Hacker News Reader

solarman5000on Has anyone used Proton Business Suite rather than Google's for a startup?

I pay for it. I dont do anything super fancy, and its been working fine for two years now. I think the cost is low enough that I'm happy paying and not thinking about email setup, and happy I'm not paying google

solarman5000on How (and why) to de-Google your life and protect your privacy

GrapheneOS is fantastic for de-googling. I switched years ago and have been happier ever since

solarman5000on Linux hits nearly 4% desktop user share on Statcounter

I'm not a gamer, in fact I think they are mostly poison for the brain, but I really REALLY appreciate what steam/valve/ proton whoever has done to help bring people over to the FOSS side. Ive converted a lot of kids when before I couldn't convert anyone :-)

solarman5000on How to Perfectly Crack an Egg (With One Hand) [video]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=elzEOs2pY38

The real eggman

solarman5000on In 2023 Organic Maps got its first million users

I'm OK if Organic Maps isn't designed for the average ignorant user. I've been using it for over a year now and its great, don't need it ruined so a bunch of casuals can download it

solarman5000on Mechanic shortage means longer waits, $100k salaries for some technicians

Tools are a lot cheaper if you don't listen to the hype from the snap-on guy

solarman5000on Economic Effects of State Bans on Direct Manufacturer Sales to Car Buyers [pdf]

In USA people get tax credits for installing solar. The cost of solar has gone down, the cost to the consumer has remained the same or increased. It is sales people eating up that margin, which is being paid for by tax payers

solarman5000on Economic Effects of State Bans on Direct Manufacturer Sales to Car Buyers [pdf]

I hope I live long enough to see sales people eliminated. In solar, they contribute the least to the process yet gobble up 30% of the money. It is a total waste of taxpayer money, adoption would be a lot faster if we got rid of the greedy freeloaders

solarman5000on Home schooling's rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

I homeschool my kids comp sci stuff, because public schools are not preparing children at all, they are just indoctrination centers for google, Microsoft or Apple. In my fight to let my kids bring their own laptops, the administration said they were switching over to tablets soon

Great, so now they won't even be able to type when they get older. Thank god AI is coming

solarman5000on KeePassXC merged Passkey support to their next release branch

Thank you devs, KeePassXC helps keep my family protected :-)

solarman5000on SumatraPDF Reader

I have to pay for about 30 adobe acrobat licenses a year

I would much rather throw this money your way, but I need those features

solarman5000on Peter Thiel was an FBI informant

You must be new to politics... There are bad apples in every party, the actions of one individual do not represent the whole party

solarman5000on Richard Stallman reveals he has cancer in the GNU 40 Hacker Meeting talk [video]

I'm one of them. I want my children to meet him so badly. This news about his health is heart breaking

solarman5000on Croatia demolished houses of libertarian project “Liberland”, seized property

Believe it or not, libertarianism is the entire bottom half of the political compass, and the vast majority of them are not anarchists

solarman5000on Volvo to cease production of diesel cars in a few months

This is mitigated with OpenADR and V2G technology. Consumers can set when they charge (or discharge) based on utility incentives. So its not like everyone goes home and charges their car at the same time..

solarman5000on OpenRA – Classic strategy games rebuilt for the modern era

For a long time OpenRA was the only thing that would work on my kids Linux computers. The only reason I upgraded their computers is because OpenRA made an update that wouldn't work on first gen i5 integrated graphics. We play a game together almost every day.

Huge thanks to the devs, this game was a big part of my childhood, and thanks to them it is a part of my kids childhood too

solarman5000on Drug experts say alcohol worse than crack, heroin

The resources and social stigma is vastly different between the two, and way worse for opiate users. The path for getting addicted in the first place is also very different, lots of opiate addicts got hooked after getting them prescribed to them

solarman5000on I will never participate in weird internet caste systems

I get the point, and appreciate their input to the discussion.. but I'd rather pay money to matrix / element.io and make their service better. These kinds of problems don't seem to come up so often with FOSS. I don't use discord, but I can def see this kind of thing impacting children who do use discord.

solarman5000on Messages that can only be understood under the influence of psychedelics

What about the poor people who jumped out of windows or in front of traffic while on psychedelics? Oh yeah, that doesn't happen, because the govt has had a decades long monopoly on fear mongering BS when it comes to psychedelics.

solarman5000on Bird leaves S.F., blaming ‘the most onerous regulations’ in the world

I also left California because of the regulations and hidden taxes everywhere. They made it Very difficult for a hardware startup company.. If you don't have angel investors, don't bother opening up in Cali, go to a more friendly state

solarman5000on $500M Ponzi scheme preyed on Mormons

https://ie.energy/earth_engine/index.html

This guy is a Mormon, scamming other Mormons..

Not surprising given that the founder of LDS church was a convicted scammer, it's part of church history

solarman5000on The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z

I hire apprentice electricians starting at $80k/yr, journeymen are $120k+ (about 3 years after becoming apprentice). Or for $60k I can hire a guy who smokes meth with the customers neighbors

There's nobody in trades anymore, their wage increases far outpace inflation

solarman5000on Globalization is dead and no one is listening

I lose workers to foxxcon all the time. They are one of the best companies in SZ to work for, with high wages and good benefits.. I dont think many people in CN would agree with your definition of what slave labor is

solarman5000on Apple, Google and Microsoft Commit to Expanded Support for FIDO Standard

Sounds good, but it makes me uneasy when these 3 companies agree on something. As far as I'm concerned, they are all working for the govt

solarman5000on Congressman Massie's homebrew powerwall built from a wrecked Model S

I think this is VERY cool. I was never a fan of Tesla's 'solution' for EVs, I think it is fitting that this one was repurposed into something more useful. I hope the bidirectional EVs like the new F150 become the mainstream option

solarman5000on EU should ban proof-of-work crypto mining, regulator says

>Because they handled it for hundreds of years, and it works all day everyday.

Yeah that great depression that started in 1929 and sank the world, the stagflation of the 1980's, the crisis in 2008, the 7% inflation this year, all evidence the govt does a great job handling it

solarman5000on EU should ban proof-of-work crypto mining, regulator says

"Wahh free market sucks.. Let's bring government in so they can force the market to change for me"

solarman5000on “Our house is running on a repurposed battery from a wrecked Tesla Model S”

This is really cool! He should help write changes in NEC code book that allows salvaged EV batteries to be installed in houses. My state will allow it, tweets like this help promote the idea

solarman5000on Ask HN: How to preserve privacy while using smartphones?

Pixel phone with grapheneOS, nextdns.io private DNS, a good VPN, and f-droid app store. Super easy, I've been using this setup for 1.5 years

Be sure to donate to FOSS projects as well.

solarman5000on Attorney General orders unregistered crypto lending platforms to exit NY

I'm just a stupid engineer; Robinhood got me into trading stocks and crypto. I did a ton of research and started being really successful. Then, I was labelled a 'day trader', and was super pissed. It made no sense to me why I could gamble all my money in the casino, but do it in the stock market and then all of a sudden big daddy needs to come protect me? Screw that. I quit Robinhood and now only trade crypto.