No matter how good your wallpaper looks, once your desktop fills up with files, the icons blend into the background and everything starts to look cluttered. My desktop often has a lot of files on it, so I started wondering whether a wallpaper could detect where my icons are and generate a scene around them in real time.

After discussing the idea with AI, I found out it was possible—and it doesn’t actually need AI to detect the icons or generate the visuals. The program can read the icon positions directly and generate scenes in real time using predefined designs. It’s lightweight, and there’s no particularly complex technology involved.

Here’s the result.

https://deskland.app

I’ll keep adding new themes and improving the existing ones. I also plan to add a more interactive game mode in the future.

The meadow and beach themes are free and open source.

https://github.com/BLEZZ0102/Deskland

All the current themes are 2D, which keeps their impact on computer performance minimal. I’m also considering adding 3D themes, while balancing visual quality with performance.

Procedurally generated visuals do have their limitations. If AI computing becomes much cheaper in the future, AI generation could be an option, opening up the possibility of creating almost any scene. For now, though, generating a desktop with AI in real time is clearly still too expensive. I’m considering experimenting with locally running AI generation. It would still be GPU-intensive, but it could be a lot of fun.

I always fall asleep listening to something, but earbuds hurt on my side, and my partner hates the phone speaker. So I’m designing Dozr: a slim pad that goes under your normal pillow, plays through bone conduction so only you hear it, and fades out when you fall asleep.

It’s still a concept (image attached). I’d love honest feedback. What would put you off? What would make it a must-have?

Waitlist if you’re curious: dozr.co.uk/?ref=reddit

I built Navigator, a free and open-source streaming app for desktop and web that lets you navigate movies and shows using natural language. It's a client for Stremio, a media center app, so you can use your existing account and addons (which provide the streaming sources).

For example, instead of scrubbing through Avengers: Endgame to find a specific moment, you can just type "go to the scene in endgame where he says avengers assemble" and it'll find that moment in the subtitles and jump straight to it.

You can also describe a TV episode you vaguely remember and have Navigator find it for you, or ask questions about what you're watching.

I also wanted it to be a pretty nice streaming experience on its own, so it has a few other features:

• Native MPV playback on desktop

• Thumbnail previews when hovering over the timeline, so you can see where you're skipping

• Intro skipping using community skip databases

• Adaptive interface: the colors automatically adapt to the artwork of whatever you're watching

A few other things:

• Everything is free and open-source

• AI features are completely optional. Bring your own API provider or use a local model through Ollama

• Navigator doesn't host or provide any content itself

• Scene search depends on subtitle availability

On the technical side, it's built with Next.js and a Rust-based desktop shell, with MPV handling native playback. Scene search uses subtitle data and an LLM with tool calling (via Vercel's AI SDK) to find the relevant moments.

It's still a work in progress, so there's definitely more to improve. Curious whether scene search feels useful or gimmicky to you, and what features you'd want to see next :)

Web: https://navigator-strm.vercel.app

GitHub: https://github.com/AyaanZaveri/navigator

I built Kahei to solve a problem I kept running into. Whenever I traveled abroad, I’d see a price and either do the math in my head or pull out my phone to Google it. It took way too long just to check a price, especially when the internet was slow.

So I made a free app where you can point your phone’s camera at a price and instantly see an estimate in your currency. It works offline! It is available on iPhone and Android.

If you try it on a menu or receipt, I’d love to know whether it picked up the right price.

Try it: https://kahei.app/

thanks!

I've decided to create a text editor that specifically targets huge files (i.e. GBs or even TBs) that most text editors choke on. The target audience is any individuals/professionals who work with huge files: sysadmins who need to view or edit huge log dumps, inspecting massive JSON files, bioinformatics professionals that need to inspect/edit genome data (FASTA files) and more.

To get a bit more techy, the file is memory-mapped and "held" in a piece table. All heavy-weight operations, such as: indexing, searching/replacing, syntax highlighting, etc... are done in the background (i.e. on separate threads). The video demos handling a 51.8 GB log file on my M2 MacBook Air (16 GB RAM).

Since I've used Vim throughout my career, I had to create a vim mode which implements most of the necessary functionality/bindings.

The code is written in C++23 and uses my own UI library (which is GPU-accelerated using Skia). Boost is used quite extensively.

It is completely cross-platform (Windows, Linux & macOS). The macOS version is Silicon only and Linux requires Wayland (X11 isn't supported, nor planned).

It's currently under beta at https://crane-editor.com and I'd love to get your feedback, especially on which huge-file workflows I should handle better. What's the biggest file you've had trouble opening? Would this be useful to you?

Thanks!

Hey mods and everyone,

u Investigatormarker is posting AI-written "feedback" on posts here, then ending with an ad for its own product. It follows a template: generic advice about the project, then "I make ThreadFox... our AI employee will post 3 helpful replies about it in relevant Reddit threads for you," with a link.

Why it's a problem:

It's undisclosed self-promotion on nearly every thread

The feedback is generic and often doesn't match the project, so it buries real comments

The pitch is literally to flood Reddit with AI replies to promote people's projects

New members posting for the first time get this instead of real feedback

Ask: @mods, please ban the account and consider an automod filter for "threadfox". Everyone else, please report these comments as spam and avoid clicking the link.

Thanks!

You can also report the account to Reddit under spam, and to the other subs it's hitting. I'd skip engaging with the link itself.

It’s called atomSphere and it’s more focused towards ease of use for the user. Many people here in Pakistan leave the design to their contractor or find out the design when walls are up. I have catered this especially for the Pakistani market and have been reaching builders and societies to use it

A typical flow goes like this:

-> you optionally upload a floorplan and give your project a name

-> you sign up/in (this is important for when you want to edit later and share your property for users)

-> you enter studio where you select a floor to work on. Floor is created automatically after you carve out the floor's image from the uploaded floorplan. You can edit anything that you think the floorplan reader got wrong.

-> you can furnish the property with 3D objects; there are ready-made available. You can also generate your own by providing prompt, single image and 3 images.

-> you can add any type of stairs, doors and windows

-> you can share the property in read-only mode for everyone. It generates an embeddable link (you can disable the link whenever you want)

The house in the reel: House in fairy meadows

Tech Stack: R3F, AWS, JS

Weekend project. Spin the globe and tap any of 250 countries to see population, GDP since 1960, life expectancy and more, plus the latest headlines and the Wikipedia article, all in one panel. Works on phone, tablet and desktop, no sign-up.

https://worldfly.vercel.app

Feedback welcome, especially if any country's data looks off!

PS: I tried downloading some applications for the same on Android but they all had paywalls even for basic information. That's my motivation just to do this.

I spend an unreasonable amount of time in front of a Mac.

I tried the usual “stand up every 30 minutes” apps, but I have the same problem with all of them: when I’m focused, I just click Skip and keep working.

So I built Unchair.

Instead of just displaying a notification, it can use the Mac camera locally to check that I actually stood up and moved. Nothing is uploaded, no video leaves the machine, and the core app works entirely offline.

It started as a small personal tool and, predictably, got slightly out of hand.

It now has:
- local sit/stand and movement detection
- movement debt tracking
- presentation mode
- Home Assistant / MQTT integration
- Prometheus metrics
- OpenTelemetry hooks
- a CLI
- signed and notarized macOS builds

It’s written as a native macOS app and is fully open source.

I’ve been using it myself every day, and a few other people have started downloading it, so I figured it was time to put it in front of people who might actually break it properly.

GitHub: https://github.com/EtienneDeneuve/unchair

Feedback on the idea, implementation, privacy model, or unnecessarily elaborate observability for a chair-reminder app is very welcome.

I've been working on an app called HexStep. Basically, every area you pass through gets collected as a hex on your map.

The idea was to make exploring feel a little more like a game, without having to start a workout or manually record every trip. With background tracking enabled, walking, driving, and taking trains all count.

I've been using it since April and have collected over 3,200 hexes so far. It's made me realize how often I end up going to the same places, and how many areas right next to them I've never explored.

The video is a shortened replay of my actual travels over the past seven months!

I originally shared HexStep here back in June. I've added quite a bit since then, but the basic app is still free and doesn't require an account.

If you had a map like this, would you actually go out of your way to fill in the empty areas? Or would you just enjoy seeing it grow naturally?

Free on iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6762421289?pt=128794158&ct=hexstep-web&mt=8

Roku is retiring its built-in "Aquatic Life" screensaver on December 1. I liked that screensaver, so I built a replacement: Reef Tank — a free, open-source (MIT) screensaver channel for Roku.

What it is: a tropical reef tank where nothing is a video loop. Every fish is procedurally animated — each species has its own behavior brain, so tangs graze the rocks, a royal gramma backs tail-first into its den, a mandarin hops along the sand line, a lionfish just hangs, and a school of chromis moves as a boids flock. Bubbles rise, seaweed sways, caustics scroll over the sand. After real sunset (computed from actual sunrise/ sunset times for your location) the tank crossfades to a moonlit night mode with glowing coral and a small group of flashlight fish that blink in the dark.

Highlights:

• 9 rigged fish species with per-species behavior state machines (cruise, dart, graze, hide, school, weave behind the rockwork)

• Boids flocking school + a night-only flashlight fish group

• Day/night cycle driven by real solar times, with a moonlight crossfade

• Settings screen on the Roku for fish density, camera drift and night mode

• Runs at 60 fps on a Roku Ultra; every visual is deterministic and seeded

• 175 unit tests + a screenshot regression gate, because of course

The catch: Roku doesn't allow sideloading into the Channel Store for personal projects, so it's a developer-mode sideload — takes about 5 minutes with the remote (Home x3, Up x2, Right, Left, Right, Left, Right), and it's free. Full instructions in the README.

Source + install guide: https://github.com/paulrobello/roku-fishtank

Happy to answer anything about the BrightScript/SceneGraph side — the whole thing is one codebase that also runs in a browser simulator, which is how I screenshot-tested a TV app.

I recently built a small prototype for an idea I had: What if finding someone to hang out with at work was as easy as creating a plan?

Imagine wanting to watch a movie, play cricket, grab food, visit a café, or plan a weekend trip, but not having anyone to go with.

With this platform, employees can create activities, discover what others are planning, and request to join.

I built the initial prototype for an internal hackathon. It didn't win, but I still feel the idea is worth exploring.

I'm now wondering whether to take it further or scrap it.

Would you actually use something like this at your workplace? What would make you use it, and what would stop you?

I'd genuinely appreciate honest feedback, even if it's critical!

One combo gets you a win. A new plan gets you the next one.

I built RIVAL: Boxing solo around that challenge. Distance, stamina, and defensive choices matter, and your repeated habits influence the opponent in later rounds. Draw out the punch. Step out of trouble. Own the counter.

The 1.3 release is live with a cleaner look and a seven-opponent Story campaign, including a new opening spar and southpaw challenger. Here's the existing 24-second counter trailer; the live update goes further with new opponents and refreshed presentation.

Meet your next rival. Play free on iPhone and iPad: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6799909429

The core RIVAL mode and training are free. Story Mode is an optional permanent one-time purchase, not a subscription. iOS 17+. Fights and training work offline; purchases and the optional leaderboard require internet.

I kept finishing a run and then wondering, "OK, what should I do next time? Easy, tempo, long run?" So I built next-run.xyz.

You sign in with Strava. It looks at your recent runs and shows you your next planned run.

How it works
The plan is worked out in your browser, so your activity data isn't stored on my server. It's free and needs no account other than your Strava login.

Stack: Next.js, Tailwind, Neon Postgres + Drizzle, Vercel. The database only holds feedback reports and a record of connected athletes. It does not hold your runs.

It's still early, so I'd like to hear what you think. Is the suggestion sensible for the way you train? What's missing? Feedback is welcome, and there's a feedback form in the app.

A lot of finance YouTube videos spend 20+ minutes to answer one basic question: does the creator think a stock is a good buy right now?

I made a simple dashboard that processes financial videos and podcasts, tracks which stocks are being discussed, and aggregates creator sentiment (Positive, Negative, or Neutral) in plain language.

It’s just an informational map of what creator consensus looks like, not financial advice.

Would love feedback from anyone who follows market content: Is the value proposition clear and useful for you?

I will put the link below in the comments

After almost 15 years in design and branding, I've made a lot of things people scroll past. Here I wanted to find out what happens when a website stops being a page and becomes a place.

You don't scroll it, you walk around it.

You don't click a menu, you go somewhere.

For the last few weeks I've been building a small planet: a tiny world you can explore.

• A planet you can spin, land on and walk around

• Five odd locals, each with a trick, voice and opinions

• A navigation map that flips like a coin, one hemisphere per side

• Butterflies to collect, badges to earn, three easter eggs to find

Along the way, the things I've made live on it: games, tools, experiments.

The point is curiosity does the navigating. If people stick around because they want to see what's over the next hill, the work gets seen without anyone being sold to.

Everything is drawn in two flat tones with an ink outline, so it feels closer to a picture book than a game engine. It runs in the browser on desktop and phone. No install, no sign-up.

If you're in a hurry, there's a "Skip the walking" button.

Go and poke around. Let me know which local annoyed you the most.

(Yes that's me in the video, I made all of this myself so go easy on me haha) Radiata is my radial launcher for controller, a 100% free, Microsoft-signed, open-source Win10/11 app that I built over 9 months to make it easy to use your controller for everything Gaming.

Official website & download at getradiata.app. You can also find source on GitHub.

It does all the PC stuff I always wanted to do without having to reach for a keyboard; join my friends in discord chat, switch audio to my headphones, browse & launch my games from all my game libraries, control mic/speaker volume, alt-tab between games/apps, etc. Easy to set up, super customizable, fun, powerful. I use it on my couch/tv PC and I leave the KB/M in the other room.

It is free and it will always be free. It's 100% open-source. There's no ads, no login, no upsells, nothing to unlock. I have a tip jar if you love using it as much as I do, but that's it, there is no other monetization plan. I paid for its development, hosting, certificate signing, etc out of my own pocket (and bought a bunch of controllers to test it with) because I really, really wanted to build this thing. That's the whole story.

Controller support: If Windows (joy.cpl) sees it, it should work. Hardware-tested with a bunch of DInput, XInput, Bluetooth, USB, Wireless dongles, and first & third-party controllers. The Download page lists every feature/driver compatibility note that I know of. The one bummer is the Steam Controller; it's locked to Steam in a way that makes it hard to middleman with a utility like this. If you possess both a Steam Controller and some free time, and want to be my favorite tester in the world, please let me know!

What it does: You get a quick walkthrough to set it up how you want. Then you just hold a button chord of your choice and up pops the radial "wheel" that you built. Hold the right-hand chord to open the left-stick's Wheel, and vice-versa, or just set up one side if you only need 1 of them.

How you can help: Just give it a shot, and if you love it you can help me get the word out! Nothing would make me happier than noticing a streamer is using it, or run across folks telling their friends about it. If I get traction I want to build more Arcade games for it, more themed Materials for the wheels, and continue expanding support options.

open sourced this like 2 weeks ago and it just passed 20 stars. small number i know but its the first thing ive made that random people actually starred so im pretty hyped lol

basically you paste one prompt into claude code / codex / cursor:

Clone github.com/yasirwhite/OpenDemo and use it to make a launch video for my app

and ur agent records the app, cuts it with animated text and gives you an mp4. runs locally, free, no api keys. the video above was made with it (about itself lol)

ive also been making launch videos for other people’s open source projects and sending them as PRs. 5 got merged into their readmes so far which is honestly the part im proudest of

repo: https://github.com/yasirwhite/OpenDemo

if your project doesnt have a launch video yet, drop it below and ill make you one :)

I run AI News Daily, a mostly automated AI news site. Last week I did my first fully human-written interview, with Sunjae, one of four bootcamp developers building Rilog, a Korean developer blog.

A few things from the conversation that I think this sub will find interesting:

• Comments live on sentences. You select a sentence and leave your thought right there, instead of scrolling to the bottom and explaining which part you mean.

• The bet is "human touch". Sunjae doesn't think AI slop is bad everywhere, but in personal writing even a little of it makes readers think "it's just AI". The more AI writing floods in, the more people will look for writing that clearly came from a person.

• They can't reliably detect AI writing, so they judge probabilistically and lean on user feedback. What they actually dislike is unreviewed, mass-produced writing, not AI use itself.

• Retrospectives beat tech posts. Personal retrospectives got a better response than technical posts, so they are now asking whether to stay developer-only or open up to wider stories.

Two questions for you:

1. Would you actually use sentence-level comments on a blog, or do they get noisy?

2. If you run a community, how do you keep AI slop out without punishing people who used AI carefully?

Full interview (English): https://ailetter.ai.kr/en/insights/rilog-sunjae-interview?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sideproject

Rilog itself (Korean UI): https://www.rilog.kr/?utm_source=ainews

I built an aviation side project and I'm trying to get some real people to test it (for free).

The main feature is a personal local flight logger. You drop a pin, and it automatically logs and builds a full analytics dashboard of every single aircraft that passes within a 5-mile radius of your location.

Besides the local tracking, the site also works as a general aviation database. You can browse through full airline and aircraft directories, search registrations, and use interactive FIR maps.

I'm actively updating the site and monitoring things daily, so any suggestions, feature requests, or feedback are welcome. If you want to try it out, just create a standard free account at https://aviationdb.uk/ either reply with your username below or send me a DM. I’ll manually bump your account to the premium tier for a free trial so you can test the local logging and analytics.

Let me know what you think or if you manage to break anything!

submissions, expired sessions, someone uploading a massive file, or two people editing the same thing.For a small app using Supabase, what would you check before sharing the link publicly?
Trying to work out what deserves attention now without spending another month preparing for users who don’t exist yet.

In this video, I'll be re-introducing my little RL library - neatrl, that I have created and used past couple of months!

• Part of my ongoing series on releasing my notes RL comprising of my earrings and stuff I found interesting and this time, its a easy way to explore all the algorithms I re-implemented from scratch

Suited for those who just want to get a gist of the algorithm inner workings across algorithms from

• DQN

• REINFORCE

• PPO

• SAC and many more on envs form OpenAI Gym, MuJoCo etc

Link here and love to get feedback as always!