Hacker News Reader

iseanstevenson Google is dead. Where do we go now?

Yeah LiveJournal (my username there is lightfixer) really came close to replicating how we actually social. Deciding who is able to see what I posted on an individual level was great. Could create groups etc.

iseanstevenson Ask HN: Abandoned/dead projects you think died before their time and why?

Dreamweaver or some other real WYSISYG web page editor that could maybe deal with very basic JavaScript.

I just wanna make a mostly static site with links in and out of my domain. Maybe a light bit of interactivity for things like search that autocompletes.

iseanstevenson Aerocart cargo gliders

Pretty fascinating concept - take what we are already doing on the roads and translate it to the sky. Could lead to huge efficiency gains.

iseanstevenson The gem Apple discontinued: the 11-inch MacBook Air (2019)

I still have my 2013 11.6” i7 and once I replace the battery and hinges (threw it across bed while open too many times) it’ll be good for another 10 years.

The original “MacBook” 12” retina could have been wonderful aside from the extremely poor performance, keyboard, and single USB, and battery life. Most of which Apple Silicon/lack of Jony Ive would fix.

I don’t know why, but for me about 1kg feels negligible for a laptop I carry constantly, where 1.5kg feels heavy.

iseanstevenson An illustrated guide to the Kaminsky DNS vulnerability (2008)

He was a close friend, roommate and collaborator on many things. I’m reminded of him daily. RIP Dan, it’s been hard without you

iseanstevenson PAROL6: 3D-printed desktop robotic arm

(Oops saw other comment linked, but I’ll leave this comment in case summary is helpful)

Check out the SO100 arm, being supported by Huggingface and others. Only 4 axis, but cheap AF (<$250/arm) and using ML to make it more capable than 4 axis would seem. Also using identical arms for mirror teleportation/training.

https://github.com/TheRobotStudio/SO-ARM100

iseanstevenson The protester's guide to smartphone security

Also Meshtastic.org is a cheap (various <$50 options) open source LoRa based hardware bridge (or standalone device) that can be used with an app over bluetooth (or WiFi web interface).

It supports strong encryption layer and over 1 km/mile per “hop” in most circumstances.

Designed originally for off grid, it’s very flexible and pretty polished.

Abstracts your phone into a UI. Has a whole ecosystem behind it. I’ve been using it for festivals and tracking my vehicles (high theft area) for years.

Very handy should infra not be available. Should be great for protests also :)

iseanstevenson A Collection of Kaleidoscope Schemes, Sourced from the WayBack Machine.

Idea (I lack the skills to implement):

Train an upscaler/style transfer model on these lovely things (plus Winamp skins etc) to create a teachable AI theme engine.

iseanstevenson 2007 Boston Mooninite Panic

I am at least very proud of our improv dealing with the press at least! Especially as I don’t think either of us slept particularly well the night before in holding cells.

iseanstevenson 2007 Boston Mooninite Panic

Post the 9/11 PATRIOT act (etc) led to dilution of America’s ideals in various ways, IMHO. I felt like we were in the middle of it. I wanted to call attention to how ridiculous it was - since the attention ended up on me and my friend. Zebbler was in the USA on political asylum at the time and it was made clear he’d be kicked out if we made any more noise after this.

iseanstevenson Show HN: I made a tiny device for automatically recording digital pianos

Wow, looks amazing! (As someone nowhere near the target audience).

Would love to see anything of the visualizer. Understand it’s beta, but curious what direction it would go

iseanstevenson Ambulance hits cyclist, rushes him to hospital, then sticks him with $1,800 bill

Chaser Ambulance?

iseanstevenson Carpentopod: A Walking Table Project

Absolutely wonderful to see in motion. Things like this brought to life are one of the Most exciting uses of AI to me.

iseanstevenson Entropic Engineering DEFCON 32 Statement

Very classy response. I hope things get worked out

iseanstevenson Kabosu, the Dog Behind the 'Doge' Meme, Has Died

Saw this earlier and it made me pretty sad. :(

I know it doesn’t 100% fit but… Black Bar?

For me she was a joyous milestone in defining internet culture.

iseanstevenson Project Gameface launches on Android

Is it ok that some people do care?

iseanstevenson Thoughts on my first electric scooter purchase

https://xootr.com/products/xootr-kick-scooter-mg

These are great

iseanstevenson It's Not You: Dating Apps Are Getting Worse

Yeah it was actually something special/interesting. Now it’s another match app owned tinder clone

iseanstevenson Wintergatan Marble Machine (2016) [video]

Robotic fun instrument I worked on this back in the day. flying balls and wine glasses and drums. I did the lighting and later redid the real-time low latency streaming:

https://bea.st/absolut-quartet

iseanstevenson A nuclear weapons lab helped crack a serial-killer case

Serial killer < Parallel killer

iseanstevenson Juno – A YouTube Client for Vision Pro

Such a good read. This Apollo dev has a good worldview

iseanstevenson Nvidia AI Lead: We are ~3 years from the ChatGPT moment for physical AI agents

ChatGPT fails due to lack of easy confirmation of correctness.

Most physical world thiigs have immediate feedback of incorrectness.

Bumping into something unexpectedly or falling over could be a built in way for models to self improve.

Self driving cars go WAY too fast for our current level of processing/sensors.

All IMHO.

iseanstevenson The Art of Electronics (2015)

Yes 100% agree! If I remember, there were two courses, one analog and one digital. Maybe it was one for both but in any case well worth it!

iseanstevenson End of Life of Technologies and Devices

Same! English can be so tricky!

iseanstevenson Report: YouTube adding user-traceable ID tag to links shared off-platform

This pattern has led me to avoid apps and use the websites on mobile.

iseanstevenson The Interface of Kai Krause's Software (2003)

I would love to see an AI update of all of these concepts. The ability to directly interact with realtime feedback makes creating feel like play.

iseanstevenson How to see bright, vivid images in your mind’s eye (2016)

I don’t even need to close my eyes and the images are fairly vivid. AR before AR.

I thought for a long time that’s how it was for everyone.

Anyone else have that?

iseanstevenson Vestaboard – re-imagined design of a split-flap “train station” display

Very pretty. I definitely see the appeal as functional art with the color blocks, and the white version is very refreshing.

For companies and teams I can see the value/$ pretty easily

Though ~$3k to me seems unrealistic for a family. Especially compared to something like an OLED screen with a simulation, which could also do other things.

Not sure why you’d care about my opinion, but I’ve already typed it at this point ;)

iseanstevenson A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials

Wow - fascinating observation!

Feels to me similar to the “companies ship their org chart” concept.

iseanstevenson The 2007 Boston Mooninite Panic

Oh right also Zebbler has been doing deco/dj/vj at DEFCON the past some years.