MeFi Projects

Lots of important things depend on volunteer labor - local civic groups, open source software projects, and more. But maybe you are getting exhausted, burned out, from trying to volunteer too much. So: every solstice (the next one is December 21st), it might make sense to take a look at your volunteer responsibilities, and see if it's time to pause, rotate, or sunset one of them. Feel free to point to the Volunteer Responsibility Amnesty Day page as a way of saying: I need to put a few things down. I hope other people pick them up and carry this work forward. But even if no one does, I need to stop, or at least pause for a while. [more inside]
posted by brainwane on Dec 1, 2021 - 2 comments

I hate working out. I love watching tv. So I joined up with some fellow lazy multitaskers to create Netflex, a free third Chrome extension that pops a guided bodyweight workout in the lower right corner of any Netflix program.
posted by missjenny on Jan 11, 2021 - 0 comments

Quickly find, open, save, and share all your important web pages. [more inside]
posted by jasondigitized on May 21, 2020 - 2 comments

A Firefox extension aimed at increasing human happiness by blocking social media sites. [more inside]
posted by motty on Aug 10, 2018 - 4 comments

Write or Die 3 is the latest in a line of quirky tools for short-circuiting writer's block. Too many writing apps are too unopinionated, they will wait forever for you to start writing. Write or Die exhorts you to write and when you stop writing it will provide consequences. [more inside]
posted by drwicked on Nov 16, 2017 - 1 comment

I hate making phone calls, so I made a service to do it for me. Is a restaurant open? Does a store carry something in stock? Just text us, and one of our VAs will call for you.
posted by philosophistry on Sep 28, 2017 - 4 comments

A desktop Chrome Extension that blocks addictive sites until you've completed your daily tasks. You can download it from the Chrome Webstore or customize it and install manually from the Github repo. [more inside]
posted by gwint on Jan 13, 2017 - 0 comments

A super fast Chrome extension for saving and searching quotes and bookmarks anywhere on the web. [more inside]
posted by jasondigitized on Apr 6, 2016 - 2 comments

tree is a content-focused social network (with standalone browser extensions to save and share on the fly): you follow people within categories so as to only get exposed to content that matters to you. You can choose to follow people in music, or in technology, or in news & society... [more inside]
posted by nip on Nov 4, 2015 - 0 comments

I got sick of composing a new email every time I wanted to send myself a note. I looked around, but couldn't find anything that did everything I wanted (at most I found ones that pre-filled the "to"/"subject" field). So I learned Android development (helped that I was already a Java dev) and wrote this app. [more inside]
posted by pyro979 on Dec 19, 2014 - 11 comments

Pay the Piper is a Google Chrome extension that keeps you productive by making you "pay" to visit distracting sites. The cost? One completed task from your task list. [more inside]
posted by rouftop on Sep 29, 2014 - 2 comments

Tabminder is a Google Chrome extension I built to intercept distracted browsing and give me occasional reminders to get back to work. When I open a distracting tab on my blacklist, Tabminder starts counting down from a preset time limit. When time's up, it prompts me to close the distracting tab or restart the timer. It's just annoying enough to keep me focused but not so strict that I can't visit MetaFilter once in a while. It works well in combination with StayFocusd to keep me from wasting my daily distraction quota. [more inside]
posted by ecmendenhall on Sep 15, 2012 - 2 comments

I use Notational Velocity on my laptop to keep plain text notes and store them in Dropbox. I am really attached to its single-text-field interface, and was frustrated that there wasn't a close analogue on the iOS App Store — so I wrote one.
posted by thedaniel on Oct 25, 2011 - 5 comments