5 ms·

Author here! I need to update this article. Years later, I actually got motivated by the comments on HN (whenever this gets posted). P People are always like "

Author here! I need to update this article. Years later, I actually got motivated by the comments on HN (whenever this gets posted). P People are always like "why don't you just ship your app?" ... so I did! I'm happy I went through with and it's way WAY better than any competitor in this category Check it out at https://benji.so https://benji.so (landing page is still w.i.p)

rob74 2y ago
Hi! Looks great, maybe I'll give it a try... Is it named after this guy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benji https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benji ? I was a huge fan of him (them?) when I was about 6-8 years old! ...and sorry about expressing my frustration (and suspicion) about you not mentioning the name of your "competitor"! I guess now that you have released your own app, the chances of you mentioning it are even smaller (if it's still around at all)?
- thekitze 2y ago
  It's named after my dog Benji haha. Yes you're right, I'm not gonna mention any competitors, especially on a viral HN article :) There's a chance I might make a /comparison page in the future though.
pantulis 2y ago
I just tried it and the detected timezone for me is called: "Africa/Ceuta (Romance Standard Time) (UTC+01:00) Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris" While the assigned delta with GMT is correct, this is confusing as hell because neither Brussels, Copenhaguen, Madrid or Paris are in Africa. You may want to take a look at the TZ info you are using. EDIT: See comment below, this is not an issue.
- com 2y ago
  But Africa/Ceuta time aligns with CE(S)T for longstanding national administrative reasons, I believe. That’s why those other cities are listed, since Africa/Ceuta time is not linked by policy, regulation or legislation with any African time zones… Time is one of those human constructs that isn’t strongly bound to geographic or perhaps even physical reality. Look at the International Date Line or Chinese timezone maps for examples that are “bigger” than Africa/Melila and Africa/Ceuta. We should all be glad that people are thanklessly doing the hard work to keep the TZ databases updated.
  - pantulis 2y ago
    I stand corrected, I had skipped the "Europe/Paris" and "Europe/Madrid" options that are present in the long listbox. I had assumed that someone from Paris would be confused by having to select the timezone "Africa/Ceuta".
philipwhiuk 2y ago
The landing page lags my browser. How is that even possible - it's a splash screen with a few images. What on earth are you doing on that page.
- OvbiousError 2y ago
  Rotating an image and moving some text apparently
- wellbehaved 2y ago
  OK Steve.
- udev4096 2y ago
  The author complains about the bloated web and then proceeds to do the exact same thing with his landing page
micimize 2y ago
I went through an unshipped app dev cycle that was fairly similar in many ways. Started on React, then RN, then Flutter, and eventually migrated away from graphql into sqlite. My app had some similar aspirations -- to bridge the gap between habit motivation, goal adherence measurement, task scheduling & rescheduling. I worked on it for a few years, and my identity was very much wrapped up in eventually bootstrapping a company. For me, the decision to let go of the project came in multiple phases, but one big closer was that I simply didn't want to be an app dev in the long run. While difficult to let go of, I currently feel good about the decision. Also, as evidenced by the resurrection part of the story, "nothing is ever fully lost" anyhow, though I doubt I'll ever return to this particular project. One key idea I had for expanding beyond the "high cognitive load" nature of most productivity apps was to implement a "life module" marketplace of sorts that would let, say, a fitness influencer sell a workout routine + meal plan + journal template one could "install" into their life. LLMs will also make detecting fall-off and attempting to attribute causes, or respond to "non-actions" much more feasible, which I think is important for anyone not type-A enough to use a productivity app consistently every day on their own.
idk1 2y ago
Hi there, I can't see your white menu links on the white background, thought you'd like to know - https://i.imgur.com/Yd1hniV.png https://i.imgur.com/Yd1hniV.png

rob74 2y ago

Hi! Looks great, maybe I'll give it a try... Is it named after this guy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benji https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benji ? I was a huge fan of him (them?) when I was about 6-8 years old! ...and sorry about expressing my frustration (and suspicion) about you not mentioning the name of your "competitor"! I guess now that you have released your own app, the chances of you mentioning it are even smaller (if it's still around at all)?

thekitze 2y ago
It's named after my dog Benji haha. Yes you're right, I'm not gonna mention any competitors, especially on a viral HN article :) There's a chance I might make a /comparison page in the future though.

pantulis 2y ago

I just tried it and the detected timezone for me is called: "Africa/Ceuta (Romance Standard Time) (UTC+01:00) Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris" While the assigned delta with GMT is correct, this is confusing as hell because neither Brussels, Copenhaguen, Madrid or Paris are in Africa. You may want to take a look at the TZ info you are using. EDIT: See comment below, this is not an issue.

com 2y ago
But Africa/Ceuta time aligns with CE(S)T for longstanding national administrative reasons, I believe. That’s why those other cities are listed, since Africa/Ceuta time is not linked by policy, regulation or legislation with any African time zones… Time is one of those human constructs that isn’t strongly bound to geographic or perhaps even physical reality. Look at the International Date Line or Chinese timezone maps for examples that are “bigger” than Africa/Melila and Africa/Ceuta. We should all be glad that people are thanklessly doing the hard work to keep the TZ databases updated.
- pantulis 2y ago
  I stand corrected, I had skipped the "Europe/Paris" and "Europe/Madrid" options that are present in the long listbox. I had assumed that someone from Paris would be confused by having to select the timezone "Africa/Ceuta".

philipwhiuk 2y ago

The landing page lags my browser. How is that even possible - it's a splash screen with a few images. What on earth are you doing on that page.

OvbiousError 2y ago
Rotating an image and moving some text apparently
wellbehaved 2y ago
OK Steve.
udev4096 2y ago
The author complains about the bloated web and then proceeds to do the exact same thing with his landing page

micimize 2y ago

I went through an unshipped app dev cycle that was fairly similar in many ways. Started on React, then RN, then Flutter, and eventually migrated away from graphql into sqlite. My app had some similar aspirations -- to bridge the gap between habit motivation, goal adherence measurement, task scheduling & rescheduling. I worked on it for a few years, and my identity was very much wrapped up in eventually bootstrapping a company. For me, the decision to let go of the project came in multiple phases, but one big closer was that I simply didn't want to be an app dev in the long run. While difficult to let go of, I currently feel good about the decision. Also, as evidenced by the resurrection part of the story, "nothing is ever fully lost" anyhow, though I doubt I'll ever return to this particular project. One key idea I had for expanding beyond the "high cognitive load" nature of most productivity apps was to implement a "life module" marketplace of sorts that would let, say, a fitness influencer sell a workout routine + meal plan + journal template one could "install" into their life. LLMs will also make detecting fall-off and attempting to attribute causes, or respond to "non-actions" much more feasible, which I think is important for anyone not type-A enough to use a productivity app consistently every day on their own.

idk1 2y ago

Hi there, I can't see your white menu links on the white background, thought you'd like to know - https://i.imgur.com/Yd1hniV.png https://i.imgur.com/Yd1hniV.png