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pro_zac

195 karma · joined September 29, 2017

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pro_zac··on Ask HN: DIY baby cams/monitor(s) with privacy?
This is the route I went. I really like being able to pull the camera up on any device on my home wifi. The tricky part is finding PoE cameras with built in mics that don't require additional wiring. I returned multiple cams before I found a hikvision clone that met my needs.
pro_zac··on Nearly 40% of software engineers will only work remotely
I sympathize the Twitter workers that are on work visas. Much harder for them to jump ship. They have to tolerate the nonsense or relocate back to their home country. Especially difficult if you own a home and/or have a family.
pro_zac··on Ask HN: What would you learn if you would have three to six months free time?
To play guitar and maybe some machine learning.
pro_zac··on Leaving Spotify for freer pastures
Tidal is a relevant half measure for those looking to leave Spotify for a more album centric service with better profit sharing for artists. I used the FreeYourMusic app to migrate playlists, favorited songs, and albums.
pro_zac··on Ask HN: What are some excellent pieces of software written by a single person?
Renderdoc https://renderdoc.org/
pro_zac··on Bikes, not self driving cars, are the technological gateway to urban progress
If people are gathering "en masse" that is exactly what public transport should be used for. Not every individual attendee showing up in their own car. Look at football stadiums in Europe. They don't have huge parking lots like stadiums in the US.

As for overweight, old, and disabled, in the Netherlands they can use mobility scooters on the bike paths. This makes the cities much more accessible for them to get groceries and visit the doctor independently. Also much safer and accessible for children, a huge portion of the population that cannot drive.

It's not about eliminating driving. It's about providing alternatives. If those that can cycle or walk do, then there is less traffic for those that need to drive because of distance, cargo, etc.

pro_zac··on Germany's €9 transit ticket cuts 1.8 million tonnes of CO2
“The discounted ticket constituted a major price reduction. Normally, monthly tickets for local transportation in Berlin cost €107.“
pro_zac··on Is your phone ruining your memory? A report on the rise of ‘digital amnesia’
I put the Kindle app on my first page of apps and all the time sink apps deep inside a folder on the last page of apps. I even named the folder "No". It's still hard to stay away, but I am definitely reading more often.
pro_zac··on Ask HN: Does anybody still use bookmarking services?
This is great! I use Feedly for RSS but didn't realize I could subscribe to my own Pocket feed.
pro_zac··on Ask HN: Single-person creations that have stood the test of time?
Renderdoc is built and maintained by one guy. https://renderdoc.org/
pro_zac··on Testing Phone-Sized Faraday Bags
Key fobs! Isn't there a scheme where thieves clone the signal from a key fob when the owner is asleep in their home and drive off with their car?
pro_zac··on Using two keyboards at once for pain relief
Great list! I have the Koolertron (aka SmartYao) and love it. (Though I don't recommend the version with backlit keys) Before that I had one called the Comfort Keyboard. I wore a groove into the spacebar over a decade of use. My favorite feature of split keyboards is programming the left spacebar to backspace.
pro_zac··on Ask HN: What tools did you use to create the server for your multiplayer game?
I've been working with Photon a bit in UE4. They are very responsive to issues posted in the forums, so if you aren't finding something or something isn't working, let them know. Have you looked at their Javascript SDK? https://www.photonengine.com/en-US/sdks#html5-webgl-sdkrealt...
pro_zac··on The absolute worst scenario happened
Seconded! Great story and amazing podcast.
pro_zac··on Ask HN: What podcasts do you listen to?
Darknet Diaries is my only must listen. Great hacking and pen testing stories!
pro_zac··on Eric Engstrom, co-creator of DirectX, has died
When I was younger (and stupider) I was prescribed giant 800mg ibuprofen pills for an injury. I wasn't in the habit of eating with them, and ended up burning the end of my esophagus with stomach acid. I could only eat popsicles and slurpees for a couple weeks because it was too painful to swallow anything else.
pro_zac··on Tailwind garagedoor server update to improve reliability has not gone as planned
"We learned some things on the last outage and we were in the process of implementing some of them when this one occurred. None of us like these fire drills, so please know that I have, and will continue to put more resources into reliability. Tailwind is not run on a server in my garage contrary to what some folks have said to me. Our servers are on AWS, and we do have a backup server.

Looking forward to putting this one to bed in the coming hours so we can get some sleep."

pro_zac··on Running a full desktop environment on a Kindle (2019)
I once drove 10 hours to visit a friend but my phone was dead on arrival. I had his address but no apartment number. I used the Kindle experimental browser to message him on facebook.
pro_zac··on Which cyclist hill descent position is superior? (2017)
They never account for fatigue. On long descents your neck and arms will get tired. The downward back is especially stressful on your neck to hold your head so you can see forward. This means changing to a less aero position to rest your neck and arms. Some positions may be less aero but also put less strain on a rider that may be 4 hours into a race already.
pro_zac··on Ask HN: I was hit with a SIM swapping attack; ideas on improving protection?
This. Use a Yubikey or similar for 2FA instead of your phone.
pro_zac··on Ask HN: What domain registrar and DNS provider do you use? (February 2020)
I use ionos.com aka 1and1.com. Quick cheap and easy.
pro_zac··on Firefox gets patch for critical zeroday that’s being actively exploited
"In 2012, a whistleblower reported a hidden backdoor in 360 Secure Browser."

"In January 2020, a Reddit user reported Qihoo's presence in Samsung mobile phones as a pre-installed storage cleaner in the device settings, from where it sends data packages to Chinese servers."

Definitely not a company one would expect to report vulnerabilities. Also odd that they would be find Firefox issues given their browser uses IE and Chrome renderers.

pro_zac··on Ask HN: What has been your biggest “a-ha” moment and how has it changed you?
Don't base your self worth solely on your accomplishments. There are so many smart people in the world. You may have been one of the smartest in your high school, but the bar was much lower then. Every electronic device you touch or see in the world was designed by a team of smart people. Forming your identity around being smart is a losing battle. It's ok to be mediocre.
pro_zac··on Ask HN: Books to read when you are down and lost
I always go back to "This is Water" by David Foster Wallace. Not technically a book (It was a commencement speech). I keep the pdf on my phone. Puts things in perspective for me when I'm feeling overwhelmed.

http://metastatic.org/text/This%20is%20Water.pdf

pro_zac··on Ask HN:What’s the best product you discovered this year that improved your life?
Libby (https://www.overdrive.com/apps/libby/)

I have a long commute and I've gone through many audio books without paying a dime!

pro_zac··on German university issues 38k passwords by hand after malware infection
"As an added precaution, the university computing center decided to issue new passwords for all 38,000 JLU email accounts. However, the university was unable to do this online because of a quirk of German law, whereby the German National Research and Education Network (DFN) requires, in this case, JLU students and staff to obtain their new passwords in person from the university's IT staff, using as ID card to prove their identity."
pro_zac··on Backcountry.com sues anyone who uses its namesake
Similar issue that happened with Specialized and the name Roubaix in 2013.

https://www.bicycleretailer.com/retail-news/2013/12/09/socia...

pro_zac··on Bloodhound's 461-mph speed is big but team eyes bigger record ahead
As the article states, the current record is 763mph set back in 1997. Wikipedia has the full record progression.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_speed_record

pro_zac··on Laws, theories, principles and patterns that developers might find useful
Interpret it as closing a class from modification to maintain backward compatibility, but allowing extension through inheritance. This is common when extending a class inside a library. Apply it to the classes, not the instances.
pro_zac··on Texas Instruments’ Speak and Spell
I had 3 of these (Speak & Spell, Speak & Math, and Speak & Read). I can still hear the voice of the Speak & Math game "Greater than, less than"
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