The best Hacker News stories from Show from the past week
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Show HN: Buy My Side Project
Show HN: Relocate.me – get your next tech job abroad
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Show HN: Svelte NodeGUI, a lightweight Electron alternative with native UI
Woice.me – async voice communication for teams: work, at your own pace
Show HN: Ten seconds to ponder if a thread is worth it
Why does an A note sound different across instruments?
Show HN: A Native Tiling Window Manager for Windows 10, Inspired by I3wm
Show HN: A Native Tiling Window Manager for Windows 10, Inspired by I3wm
Show HN: Hummingbard – decentralized communities built on Matrix
Show HN: Hummingbard – decentralized communities built on Matrix
Show HN: Redbean – Single-file distributable web server
Show HN: Redbean – Single-file distributable web server
Show HN: QEMU front end for M1 and Intel Macs
Show HN: Can’t afford Bloomberg Terminal? No prob, I built the next best thing
Show HN: I wrote a book about using data science to solve “everyday” problems
Launch HN: Wyndly (YC W21) – Allergy relief through at-home oral drops
Hi HN,<p>I’m Aakash, and I’m a long time HN reader. My cousin Manan and I are excited to share our startup Wyndly (<a href="https://www.wyndly.com" rel="nofollow">https://www.wyndly.com</a>) with HN today.<p>Wyndly is focused on making long-term allergy relief convenient through at-home allergy immunotherapy drops and telemedicine. These personalized oral drops train your immune systems to stop reacting to allergy triggers like pollen, pets, or dust.<p>Manan is an ear-nose-and-throat surgeon and allergy doctor, and in his physical practice, he’s treated thousands of patients with at-home allergy drops, a form of allergy immunotherapy. During allergy immunotherapy, you gradually introduce your immune system to your allergy triggers. Over time, your immune system learns to tolerate these allergy triggers and stops reacting to them. For patients, this means greatly reduced allergy symptoms and long-term relief [1] without any other medicine for years after patients finish their immunotherapy.<p>While allergy drops are 80% of allergy immunotherapy in some European countries, in the United States, allergy drops are just 5.9% of allergy immunotherapy prescriptions [2] and are really only available in university hospitals like Johns Hopkins, University of Pittsburgh, and West Virginia University [3] [4] [5].<p>Part of the reason for their limited availability is physician training, and another part is the health insurance system’s incentives. Most allergy doctors were trained on allergy shots, and prescribe what they are most experienced with. Additionally, health insurance programs incentivize prescribing allergy shots.<p>In his medical training, Manan trained on both allergy drops and shots. When Manan gave his patients the choice between at-home allergy drops and allergy shots, his patients always chose drops, which are safer, convenient, and don’t require needles [6].<p>When Covid-19 hit Denver in March 2020, Manan switched all of his allergy drop patients to online care to continue treatment. After shelter-in-place was lifted, his patients continued online care due to the convenience, which told us one thing—patients preferred and were comfortable with telemedicine for allergy care. And that's why we started Wyndly.<p>We’re trying to make allergy immunotherapy convenient and affordable, so that any one of the 60 million people in America suffering from allergies has the opportunity to get lifelong relief—just like braces straighten your teeth and Lasik fixes your vision.<p>We’ve done our best to make our patient experience as easy as possible. First, we learn more about you and your allergy history. Then, our medical team creates a personalized treatment plan with treatment sent straight to your door. Most patients notice benefits at 6 months, and some patients have reported allergy symptom relief as early as 6 weeks [7]. Patients lock-in lifelong allergy relief after a few years [1]. Throughout this time, we stay in touch with the patient to work with them towards allergy relief.<p>Please let us know if you have more questions or feedback. We love talking about the science behind allergy immunotherapy, our treatment model, and what we’re doing. We're happy to answer any questions!<p>[1] Long-lasting effects of sublingual immunotherapy according to its duration: a 15-year prospective study <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20934206/" rel="nofollow">https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20934206/</a><p>[2] Comparison of allergen immunotherapy practice patterns in the United States and Europe <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20084837/" rel="nofollow">https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20084837/</a><p>[3] Sublingual Immunotherapy (SLIT) for Allergy Treatment: Johns Hopkins | Q&A <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpWomI4iPLY" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpWomI4iPLY</a><p>[4] Benefits of Sublingual Immunotherapy | UPMC <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpP41WQ6pBc" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpP41WQ6pBc</a><p>[5] Sublingual Immunotherapy: An Alternative to Allergy Shots <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THszgnYNM1I" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THszgnYNM1I</a><p>[6] Efficacy and Safety of Subcutaneous and Sublingual Immunotherapy for Allergic Rhinoconjunctivitis and Asthma <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28964530/" rel="nofollow">https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28964530/</a><p>[7] Clinical improvement after escalation for sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT)
<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21938688/" rel="nofollow">https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21938688/</a>
Launch HN: GreaseBoss (YC W21) – Real-time system to manage industrial greasing
We are Steve, Tim and Pete, the cofounders of GreaseBoss (<a href="https://www.greaseboss.io" rel="nofollow">https://www.greaseboss.io</a>). GreaseBoss is a hardware and software system that verifies that the greasing of industrial equipment is completed on time and according to specification.<p>Greasing, you say? Yup, you heard that right. Incorrect greasing is the number one cause for machinery failure on industrial sites. Industrial machinery failure costs the global economy $21B a year. Greasing is a big deal!<p>We know this is an unsexy part of the economy, so we won’t judge you if you have never heard of a zerk (grease point) before. Some of our favourite places you can find zerks include super yachts - 200 zerks, private planes - 80 zerks, breweries - 2000 zerks, theme parks - 1500 zerks. Other places with lots of zerks include factories, mines, utilities, farm equipment, trucks and military vehicles.<p>The idea for GreaseBoss came when Steve and Tim saw frequent machine breakdowns due to incorrect greasing while supporting mine sites in Outback Australia. This problem costs Australian mine sites hundreds of millions of dollars in lost productivity every year - disrupted production, spending on parts and labour for repairs. We built and tested our prototypes during the pandemic lockdowns on the back deck, over Zoom calls. We have now developed our MVP and have quit our jobs to chase GreaseBoss full time.<p>On the hardware side: we put RFID tags that fit like washers under each zerk. These are read by a head unit that is retrofittable to existing grease guns, which includes a custom RFID reader integrated into the nozzle. It also includes a flow meter and supporting electronics. Our device has 4G, Wifi and LoRa for comms, but also operates in an offline mode for customers in remote locations. Our hardware is rugged, dust proof, and water proof for some of the toughest operational environments (and operators..)<p>On the software side, we record each greasing in the cloud, right as the worker greases the zerk. Since most industry is still tracking this using paperwork, you can imagine how much more efficient this is. Our customers get back to production much faster.<p>We are building a HaaS (Hardware as a Service - is that a thing?) business model: we charge customers upfront for the hardware and then a software subscription fee. We are experimenting with per zerk, per machine and per site pricing. We haven’t found the sweet spot yet.<p>We have GreaseBoss installed at a large coal mine, a quarry and on excavators at the dump in Queensland, Australia. We also have a South African greasing contractor using our system.<p>We will be online for the rest of the day answering your questions (we are in AEST timezone). We are very excited to receive your ideas, experiences and feedback!
Launch HN: H3X (YC W21) – High power density electric aircraft motors
Hey HN!<p>I’m Jason, one of the co-founders at H3X (<a href="https://www.h3x.tech" rel="nofollow">https://www.h3x.tech</a>). We are building the lightest electric propulsion systems in the world. Our first product is a 250kW (330HP) integrated motor drive in a 18kg (40lb) package. It combines the electric motor, inverter, and gearbox into a single unit, resulting in an ultra-high-power density solution for electric aircraft (and other mass sensitive applications).<p>In terms of electrification, we believe the aircraft industry is where automotive was ten years ago. There are many companies working on eVTOL and single-seaters, but very few are working on large commercial single-aisle electric aircraft such as a 737. This class of aircraft is absolutely critical to electrify as it accounts for the most passenger-miles [1] and is the biggest slice of the pie in terms of aviation emissions. Beyond the environmental impact, there are huge potential cost savings from both fuel (or lack thereof) and reduced maintenance for airlines.<p>Aircraft are very mass sensitive so there are two main technology challenges that need to be solved to enable this class of electric aviation –<p>(1) High energy density and efficient energy storage (batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, etc.)<p>(2) Light, efficient, and high-power density electric propulsion systems (electric motors, power electronics, gearbox)<p>There are many people working on (1) and great strides are being made [2][3]. We are focused on solving (2). A study done by the DOE determined that for a 737 to complete a five-hour flight, the propulsion system must be >12 kW/kg [4]. Today, best-in-class systems have a power density of 3-4 kW/kg. With our first product, we are targeting 13 kW/kg, making it an attractive solution for near-term Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) applications as well as an enabling technology for the aviation industry to enter the next stage of electrification.<p>There are some cool things we are doing with the electromagnetics, power electronics, and the integration between the systems to get to the 13 kW/kg. There is not a single magic bullet, but rather a combination of multiple technological advances - 3D printed copper stator coils, high frequency SiC power electronics, and a synergistic cooling system to name a few.<p>Our origins in electrification stem back to our college days where we built Formula-style electric racecars (s/o to Wisconsin Racing FSAE!). During year 1 of the program, we got so fed up with our COTS motors and inverters, we decided to go clean slate and build our own from the ground up the following year. Those were super happy fun times. Lots of dead IGBTs and all-nighters in the shop, but in the end, we got everything working and delivered! It was a true test of resilience and taught us how to GSD. Great preparation for starting a company. This led us to grad school and it became apparent during this time that the electric aircraft industry was a sleeping giant ready to be woken. We felt uniquely positioned to capitalize on this opportunity, so after about a year in industry, we left our full-time jobs and went all in.<p>We’ve got a long road ahead - aviation is tough, there’s no denying that. In addition to the engineering challenges, there are also major certification barriers. However, CO2 is a serious problem and right now the major aviation players don’t have a compelling plan to meet the goals laid out in the Paris Agreement. Innovation needs to come from the outside and that’s what we’re doing at H3X.<p>I’d love to hear your guys thoughts and would be happy to answer any questions you have.<p>Sources:<p>[1] <a href="https://www.transtats.bts.gov/tables.asp?DB_ID=130" rel="nofollow">https://www.transtats.bts.gov/tables.asp?DB_ID=130</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/22/21449238/tesla-electric-car-battery-tabless-cells-day-elon-musk" rel="nofollow">https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/22/21449238/tesla-electric-c...</a><p>[3] <a href="https://hypoint.com/" rel="nofollow">https://hypoint.com/</a>, <a href="https://www.plugpower.com/" rel="nofollow">https://www.plugpower.com/</a><p>[4] ASCEND DE-FOA-0002238
Show HN: Call a Dev – Pay Stack Overflow users $1/min for live programming help