Show HN: I built an app to turn my kids' questions into podcasts | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: I built an app to turn my kids' questions into podcasts

wonderpods.app

14 pointslielvilla12 comments

My kids are endlessly curious, always asking questions like “Why do stars twinkle?” or “How do volcanoes erupt?” I love their curiosity, but I found myself constantly searching for good ways to answer them, and without adding more screen time to their day.

Podcasts are great, but kids’ podcasts are often generic and don’t cover their specific questions. I wanted something more personal and engaging.

So I built WonderPods - an app that creates personalized podcast episodes to answer whatever they’re curious about, even saying their name in the story. It turns their curiosity into fun, screen-free learning moments, whether at bedtime or in the car.

We just launched, and there’s a free trial. I’d love your feedback on the idea, the experience, and any thoughts you have on making it better.

*EDIT* Here’s an example episode for 6-year-old Dana, all about telescopes: https://wonderpods.app/listen/ca56e8be-bf58-4323-ad0f-f3bf67... In the app, you can also share episodes with people who aren’t users, making it super easy to spread the fun.

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When my kids ask me questions I can’t answer (which is... all the time), I usually just open ChatGPT, repeat the question, and let it respond. Then the kids start asking the phone directly, usually followed by “Too difficult! Make it easier!”

But I’m curious about your idea, are you thinking the LLM would generate a podcast version of the answer in real-time? Or would it be more like, “Let me make a podcast episode for that” and play it later?

Definitely the latter. From my experience with my kids, they love listening to the same episode multiple times, and it helps them absorb the material better. Also, it makes for a great bedtime routine.

Definitely a “customer” question rather than a business or technical one, but how do these credits work? If I sign up for the paid account, what limits will I have? Will I need to be sparing about my usage to avoid running out of credits? I couldn’t see any explanation of what a credit is and how that works.

Great question! With the paid plan, you get 70 credits per month, which equals 70 minutes of episodes. You can re-listen to any episodes you’ve already generated as many times as you want, create playlists, and share them with people who aren’t users.

Cool idea! I want to hear something it generated before putting in my details to start a trial. Perhaps you could add some sample episodes that it generated so people could get a sense of it right from the landing page.

made this telescope episode for 6-year-old Dana -

https://wonderpods.app/listen/ca56e8be-bf58-4323-ad0f-f3bf67...

This is brilliant! curious - how do you see parents using this in their daily routines?

Thanks so much! A lot of parents use it in the car, at bedtime to wind down, or just for some screen-free quiet time. I really wanted to make it easy for them to whip up an episode anytime their kid asks a question.

This is great! How’d you make it?

hey, thanks for asking! short answer - i combine an LLM model with TTS models to generate and narrate each episode. But there’s a lot more happening behind the scenes to make sure everything is safe, age-appropriate, and sounds natural every time.

Planning to add an API for this?

Didn't think of it... but totally doable! I'll add it to my backlog.

Thanks!

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