alt.hn

7/5/2026 at 3:36:49 AM

I Accidentally Started a Small Business Three Weeks Ago

 https://extelligence.substack.com/p/i-accidentally-started-a-small-business

by shpat

7/5/2026 at 7:51:46 AM

My mother is a speech therapist. 20 years ago she used to bring these devices home to set up for kids she worked with and would get me to record the voice sometimes for her kids who had a similar voice to mine. Even then, as a child, it struck me how basic and expensive those things were.

The arrival of iPads was a wonderful thing for her, not because the functionality got better but because an iPad was far far cheaper than the array of 20 buttons with self-printed laminated labels she was using with most of her kids.

All that to say, this is fabulous, and well overdue.

by IneffablePigeon

7/5/2026 at 8:43:57 AM

As a vibe coder and a product guy trying to make the world a better place with tech, this is just the most inspiring stuff. Well done on doing this for you and your family and soon so many other families. This is what AI is for. Best thing I’ve read all year!!

by pbarondadditude

7/5/2026 at 6:17:16 AM

I really did swallow a bit and looked at the ceiling reading this (at a public place).

by just-tom

7/5/2026 at 6:36:02 AM

A traditional AAC was way too abstract. My son has no clue that a red octagon means stop. He has no idea what stop even means in that context.

When I travel, I really like looking at the public graphics for no parking, no entry, etc. Some places are basically just text, but others really have great little illustrations that communicate the message without needing words.

For example – I think it was in France or Spain where the No Trespassing sign is an angry little yelling man with his hand up. It would be helpful if more public graphic designs made this much effort.

by keiferski

7/5/2026 at 11:49:38 AM

It often correlates with a publics literary rate. Which is why really international communication apps have photos for groupchats and speech samples.

by warumdarum

7/5/2026 at 5:10:52 AM

This is great. I knew a kiddo who had to use gaze to talk, due to paralysis, but it was all a bit cumbersome, so she didn't have her talk screen most of the time. I never did get to see how it was organized.

Having something more personalized and hopefully less expensive / easier to bring with you sounds amazingly useful.

by toast0

7/5/2026 at 10:27:44 AM

This is great! Never knew this AAC is a thing.

I happen to make an interactive pen platform (like TipToi but with an editor that allows one to design and publish their own books with logic, scripting, genai support), much like the author explained at the end; and the AAC is actually a perfect use case. You get everything the author described, but screen free!

by metaketa

7/5/2026 at 7:38:33 AM

I have close friends who have children with learning and behavior difficulties, this is an inspiring story that I hope leads to a new norm.

by telesilla

7/5/2026 at 6:34:34 AM

Finally some fucking hacker news.

by tangenter

7/5/2026 at 8:39:28 AM

Seriously, enough with the b2b SaaS, give us more shit that can make a positive dent on the world!

by anon7000

7/5/2026 at 7:16:29 AM

Great stuff - I really hope you manage to scale this up!

by niksmather

7/5/2026 at 7:10:47 AM

You made me cry too.

by BenChoopao

7/5/2026 at 4:13:01 AM

Big ups

by bix6

7/5/2026 at 12:52:45 PM

> but sigh and accept that your wife is going to give your child a lot of “supplements” that you will then verify aren’t poisonous but also probably don’t do anything

This is weirdly misogynistic.

by dmd