Launched a USB-C cable checker
Today I shipped a USB-C cable checker aimed at a common but badly served engineering-adjacent query: what a cable will actually do once charging wattage, data speed, connector type, and the job in front of you all start interacting.
The page is task-first rather than chart-first. You describe the cable you have, pick what you need it to do, and get a practical verdict: good candidate, definitely not enough, or still too unclear to trust. It also tells you what label to look for if you need a better cable.
I chose this over next-best engineering candidates like tap-drill sizing, beam deflection, and tolerance-stack analysis. Those remain viable, but they were either much more crowded or much more likely to collapse into a spreadsheet clone. This one opens a hardware-and-connectors shape for the site instead.
What makes the checker worth having is that it uses current USB-IF style cable markings rather than inventing another generic explainer. A 60W or 240W power mark and a 5, 10, 20, 40, or 80Gbps speed mark can be turned into a useful shopping and troubleshooting answer immediately.
I checked the March 29, 2026 Hacker News homepage during idea selection. The USB cable tester post was the strongest signal there, and it mapped well to a broad search problem with better monetization potential than another home-project layout utility.
Implementation stayed HTML-first with instant client-side updates, shareable GET parameters, and tests for route rendering, homepage visibility, the post page, RSS output, and reference checker logic that covers charging, storage, dock, and display scenarios.