Hacker News: rocktronica

New comment by rocktronica in "Web Browsers on Video Game Consoles"

rocktronica — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 16:47:24 +0000

Yeah, that's the first thing I thought of too. It came out in 1997 and predates all the Game Boy stuff. IIRC there was a "Game Boy don't TOUCH the net!" marketing campaign but I can't seem to find find it now. The commercial is a fun nostalgia trip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-ON6wxHtUE

Even if you got the extra modem gear, tho, the browser was text-only. I doubt many kids got it; I did not.

It was ambitious of Tiger (a movie-tie-in LCD game company) to try to rival the big dogs, and it makes sense but is a shame it couldn't. I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere.

New comment by rocktronica in "Ask HN: Recommend resources that helped your game dev journey?"

rocktronica — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 22:36:07 +0000

If you'd like to get out of the weeds, "The Beauty of Games" by Frank Lantz (of Universal Paperclips fame) is a thought-provoking read. The basic premise is that games are the aesthetic experience of systems and reason, cause and effect. If dancing is your body's way to explore music, games are your brain's way to explore logic. A little academic, but pretty interesting!

The other thing I want to say is that game feedback should be taken with more than a grain of salt. The worst feedback I've ever received was on a handmade, physical roll-and-write that I gave someone for free. Gamer culture is strongly opinionated and quick to hyperbole... but not always right.

New comment by rocktronica in "Ask HN-Beginner Arduino Kits"

rocktronica — Tue, 07 Jun 2022 15:31:53 +0000

Agreed with other commenters' advice to err towards good documentation. Don't just go for cheap.

Another consideration is community: I think the Adafruit guides (https://learn.adafruit.com/) are really great, especially for folks just starting out / who are more project-focused. Poke through there with your kid and see if anything sparks interest.

Shameless self-promo, if he's into music: I make an Arduino-compatible "synth" electronics kit. It does require soldering (so maybe isn't the best choice just yet) but is a nice step towards making something that looks like a real, finished product. https://www.oskitone.com/product/scout-synth-diy-electronics...

New comment by rocktronica in "Ask HN: What's your quarantine side project?"

rocktronica — Thu, 14 May 2020 14:42:51 +0000

I've picked up indoor gardening and designed some 3D-printed, self-watering planters that screw into jars.

https://blog.tommy.sh/posts/adventures-in-self-watering-plan...

Prototype Post-Mortem: Four-Step Octaved Sequencer

rocktronica — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 15:13:46 +0000

Article URL: http://blog.tommy.sh/posts/prototype-post-mortem-four-step-octaved-sequencer

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16638696

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

Making Time-Lapse Videos with an iPhone by Command Line

rocktronica — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 21:18:34 +0000

Article URL: http://blog.tommy.sh/posts/making-time-lapse-videos-with-an-iphone-by-command-line

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16055757

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by rocktronica in "Timelapse video with an iPhone and CLI"

rocktronica — Fri, 29 Dec 2017 00:46:19 +0000

I was surprised this didn't already exist, so I made it... even though it's honestly just a wrapper around curl and ffmpeg!

Timelapse video with an iPhone and CLI

rocktronica — Fri, 29 Dec 2017 00:45:58 +0000

Article URL: https://github.com/rocktronica/timelapse

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16026523

Points: 3

# Comments: 1

Show HN: 3D-Printed LM555 “Synth”

rocktronica — Fri, 29 Sep 2017 22:08:18 +0000

Article URL: http://blog.tommy.sh/posts/okay-synth

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15369671

Points: 6

# Comments: 0

New comment by rocktronica in "Amazon Echo Spot"

rocktronica — Thu, 28 Sep 2017 00:42:49 +0000

Believe it or not, lots of folks use Youtube as a music player and just waste the video bandwidth

New comment by rocktronica in "Show HN: Logo Crunch – Multi-resolution logo maker"

rocktronica — Mon, 25 Sep 2017 16:13:47 +0000

That would entail them permanently storing the images, which they probably don't want to do.

New comment by rocktronica in "Show HN: Logo Crunch – Multi-resolution logo maker"

rocktronica — Mon, 25 Sep 2017 16:11:43 +0000

This is incredibly useful, regardless of the veracity of its "computer vision."

A technique that seems to work well for it with simple drawing style icons is to thicken and simplify as the image gets smaller, so it seems like the stroke of the drawing is consistent across sizes.

New comment by rocktronica in "Bunnie Huang’s “Hardware Hacker” book is in print"

rocktronica — Mon, 11 Sep 2017 18:23:31 +0000

There are a lot of great photos and PCB closeups that obviously won't translate into narration.

New comment by rocktronica in "Facebook says it sold political ads to Russian company during 2016 election"

rocktronica — Wed, 06 Sep 2017 22:07:15 +0000

Regardless of legality, it will be interesting to see how this is spun if/when Zuckerberg runs for public office.

Typhoid Mary

rocktronica — Tue, 08 Aug 2017 20:48:30 +0000

Article URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Mallon

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14962513

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by rocktronica in "Al Gore's Home Energy Use Surges Up to 34 Times the National Average"

rocktronica — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 00:45:11 +0000

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/National_Center_for_Pub...

Regardless of its veracity, I'd rather not have ExxonMobil-funded propaganda on HN.

New comment by rocktronica in "Ghost 1.0"

rocktronica — Thu, 27 Jul 2017 18:00:59 +0000

Looks like a "paint" font on top of a filtered stock photo

https://blog.ghost.org/content/images/2017/07/DJI_0006-Edit....

New comment by rocktronica in "Ask HN: Share Your Raspberry Pi Project"

rocktronica — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 21:59:12 +0000

I have three Pis currently "deployed":

1) Internet radio w/ an amplifier in a cigar box. It was a gift for my gf and only plays the station she listened to in college. https://github.com/rocktronica/curpi

2) Timed camera and GIF maker for my cat feeder. https://github.com/rocktronica/feedergif

3) OctoPrint server for my 3D printer http://octoprint.org/

[edit: formatting]

New comment by rocktronica in "Older fathers have 'geekier sons'"

rocktronica — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 18:32:18 +0000

Sure seems like correlation to me.

Older fathers are more likely to have established careers, establishing higher socioeconomic status, affording a lifestyle that engenders "geekiness".

New comment by rocktronica in "Show HN: Monica, an open-source CRM to manage friends and family"

rocktronica — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 17:53:07 +0000

This looks great, and I see the utility of it. Really, honestly, well done.

May I ask what made you settle on the name "Monica" instead of something more gender-neutral?