Show HN: Signage Sync
signagesync.appThe app solves 4 things: it can display a series of websites (a playlist), it can refresh them automatically, it can be controlled remotely from a laptop, and we can control everything at once.
If you don't mind sharing, is the problem when opening a web page, or video (.mp4)? I use flutter and they're handled by different libraries.
I guess that's what separates side projects from "professional" apps :D They can have the same functionalities, but the professional ones are more polished down to the minor details. Mine: copy-paste URL. Theirs: video file upload or integration with Google Drive/Dropbox. Behind the scenes, they both use a URL. But my app will get there!
Next up, the AI generated images aren't a great look, just get some actual screenshots of what I can expect when using it.
No pricing information is a bit suspicious.
That said, the idea sounds great, we used to have a little web app that did this at my old workplace, but it was something we had to build and host, and if we could have avoided it we would have.
It's apparently super common in Indonesia to have WhatsApp button on the website. In many popular websites, the Checkout button even opens WhatsApp (purchase happens in a WhatsApp chat, payment using bank transfer). It could be cultural, so maybe I'll region-lock the button. I wonder how's things in other countries?
I don't have time yet to implement payment (maybe just use WhatsApp lol), that's why I don't put pricing. Is it common to put something like "This is free but later I'm going to charge you $x"?
For the AI image, point taken. I will update it once I have some nice shots.
Makes sense about payments, good to focus on the product. I think saying "free during beta" is fine – it may put some people off because they don't want to rely on something that will go away or start charging later, but it's honest. You could put a target pricing if you want to set expectations for when you do implement payments.
More info in general on the landing page about how it works, or the sorts of results I can expect, would be good. The page does a good job of telling me what's possible, but I know what digital signage is, how does this particular product help me more than other alternatives?
For example, I recently setup a dashboard using a Raspberry Pi running Chromium - would this work for my use case?
And does the control work over the local network, or does it require an internet connection?
The app requires internet, but the content can be from local network. Eventually if there's enough demand I'll make everything local.
It doesn't work for RPi yet but soon!
Funny thing: before I built this, I couldn't find anything similar (we just needed a way to show stats in the office, so I built an app). Now, suddenly, I keep stumbling across apps that already do it. Classic Baader–Meinhof phenomenon.
Have a look at Info-Beamer as well: https://github.com/info-beamer
1) Internet access was extremely unreliable on site, as was our ability to get useful assistance from retail staff. Queueing inbound and outbound signals was key, as was locally storing any content.
2) Our primary customer was non-technical marketing/creative folks. They bought us because it allowed them to deploy novel signage formats without knowing how to code. (In case that’s a useful pain point to pursue.)
Hope that’s helpful!