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.
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.
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.
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.
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 : )
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.
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.
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.
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 :(
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.
"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!"
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.
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.
https://mazzzystar.com