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emilburzo

1,522 karma · joined October 3, 2014

https://emilburzo.com
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emilburzo··on Web scraping with GPT-4o: powerful but expensive
Romania is missing from the list of phone number countries on signup, not sure if on purpose or not.
emilburzo··on Ask HN: Is there any software you only made for your own use but nobody else?
Is any of the code public?

Or at least the tool(s) you use?

I have the same need but it's surprisingly difficult to get it right, at least with the `camelot` or `fitz` python packages.

emilburzo··on Ask HN: Is there any software you only made for your own use but nobody else?
> like convert PDF bank statements into CSV transaction files

I've tried this recently and it's surprisingly difficult. Any pro-tips?

Extracting pdf tables, while respecting the cell position, seems almost impossible in a way that works in all cases (think borderless tables, whitespace cells, etc)

emilburzo··on How to find the AWS account ID of any S3 bucket
If you use AWS config setup for the organization (aggregator), you'll get a athena-sql-queryable inventory of all your resources from all organization accounts.

So finding out which account owns a resource can be as simple as, roughly: select accountId where arn = "x"

emilburzo··on CVE-2023-6200: ICMPv6 RA Linux TCP/IP Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
> To trigger this issue, the attacker must be on the local network [...]
emilburzo··on Security Issue: Cloud Site Manager presented me your consoles, not mine
> My EdgeRouter finally bit the dust

Do you still have it?

You might just have one with an on-board USB stick which is user-replaceable. Literally a USB stick in a USB type A port.

It seems that was the only part they cheaped out on, since it failed for multiple people I know that have models with the USB stick.

Source: erlite-3 wouldn't boot up, changed usb stick (with their downloadable OS image of course), good as new.

Bonus: quadrupled the available storage.

emilburzo··on YouTuber sentenced to 6 months in prison for obstructing probe into plane crash
As one of the people who commented on that thread, it was really eye-opening to see the group dynamics involved between people who have experience in the domain vs those who don't.

It definitely made me look at online debates a lot differently, as previously I thought good points can come from anywhere (which can still happen), but it turns out experience in the domain is usually way more relevant.

I guess it's similar to that effect where if you see news about a topic you don't know, you tend to take/believe everything as-is, but if you happen to know the domain, you'll usually spot quite a few factual errors which tend to discredit most of the news.

emilburzo··on New Relic Security Incident – Security Bulletin NR23-01
From this[1] PR, it seems to be related to "sensitive information in synthetic URLs", as this[2] article was just introduced bundled with the advisory article.

So I assume the security incident is about those who:

> You have a synthetic monitor that contains sensitive information (like passwords or usernames) in a URL or script.

[1] https://github.com/newrelic/docs-website/pull/15307/files

[2] https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/synthetics/synthetic-monitori...

emilburzo··on Starlink Direct to Cell
Yes, currently the S62 Pro. What would you be interested in knowing?

To be honest I first thought it would be a gimmick, but being able to see heat / rough temperature degrees has proven itself quite useful.

But you don't really realize it until you have it available. It's kind of like having another sense available to you.

Random examples of where it was useful:

- finding shitty chargers/electronics which were really hot while doing nothing -> wasted power

- spotting a water leak before it was visible (think cold spot in the middle of the ceiling)

- checking car tire alignment (one side hotter than the other)

- finding buried hot water pipes

- finding where cold air is leaking in during winter

- spotting damp areas

and probably others that I'm forgetting right now

emilburzo··on Starlink Direct to Cell
This is exactly the reason why I'm sticking with the CAT S6x series phones and willing to put up with mediocre performance/features, as far as smartphones go.

They've been the only ones that don't just turn off in really cold temperatures, even without babying them in warm pockets.

The general ruggedness is also pretty good to amazing, depending on how fragile your previous phones were. For example: it survived a ~10 meter (32ft) drop on rocks, whereas everyone was convinced it was done for.

emilburzo··on Ask HN: How do you manage photos, philosophically?
any SSD recommendations?

I've just been using regular hard drives for my RAIDs with really long lifespans, think 7-10 years -- and even then replaced just out of caution, they still work -- and I'm not sure if this is also achievable with SSDs or what to even look out for

emilburzo··on Disclosure: Supervisor security vulnerability
Nice, I need to try out Wireguard then, it sounds like things really improved in the VPN world.
emilburzo··on Disclosure: Supervisor security vulnerability
I haven't tried Wireguard so far, but from past experiences VPNs usually make mobile devices use more battery, I assume because they keep the radio on more than required (keepalive? just having to process VPN broadcast traffic?) and can't sleep so much.

Plus, personally I'm trying to reduce the amount of "trusted just because it's on the LAN" stuff and go more for a "zero-trust" approach as much as possible.

emilburzo··on Disclosure: Supervisor security vulnerability
> Users want access to their "local" HA instance from a coffee shop, say, but don't want to deal with privacy issues and security breaches of "cloud".

My personal solution for HTTP stuff that should be private but I want to access from anywhere is to add another independent authentication layer.

I've so far settled on SSO using oauth2-proxy[1] out of convenience, but probably even basic http auth is enough.

That means that even if the running service authentication is broken, or like in this case, bypassed, it will still be caught by the first layer of authentication. See my HA instance[2] for an example.

For home assistant the tradeoff is that the native app doesn't work, but I'm sure there's a smart way to whitelist requests just for my device, I just haven't gotten around to it since the web page has been sufficient so far.

[1] https://github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy

[2] https://ha.emilburzo.com/

emilburzo··on IRIS²: The EU’s Response to Musk’s Starlink
> Why does European airbus thrive, while us aircraft industry declined?

The documentary "Downfall: The Case Against Boeing"[1] goes into this topic, and I believe the wiki page[2] summary captures it nicely:

> "There were many decades when Boeing did extraordinary things by focusing on excellence and safety and ingenuity. Those three virtues were seen as the key to profit. It could work, and beautifully. And then they were taken over by a group that decided Wall Street was the end-all, be-all. [...]"

Of course, I have no idea if this is just cherry-picking information, but it does seem plausible why things "suddenly" changed.

[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11893274/

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downfall:_The_Case_Against_Boe...

emilburzo··on Sweet Home 3D is a free interior design application
This was one of the unexpected extra benefits of having a robot vacuum with LIDAR, free accurate floorplan after one sweep.

Obviously you just get an image, but for what I needed (map in home assistant with sensors overlaid) it was enough.

emilburzo··on Waze tests new alerts warning drivers about roads with a ‘history of crashes’
The option to "avoid difficult intersections" should get you most of the way there

https://www.pcmag.com/news/waze-wants-to-help-you-avoid-diff...

emilburzo··on Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera
you mean 2020, right?

> Announced 2020, June 28

> Status Available. Released 2020, August 17

emilburzo··on I record myself on audio 24x7 and use an AI to process the information
I must be blind, where do you list the microphone(s) you are using?
emilburzo··on Seeing through hardware counters: A journey to 3x performance increase
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/develop/documentatio...

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/articles/t...

it doesn't seem netflix specific?

emilburzo··on Seeing through hardware counters: A journey to 3x performance increase
https://www.brendangregg.com/blog/2017-05-04/the-pmcs-of-ec2...
emilburzo··on Solving Common Problems with Kubernetes
Although most of the articles focus on the benefits of Kubernetes for work, where you usually have more options (e.g. AWS Fargate), I've found it extremely helpful in the case where you want to self-host stuff personally/"at home", but you also want above average resilience so you use multiple nodes (e.g. 3 raspberry pi).

You can probably DIY something or always run all the things on all 3 nodes to achieve the same effect, but the first time I saw a node going down and Kubernetes automatically deployed the affected pods to a healthy node, it felt like having AWS on-prem.

Also, doing things in a standard way each time means it's really easy to bootstrap new things, not always reinventing the wheel. Especially cron jobs, I always lost track of those before. Now it's really easy to get an overview. Secrets as well, having it built-in just saves so much "how should I do this again".

Plus base OS upgrades are now really uneventful, since besides k3s (single-binary Kubernetes distribution), there's nothing else installed on the host.

The complexity is of course higher, you need a load balancer to point to all your cluster IPs since we don't get one "for free" from the cloud, shared storage is still something I'm looking into what's the best way to do (NAS with NFS, minio, ...), you most likely need a private registry, and probably others I'm missing.

Nonetheless, since migrating from manually run docker images, I find it a lot more comfortable and even with less downtime (taking down a single node is a non-event now versus "everything is down").

emilburzo··on Many indoor air quality sensor products are a scam
> My cheap co2 sensor [...]

Which one?

emilburzo··on Home Assistant OS Release 8
> I use Shelly relays installed behind all my switches [...]

> As a perk you retain the functionality of the existing light switch

This sounds super interesting, so both the control from shelly/HA and the physical light switch can be used?

Do you have any pictures/blog/something about how to set that up? I briefly looked into this in the past, but it seemed impossible with the existing wiring (only the live wire is behind the physical switch, no neutral).

emilburzo··on CDC tracked millions of phones to see if Americans followed lockdown orders
I recommend getting a rtl-sdr and playing around with rtl_433. It will probably change your mind about needing to be very close to things.

Even with the small antenna these devices come with, I can pickup TPMS signals from the cars on the nearby streets, and that's with the antenna indoors.

emilburzo··on Using CMOS Sensors in a Cellphone for Gamma Detection and Classification
I have this[1] Android app on my phone and try it out once in a while, it didn't pick up anything so far, which is probably good news. But I do wonder sometimes if it does actually work, i.e. it really would detect if something was there.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ImageInsig...

emilburzo··on Tell HN: YouTube and how my wife lost 7 years of work
> Since Google turned off syncing of photos to Google Drive, my system broke for instance. Like OP, I haven't had time to set a new backup process up since then.

Do it now[1].

Assuming what you already have setup for Google Drive is using rclone, it's probably not going to take you longer than what it took to write that comment.

[1] https://wiki.emilburzo.com/backing-up-your-google-digital-li...

emilburzo··on Portable replacement for a $60k VO2 Max machine
Link to the DIY air-quality monitor?
emilburzo··on FAA investigating controversial crash video
I suspect it's from the selfie-stick gopro and cropped with subject tracking
emilburzo··on FAA investigating controversial crash video
> You and a couple other commenters mention this and not trying to land. Do we know how long it was before he gave up?

It's true that there might be video cuts, but just visually guesstimating, there's very little altitude difference between when the propeller stops and when he jumps.

> Is this because he is already a skydiver and/or was going paragliding (is this the same rig? Another thing I don't know). Would it make sense that this is just "what he has," as opposed to owning both a bail out and a sky diving kit?

Paragliding gear is even more bulkier than a skydiving rig, there's various types depending on the flying you want to do, but here's a typical example: https://qefimagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/303/2018/0...

Even if he is a skydiver and pilot, you want to use the right tool for the job

- skydiving rig: larger, main handle is out of sight, has more snag points, built to stop you from terminal velocity (~120mph/200km) so the opening distance is higher

- emergency parachute: small, usually just one handle which you can see and very hard to snag on anything, meant to be opened in under 3s after jumping, definitely not for terminal velocity kind of speeds

> Wasn't it mounted on the plane dash, and he took it with him when he bailed?

I re-watched the video now and you're right, it's a selfie stick in his hand, as he moves the camera from one hand to the other. Another "unlikely things a pilot does in an emergency" from my side then.

> What is the norm for this? My thinking was this was to distance himself from the plane, which he later mentioned "came back around him" after he pulled.

This ties in to the parachute type mostly, for rescue situations with emergency parachutes you want to pull ASAP, as the plane will usually fly away anyway (excepting maybe spins, but then it's pretty hard to exit anyway)

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