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timc3

981 karma · joined November 20, 2010

British guy living in Sweden, I am SVP and founder of iconik.io building intelligent media asset management systems.

[ my public key: https://keybase.io/timchild; my proof: https://keybase.io/timchild/sigs/1G_1ylOlBiwERzFp9FLyK33erxfO4TXl1iFr4HCozOQ ]

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timc3··on How bicycle coaster brakes work (2018)
On a bicycle if you can modulate the brakes so it never loses grip and you adjust your balance you can use both brakes in corners - I’ve been doing it most of my life, sometimes at speed and have done it on extremely steep slopes to avoid trees and obstacles. It’s possible without the rear wheel being on the ground at all, just never lock up or lose traction on the front wheel but that takes (sometimes painful) practise.

It doesn’t feel as good as decelerating before, and is most definitely not as safe as you clearly explained.

timc3··on Casio F-B100W-1A
There is always https://busycircuits.com/pages/alm042
timc3··on Being ambitious and being a dad
Having been on the receiving end of someone trying to manage me like they do with their kids - No. A really strong NO to that behaviour.
timc3··on BMW Spider-Man in-car advertising
Seriously not helpful, and have you actually matched this opinion to the statistics which are freely available?
timc3··on Read this before you buy that TV streaming stick
My Makita one is excellent.
timc3··on Why Sony can't bring back its classic Walkman models
Oh that is kinda cool. Now I really want one
timc3··on LG to ban residential proxies from smart TV apps
Apple TV is the usual recommendation.
timc3··on I'm a USB-C Maximalist
IEC isn’t great, hence you get a cage around them to hold them in for critical use.
timc3··on I'm a USB-C Maximalist
Perhaps you are just not careful with things, I’ve been an early adopter and never broken one ( I probably have at least 40 different ones, some of which get plugged/unplugged multiple times a day).

My kids haven’t broken a single one either and they destroyed plenty of lightning cables.

timc3··on Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (July 2026)
This looks great. Going to give it a try.
timc3··on New Sweden: the US's long-lost 'secret' colony
Its just a stupid headline isnt it, I am British born and knew about it but then again I also live in Sweden and like learning about history.
timc3··on Every new car sold in the European Union must include a driver monitoring camera
Mine did until I turned it off, and on an early software version it would do it at full acceleration of the car - and considering it has over 600 horsepower was really terrifying. It also slowed down violently once, misreading a sign on the motorway.
timc3··on The Free Market Lie: Why Switzerland Has 25 Gbit Internet and America Doesn't
Well in the area of Sweden I live in a particular company seems to own the fibre, and then they have to allow access to resell it. The company owning the fibre has been finding interesting extra ways of charging me extra fees over the years and I don't have a choice of moving away from them (except paying for commercial fibre or using slower 5G with quotas)
timc3··on Apple raises prices of MacBooks, iPads
It’s an alternative, but for the majority not a good alternative (unless you go the OSMC Vero route). I have tried doing this ever since it’s been possible to play video back on a PC (and before that I used SGI’s, and Macs with external video solutions) and continue to try it with many devices and hardware configurations. An Apple TV is easier to maintain and the quality of output is great.

The only thing not so great with Apple TV are the solutions for local media playback, OSMC and a Vero V is a better solution for that.

For reference I do this both for fun and work professionally in video workflow and pipeline solutions for 25+ years.

timc3··on Kindle loyalists scramble as Amazon turns page on old e-readers
We must be operating in completely different circles, because I can’t remember the last time I came across someone that didn’t prefer buttons in a lot of sensible scenarios.
timc3··on Show HN: Audiomass – a free, open-source multitrack audio editor for the web
Try Ocenaudio - I’ve used pretty much every audio editor free and paid for and this is my go to for a free editor.

I also cannot understand why anyone would recommend Audacity.

timc3··on Usborne 1980s Computer Books
I remember these very well from when they first came out, I particularly liked Keyboards and Computer Music and would spend ages working out what synth/drum machine that they had tried to draw as they somewhat abstracted the design away.

Loved them and they really did spark an interest in taking music and computing more seriously.

timc3··on Old laptops in a colo as low cost servers
You are correct. (Had it verified years ago in Europe and the US).
timc3··on Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?
Same here. I love it, I have lots of “normal” equipment as well but it’s not quite as fulfilling as modular.

The only slight downside is I often do it on my own away from the family.

timc3··on Building a Blog with Elixir and Phoenix
Do you mean because you can’t use Elixir/Phoenix for work? Because I don’t quite understand, doing a big project and learning/using a particular tech stack should have many transferable skills.
timc3··on The wonder of modern drywall
The drywall wall is stronger, heavier thicker stuff and sometimes doubled up. We also often use steel work as the studs (particularly good professionals) as it’s stronger and faster than wood to put up. Then all the wiring is in conduits, and it’s acceptable to put water feeds on the outside of walls in the room for servicing. Then it comes to our bathrooms which are proper wet rooms and usually built to a very high standard to meet insurance needs.

I watch a lot of building videos from the US, it’s eyeopening watching for someone used to better construction methods.

The construction of UK inner walls is even better, it”s often plaster applied on plasterboard/drywall usually by skilled trades. Very strong.

timc3··on Ask HN: What are you working on? (February 2026)
Would love to see this. Though I wonder if Bambu will try and shut it down
timc3··on Ask HN: What are you working on? (February 2026)
Looks great, going to download and try it. Thanks!
timc3··on GitHub Actions is slowly killing engineering teams
I also like Jenkins. I think you can turn it into a mess, but in the right hands it’s a powerful tool.
timc3··on Ardour 9.0
Similar but not quite. One of the problems that you might face is a lot of tutorials are for Ableton, Logic, Cubase etc. It shouldn't actually matter, but you might find it confusing what you can and cant do if you are following what someone else is doing in another program. It’s like learning C# from a Java course. Once you understand the fundamentals it does not matter what you use within reason.

But I’ve used Ardour a long time ago and I don’t see why you couldn’t release music with it. Another alternative is Reaper.

timc3··on Ode to the AA Battery
If it makes you feel any better I’ve had to buy back cables that I have thrown away because I hadn’t used them for 15 years - and then found a project where I need DB9, SCSI, FireWire 800, Component to VGA converter or some relic.

Another reason they call me the cable guy at home ( though mainly because I probably have at least 800 cables in my studio )

timc3··on Show HN: Kolibri, a DIY music club in Sweden
Might travel down from Stockholm in a couple of months. Too few nights like this in Sweden (Hosoi can be quite good though).
timc3··on Your app subscription is now my weekend project
I've been using Cursor with the Swift Extension. Works really nicely, but sometimes I switch to Xcode to do some tasks such as testing that it works to build.
timc3··on A 26,000-year astronomical monument hidden in plain sight (2019)
As a European it took me a few seconds to parse.

Nonsense formatting.

timc3··on CLI agents make self-hosting on a home server easier and fun
People are putting their whole infrastructure onto HA - cars, Apple/Google/other accounts, integrations to grid companies, managing ESP software etc..

I think that has more potential for problems than turning lights on and off and warrants strong security.

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