{"generated_at":"2026-11-12T18:49:16.104Z","source":{"name":"Hacker News public API","url":"https://github.com/HackerNews/API","attribution":"Stories and comments are public Hacker News submissions by their respective authors. HackerHub is an independent reader, not affiliated with Y Combinator.","content_is_untrusted":true},"story_id":50453288,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50453288","total_comments":79,"returned":20,"scope":"Up to the requested number of top-level comments in Hacker News ranked order. Deleted comments are omitted. Nested replies are not fetched; this is not the complete thread.","comments":[{"id":50457710,"author":"evnp","created_at":"2026-11-11T19:50:40.000Z","text":"Super loud sound warning, us parents and folks wearing headphones would really appreciate default sound off. Or at least a some indication to turn volume down before tapping \"pour\"","parent_id":50453288,"replies_count":2,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50457710"},{"id":50459520,"author":"rybosome","created_at":"2026-11-11T22:19:30.000Z","text":"I notice that different types of sand sound different - the timbre of the sand falling onto the table and shuffling around is noticeably different between the various types. I was curious if the differences in the sand were being physically modeled to synthesize sound.\nIt’s a physics-based generation but the simulation model is somewhat limited; essentially a few parameters that vary between the sand types, some randomization, and responsiveness to flow rate. Still, it’s highly effective; something like the fine, silty desert sand is noticeably brighter and sounds more like a hiss as it pours and flows than the rocky volcanic sand.\nVery cool effect, this is joyful to play with.","parent_id":50453288,"replies_count":1,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50459520"},{"id":50455797,"author":"smusamashah","created_at":"2026-11-11T17:10:44.000Z","text":"Found source repo here https://github.com/av/safe-sand","parent_id":50453288,"replies_count":1,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50455797"},{"id":50454637,"author":"alex_duf","created_at":"2026-11-11T15:34:05.000Z","text":"On a mobile phone it makes a lot more sense. Try shaking it!","parent_id":50453288,"replies_count":6,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50454637"},{"id":50456963,"author":"nkmnz","created_at":"2026-11-11T18:47:49.000Z","text":"Something seems wrong with the stones. They seem to move way to fast. They need more friction.","parent_id":50453288,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50456963"},{"id":50456405,"author":"asaddhamani","created_at":"2026-11-11T18:02:06.000Z","text":"I just spent 15 mins playing with this on my phone, it was a lot of fun!","parent_id":50453288,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50456405"},{"id":50466046,"author":"Faint","created_at":"2026-11-12T12:11:48.000Z","text":"Smooth on OnePlus 13. Some flickering on the side the sand falls hard to. Still very nice.","parent_id":50453288,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50466046"},{"id":50456905,"author":"lavendermon","created_at":"2026-11-11T18:42:14.000Z","text":"Tried this on desktop and mobile, totally different experiences. I love the residue effect on the screen after I tilt the sand around on mobile. Next step: hourglass or maybe a snow globe?","parent_id":50453288,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50456905"},{"id":50455710,"author":"smusamashah","created_at":"2026-11-11T17:04:48.000Z","text":"oh wow, the stones even have some water around them. This looks and feels real.\nAnd if you manage to collect a lot in one place, the sand from the pile does fall like real sand. This is amazing.\nThe sound is not good though.","parent_id":50453288,"replies_count":2,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50455710"},{"id":50456661,"author":"momojo","created_at":"2026-11-11T18:23:09.000Z","text":"This brings me a lot of joy. I love little toys that exist for no other reason than \"I really want this to be a thing\"","parent_id":50453288,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50456661"},{"id":50456846,"author":"weitzj","created_at":"2026-11-11T18:36:43.000Z","text":"Does it make Patterns if you put a sine wave on your phone's speaker?\nWhat are they called? Moirée patterns?","parent_id":50453288,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50456846"},{"id":50457325,"author":"bob1029","created_at":"2026-11-11T19:20:06.000Z","text":"I like how when my phone's forward vector is aligned with world up all the sand falls out.","parent_id":50453288,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50457325"},{"id":50454971,"author":"techpression","created_at":"2026-11-11T16:03:03.000Z","text":"I wouldn’t call it realistic, sand gets stuck in the air, stones don’t rotate, and there’s quite an uncanny valley effect based on angles.\nStill a cool demo of what is possible, even though I get 10fps or something on a iPhone 15 Pro","parent_id":50453288,"replies_count":2,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50454971"},{"id":50456465,"author":"mashally","created_at":"2026-11-11T18:06:44.000Z","text":"It was a lot of fun. I wrote I love you phrase to my gf and she liked it.","parent_id":50453288,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50456465"},{"id":50464563,"author":"bahmboo","created_at":"2026-11-12T08:37:19.000Z","text":"Love it. Want it on my actual pixel home screen","parent_id":50453288,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50464563"},{"id":50455939,"author":"kccqzy","created_at":"2026-11-11T17:23:46.000Z","text":"It didn’t look realistic to me until I added `?sand=beach` to the URL. Maybe I only associate sand from the beach as sand. Others I call silt perhaps incorrectly.","parent_id":50453288,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50455939"},{"id":50457889,"author":"matt3210","created_at":"2026-11-11T20:02:06.000Z","text":"Finally, the kind of sandbox we deserve","parent_id":50453288,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50457889"},{"id":50455155,"author":"hamidmohaqeq","created_at":"2026-11-11T16:20:00.000Z","text":"This is really cool and give a realistic sense","parent_id":50453288,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50455155"},{"id":50460787,"author":"andai","created_at":"2026-11-11T23:54:18.000Z","text":"Probably a bug, but the audio was just distorted noise without end.","parent_id":50453288,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50460787"},{"id":50457252,"author":"yipinwong","created_at":"2026-11-11T19:14:09.000Z","text":"I felt like a kid playing with real sand in decades playing with this.","parent_id":50453288,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50457252"}]}