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mazzystar

579 karma · joined June 8, 2021

A curious mind exploring the world.

https://mazzzystar.com

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mazzystar··on Loupe – A iOS app that raises awareness about what native apps can see
This resonates from the dev side. I made an offline photo search app a while back — you search your library in plain language ("a boy and a girl by the river"), CLIP embeddings all computed on device. It needs full photo access but I deliberately requested zero network permission. Was kind of proud of that.

Problem is there's no way for users to actually know that. iOS has no "this app can't reach the internet" indicator, so the whole guarantee is invisible. I even had people assume the opposite — app reads your whole library, therefore it must be uploading it somewhere. Exactly backwards.

mazzystar··on Show HN: I spent $100 in Claude tokens and 1k battles training my AI tank
Thanks! After you create a tank, copy the key and docs, give them to your agent, and just chat with it.

The agent can update the tank code and run battles for you. You don’t manually drive the tank — you work with your agent and watch the results.

mazzystar··on Show HN: I spent $100 in Claude tokens and 1k battles training my AI tank
This is most likely because you’re using Google login inside an in-app browser. You need to switch to a real browser
mazzystar··on Why Whisper Notes for Mac Left the App Store
Apple's permissions make apps safer, but at the cost of being pretty hostile to developers — especially when there's no alternative API.
mazzystar··on Why do voice transcription apps charge monthly when Whisper runs locally?
You might want to check out https://whispernotes.app - it's a one-time purchase, no subscription. For offline apps with no ongoing server costs, I think buy-once should at least be an option alongside subscriptions.
mazzystar··on Show HN: Clio – AI journal that thinks for 60 seconds before responding
Thanks for your words!
mazzystar··on Local-first software (2019)
Apple doesn't allow developers to target specific device models, presumably to prevent discrimination. However, you have two options: 1. Set a minimum iOS version requirement, or 2. Restrict to devices with A12 chips or later. But neither approach can exclude certain problematic device models.
mazzystar··on Ask HN: How do you learn Spanish guitar?
Sorry I went traveling for a week right after asking my question. I've already ordered a nylon string guitar - thank you for your detailed reply, it was very helpful as a reference.
mazzystar··on Local-first software (2019)
This reminds me of my own painful story: I once made a local photo search app called Queryable that ported OpenAI's CLIP model to iPhone, letting you search your photos with queries like "a black cat sitting on a sofa."

Since it needed to access users' local photo libraries, I didn't want the app to connect to the internet under any circumstances. So I made it a paid app instead of the usual free+in-app purchases model, since the latter requires calling StoreKit which goes online. But because the app had to run the CLIP model, it would crash on lower-performance phones like the iPhone X. Users who paid for it couldn't use it and felt scammed, leading to tons of one-star reviews and angry complaints about their photos being stolen. Eventually I decided to open-source the app, though it never brought me much revenue anyway.

Two years later, Apple started announcing they'd be integrating this exact feature into Apple Intelligence : )

mazzystar··on Ask HN: What API or software are people using for transcription?
I've been using WhisperNotes (https://whispernotes.app) for iOS/macOS and really appreciate the offline approach - no recurring API costs and everything stays local. The transcription quality is solid, though you're right that it doesn't handle summarization yet. Still worth checking out if privacy and costs matter to you.
mazzystar··on Ask HN: What are you working on? (May 2025)
I'm making a fun app that allows people to share what they're doing right now, and you can see what others are doing right now. It reminds me of what it was like when the internet was first born - seeing what others are living makes me not feel so alone anymore.

If you'd like to play, visit: https://cike.app

mazzystar··on How I blog with Obsidian, Hugo, GitHub, and Cloudflare
With a similar intention, I made an open source blog tool that stores md files on Github: https://github.com/mazzzystar/tinymind

No deployment is required, just authorise Github to access your public repo permissions. It will create a repo called "tinymind-blog" under your Github account. Every update you make will be committed to your Github repo, ensuring data synchronisation at all times.

mazzystar··on TubeLLM
Hi, I made a little gadget that allows you to virtually travel by watching YouTube videos, such as strolling down Fifth Avenue, exploring Italian cities or walking through the streets of Tokyo, using the Gemini Vision API.

I know it's a bit crude and I'm not sure how to monetise it. I just find the idea fascinating and it has been on my mind for a while. I want to build it quickly, release it and then forget about it.

At the moment I'm burning through my own tokens, so if you find the service unavailable, it's because the token has been used up :(

mazzystar··on Show HN: Hacker News with AI-generated summaries
I did the same thing 3 months ago: https://zeli.app
mazzystar··on Ask HN: Where to put a static page that would last forever
You may try "https://www.tinymind.me". (Declaration: This is something I made, but it is a non-profit product).

It allows you to write public blogs/ideas and is hosted on Github. Users can view it without logging in. In theory, if Github doesn't close down, your content will exist permanently.

mazzystar··on Show HN: HN Update – Hourly news broadcast of top HN stories
Sample here:

"Tech enthusiasts, welcome to 'Claude's Crazy Tech Emporium'! I'm your old friend Claude. Today, we're taking you on a fantastic tech journey, from the maze of subscription services all the way to nuclear-powered data centers. Fasten your seatbelts, we're taking off!

First, let's talk about those love-hate subscription services. Ever tried to unsubscribe and couldn't find the exit? Like being stuck in a maze, looking everywhere but finding no way out. Don't worry, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has heard our cries! They've recently introduced the 'Click to Cancel' rule. Imagine canceling a subscription as easily as deleting an ex's contact. Ah, the sweet taste of freedom! But don't get too excited, because...

Amazon is tempting us again! They've just launched a series of new Kindles, including their first color Kindle and the all-new Kindle Scribe. Now you can not only read color e-books but also write and draw on them. It's the perfect gift for those who love doodling in paper books! But book lovers, beware, this isn't a license to scribble in library books. Speaking of which...

Have you heard about the 'Transition Year' in the Irish education system? It's like a 'dream school year' for students! During this year, students can try various courses, from aeronautics to art, from programming to car maintenance. Isn't this like a real-life 'Hogwarts'? I even wonder if they have a course on 'How to Create Magic Books on Kindle'. But if you really want to experience magical technology, then...

You must check out the Apple Vision Pro! Someone recently used this device that looks like it came straight out of a sci-fi movie on a plane. Imagine wearing this high-tech headset, watching 3D movies at 30,000 feet - fellow passengers might think you're a time traveler from 2050. Just a reminder, don't scream out loud if you're watching a horror movie, or the flight attendant might think you've spotted a UFO! Speaking of unidentified objects...

Recently, someone benchmarked so-called 'AI PCs'. The results show that these computers might not be as intelligent as we imagined. It seems AI still prefers to roam in the cloud, reluctant to move into our computers permanently. Maybe AI thinks our computers are too cramped? But don't worry, because...

Amazon is finding a new home for AI! They've recently quietly invested in a nuclear power developer. Looks like they're planning a 'nuclear' upgrade for their data centers! Imagine, every tweet you send might have a hint of nuclear energy. Don't worry, this won't turn your phone into a mini nuclear reactor. Although, if it did, we'd never have to worry about low battery again, right?

Finally, let's look at the 'nuclear' war in the WordPress community. The dispute between Matt Mullenweg and WP Engine is more dramatic than 'Game of Thrones'. It seems even in the open-source world, court intrigue is unavoidable. Developer friends, besides coding, learn some workplace politics too. But remember, in the programming world, the one with the most beautiful code usually wins, not the one best at playing politics.

Well, that's the end of our 'Crazy Tech Emporium' tour. From the maze of subscription services to nuclear-powered data centers, to power games in the open-source world, we've experienced quite a lot, haven't we? I hope you've had a good laugh and learned something on this crazy journey. I'm Claude, see you next time! Remember, in this crazy tech world, curiosity and a sense of humor are the best survival tools. Bye-bye!"

mazzystar··on Show HN: HN Update – Hourly news broadcast of top HN stories
Last week I had a similar idea as you. I created a webpage called https://zeli.app that automatically helps you parse the content of posts from the HN homepage, rewrite the titles, and generate abstracts.

So, I ended up with these post fragments, and I tried feeding these title + abstract lists to Claude 3.5 Sonnet to string them together into a 5-minute English podcast, emphasizing on making these fragments flow cohesively.

Honestly, I wasn't completely satisfied with the results because the topics switched too quickly, and each post only had 2-3 sentence introductions, making it sound less interesting.

Anyway, it was exciting to find someone with a similar idea as me, but I still think the lack of interesting content is the main issue.

mazzystar··on Automating the most annoying aspects of blogging
Interesting idea, if the seed is set differently, would that mean that each person sees a different image? Like a lottery.
mazzystar··on Automating the most annoying aspects of blogging
and the source code here: https://github.com/mazzzystar/tinymind
mazzystar··on Automating the most annoying aspects of blogging
I have similar feelings, so I created this: https://tinymind.me

Some highlights: 1. Drag and drop to upload images, and automatically save to your github, no need for imgur. 2. Supports Markdown and LaTex. 3. Free & open source, your data stored in your Github repository.

Drawback: You need to authorize access to your public repo on Github.

mazzystar··on Show HN: Zeli – HN reader with AI digests for non-native speakers
Thank you! I'm really happy that you like (which is also my favorite) this feature!
mazzystar··on Show HN: Zeli – HN reader with AI digests for non-native speakers
Sorry but I've added a lot of features each day, and I think HN welcomes the duplicate URL with content & functioning changes.
mazzystar··on An Unknown Rare Disease Has Destroyed My Wife's Life
This is a help post that my friend published on Reddit, hoping that other users could help diagnose the condition. He hasn't found an answer, so I'm trying to ask the medically knowledgeable friends on HN.
mazzystar··on The Fastest Way to Have a Blog
Sorry, the URL has been updated to: https://mazzzystar.github.io/2024/09/26/The-easiest-way-to-h...
mazzystar··on How I Built My Blog
Keep blog simple will make it's easier to generate raw idea.

I just made a new opensource project named TinyMind: https://github.com/mazzzystar/tinymind

Which allows you to create your blog page in 1 minutes and share to anyone.

It's non-profitable, just for hobby and helping most people who don't want stuck in Hexo/Hugo or code.

mazzystar··on Tinymind: Open-Source Blog Publishing Tool with GitHub Storage
I've built Tinymind, a tool that transforms your GitHub into a blog and memo storage platform. It requires no server setup and syncs all input directly to your GitHub repository.

How it works: 1. We create a public 'tinymind-blog' repository in your GitHub account. 2. You write content on our webpage. 3. It automatically commits to your 'yourname/tinymind-blog' repo.

This approach ensures seamless content creation and data persistence.

Website: https://www.tinymind.me Source: https://github.com/mazzzystar/tinymind

Looking forward to your feedback and contributions.

mazzystar··on Run Apple's MobileCLIP on mobile devices
At least not yet, lol
mazzystar··on Two Years of an AI Photo Album Search App
You mean Queryable? It's in English: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/queryable-find-photo-by-text/i...

I'm not sure what you mean by 'it's only in Chinese'.

mazzystar··on Two Years of an AI Photo Album Search App
Try this: https://www.turtlelm.org/en

And actually I haven't write anything here. Will publish the first post before Auguest.

mazzystar··on Two Years of an AI Photo Album Search App
Thank you for your reply! Since then, I've actually created many quirky products. The latest one I'm working on (currently in progress and unfinished) is this: https://www.turtlelm.org/ It's an unusual benchmark that evaluates LLMs through AI games.
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