999628</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by bherms in "Show HN: Orate – On-device neural text-to-speech queue for Mac"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The Chatterbox HD plugin actually does AI voice cloning, but I didn't expose it yet.  That's a great idea to see if it can do different voices and I could clone some popular ones.  Device sync is coming soon!</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 21 Jul 2026 23:06:23 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48999563</link><dc:creator>bherms</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48999563</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48999563</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by bherms in "Show HN: Orate – On-device neural text-to-speech queue for Mac"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Can you paste your system specs here for me? It's running for me just fine and on a few other laptops here, but I am curious if there's something on your laptop that might be giving issues... It does require Mac w/ Apple M1+.  Happy to debug and get it working for you!</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 21 Jul 2026 23:05:31 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48999559</link><dc:creator>bherms</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48999559</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48999559</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Show HN: Orate – On-device neural text-to-speech queue for Mac]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Hey friends! Brad here - long time HN user, founder, engineer (Coinbase, Soothe, Jeevz, Release, Hired, GrowthX, etc)...<p>I have been struggling recently with too many tabs, emails, articles, etc sitting unread while I swap between Claude code sessions all day.  So I decided to build Orate to help me work through the backlog by listening to it all like I would a podcast.<p>Orate allows you to select any text on your screen and keyboard shortcut it to a listening queue where it gets processed using the latest + greatest TTS AI models, and then read back to you in a mostly-natural sounding voice.  Orate works fully on-device and offline.  Whatever you pass to it stays yours.  It's native, lives in your menu bar, and supports things like tagging, system playback controls, speed adjustment, and more.  There's also an optional HD-voice tier that uses Chatterbox instead of Kokoro which ships with it for more expressive TTS.<p>I'm also burnt out on being chipped away at little by little with a subscription for everything, so it's just $4.99 one time and you own it forever.  Use the code HACKERNEWS for $3 off, putting you at just $1.99.<p>As AI helped me nail down - it's "read it later, for your ears".  I hope you like it!<p>If you have any questions, want more details, notice any bugs, or have an idea for something cool to add, just ping me!  I plan to launch a companion iOS app soon to sync text between your devices as well.<p>It's currently Mac only, but I might whip up a Windows version if the response is good.<p>Cheers!</p>
<hr>
<p>Comments URL: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48997941">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48997941</a></p>
<p>Points: 17</p>
<p># Comments: 23</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 21 Jul 2026 20:38:29 +0000</pubDate><link>https://orate.to/</link><dc:creator>bherms</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48997941</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48997941</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by bherms in "Anthropic acquires Stainless"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I worked with him at Hired.  Great dude!</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 18 May 2026 22:09:40 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48186449</link><dc:creator>bherms</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48186449</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48186449</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by bherms in "NYC to open municipal grocery store in 2027"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>My fil owns a bunch of grocery stores in Russia.  The gov't still essentially subsidizes the cost of basic goods to keep prices low for the poor.  Because of this, even the poorest have access to what they need, and they worship Putin because of it - "he makes sure we're taken care of".  Obviously we could get into the corruption, why they're so poor in the first place, etc, but it is clearly working pretty well.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2026 18:53:38 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47769752</link><dc:creator>bherms</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47769752</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47769752</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by bherms in "NYC to open municipal grocery store in 2027"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Many people losing their minds over stuff like this... I'm just glad some people are finally trying out new ideas, because the status quo is not working for a large portion of the American population.<p>I just hope they properly track and monitor the outcomes and foster honest/open feedback.  The gov't loves to throw money at problems, but never really does much to analyze, pivot, or admit when something doesn't work because that just gives the opposition ammo.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2026 18:49:30 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47769689</link><dc:creator>bherms</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47769689</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47769689</guid></item></channel></rss>