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A macOS app that blurs your screen when you slouch

692 points13 daysgithub.com
avalys13 days ago

You can measure my productivity by how slouched I am.

Sitting up straight at my desk, chair locked, perfect posture? I’m doing nothing, maybe looking through System Preferences to change the system highlight color.

Sliding down in my chair like jelly, with my shoulders where my butt should be and my head resting on the lumbar support? I’m building the next iPhone and it’ll be done by 2 AM.

jaccola12 days ago

Funny, I’m the same. I also like taking walks to think but I’ve found that I must have my head pointing almost directly down (I.e. looking at my feet). It’s also how I stand thinking in the shower, with the warm water hitting my angled neck. Maybe something beneficial about that position of the neck, or maybe just habit!

I will also have conversations in my head during my walk, I’ve done this my whole life and I’m not sure to this day whether my lips move during these or not. In any case, I must get some funny looks with head bolted to the ground mumbling to myself…

Fnoord12 days ago

Sing it!

As for the software. I would not want a camera on 24/7 (on any device, a compromise being my doorbell, which isn't cloud connected). It'd defeat the small LED which informs you it is on (since it is always-on), and if the machine is compromised this is a method to receive personal data.

Actually, I'd prefer a hardware killswitch on things like camera and microphone.

butvacuum12 days ago

Post-It makes an excelent kill switch for the camera. not effective for audio though

average_r_user12 days ago

Alas, I'm not alone in meditating and thinking while taking a shower. It's one of the moments of my day when I recollect what happened, what I need to do, and what not to do.

The problem is that I can get quite lost during this phase, and hot water isn't cheap, so my SO is always threatening to put a big timer in the bathroom.

strogonoff12 days ago

My pet hypothesis about why shower is often praised to be such a mindful place is that it has not so much to do with water and more to do with the fact that for many people life alternates between 1) constant social interaction and interruptions from other people and 2) bathroom time.

How many people these days have a dedicated home office, off limits to anyone else? How many partners sleep in different rooms?

Sure, perhaps the sensory experience plays some role, but if your bathroom is reliably the most interruption-free place for you, naturally you’d form a habit of catching up on all the “slow thinking”, most negatively impacted by interruptions, during shower.

I’ve seen people with interruption-free solo hobbies (be that hiking in the woods, motorcycling, rock climbing, etc.) describing similarly mindful experiences, but unlike those shower is the lowest common denominator and perhaps one that happens most routinely.

average_r_user11 days ago

True, I hadn't framed it that way either, but it makes sense. Sometimes just stepping away from the usual rhythm creates its own kind of reset

neal_jones12 days ago

I’ve gone home from work before to take a shower. At least one time I took multiple showers in a work day to think.

I now live somewhere that hot water is expensive and I didn’t realize how good things were before.

wowzaa12 days ago

In my case, though walks help declutter my mind somewhat, for deeper thoughts, I have to write it down sitting or laying in the bed in the worst of positions. Thinking too deeply while walking only leaves me anxious in the end as I tend to get sidetracked a lot in conversation and always have to restart the conversation over and over again.

visarga12 days ago

I used paper a lot to jot my ideas and all sorts of diagrams but lately I just pull Claude and chat it out, it works like a thinking environment.

wowzaa11 days ago

I tried doing the same. Sometimes it made my understanding of things much clearer. However most fimes, I found it worked best when I had a clear idea on paper, either to validate the idea or when I needed to an opinion. Otherwise, ChatGPT in my case, built upon my idea that I hadn't thought through well and confuse the shit out of me.

drittich11 days ago

Yes, shower thinking with warm water on my neck is absolute peak. In those conditions I'm unafraid of tackling the most challenging of thinking.

j4512 days ago

Wear earbuds like you’re on call or recording something

soulofmischief12 days ago

I've fully embraced looking insane in public. Try it some time; you won't go back.

j4512 days ago

haha, sounds good.

lgeorget12 days ago

I have my best ideas and illuminations for the day when I brush my teeth in the morning. Somehow, that's when I can think best.

parentheses12 days ago

I suppose in that position your head has lower elevation, allowing for better circulation.

pc8612 days ago

Talking to myself is the only way to crystallize certain thoughts.

whompyjaw12 days ago

Uhhh… are you me? No other comment has hit more home. Nice. Mayne there’s something about these physical practices helping mental abilities.

collingreen13 days ago

This is how things get built for me as well. I have a standing desk and like using it occasionally but if you see me standing at it you can bet I'm doing something typical like emails or chat and not thinking deeply.

dgxyz13 days ago

My productivity is generally measured in how much time I sit on the porcelain thinking throne first.

jacobkranz13 days ago

Truer words have never been spoken. That and planning out your day & thinking through problems in the shower.

codyb12 days ago

If you delete social media, and leave your phone away from your person all day with notifications turned off, you can have these moments all the time it turns out.

Considering how much more productive these moments are for me than the bullshit I used to do on my phone and social media, it was an easy decision to make.

+3
saagarjha12 days ago
jjp12 days ago

Walking the dog is my go to for thinking through problems. The dog really loves the hard problems as they get a longer walk.

rr80812 days ago

I never understood this. Is this why the cubicles are always full in the office? WTF I go in there take a dump and leave while the people on each side are just silent the whole time. I can think of much better places to think.

sieabahlpark12 days ago

[dead]

coldtrait8 days ago

These days I'm just doomscrolling while doing that

simsla12 days ago

This was me, and now I have horrific back pain almost every week. Fix what's broken before it breaks you.

chongli13 days ago

My neck is screaming in empathetic pain for your future neck!

bartread12 days ago

This is interesting, because in many ways I’m almost the exact opposite.

If I’m slouched in my chair, then I’m either completely disengaged or doing something mundane like dealing with email. If I’m upright or sat forward then I’m engaged and executing, but maybe not thinking deeply - I’m doing something I’ve already thought about and decided on. And if I’m on my feet and moving around, often doing some mundane chore like emptying the dishwasher, then I’m likely thinking.

It’s actually a really good illustration of why one size fits all solutions when it comes to work environment and conditions are often so unsatisfactory.

dandellion12 days ago

I'm like you at 9 a.m. and like grand parent by 9 p.m.

paulmooreparks12 days ago

Exactly what I came here to say. I've been programming for 40 years, 35 professionally, and I didn't find my ergonomic, no-pain, no-RSI happy place until I stopped following advice to sit up straight. I set my chair with just enough resistance, set the head rest where it puts my eyeline directly on my monitors, which are set considerably higher than average and about a metre from my head. I can work for hours like this now, with no pain.

I could never use an app like this. Maybe I should write one that blurs the screen when I don't slouch.

bahmboo12 days ago

That’s funny, but this is about physical health not productivity. I’m guessing you are relatively young. Desk jobs are tough on the body!

globile12 days ago

It would be much more interesting that the system blur when it finds we drift from being "in the zone".

"I'm going to quickly shift from my terminal to this chrome tab to check this documentation but while it loads I'll get a dopamine hit from X."

Blur the screen and help me get back on track...

quinnjh12 days ago

it will be interesting to see as these tools emerge to what extent the undercontrolled behavior is a piece of a larger cycle of attention and context mgmt, or if all of that time can be nudged back into the zone

sublinear12 days ago

Let's not forget the people who work from bed with AR glasses and a projector pointed at the ceiling.

keyle12 days ago

This is both funny and so true. I'm most productive when I'm about to fall out of the chair and I don't even care that my elbow is hanging off.

brikym12 days ago

I've found something similar. I can measure my stress by how many coffee mugs are on my desk.

simjnd12 days ago

It's not about productivity, it's about good posture

TheRealPomax13 days ago

Sounds like you're literally the target audience for this app.

amelius12 days ago

Not if there is a hard positive correlation between productivity and slouching, like they say.

eichin12 days ago

In a previous tech bubble I figured out that the Aeron chairs were great - if you were using good posture. Slouch at all and they'd hurt you. The humanscale chair was the one that was actually good for feet-on-desk, keyboard-in-lap, staring out the window while rotating data structures in my head...

marginalia_nu12 days ago

Gamer lean is when it gets really serious.

crazysim12 days ago

It is OSS, I guess you could invert it.

CTDOCodebases12 days ago

Get a lazy boy, fit a split keyboard to each arm and develop AGI then. I’m sick of these RAM prices.

digitaltinfoil13 days ago

this is the way

rdslw13 days ago

Congrats on the app.

I'm seeing that "great-ai-unlock" is happening. I see in last month a lot of new software being codeveloped with claude/codex/gemini/you-name it.

Before, it was too costly to do sth like the Posture app: here, you would have to know Swift and apple apis to write such tool. Would you be C# (very good) programmer with free weekend, and an idea: no cookie for ya.

These days, due to "great-ai-unlock" your skills can be easily transferred and used to cross platforms boundary and code such useful app in a weekend or so.

Jevons paradox is indeed working (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox).

__float12 days ago

Maybe this is a naive take, but I don't really think LLMs have done that much to change the actual situation around ability/outcomes. If you are actually a very good C# programmer, knowing Swift and searching some Apple documentation seems very reasonable.

It might help "unstick" you if you aren't super confident, but it doesn't seem to me like it's actually leveling up mediocre programmers to "very good" ones, in familiar or unfamiliar domains.

shlant12 days ago

> I don't really think LLMs have done that much to change the actual situation around ability/outcomes

from my own experiences and many others I have seen on this site and elsewhere, I'm not sure how anyone could conclude this.

> it doesn't seem to me like it's actually leveling up mediocre programmers to "very good" ones

Oh well then if this is your metric then maybe your take is correct, but not relevant? From the top level comment I thought we were talking about the bar being lowered for building something thanks to AI and you don't need to become any better at being a programmer to do so.

bobbylarrybobby12 days ago

I don't care how good of a programmer you are, if you don't know Apple stuff (Swift, Xcode, all the random iOS/Mac app BS) you aren't making an Apple app in a weekend. Learning things is easy but still takes time, and proficiency is only earned by trying and failing a number of times — unless you're an LLM, in which case you're already proficient in everything.

suprfnk12 days ago

No I can confirm this. I am at least an average C# dev, with 16 years of experience.

I have built a very nicely responsive real-time syncing iOS app in what amounts to a weekend of time. (I only have an hour here and there, young kids) I had zero iOS/Swift development experience prior to it.

I can also confirm that this wouldn't have been built if it weren't for Claude Code. It's "just" an improved groceries app, that works especially well for my wife and me.

Without LLM's, and with just an hour here and there, I wouldn't have done the work to learn the intricacies of iOS and Swift dev, set up the app, and actually tweak and polish it so it works well -- just to scratch the itch of a bit better groceries handling.

tjohnell12 days ago

Thanks rdslw. I mentioned something similar on my blog post about this app here: https://tomjohnell.com/posturr-a-macos-app-that-blurs-your-s...

I love coming up with fun ideas and only having to worry about the fun part - not the toil. I would never have made this app without llm support.

victor10612 days ago

Neat app. Any tips on how you used Claude Code to develop this?

tjohnell12 days ago

My first prompt was:

"Help me develop a MacOS app that blurs my screen the closer my mouse is to the top of the monitor"

That was my PoC to see if there's APIs Claude could find that would make this easy to do. Once I proved that worked, I asked it to instead help me devise a way to adjust that blur based on my posture. It suggested the vision framework and measuring head height.

Just kept iterating, one step at a time. Any toil I experienced, I asked it to remove or automate.

+2
idk112 days ago
fleebee12 days ago

I don't see how the Jevons paradox would apply here. Code being cheaper and faster to produce obviously causes the demand for apps such as this one to grow. That's just supply and demand.

An example of where I think the paradox would apply might be one where LLMs made software engineers more efficient yet the demand for SWEs would grow.

codersfocus12 days ago

What a stupid thing to call a paradox. When infrastructure is better, you'd expect it to be used more.

avarun12 days ago

It's because they're misusing the term. Jevons' paradox doesn't apply to the simple idea that "cheaper code leads to more demand for code", that's just the concept of price curves.

Instead, Jevons' paradox refers to a counterintuitive rebound effect: AI tools make engineers more productive, which you'd expect to reduce the marginal demand for additional engineers (since the same output requires fewer people). In reality, this efficiency lowers the effective cost of software development, sparking even greater overall demand for new features and projects, which ultimately increases total spending on engineering talent.

gowld12 days ago

Jevons paradox is a failure mode, not something that "works".

jasonjmcghee13 days ago

I'm not sure how you can use a laptop with good posture. An external monitor at the right height seems like a necessity.

I'm also optimistic about monitors in the form of glasses- even less effort needed to set yourself up for perfect posture. But the sweet spot problem is still very much a thing from what I've seen- can't wait until it's normal for them to have eye tracking, foveated rendering and streaming, and be wireless.

cosmic_cheese13 days ago

Yeah, most of my computer use is with a properly adjusted desk setup with external monitors and while it doesn’t bother me to use a laptop to jot down some notes or for a short study session, if I try to do “real” work at all I quickly become uncomfortable. A cheap folding laptop stand (which elevates the laptop enough that the middle of its screen is eye level) and wireless KB+mouse dramatically improves comfort (and productivity) but the tradeoff is that you need a table or other sizable, stable flat surface.

The exception is if there happens to be a reclined-position chair (IKEA POÄNG or similar) around; this gives back support and reduces neck craning enough to make longer sessions more viable, but it’s far from a given that this kind of seating will be available.

lanstin12 days ago

If you have interesting enough work, nothing else matters. I have written big complex systems while car pooling on a laptop in the passenger seat.

The reason for this app is not productivity but for posture.

MengerSponge13 days ago

My dog could, but a person with adult proportions probably can't. For long-term use, a stand+KB is the only solution I know of

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/86285180/the-roost-savi...

It's too bad that nobody on the Surface team has managed to crack this! I'd be much more interested in one if they had.

physicles12 days ago

I use the Nexstand K2 (well, the Chinese knockoff I got for $5), and I bent some coat hangers to attach to the top of the stand and tilt the laptop forward. I’m a tall guy, and the top of the screen is even with my eyes. Bonus is that with an X1 Carbon, the Lenovo M14 or M14d fits perfectly over the top of the keyboard.

The whole setup fits into a drawstring gym bag.

https://nexstand.io/

eastbound12 days ago

Laptop work is clearly not OSHA-compliant. I’m in France so it’s probably regulated a little bit more, but having a screen at eye height and a keyboard slightly under elbow height is the first line on the security analysis document (le DUERP), at least for tertiary workers. And far above “Floor must be non-slippery” and “The right to disconnect after 6pm”.

MengerSponge12 days ago

Your last sentence is something in quotes that just shows up as "The right to ***** *** **". Doesn't look like anything to me.

rectang12 days ago

When working at a desk I put my 16-inch MacBook Pro on a stand and use an external keyboard and trackpad.

I don't like adapting my monitor layout when moving between working environments.

Instead of an extra monitor, I have an iPad Pro on a stand.

cyh55512 days ago

Usb type c port can be flickering sometimes when the macbook/laptop is elevated.

duckruu13 days ago

My Apple Vision Pro has all that, and it’s perfect for posture when using a MacBook.

jasonjmcghee13 days ago

Yeah- this and the upcoming steam frame seem like the best options today.

There's something very attractive for me personally about the sunglasses form factor.

Safer in public, draws less attention, more portable, less headset fatigue, etc.

But obviously trading quality and features.

Also AVP is like $3k, steam frame will probably be $800+, xreal are like half that

duckruu12 days ago

> But obviously trading quality and features.

For me it’s like settling for a CRT after trying a 4k TV in terms of visuals, but with the form factors reversed.

jasonjmcghee12 days ago

Except the form factors are swapped, but yes.

vunderba13 days ago

Isn’t the Vision Pro rather front loaded in terms of its weight distribution? Seems like you might just be trading one ergonomic problem for another.

duckruu12 days ago

It’s not really, with the new dual band which changes the weight distribution. If you lean back a lot it’s obviously going to rest on your face then, but that’s a good way to avoid bad posture too.

Still, it’s not for everyone. I use it with my AirPods Max comfortably, I have a sturdy neck. I don’t think my wife could pull it off.

mannanj12 days ago

Do you wonder about the wifi impact so close to your head?

oarfish12 days ago

I guess it's technically cool, but one should be aware that there is no such thing as "good posture" or no accepted definition that lends itself to good science. slouching isnt bad, remaining in the same posture for a long time is, or at least it can lead to discomfort. people that sit up straight all the time still get back pain. i slouch all the time and i don't. The popular attachment to specific configurationa of your joints that look aeathetically acceptable os orthorexia, not science.

lexoj12 days ago

As my doctor used to say: the best posture is the next one.

joquarky12 days ago

Just make sure you stretch several times throughout the day. Especially if you're an anxious person.

Otherwise when you reach your mid-40s, you may find that you'll have to spend years painfully breaking up a lot of adhesions.

oarfish12 days ago

Adhesions are not really a thing as far as i know. Biggest priority is strength and cardiovascular training and maintaining a good body composition and stress level. Then I'd think about stretching.

iwontberude12 days ago

I spend most of my time at work on a medicine ball switching between switching, kneeling and standing. At home I switch between reclined, semi-reclined, upright and standing. I think its been working great.

PlatoIsADisease12 days ago

Given I can be 2 inches taller if I stand up perfect. That's the one I want.

How to achieve it? Not sure. Years of physical therapy and I know the position, but:

>I can't remember to do it.

>I feel my body is tight and pulls me back, so I'm constantly fighting it.

>It hurts. Both tiring, and I feel pains in other parts of my back

aylmao12 days ago

Another thing to note: slouching and back pain tend to have more to do with back strength than people realize.

I have suffered back discomfort and pain in periods I haven’t gone to the gym for long enough to lose back muscle.

oarfish12 days ago

Does it? I think strength may be related to pain if you're very weak, and statistically there are big confounders (i.e. people who are weak also have other conditions that exacerbate pain experience). But past a certain point I don't think the evidence suggests that strength itself is protective. Otherwise, competitive lifters would never experience back pain for instance, but they still do. Pain is multifactorial, and strength is not the only determinant by far.

aylmao11 days ago

Never said it’s the only factor, and we shouldn’t assume all pain is the same pain

The type of pain people weight train suffer tends to be related to muscle or tendon damage. The type of pain that comes from sedentarism tends to be related to overworked (weak) muscles and bad circulation.

einsteinx212 days ago

I’ve had chronic back problems due to computer use and back posture for 20+ years. This past year I bought an adjustable height desk and an Aeron chair to try and help, but I still slouch constantly without realizing it.

I cloned this a few hours ago and started using it and it’s amazing how effective the blur is! And it’s frustrating to learn how quickly I start slouching the second I’m not paying attention.

I’ll echo what I’ve seen others saying about how cool it is to see something come about due to LLM coding that likely wouldn’t have otherwise. Glad to see you actively working on it, and I’ll be using it every day!

P.S. I’ve been an iOS and Mac dev writing Obj-C and then Swift for 16 years now, so if you run into any issues that Claude isn’t sorting out feel free to reach out to me, you can find my contact via my GitHub which is in my profile (same username as hear). Also as I’ll be using this regularly, if I come up with any improvements I’ll be sure to open a PR!

incanus7713 days ago

Anyone else with progressive lenses just think "I already have this"?

rossdavidh12 days ago

Yes, absolutely. One of the first things I noticed when I changed from two pairs of glasses to progressive lenses. The other thing was that, because I don't have to switch glasses to look away from the screen, I remember to focus on a distant object every so often.

wkjagt12 days ago

I'm due for new glasses, so any laptop use is now a careful equilibrium between "text is burry" and "text is too small".

jama21113 days ago

Sounds like a good idea but “good posture” meaning being upright is just such an outdated and incorrect thing. Be comfortable, relax in your chairs, it’s fine.

byproxy12 days ago

A good video on this: https://youtu.be/n7h8H4nGeMw

xfactorial13 days ago

I think the idea is wonderful, but a not-audited application that uses things like the camera is a “no go” for me.

Get it notorized and ask for some money! I will gladly pay it (and I hope others will do it as well).

Awesome concept: ergonomics and/or posture monitoring is a market opportunity for heavy users.

alin2313 days ago

Notarization is mostly a glorified malware scan. There's no Apple engineer auditing what's being sent for notarization. Even clever malware can evade notarization scans and be distributed as a notarized binary, it has happened in the past [0]

There's no better way for auditing such an app than having the code easily available and looking through it, and compiling it yourself. Which is already the case here.

[0] https://thehackernews.com/2025/12/new-macsync-macos-stealer-...

burnerthrow00813 days ago

Your link says that Apple revoked the certificate used to sign the malware by the time the story was published.

jorams12 days ago

After a different company detected it, figured out what it did, and reported it to Apple. The app was notarized on November 17, screenshots in the researchers' post are from December 16. That's a month of fully notarized distribution.

xpasky13 days ago

It's literally a single .swift file. Ask your LLM to audit it.

micromacrofoot13 days ago

then I need to get someone to audit the LLM, which is considerably more difficult

StilesCrisis13 days ago

Do you expect this programmer is in cahoots with Anthropic?

saagarjha12 days ago

The opposite, actually: that the code tricks the LLM.

micromacrofoot12 days ago

if you use code you can't trust to audit code you can't trust, you're not doing an audit at all

personally I do not implicitly trust Anthropic or any other company

JCharante12 days ago

ok but who will audit your compiler?

wizzwizz413 days ago

While I disagree with you, thank you for sharing your decision-making process: you're probably not the only one who thinks this way.

In general, would you pay for a notorised build of free software, if you had use for that software, even if an un-notorised build or the source code were available?

xfactorial12 days ago

It depends: having it notarized is a way to show someone with a certain reputation of "Hey! This is my code, this is me, if something happens, you can kill the switch".

If notarisation requires you some kind of payment, I would be okay with you charging me some money, if I obviously find your code has a good value for me.

I read comments around here about "Well: you can compile it yourself" or "it's open source! You can check the code by yourself".

And, while all of those arguments are accurate and valid, the point is "I do not feel like it" or, a little reminder, "The Great Suspender" was an example of a beautiful open source little app to suspend tabs on Google Chrome that, one glorious day, switched hands and, suddenly, after some time, someone noticed the repository and the code from the add-in were different, and those changes were made with nefarious intent.

Luckily, somehow found out, but some people do not have the time or the will to be playing that game.

A piece of code that requires access to my camera, regardless of size (<1000 lines of code) or build, it's something I just don't put on my computer without thinking it twice.

Thank you for the tone: I hope I responded to your question :)

IshKebab13 days ago

I seriously doubt that he actually would. And in that unlikely event he'd be in a miniscule minority. Not a good open source monetisation strategy.

xfactorial12 days ago

You may be severely wrong: I like to pay and contribute to things I use, believe it or not.

I love to buy small apps from indie developers or donate some money to things I use and I love: when I was a student, of course, things were different.

Nowadays, luckily, I can contribute and I do it gladly.

tjohnell12 days ago

Posturr is now notarized!

tananaev13 days ago

Are you serious? It's open source. And there's less than 1000 lines total. Get Codex or Claude to review it if you're paranoid.

encom13 days ago

Go easy on the guy. Mac users are so used to overpaying for trivial functionality.

Alejandro9R13 days ago

The thing is that how do you know at the end of the day that the compiled binary hasn't been tampered with "extra code" besides what's in the repo?

I don't even think notarization gets rid of this problem neither, so the best you can do for this is compile it yourself. Maybe I'm wrong!

alexford198713 days ago

Compiling it yourself is the best/only thing you can do if you really want to know what code went into a binary.

prmoustache13 days ago

What prevents you from compiling it if it is open-source?

That's what I do with every project delivered as docker image. I rebuild the app and the image.

blauditore13 days ago

Does anyone ever reach a high level of productivity with correct posture? I can't.

louthy13 days ago

Sure, but getting the right environment is a prerequisite. In my case it’s a Herman Miller Embody chair [1] that stops me getting into a bad position (it’s not impossible, it just encourages good posture).

[1] https://www.hermanmiller.com/en_gb/products/seating/office-c...

esskay13 days ago

Totally a tangent here but it amazes me how a company as big as Herman Miller could screw a product page up so much by not even having a picture of the damn product.

mrbluecoat12 days ago

It's there, you just have to slouch to see it.

emptybits12 days ago

Lol, I see the image fine but if I click the red "Buy Now" button, I get a 404.

Fortunately, I type this, sitting in my wonderful 15 year old Embody chair so I don't actually need to buy now. Everyone is different and I never raved much about Aerons but the Embody has been very good to me, whether my posture is textbook "good" or "badly" slouched and reclined ... it supports and makes me want to sit and work. :-)

raman32511 days ago

if you are US based, it seems like switching to United States as the country works (or en_us in the URL from en_gb)

StilesCrisis13 days ago

It's the first thing on the page. Your browser is doing something funky.

esskay12 days ago

Was adguard dns. Apparently their asset delivery method is flagged on a ton of adblocker lists.

hypeatei13 days ago

Something might be wrong with your client (ad-blocker, NoScript maybe?) because there a ton of pictures on that page.

esskay13 days ago

Ha, yep you're right. How bizarre, wasn't a browser ad block, it was adguard dns blocking a ton of tracking scripts needed to show the images.

amelius12 days ago

I had the same problem.

cluckindan13 days ago

Word of warning: the Embody chair does not have front-to-back adjustments for the armrests. They will be pretty useless unless you like having your keyboard close to the edge of your desk.

stevemadere10 days ago

Wow! That chair costs about $2000. https://store.hermanmiller.com/office-chairs-ergonomic-chair...

Nice back you've got there. It'd be a shame if anything happened to it.

apt-apt-apt-apt12 days ago

I ditched all my HM chairs for a standard wooden chair. They just never felt right (maybe the non-forward-adjustable armrests had something to do with it), but boy are they good at selling you an expensive fantasy.

refactor_master12 days ago

Hell, my bed is on the floor, and my sofa is now also a pillow on the floor.

joquarky12 days ago

I was the same for decades until I moved somewhere with black widows.

hexbin01013 days ago

The embodiment of overpriced and mediocre

oarfish12 days ago

Luckily there is no such thing as "correct posture".

hashmap13 days ago

if im not sitting on my right foot with left knee under my chin my thinking takes a hit, but i also have to constantly switch how im sitting so i dont get annoyed. its hard not to slouch/melt into whatever im sitting on and i think the only way to offset all that is the gym.

kgarten12 days ago

Quite a while back, a former student of mine built Nekoze :D

https://nekoze.app Nekoze warns you when you are hunched over.

Years back, we did a couple of whimsical prototypes along those lines (using J!NS MEME, smart glasses): https://youtu.be/LXIY2g-twOA

tanelpoder13 days ago

Once launched, Posturr runs in the background and displays a brief "Claude Mode Active" notification.

I haven’t checked the code yet, but what does the “Claude Mode” mean? Is it a poor naming choice? It implies that the local app is somehow connected to Claude (?)

tjohnell13 days ago

Hi - this is the author. I can explain that, ha!

Right now I'm using a vision library to detect head height which was good enough. I went down a tangent where I hooked it up to my Claude Code instance to take a screen shot and have Claude Code assess how bad my slouch was. Claude would watch a folder for screen shots, read it in, and if it detected bad posture, write to a file the program was watching to adjust blur.

I did this weird work-around so I could use my Claude Code subscription as opposed to the API.

Anyways, it was too slow and Claude was a bad judge of slouchiness. Head height works well enough!

I'll clean this up.

tanelpoder13 days ago

Cool, thanks for the clarification. Indeed it's a good and practical idea for a small app. As other comments have said, (some) people might happily pay for this app.

I luckily won't need such feedback loop anymore, had some mild lower back pain show up over 10 years ago and bought a chair without a backrest that, after 3-4 weeks of struggling, trained me to sit up straight. Now I have some random cheap office chair with a backrest, but I rarely lean back to it. Funnily, I was going to give up using that "backrestless" chair after 2 weeks of inconvenience, but decided to give it one more week and then the magic happened :-) Mild lower back pain automatically gone.

hn872613 days ago

Care to share an example of this backrestless chair? Is it like a regular chair just without the backrest, or has some other differences? Does it have armrests for example, and if not - does it bother you?

tanelpoder13 days ago

I went with an overkill approach at first (as I often do :-) and bought some expensive nicely designed "active chair" / stool that was adjustable high enough so that I could lean on it even when using my desk as a standing desk. It was interesting, but not a game changer at all for me. I don't use standing desks now at all.

But what I have now is this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002FL3LY4

Just don't assemble the backrest at first. If sitting up straight, I just lean wrists on my keyboard wristpad and part of forearms on the desk, no armrests needed either.

Edit: I still use my height-adjustable standing desk, but now it's value is that I could adjust it for the perfect height for my sitting-up-straight position (so no chair armrests needed) and it's been fixed at that height for the last 7 years...

manuelmoreale13 days ago

Not sure which one the parent was referring to but personalizing I've been using one of these for more than a decade at this point (I'm sitting on it right now) https://www.varierfurniture.com/en/products

The one I have does have a backrest but because of the way it's shaped you don't actually use it to slouch. It's more there to support when you lean back and want to take a break from typing or something like that.

auslegung13 days ago

A codebase search for "claude" only has 1 hit in the code (the markdown that you referenced) and 4 commits which include the word in the commit message, or one commit includes .claude/ in the git ignore. See https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Atldev%2Fposturr+claude&ty...

Same with a codebase search for "anthropic"

russellbeattie12 days ago

That whole "good posture" thing is future physical problems waiting to happen. For 25 years, I've always put my feet up on the corner of my desk (to the left), set the seat as high as possible (or adjust the desk lower) and lean back, arms extended. Basically, I'm positioned like an F1 driver in a cockpit.

No back problems as there's no weight on my spine. No carpal tunnel issues, as my wrists are always flat. No fatigue from holding my body at right angles for hours at a time.

The downside is I look like a total slacker in the office, especially to narrow minded image conscious managers who expect me "to act professionally."

yieldcrv12 days ago

.gitignore > # Claude Code > .claude/

Congratulations! I love seeing people express themselves to release things that were previously not economically viable to prioritize

Forget worrying about a 10x dev, Claude Code with the Opus 4.5 model has turned me into a 100x developer even in software stacks I'm not even familiar with. And with playwright-mcp its completely absolved the need for UX designers in my workflow because I just point playwright-mcp at an already established and A/B tested website for its UX principles. This gives me results far beyond what v0, lovable or Claude Code would come up with on its own.

zsoltkacsandi12 days ago

One thing I learned from my physio: in your spine, everything is connected.

For example, even if you sit perfectly upright, if you have anterior pelvic tilt, it can change the whole dynamics of your spine, that the cervical segment takes a lot of load that it isn't supposed to do.

Or with bad habits you can reprogram your neuromuscular system that it uses the wrong muscles to maintain posture, that can lead a series of problems long term.

If you have back/neck pain or tension that does not resolve in 1-2 weeks, go to a physio.

amelius13 days ago

Why use a proprietary stack for building this when there is a far more capable open ecosystem available at your fingertips?

https://huggingface.co/models?other=human-pose-estimation

https://huggingface.co/models?other=3d-human-mesh-recovery

kazen4413 days ago

do any more open applications like this exist? The idea seems great

JCharante12 days ago

proprietary stack is probably more battery efficient

hk133712 days ago

This is a really cool idea. I’m a little put off with the idea that my camera is always watching me but the thought behind it is really cool.

cmckn12 days ago

I kind of feel the same way, but I want to try it. I’m pretty sure I have a spare webcam lying around, it could be interesting to have a “trusted” sensor for this app so that I can still keep my main webcam locked down.

lcnmrn13 days ago

Install a pull up bar in your room. It will fix your back better than anything else.

winrid13 days ago

1 min plank in the morning is a big help too

minton12 days ago

Lots of things people might want to monitor for such as nail biting.

iandanforth13 days ago

While this seems to detect posture fairly well, the screen blurring doesn't work for me despite allowing what appear to be the relevant permissions. (macOS 15.1)

wklm13 days ago

I had the exact same issue and have fixed it here: https://github.com/wklm/posturr

tjohnell12 days ago

I added compatibility mode that incorporates the public API. Give it a shot please. I welcome any feedback.

tjohnell12 days ago

I've released 1.0.3 with compatibility mode to use public APIs. The blur isn't as good, but better than nothing!

tjohnell12 days ago

1.0.4 is release with better descriptions.

gcanyon11 days ago

I've now installed this and it's already improved my posture -- thanks! It reminds me of how I now wash my hands for at least twenty seconds every time, because my Apple Watch will annoy me if I stop at even 18 seconds. Little reminders like this are wonderful, and I appreciate you for creating this.

ps -- I added two feature requests and commented on another on the repo.

Eric_WVGG12 days ago

I love this, but I’d rather have an indicator in the menu bar, an app notification, or maybe a nice flow around the "notch" like NotchNook. (https://lo.cafe/notchnook)

Can't really afford to play with an app that would have such an obvious hit on productivity and mental clarity.

accidc12 days ago

Very cool. I did something extremely similar for a personal project.

However, I was not familiar with Swift, the app was more or less vibe coded.

My next goal was to learn swift patterns to refactor the app into something that was understood and robust.

I will be reading though your sources to understand production quality Swift!!

kneel13 days ago

This is cool, I built something similar a while back. I originally wanted the screen to dim when I slouched but I couldn't get access to dimming on OSX. I ended up just playing a noise when I slouched. It became so distracting I stopped using it.

The blurring of the screen is a much better idea.

sahiljagtapyc12 days ago

I wonder if this is less about “bad posture” and more about how people unconsciously optimize for stability when thinking deeply. When I’m reasoning through something hard, I tend to lock into whatever position minimizes micro-adjustments - even if it looks terrible ergonomically.

rendaw12 days ago

Slouching is caused by the design of chairs and soreness in a single sitting position. I have a love-hate relationship with my Salli chair, but angle your legs down and slouching is no longer an issue, to the point where you don't even need a back on your chair.

Simran-B12 days ago

No image in the readme, bummer.

halapro12 days ago

Why are programmers so bad at this? It's never been easier to take and share screenshots, but a lot of technical people would rather write and have you read 500 words than post a single screenshot. Boggles my mind.

cpt_sobel12 days ago

Maybe it blurs on a level lower than what the screenshot can capture

coolandsmartrr12 days ago

I think this is an interesting application of computer vision for healthcare purposes.

I've noticed that the app tends to use 15% of my CPU constantly. I wonder if there is room to improve efficiency so that the app does not hog resources.

kusokurae12 days ago

And herein lies the rub: higher up in the comments we've got people Very Excited that this was co-written with a bot.

altern812 days ago

I can't seem to open it. It keeps saying "Apple could not verify “Posturr.app” is free of malware that may harm your Mac or compromise your privacy.".

I tried opening by right-cliking on the app file, holding option, etc.

I'm on Sequoia 15.7.3 (24G419)

peesem12 days ago

you have to go into your Privacy & Security settings and scroll down until you see something like "Posturr.app was blocked to protect your Mac." and then press "Open Anyway"

altern812 days ago

Ohhh... Thank you!

Is this new? In previous version I could just right-click and it would open it.

tom_12 days ago

Looks like this changed for Sequoia: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mh40616/15.0/...

And looks like Sonoma was the last version to support the right click menu: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mh40616/14.0/...

tjohnell12 days ago

This should no longer be a problem. I am notarizing the app!

illusive412 days ago

[dead]

taf213 days ago

Love it - I did something like this for when codex is done - a script runs to detect if I’m at my computer or not and then notify my phone if I walked away that it’s done - mostly so I can get back to slouching ;)

_helporme12 days ago

I am using it 10 minutes and I already hate it since it's too good.

nailer12 days ago

About 20 years ago they was an early XDG /Compiz plugin called ‘literal focus’ - as a joke, it only focused the focused window. It’s amusing to see this technique being used more practically.

ifh-hn12 days ago

I don't have a Mac, but even if I did would I have it constantly watching me? No. This sort of thing creeps me out.

Still, always good to see someone push out a new app. Well done.

RyanShook12 days ago

Works pretty well, probably too resource heavy to just always keep on. Suggestion: give the user a shortcut key to close the app in case the blur goes haywire on them.

tjohnell12 days ago

Hi - thanks for the feedback. I've improved CPU usage with the latest release. I'll look into a kill switch.

rekabis12 days ago

Not that I have particularly bad posture, but…

> Posturr uses your Mac's camera

Not all of us have web cams, or are willing to tolerate them from a security perspective. [apologetic grin]

nsm12 days ago

Highly recommend the LookAway app if you are on macOS and looking for something encouraging you to take breaks and maintain good posture.

PlatoIsADisease13 days ago

Anyone want to vibe code this to work on linux or M$

borzi12 days ago

Great contrarian indicator for when people say that vibe coding is not "real development work" or economically viable/a job in the future - here is someone asking if another person can vibe code something for them that is single file of swift, the prompt could be as simple as "convert this to linux".

hungryhobbit12 days ago

I don't think Linux has an equivalent of Apple's vision API, and if it does I guarantee it's not as robust and isn't baked-in to every Linux distro (the way Vision is baked-in to every Mac released after X date).

That alone will likely prevent this from just being a "convert to Linux" vibe session ... which is unfortunate, as I would LOVE to have this on Linux.

PlatoIsADisease12 days ago

Yep, this is the bottleneck. Otherwise I would have done the prompt myself.

PlatoIsADisease12 days ago

I literally hire interns to vibe code... sooo.. I don't need to be sold.

VadimPR12 days ago
didip12 days ago

lol, whenever I am hacking intensely, I am lying down on my bed with laptop tilted with the perfect angle.

I guess this app won’t catch me slouching then.

byteflip13 days ago

Would be cool to see integration with something like Upright Go or other sensors you place on your back that detect tilt etc.

dottjt12 days ago

It would be great if there was something like this, but for not wearing reading glasses.

fatliverfreddy12 days ago

Guzzles my CPU, cool though! Would use if it didn't eat up half a core to boot.

tjohnell12 days ago

I reduced the vision processing to about 10 fps as well as reduced camera resolution. I saw about an 80% reduction in CPU! Thanks for the feedback.

lasgawe12 days ago

Is there anyone out there who’s productive and sitting upright? Asking for me..

hackernj12 days ago

Black Mirror is nearly here.

Raed66713 days ago

I would love this but for detecting when I'm not wearing my glasses!

jagged-chisel13 days ago

“If only the world had some way to remind be to wear my glasses … like going all blurry or something.”

I get you - but making it absurd is where my brain went immediately. >.<

dhosek13 days ago

If I’m not wearing my glasses the screen blurs organically.

dmurray13 days ago

Doesn't the screen already go blurry when you're not wearing your glasses?

Raed66713 days ago

It's a spectrum I'm trying to avoid it getting that bad

ngruhn13 days ago

I think he's joking

Raed66713 days ago

I wish

cacoos12 days ago

this is great! I made one for nail-biters: https://github.com/cacoos/trackhands

publicdebates13 days ago

I would pay $10 for this.

tjohnell4 days ago

You inspired me to release it to the app store: https://apple.co/4apwHBk

iammrpayments13 days ago

Staying in upright posture for too long is also not good for you.

fidansin12 days ago

Ok, I share my screen all the time.. not going to happen

oug-t12 days ago

I code on my bed, guess no slouching at all

eeixlk13 days ago

Satire i hope

aa_is_op13 days ago

Plz make a Windows version :)))

JCharante12 days ago

might be obvious but you have to calibrate it while in your target posture

VadimPR13 days ago

How can you tell if a short person is slouching? Or a tall person?

gcanyon13 days ago

I'm not the author, but I assume it benchmarks the highest height of your head, blurs from there, and updates its baseline if you ever appear higher.

Meaning that the way to have "perfect posture" is never to sit up straight in the first place :-)

lokar12 days ago

It has a calibration step

kccqzy13 days ago

If you assume a person’s chair height and desk height are both set optimally, then I guess the person’s height doesn’t matter for this detection.

netik12 days ago

Great, so now my eyes and back are going to be f'd. Just step away from the screen and take regular breaks.

acedTrex12 days ago

You can tell its slop cuz its 1k lines in a single main.swift file lol

p0w3n3d13 days ago

Great, now I'll get sick eyes too

* laughs histerically

avhception12 days ago

So now I gotta squint while I slouch!