HNHacker News
TopNewBestAskShowJobs

rishabhsagar

185 karma · joined February 26, 2014

[ my public key: https://keybase.io/rishabhsagar; my proof: https://keybase.io/rishabhsagar/sigs/YApZybfZUxmVM6ZC5iIUl0ZfSXLCemqtHTg7pPYUYJU ]
submissionscomments
rishabhsagar··on Facebook exec blames society for COVID misinformation
Isn't this the same point as "Guns don't kill people, people kill people"?

While that statement is objectively true, the fact remains that Facebook amplifies and benefits from sensational posts.

They are in a position to moderate the worst impacts of mis-information and yet consistently appear to be falling short.

While I agree that parts of society is to blame for the online toxicity online, FB (and other social media companies) are certainly in position to do a better job of managing some of the worst impacts such as vaccine hesitancy and political mis-information.

Infact they appear to be reluctant to act on it, since sensational posts and controversial topics appear to encourage attention.

rishabhsagar··on Fork Bomb
I have bash fork bomb engraved on my AirPods pro; it is a great conversation starter.
rishabhsagar··on Robot tanks: On patrol but not allowed to shoot
> Mines are simple robots

These tanks are not alternative to mines. Why not take a step back and ban both? Humanity has already been trying to get rid of mines [https://www.un.org/disarmament/convarms/landmines/]

rishabhsagar··on Trails of Wind: Data Visualization of the Architecture of Airport Runways
Couldn't get arrow keys (or scroll) working on FF on Windows. If you select text and drag to select, the screen scrolls.
rishabhsagar··on Stop and Shop now has big, goofy-looking robots patrolling its aisles
Am I missing the point somehow? Why is this not implemented as a series of super high def camera disguised as surveillance cctvs? They could spot spills just as effectively, no?
rishabhsagar··on Cracks in nuclear reactor could lead to the evacuation of Edinburgh and Glasgow
I don’t have domain knowledge, so to me intuitively it feels like the risk of this crack quickly widening is real. Experts also seem to have called out risks due to factors such as quakes, steam escape etc.
rishabhsagar··on Cracks in nuclear reactor could lead to the evacuation of Edinburgh and Glasgow
The title seems to imply an active disaster is underway. I was relieved to find out out that the reactor is currently switched off and to be decommissioned in 2023. A case is being made to switch it back on as some people (with a stake in the matter) believe that the risk is too low to justify a switch off. WTF are these people even thinking. Smallest risk with such disastrous outcome is scary as shit.
rishabhsagar··on Firefox Monitor
So, I 100% agree with you and think a sentence in multi-page privacy policy is not informed consent.

Recently in EU GDPR regulation brought in some strict measures on how consent is requested and how data is shared and managed, I was delighted when websites started sending me emails asking me for content to market and share data.

However I am now seeing a bunch of websites doing the shady tactic of showing a full page pop-up on mobile site with all 30+ checkboxes pre-ticked allowing them full access of my data. Fuck such sites.

rishabhsagar··on New Dell XPS 13 developer edition now available
I have the (now) older model XPS and this has been the best laptop I have owned in a long time. Very reliable, nice keyboard with backlight, good battery life, lightweight and came with almost no bloatware. My only slight issue was the camera placement and looks like that has been resolved now too. Very pleased.
rishabhsagar··on UK spies: You know how we said bulk device hacking would be used sparingly?
Thanks for such a detailed insight.

Westpoint paper in this case appears to be clearly hiding an agenda. Don't courts have some sort of checks and balance to minimise this type of influence from expert witnesses?

rishabhsagar··on How we increased productivity with a fruit basket at work
But does that contribute in any way to your productivity? In my experience I’d rather have the investment be prioritised towards more tangible things like additional training. Flashy and marketable perks like fruit basket often unfortunately get prioritised over non sexy, but meaningful improvements and articles such as this, don’t help.
rishabhsagar··on DRM for chargers? Google Pixel 3 locks fast Qi charging to its own stand
The explanation of “This is to protect batteries from sub par quality chargers” is not particularly convincing to me. As a user, wouldn’t that be my call? Shouldn’t providing a safe charging be a charger manufacturer’s responsibility? Why is Pixel deciding to not accept charging at 10w from ‘unknown’ charging device? At best I can see the argument for not supporting charging from insecurely designed charger on the account of warranty, but even then I think it should be consumers call as to what device they are using to charge their phones and phone should at most warn me about unsafe chargers, rather than outright refusing to charge at full potential speed.
rishabhsagar··on China's Surveillance State Should Scare Everyone
So, I strongly believe that there is always going to be an arms race between the government surveillance and people who will want to circumvent such measures. Like people who use tor, VPN, cryptocurrencies etc.

Advancement in technology was always going to enable better surveillance capability and anarchists had to always come up with new ways to dodge it.

Does this new initiative from Chinese govt change anything at meta level? To me, it doesn't feel like a paradigm shift, but merely the next logical step in status quo.

rishabhsagar··on Hacking WiFi to inject cryptocurrency miner to HTML requests (CoffeeMiner)
Some buildings (hostels and shared accomodations) have shared internet (secured with WPA2). This type of attack might be particularly profitable in such situations.
rishabhsagar··on Facebook asks users for nude photos in project to combat revenge porn
>> Then there's the issue of how your proposed system requires FB to show users the porn that other users are privately viewing.

I think this can be addressed as "Show me all suspected compromising videos of me that is available to more than 10 users". The answer to that query can be produced with facial recognition and nudity detector, no?

rishabhsagar··on Facebook asks users for nude photos in project to combat revenge porn
Wait, what? I submit my nude pics to FB, so that they can hash it and identify its copies online? That sounds good, but is that the only way of doing this?

Why not use facial recognition + nudity detector to on-demand find potentially compromising videos online? Maybe even send my Facebook notification that says, "Hey we found what appears to be a compromising video with you in it shared to a wide group of people, are you cool with it?"

Am I mis-understanding the concept being proposed?

rishabhsagar··on Thinkpad X62
For users wanting a stable laptop with secure boot in Thinkpad chasis, supplier list from Libreboot seems like a great place.

There are suppliers who will sell refurbished Thinkpads with Libreboot pre-installed at relatively decent prices.

https://libreboot.org/suppliers.html

rishabhsagar··on “We are working on getting Sublime Text 3.0 final ready to launch”
I love ST3, paid for it personally and influenced my ex-boss to stop procrastinating and actually buy it.

I wonder if they could look at staggered pricing system; where you can get:

N-1 release at £X; N-2 release at £(X-0.1*X) etc.

Where N is devel release channel.

That way people in N-2 will know what is coming and approx when.

People who want 'clarity' for the sake of it can pay less and STFU?

rishabhsagar··on Longest Lines of Sight on Earth
Thank you. Here goes the 2 or so hours of me doodling away.. :)
rishabhsagar··on How MTA shut down my app for Penn Station commuters
Ok, I understand that the Railway Authority don't want people to guess / predict platform numbers because of various reasons (problems with platform maintenance, safety and last min changes etc.

But what I don't understand is that why can't they change the seat allocation process such that people can reserve remaining available seats on the trains for free if they have arrived in station lobby? This can result is reduced rush to grab seats and will help people to make a more informed decision around whether to wait for the next train.

rishabhsagar··on “Hey team, I'm taking today and tomorrow to focus on my mental health.”
We have something called 'Fuck It' days that allows any member of the team to walk out and have day to get back on track. We have almost unlimited of these (at line manager's discretion) who intervenes if you take too many which indicates an underlying problem. It works for mental health and a whole host of other purposes. For me this is the best perk ever, i have availed it 2 times in the last couple of years, both times it made a marked change to my mental state. It is amazing to get up and go 'fuck it' i am going to movies instead and be able to do it with zero emotional baggage.
rishabhsagar··on The Unfreeing of American Workers
You make a good point and I agree and can see the correlation in so many governments.

However, won't educated people in power make informed decisions for their own benefit?

rishabhsagar··on Countries that are reducing numbers of immigrant workers
A competent IT developer / analyst can be hired for about 450 - 600 GBP per day. Run of the mill, hit or miss offshore resources provided by TCS / Infosys etc are usually billed at 150 - 300 GBP per day.
rishabhsagar··on Countries that are reducing numbers of immigrant workers
"Saving stuff to txt instead of database, make download 500kb json on each login, callback hell"

>> Are you sure you are not suffering from observational bias or some fallacy? With a shit colored lens, I can replicate the same observation for almost any other nationality.

rishabhsagar··on Countries that are reducing numbers of immigrant workers
That is not because Ukraine and Russia don't have bad (hence cheap) IT staff.

It has more to do with IT resources from India generally tend to be the sweet spot of cheap enough and good enough (for a cheapskate, penny foolish myopic offshoring companies) resources.

rishabhsagar··on The 'Grammar Vigilante' of Bristol [video]
Bristol is a curious place, street paintings by Banksy and work like these actually draw people to these business. Pretty sure that these business will be happy with the outcome.
rishabhsagar··on Ask HN: How do you version your data?
In Data warehouse context, it is often managed by one of the Slowly Changing Dimension management techniques.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slowly_changing_dimension

rishabhsagar··on Why am I leaving the American Dream?
Have had the same experience, but instead of US, I decided to stay at UK. Most of my friends chose to migrate to Australia instead.

Lately I have been wondering if I took the right decision to stay back.

rishabhsagar··on Closing a door
Woah! What campaign?!

I don't think she is drumming up any support. Asking for polite and decent conversations without being called a 'cry baby' or being asked to 'go back to kitchen' is not political knife fight, it is basic courtesy in a public forum IMO.

rishabhsagar··on World’s First Connected Bike Grips
Does any one know how is this device secured to the handlebar? From the video it looks like it's just 'insert, twist and go'; but then won't it be prone to theft?
Page 1 of 2Next →