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commandersakion Encrypted Collaboration Spaces: Architectural Whitepaper [pdf]

Heaps excited about this because there's a dearth of work in application crypto as the mindshare is dominated by PQC or Crapto.

I am a little sceptical of this because of the need for ZKP and running a RISC-V program for protocol interactions (I only had a cursory glance). But if we can do LLM inference as standard in protocols these days then this probably has a chance.

commandersakion Show HN: Homebrew 6.0.0

I was interested in Nix because it could automate setup and configuration of macOS features. But all it does is usually run defaults or some intermediatary. In the end I stuck with brew and wrote an idempotent setupmac() function in my bash_profile (I use bash 5) with the aid of chatgpt since it knows all the cool defaults commands, and it’s pretty much solved setting up a new account or mac (alongside a Brewfile I maintain in my dotfiles). I don’t need any of those highfalutin tools.

commandersakion Show HN: Homebrew 6.0.0

Homebrew is a non-profit project run entirely by volunteers, not employees. We need your funds to pay for software, hardware and hosting around continuous integration and future improvements to the project. Every donation will be spent on making Homebrew better for our users. Please consider a regular donation through GitHub Sponsors, OpenCollective and Patreon.

I donate to a lot of open source projects that I benefit from, but I’ve never really thought about Homebrew. I will get onto it.

commandersakion Encrypted Spaces – Signal Alums' System for Making Private Collaboration Apps

Recommend changing link to https://encryptedspaces.org/ as that is non paywalled and more authoritative. I didn't want to make a new submission.

commandersakion macOS Container Machines

Very unlikely to lose support for Rosetta for Linux. Maybe just Rosetta 2 for mac apps.

commandersakion macOS Container Machines

I wonder if the custom virtio can be used to support attaching the built-in sdcard readers on macs which aren't exposed as usb.

commandersakion macOS Container Machines

Yeah I find this useful for redirecting storage/sdcard*, so you can format linux filesystems or use other tools.

* need a usb sdcard reader for macbook pro cause the builtin is not usb)

commandersakion macOS Container Machines

Would be cool if you can redirect USB devices to the VM.

commandersakion Changing how we develop Ladybird

Seems cold how they present this, but on the other hand I’ve ignored Ladybird because I just don’t think they’ll have meaningful impact, so I remain unaffected by this policy change.

commandersakion MacBook Neo is so popular that Apple doubled production

I mean sure if it has to do with CPU & memory & storage there's probably little you can do except replace the SoC, but it's also the least likely component to fail. Everything else is a removable module and pretty easy to replace, it's one of Apple's best repairable laptops. It'll also be a parts bucket with how much volume is sold, so genuine parts should be easy to come by on the aftermarket if you don't go through apple self repair program directly.

commandersakion MacBook Neo is so popular that Apple doubled production

Sure it's not upgradable but you're completely wrong about repairability, unless you're talking about micro component repair ala Louis Rossmann, which as a whole is going the way of the Dodo.

commandersakion MacBook Neo Is So Popular That Apple Doubled Production

All the PC manufactures are rallying to make a comparable Neo at the price point, it's been making waves in tech media for the last 2 weeks.

commandersakion MacBook Neo is so popular that Apple doubled production

Also I wonder how long the keyboard lasts and how does one replace it.

Can't say how long the keyboard will last since it's only been out for a few months, but I expect a long time as these are their new (now old) magic keyboards.

As for replacement, the keyboard is comes out as a module, so it just takes about 10-15 minutes of disassembling and putting a new keyboard in. Macbook Neo is one of Apple's best repairable laptops.

commandersakion MacBook Neo is so popular that Apple doubled production

I think Apple's era of unreliable laptops were the ones with Butterfly keyboards. So many issues back then, but they did a complete 180 once they reintroduced the magic keyboard and then Apple Silicon.

commandersakion Microsoft builds MacBook Pro rival with NVIDIA-powered Surface Laptop Ultra

Yeah the support is scripted and annoying a lot of the time. There's always a song and dance like having you remove your VPN (mine is split tunnel but they don't care) to verify some failure case, loading profiles, etc. - but at some point when all avenues are exhausted they will escalate to an engineer and make detailed notes, and usually follow ups which might be with another engineer usually has a full understanding of your situation. A few times they've managed to fix these issues but it can take months.

For hardware issues too it's pretty good, though I've only ever dealt with the Genius bar, and never done a mail in of the product in question.

For software I've never really seen this kind of service at scale, e.g. with Microsoft. And for hardware, it's essentially chatbots in a loop these days which I experienced with Lenovo trying to get support for a laptop that wouldn't power on (never managed to get a human to support me and gave up).

commandersakion Microsoft builds MacBook Pro rival with NVIDIA-powered Surface Laptop Ultra

In FreeBSD it was `make world` in /usr/src.

Bloody cperciva put an end to that.

commandersakion Microsoft builds MacBook Pro rival with NVIDIA-powered Surface Laptop Ultra

In recent times support is part of what I consider when I buy Apple products. It is by no means the best but I can always get a human at whatever time of day and they will listen to my problem and attempt to address it.

But as for getting rubber feet, I'm sure it's some backwards process with Apple too, if at all possible.

commandersakion Microsoft builds MacBook Pro rival with NVIDIA-powered Surface Laptop Ultra

Nvidia has also supported Linux well in general

I don't really know, maybe in recent times. All I'm reminded of is Linus giving Nvidia the finger.

commandersakion Microsoft builds MacBook Pro rival with NVIDIA-powered Surface Laptop Ultra

Honestly I was ready to mock this thing out of existence, but I think you're on to something as there is a contingent that wants the Macbook Pro style laptop to run Linux and I think they'd be happy to settle with a copycat.

Alas, it is a laptop from Microsoft so hardware support in Linux is probably going to be painful as always.

Hard to say whether you'll get the Macbook Pro experience though.

commandersakion The Last Technical Interview

Everyone is annoyed when Google or whatever has a gruelling high bar to get in, but nobody bats a lid when say Jane Street does it. Both wildly successful.

commandersakion It's hard to justify buying a Framework 12

Imagined issues.

commandersakion It's hard to justify buying a Framework 12

Funny it’s the opposite for me. What if I want to switch between desktops of multiple users; easy with fast user switching, not really a thing in Linux (yeah I’m sure it can be hacked up, but bleh).

commandersakion Bttf is a command line datetime Swiss army knife

Looks great but I just can't see myself using a specialised tool and language for this. I think it's just easier to use ChatGPT or whatever for those one-offs, especially converting timestamps from a log.

commandersakion Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

I think others are saying you just need to apply outside the country but you can return while the process is ongoing. So it seems to be some kind of clerical thing.

commandersakion Green card seekers must leave U.S. to apply, Trump administration says

I'm dumb, can someone give me an objective take as to why leaving the country is a good thing for applying a green card? In Australia usually you apply when you already have an existing visa, and if that's going to expire you usually apply for what is known as a bridging visa while your PR application is being processed.

commandersakion We're testing new ad formats in Search and expanding our Direct Offers pilot

Google loves cashing on malvertising. Google loves posting up ads that surface on top of the mac homebrew website containing a facade with their own malicious own curl | sh malware.

Ads are so helpful!

commandersakion Apple unveils new accessibility features

Apple accessibility is the #1 reason why I'm in the Apple ecosystem. It does have its shortcomings, but it seems miles ahead of everything else in tech after having tried other ecosystems. It is hard to place a price on these features, but I imagine it is worth significantly more than the base cost of hardware.

commandersakion Haiku OS runs on M1 Macs now

Is there a resilient market for people using NeXTStep in the 21st century?

commandersakion Googlebook

Goalposts? I don't think you know what they even are.

Someone asks what purpose is a $900 chromebook. You say: Managed corporate machines.

Prepend writes: I’ve never encountered a company that used ChromeOS...

You respond: I don't think the world cares much about things you personally encountered... You're welcome to look up actual facts online about adoption though.

Then I simply ask which companies and enterprises do infact issue Chromebooks. Nobody is moving the goalposts, the context being discussed was Chromebooks in company/enterprise; not once were schools mentioned. Your response seems to give the air that you have personal knowledge of these being used in corporate, hence why I asked which companies are issuing Chromebooks.

Nice try deflecting though. I'm guessing by your non-response, nobody actually does, except possibly Google themselves. Which makes sense, since nobody wants to use them.

commandersakion Googlebook

I didn't realise schools are now considered companies or enterprises.