Show HN: Attagram, a tiny printer that gives kids a magical daily digest

9 points by mvkel 6 days ago

I’m building Attagram: a small printer that lives in the kitchen and prints a daily paper digest for kids.

The idea came from an emerging family dynamic I kept noticing. My daughters (A, 9 and J, 8) are becoming increasingly independent, but as parents, we hold an enormous amount of invisible state in our heads and phones: what day a project is due, who needs cleats, what's for lunch, which kid has library day, what chores need to happen before screens, how many days until the camping trip, what Grandma wanted them to know, what changed after school, etc.

Kids live downstream of that system, and their experience of it is repetitive nagging:

"Brush your teeth." "Pack your folder." "Don't forget your cleats." "Don’t forget your water bottle." "Did you pack your cleats?" "Please pack your cleats."

Even if the tone is kind, the repetition makes it feel like a nag. And all of the information is trapped behind screens, which isn't great if you're trying to limit your kids' screen time, all while trying to give them more ownership in the process.

Attagram tries solve for that. It turns that invisible family state into a small daily artifact a kid can own.

Every morning, the printer wakes up and prints a parent-curated morning edition newspaper. It has sections like: today’s plan, a todo list, a countdown to an event, a joke, a riddle, a note from a grandparent, and lots more. It's something kids can tear off, pin to their bulletin board, shove in their pocket, or punch through a spike.

All of this is managed through, yes, an app. BUT! The app is for the parents. Its job is to be the best in the world at turning family logistics, rituals, and affection into a screen-free paper experience. The paper remains the hero, and how a kid experiences Attagram.

Technically, Attagram is pretty simple. It uses off-the-shelf parts to connect to a cloud service so daily digests can be generated and printed at scheduled times. It also allows trusted family members to send one-off notes as needed. The magic is in the experience overall and how it feels to hold the paper in your hands.

This is my first hardware project, and as a software person, I have really appreciated (and respected) how much there is to learn. It's a lot of work to make sure this product is perfect on day one, because there's no easy way to update hardware. Software is so forgiving!

We have a nationwide private beta program in homes now, and the feedback has been really positive. More than one family has told me that their kids park themselves in front of the printer each morning, waiting for it to print at the scheduled time. I'm planning to ship a few more units for free to really ensure we're getting all the input we can before going into more scaled production. If you think you'd be interested in one, drop me a line at myke@halfcorp.co.

Our modest plan is to reach 100 paid reservations before scaling manufacturing, partly to test whether strangers actually want this enough to pay rather than just say "cute idea." https://www.attagram.com/order

I’d value HN's experience on:

1. Industrial design: what stands out as being "bad design" in the current iteration? Also, if this is something you'd want to work on, I'd love to chat!

2. Mechanical engineering: what are the best ways to "harden" a device like this so it's reliable, but easy to manufacture. Also, if this is something you'd want to work on, I'd love to chat!

3. Manufacturing: when do you engage with a contract manufacturer in China? What do you try to avoid? Also, if this is something you'd want to work on, I'd love to chat!

4. HN Parents: is this something you could see yourself buying, or it just cute? If the former, but you wouldn't pre-order, why not?