Ask HN: What are some examples where users are inventing new uses for a product?
Some examples: real time status updates – before Twitter, users were trying to use offline messages in messenger services – “stepping out for lunch” – an indication that a real time status update service was needed. Reddit’s AMA (Ask Me Anything) is another example Some of the post prefixes were probably started by users here... I assume... zip ties as handcuffs. tampons for treating gunshot wounds in the field. irons for straightening hair. GPS for geocaching. Sudafed for making meth. TV dongles for RTL-SDR. using the stepper motor as a speaker on the Apple I. CD drives as cupholders. calendar invites as OOF messages. old-school emojis :) Cheese slicers are great for slicing cucumbers. Utility knives are occasionally being as temporary replacements for pretty much every other tool in the toolbox. What's OOF? Out of facilities Any application used within any organisation will eventually be used to communicate notes between users. Shared calendars get polluted with non-appointments like "Hi Jane, thanks for referring Bob, but please be aware of blah protocol doc." CRM systems get polluted with non-customer data, such as "see emails of Dec 2021" in the address field. Basically, the tighter a developer controls the business flow, the more creatively users will break it. Twitter Hashtags were originally invented by users. Another twitter invention: The wordle grid (emoji colors) was invented by Twitter users, then incorporated into the game While living in Berlin, I learned that you can use books to open beer bottles. As a matter of fact, Berliners can open beers with just about anything. Edit: Rechtschreibung This is valid for the rest of Germany as well. There was a challenge to open a beer with a single piece of paper as well. This is also the case in Mexico In India, an Ola Cabs developer figured out how to use phone conferencing to number mask between the driver and the passenger. Music and other art often repurpose things. Nefarious uses are sometimes predicted by manufacturers. Like Airtags for stalking. Tone generator crystal swap for blue boxes. Data mining leads to new uses for collected information, like for advertising, insurance, political campaigning, law enforcement, etc. US Army survival kit suggesting condoms to harvest rain water in Vietnam war if clean drinking water wasn't to be found. UI prototyping with Excel [1]. Inkscape Extensions: e.g. laser and vinyl cut/plot Part of the hacks from https://ikeahackers.net/. Bens brown rice for Ben’s Tek - Amazon reviews as a form of literature - Fanfic people inventing new ways to use pinboard.
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