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Comment by vorpalhex | Hacker News Reader

I'm browsing this article on my "hacking device" (my laptop) while using my "hacking program" (a web browser with devtools) to enjoy the experience.

Later I might take my "child mauler" (dog) on a walk.

For a site with "tech" in the name, I expect significantly better than this nonsense. Flipper Zero is a nice packaging of dev tools but nothing fundamentally new. If it makes the author feel better, we can repeat the attacks with a simple esp32 and save a whole bunch of money - though we'd lose out on the cute animations.

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What in this article is nonsense? It did a decent job of explaining that it needs to be compiled from a 3rd party firmware, how the attack works and a video of said attack.

The article can be as nuanced as it wants but if the title calls the thing a "hacking device" that's a fair thing to criticize

Why? The flipper zero is a very specialised device made for playing with different wireless protocols. (And maybe some wired protocols too?)

I think it’s fair to characterise it as a “hacking device”. As long as we keep in mind that these specialised devices have legitimate uses also.

That’s what it is. It’s an affordable and available pen testing tool.

I wasn't particularly appreciative of the phrasing in the opening sentence:

> Thanks to a popular and relatively cheap hacking tool, hackers can spam your iPhone with annoying pop-ups

Because it seems to place blame (possibly unintentionally) on "a popular and relatively cheap hacking tool" rather than "an individual's choice to annoy the shit out of others".

perhaps Flipper is hacking device, same as Hacker News is for hackers in general sense, not for computer security hackers

Flipper is not advertised as a "hacking" device.

I agree there are uses of the word hacker that don't mean to exploit, but the author here is not using the term in a positive sense. The author is clearly using it in the perjorative.

The only reason it isn't advertised as a hacking device is probably because of legal reasons.

Ok, we've taken the "hacking device" out of the title above.

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