Show HN: Hacker News in your system tray

[swalsh]

This is a great hack, but a terribly dangerous idea. I have trouble enough avoiding HN when I open a browser... now the thing is looming over me at all times. Sorry, I don't have the willpower for this.

[captn3m0]

It actually has a better influence on me. I don't worry about opening it on the browser all the time. And somehow, I don't click the button as often as I used to open the HN homepage.

[easy_rider]

I'm going to try this, I think it will actually HELP. I always find myself mindlessly ctrl+t and typing news..<enter> when I open a new browser window.

[fddlr]

Try to hide the bookmarks bar. This helped me a lot.

[forlorn]

Thank you for targeting Linux! I'd rather expected MacOS but you truly surprised me. I'm gonna try.

[captn3m0]

Actually, this is inspired by Hacker Bar [1], which launched a couple days back as a Mac-only app.

[1]: http://hackerbarapp.com/

[captn3m0]

Update: If the app isn't starting any more because of a JSON error, its because the API I am using just crossed its Rate Limit. (https://github.com/cheeaun/node-hnapi). I'm working to fix it as soon as I can.

[Sir_Cmpwn]

You should think about setting up a local instance of node-hnapi and using it instead of a remote one.

[rainmaking]

And, at the time of commenting, this link can be found right below the link to "How Software Companies Die".

[eksith]

I hope there are options to follow /newest. There are many great stories that never make it to the front page. But I have to (lightly) disagree with swalsh's apprehension. This will quadruple the time spent on my actual work since I can quickly scan the headlines and go back without having to open a window.

[vanwilder77]

I have exams tomorrow! But screw it, I'm gonna try this out

[lucb1e]

Thought it wouldn't work for me out until I saw someone comment "Whynot for Windows?" Oh it's for Linux then? Nice, I guess I should check it out.

This was one of the most painless installs ever, just pip it and run it. Done! And of course open source on Github. Great job, thanks!

[oscilator]

Thanks for open sourcing it. It'd be neat to replicate this idea for other sites I might frequent. I'm already having enough trouble trying to stay away from HN on the browser. Heh.

[captn3m0]

I'm thinking about creating a generic version of this that checks on a single RSS feed for you.

[Atroxide]

what is the difference between this an an RSS feed?

[erikj]

Distraction at your fingertips.

[jheriko]

neat, but can i have a windows version? :P

maybe an installer instead of the standard linux way of forcing you to know things you don't really need to know?

[captn3m0]

I'm working on a windows version based on the excellent node-webkit [1]. I'm still not sure on how much effort I'll put in packaging it.

[1]: https://github.com/rogerwang/node-webkit/

[el_duderino]

In meantime, just use a systray RSS app & use HN's RSS feed. Essentially the same thing kinda sorta.

[lucb1e]

You're asking for a hacker news client for windows? Something is wrong here :P

[alexcason]

This seems great/dangerous in equal measure.

[m458l387]

haha everyone is commenting like they have actual work to do

[easy_rider]

Maybe HN is some sort of social experiment/prank on information gobblers who also happen to be more prone to ADD ;((

[Ashuu]

Is there any such thing for Windows?

[captn3m0]

I am thinking of using node-webkit to package cheeaun's hackerwebapp[1] into the system tray for Windows. Similar to [2] for Mac.

[1]: http://cheeaun.github.io/hackerweb/

[2]: http://www.guidefreitas.com/hacker-news-menu-tab-app

EDIT: Popping up an entire webview from Tray doesn't seem to be easy. But creating a menu is very easy. I might do a simple clone of hackertray to Windows :)

[hkbarton]

good new and bad new, the good one is: this is very great hack! bad one is that make me addicted to HN, haha

[Mustafabei]

Well, I think now there must be an in app way to enable Noprocrast or we are all doomed:)

[cmelbye]

Thank god, a way for me to read Hacker News more often throughout the day. ;)