IdeaWell

Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

Sorry, I'm in a meeting

Original Article

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

1. Audio reliability – only the British accent works

“Only the British audio works for me, though - if I try American or International, the relevant meetings are silent with a ‘Join Audio’ button which doesn't appear to do anything.” – roryirvine

2. Ethics of ad‑blocking vs. paying for YouTube Premium

“IMHO it's more ethical to block ads than not to block them because if you don't block them you're supporting unethical business models such as massive privacy invasions by collecting and selling user data, ad‑based malware delivery, and scams.” – jonathanstrange
“I don't block ads because stealing ad revenue from companies is unethical.” – RiverCrochet

3. Fake meeting audio as a productivity/avoidance tool

“I play this when I need my family to leave me alone - so helpful.” – frangonf
“I play this when I pretend to be busy. This meeting is literally about anything you want it to be about lol.” – frangonf

4. Combating meeting overload and protecting focus time

“My solution was to create a weekly ‘team meeting’ from 8am to 11am every Friday and invite all of them to it.” – alexpotato
“The healthier managers I've had take a constant, active interest in keeping their teams' meeting workloads down and rooting out interruptions and distractions.” – aurornis

🚀 Project Ideas

AccentMix

Summary

  • Provides a web-based mixer to blend English accents, dialects, and fluency levels while adding natural speech disfluencies and background office noise to generate realistic meeting audio.
  • Core value: Lets users create convincing, customizable fake meeting soundtracks that work across browsers and avoid the “British‑only” limitation.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Remote workers, freelancers, anyone needing audible busyness deterrents or background meeting ambience
Core Feature Interactive accent/dialect mixer with sliders for accent proportions, fluency, disfluency rate, background noise, and real‑time preview
Tech Stack Frontend: React + Web Audio API; Backend: Node.js/Express for preset storage; TTS: Azure Custom Neural Voice or Coqui TTS
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: Subscription $4/month for premium accents and unlimited presets

Notes

  • “fluency dial to mix accents and dialects, and level of English fluency… I could want 50% English, maybe some Northern English, Welsh or Scottish, and mix in Indian accents…” – flurdy
  • “American accent sounds British to this American.” – learn_more
  • Potential: Could become a marketplace for community‑shared accent presets and integrate with fake‑meeting UI tools.

MeetingSim UI

Summary

  • A lightweight browser extension that overlays a realistic Zoom/Teams/Google Meet participant grid and meeting controls onto any tab, letting users pair fake meeting audio with a convincing visual backdrop.
  • Core value: Makes audio‑only fake meetings believable by providing the familiar UI that coworkers expect to see on screen.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Knowledge workers who use fake meeting audio to deter interruptions or simulate presence
Core Feature Injects a configurable meeting UI (grid of names, video‑off placeholders, microphone/camera icons, meeting timer) that works on any website and can be toggled via toolbar button
Tech Stack Manifest V3 Chrome/Firefox extension (React/Preact + CSS); optional native messaging for audio sync
Difficulty Low
Monetization Hobby

Notes

  • “We need a fake teams / zoom UI with faces talking.” – TrackerFF
  • “Make it a Zoom UI and I’m subscribing right now.” – wiseowise
  • Potential: Could be bundled with audio generators; open‑source version invites community UI skins (e.g., Google Meet, Cisco Webex).

Contextual Meeting Generator

Summary

  • An AI‑driven service that takes user‑supplied keywords (project names, internal codenames, topics) and produces a realistic meeting script with overlapping speech, natural disfluencies, and appropriate accents, then synthesizes it into audio.
  • Core value: Generates meeting audio that sounds like a genuine discussion about the user’s actual work, making the ruse far more convincing.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Engineers, managers, and professionals who want tailored fake meetings that reference their specific projects or company jargon
Core Feature Prompt‑to‑script pipeline using LLM → script post‑processor adds overlaps, ums, speaker turns → TTS with voice variation and background mixing
Tech Stack Backend: Python (FastAPI) + LLM API or local LLM; TTS: Coqui Tortoise or ElevenLabs; Frontend: Simple React form for input and audio playback/download
Difficulty High
Monetization Revenue-ready: Pay‑per‑generation $0.10 per minute of audio or $5/month for 60 minutes

Notes

  • “Feed your corporate approved LLM some content to generate a script on, to mention your company name, your products, your stupid internal codenames…” – ShakataGaNai
  • “I’d appreciate it if the exec said … ‘Compensation!’” – mcv (shows desire for relevant content)
  • Potential: Could be extended to generate meeting transcripts for accessibility or to create training simulations.

FocusShield

Summary

  • A calendar‑integrated productivity tool that automatically blocks focus time, auto‑declines conflicting meeting requests, and optionally plays a low‑volume fake meeting audio to signal busyness while providing analytics on meeting load.
  • Core value: Gives users genuine uninterrupted work time and a polite, automated way to deter meeting overload without manual calendar juggling.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Busy knowledge workers, team leads, and anyone drowning in meeting invitations
Core Feature Syncs with Google/Outlook calendar, defines focus‑time rules, auto‑responds with “busy” or a custom message, and can trigger the fake‑meeting audio player during those blocks
Tech Stack Backend: Node.js + Google Calendar API / Microsoft Graph; Frontend: React dashboard; optional audio widget uses AccentMix or MeetingSim UI
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: Freemium – free tier for basic focus blocking; $8/month for premium features (auto‑decline, audio integration, analytics)

Notes

  • “My solution was to create a weekly 'team meeting' from 8am to 11am every Friday…” – alexpotato (shows manual blocking desire)
  • “We need a fake teams / zoom UI with faces talking.” – TrackerFF (audio integration adds credibility)
  • Potential: Could evolve into a team‑wide policy tool that suggests optimal focus windows based on historical meeting data.

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