Hacker News Reader

j_son Ask HN: Why does Hacker News block me when I visit with a VPN?

This may be a CloudFlare feature, which you can bypass.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13719366

j_son Artwork Personalization at Netflix

Is there any site tracking the popularity of the various torrents as films hit physical release (eg. high-qual editions)?

j_son Inside the Home of Instant Pot

Juicero Is Shutting Down | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15151012 (Sep2017)

j_son The Amazon Machine

There is nearly a decade of precedent for complaint-free use of the amzn.com domain here on HN[0].

The amzn.com link I provided is as much an Amazon link as your expanded version (both domains are owned by Amazon[1]).

I choose not to use the official, shortest a.co option (growing in popularity here[2][3]) because it obscures a tiny bit more context (the Amazon Standard Identification Number is usually recognizable as such).

[0] https://hn.algolia.com/?query=amzn.com&type=comment&sort=byD...

[1] http://blog.go2.me/2009/04/amazon-has-integrated-url-shorten...

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14162832

[3] https://hn.algolia.com/?query=:%2F%2Fa.co%2F&type=comment&so...

j_son Why Is Giving Birth So Hard? Revisiting the 'Obstetrical Dilemma'

No mentions of Genesis 3:16b yet: I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children.

j_son 2017 Was Bad for Facebook. 2018 Will Be Worse

Somewhat like Google Maps and Location Services!

j_son 2017 Was Bad for Facebook. 2018 Will Be Worse

Facebook Is the Junk Food of Socializing (2015) | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15782014 two weeks ago.

>kenning:

I think cigarettes are a great comparison. I heard it a few years back.

When popular, a huge amount of the population used cigarettes despite growing research showing that it had a slight but consistent harmful effect. A hooked individual is unlikely to stop using even when given this evidence, as the product is addictive and gets stronger with network effects. Younger generations understood the harm better and had to avoid regular temptation to engage.

j_son The Amazon Machine

https://amzn.com/B01MYG4MNA

j_son Amazon changes its review policy

Google crippled their rewards for reviews (1TB for Local Guides dropped to 100GB now nothing) as they gained a critical mass of participants.

There has to be a way for Amazon to Mechanical Turk reviews of reviews -- however many layers deep required!

j_son HTTPS on Your Landing Page Is Important

I managed to merge my Skype and Xbox Live accounts, and couldn't get them separated again.

The steps I found to unlink within the XBox UI didn't work, futher research now leads me to the following discussion which I am about to try: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/oemail...

Edit: it looks like this was possible in the past (basically deleting the Skype account?), but not anymore.

j_son Show HN: NoMouseAllowed

Props for linking the inspiration (also a Mac-only utility) in the README!

j_son Taking Gatsby for a spin

This doesn't pull the layout over, does it?

It looks like it can grab the content (including images) from the WordPress API which is nice.

j_son Taking Gatsby for a spin

There are a few WordPress plugins to generate static sites, but I haven't heard much about them here on HN. I don't know if any are specifically intended to be easy to use by non-developers.

These plugins tend to die due to lack of maintenance.

j_son Avast open-sources its machine-code decompiler

instructions executed on a virtual machine whose bytecode (and bytecode semantics!) are randomly generated at build time

Like the one built into Windows: https://github.com/airbus-seclab/warbirdvm

j_son Avast open-sources its machine-code decompiler

There was a live stream, but nothing appears to be available yet.

https://twitter.com/Botconf

j_son How to break a Captcha system in 15 minutes with Machine Learning

It's pretty standard landing page style these days for self-published books (plus ____), because it works.

If there was a way to tone it down for the referrals coming through Medium from HN (tough to track through 2 sites) or using some is-logged-in-to-HN hack (which would probably piss off people even more if detected) maybe it could be dialed back a hair to catch people like you, but it's probably not worth the effort.

The reply from the author seems to be perfect: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15914307

j_son Headset unlocks phone unlocks laptop: Dread Pirate Roberts didn't stand a chance

https://hn.algolia.com/?query=silk%20road

Sild Road admin Ross Ulbricht aka "Dread Pirate Roberts" arrested with laptop left running, unlocked.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9545085

What unfolded next was a piece of improvisational theater. At 3:14 pm, DPR was typing away, writing to Cirrus. Just then, a middle-aged woman and man came toward Ross, ambling along in the kind of semihomeless shuffle you might often see in a San Francisco library. “Fuck you!” the woman yelled when they were directly behind Ross’ chair. As if they were a deranged couple about to fight, the man grabbed the woman by the collar and raised his fist.

Ross turned around for just a second, during which a hand reached across the table and grasped Ross’ Samsung. The petite, unassuming young Asian woman sitting across from Ross this whole time was, to everyone’s surprise, also an FBI agent. Ross lunged for his machine, a hair too late, as she turned like a quarterback for a quick handoff to Kiernan, who appeared out of nowhere—as instructed—to get the laptop. It took less than 10 seconds. From afar, Tarbell was astonished by the elegant choreography of the whole thing. It looked like the police procedural version of a tight jazz quartet.

j_son Ask HN: Gifts for Maker kids

Sad that this didn't garner discussion; I know I missed it. Hope you're still paying attention...

· Jewelbots – A Friendship Bracelet You Can Code | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15437242 (lots of links)

>Robot Turtles (http://www.robotturtles.com/) makes a good jumping-off point for further research as it is [often recommended] in this category: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=robot%20turtles&sort=byDate&ty...

· Ask HN: Looking for robot toys/kits for young ones | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10352106

· Ask HN Parents: Cool Tech-Related Stuff You've Done with Your Kids? | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1795923

My advice would be to get involved with similarly-minded groups in your area. In-person interaction with experts is invaluable; even better if they are purposely attempting to encourage kids to participate.

Not sure where you're located so I can't give specifics; here is one example organization, the FIRST Tech Challenge: https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/ftc

j_son France to ban mobile phones in primary, junior and middle schools

"Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago" | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15800082 two weeks ago.

I was suprised to see the following wasn't at the top:

>baldfat: The problem is that 90% of the time the parents are now on their phones.

j_son Microsoft Adds an OpenSSH Client to Windows 10

Nice work. Is it fair to ask for even a ballpark answer on what the licensing story will be?

Windows Client Access Licensing is annoying, but they have some web exception for web servers. SSH remote access is a whole new ballgame! I assume it is encouraged for one-at-a-time administrator use in much the same way Remote Desktop currently works, but even that isn't really communicated clearly yet (even from a high-level perspective).

It seems like getting the plans out there as soon as possible to begin collecting feedback and managing expectations is going to be win-win for everyone.

j_son High-Level Problems with Git and How to Fix Them

This discussion won't see much more now that it's off the front page, but is there any work towards full undo support integrating with version control or even at the IDE level?

There's a lot of stuff that doesn't get checked in; I wouldn't necessarily want it all in the official history but it would be amazing to have a time-searchable view of the project's entire development story for my own personal review/rescue operations.

j_son Ethernet over barbed wire

source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15909261

on (somewhat?) related front page discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15908107 (ADSL over wet string)

also linked there: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/barbed-wire-telephone-...

j_son High-Level Problems with Git and How to Fix Them

https://www.semanticmerge.com supports .NET languages, C/C++, and Java (with support for JavaScript planned). I would be interested to here any anecdotes from users of this product!

While struggling to search for this tool, I discovered https://www.gmaster.io: a beta Git client (for Windows) from the same company extending these ideas closer to the VCS level.

Codice Software's main product appears to be PlasticSCM; they've done a bit of marketing here on HN without catching much interest.

j_son Microsoft Adds an OpenSSH Client to Windows 10

Haven't seen any discussion yet of the licensing aspects of accessing a Windows server via SSH.

Linking an independent Microsoft licensing consultant discussing fun terms like "External Connectors" vs. "Client Access Licenses" (CALs), the "Primary User of a Windows device" and the current "Web Workload" exception... maybe a new exception is on the way.

https://github.com/PowerShell/Win32-OpenSSH/issues/926#issue...

j_son College Presidents Making $1M Rise with Tuition and Student Debt

Ask HN: Fully online CS degrees? | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15899383 yesterday.

j_son TypeChain: TypeScript Bindings for Ethereum Smart Contracts

Understanding Ethereum Smart Contracts | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15786780

HN user jatsign shared some of his inital gotchas two weeks ago.

j_son Using an IDE Hard Drive with a 8051 Board and 82C55 Chip (2005)

Based on the Internet Archive[0] + Google, the correct link is: http://www.nationaldatamux.com/lantronix/usfiles.html

"United States Software, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of Lantronix, Inc." ... now apparently owned by NDM Networks, Inc.

[0] https://web.archive.org/web/20010429175811/http://www.ussw.c...

j_son Microsoft Adds an OpenSSH Client to Windows 10

Maybe this is because key auth requires domain\username@host (doesn't resolve the domain automagically)?

https://github.com/PowerShell/Win32-OpenSSH/issues/420#issue...

j_son Microsoft Adds an OpenSSH Client to Windows 10

https://www.voidtools.com 'Everything' Windows file name search utility is so fast it deserves a mention here (command line is available).

https://hn.algolia.com/?query=voidtools&type=comment

j_son Microsoft Adds an OpenSSH Client to Windows 10

> the whole putty dance for Windows

Do you have something you can share publicly to demonstrate to the uninitiated how painful this has been?

Putty's dedication to the Windows registry has caused me tremendous grief.

Helping end users (Windows developers) configure Putty is the bane of my "discount" remote access strategy (SSH port forwarding).