Hacker News Reader

trynewideason Why do you want to touch your Mac screen so badly?

> Not a touchscreen Mac, but a Surface-like 2‑in‑1 device running Mac OS with an added ‘tablet mode’ that would adjust Mac OS’s UI to be operated by touch when you’re running Mac-only apps

THAT'S A TOUCHSCREEN MAC THOUGH

trynewideason Mastodon.lol will shut down on May 9, 2023

http://archive.today/UeWon in case it goes out sooner

Context seems related to the new Harry Potter game: https://mastodon.lol/@nathan/109836004635134601

> We're not banning people for buying a video game. Express your displeasure to them if you so wish, but that alone doesn't require our attention.

> Related, please don't post spoilers just to spite people. You can justify it to yourself however you like, but you're shouting into a crowd here. Not every HP fan knows J.K. Rowling is a piece of shit, and ruining the days of random bystanders ain't the way to go.

> It will cause problems for myself and .lol in general if it continues. Thanks.

trynewideason QGIS is the mapping software you didn't know you needed

https://thespatialcommunity.org/ and https://discord.com/invite/nkmGYttFhH to start.

trynewideason QGIS is the mapping software you didn't know you needed

Specifically https://plugins.qgis.org/plugins/VectorBender/

trynewideason QGIS is the mapping software you didn't know you needed

I think part of the question (and problem) is, which part of QGIS do you focus on? The digitizing and geometry parts? The map-rendering part? Georeferencing? Vector and raster analysis?

Or to put it another way, what's the workflow that a simpler, more opinionated interface would solve, and what features could or would you sacrifice for it?

trynewideason QGIS is the mapping software you didn't know you needed

I learned QGIS arguably the hard way (creating a new non-Earth global basemap from scratch, with no prior GIS experience) but:

- The QGIS Training Manual is good. Not great; don't be afraid to go out of order after the first few modules to get to parts useful to you, because the module organization after "Creating Vector Data" stops being terribly linear. https://docs.qgis.org/3.22/en/docs/training_manual/index.htm...

- https://www.qgistutorials.com/en/ is more project- and task-oriented, and where I learned georeferencing and digitizing (drawing over raster maps)

- If you prefer video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHolzMgaqwE is geared more toward using third-party data

EDIT: There's also this UCDavis workshop for people with no mapping experience. Haven't used it but at a glance it looks pretty comprehensive. https://github.com/ucdavisdatalab/Intro-to-Desktop-GIS-with-..., https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAcZUPSmqDE

trynewideason The Astonishing Transformation of Austin

> The vibe from Austin has always been weird to me. "Thanks for visiting, don't move here" or whatever their saying is to that effect

I guess that's the saying Oregon traded to Austin in exchange for "Keep _____ Weird": https://archive.ph/tqKyV

trynewideason Wi Flag (2002)

Apocryphal but as valid as anything when it comes to MMO terminology:

https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/264543-Wi-Flag-...

> Anyone who played Asheron's Call probably heard of the AI bug associated with monster Aggro where a person name "Wi" was forever cursed with getting the aggro no matter what.

trynewideason How a heat pump works

Maybe a faulty assumption; my AC-less home has a ducted oil furnace, and we still haven't removed the ducts after installing a heat pump. Another house I lived in 12 years ago had ducts for oil furnace heating but no AC. Both were 100+ years old and in the northern US.

trynewideason Now offering 2TB SSDs for Steam Deck in the Framework Marketplace

Or particularly:

> Since we order a huge number of Western Digital drives already, it’s relatively easy for us to add one more line item and stock 2TB SN740 2230 ones.

trynewideason American Cars Are Getting Too Big for Parking Spaces

A 230- to 255-hp big-block Chevy Silverado 454 SS cost about $40k adjusted for inflation, at 194" long x 77" wide x 70" high. That was a big truck 30 years ago.

Why in the hell is a 2022 Silverado 20 inches longer, 4 inches wider, and 5 inches taller? What purpose does that serve? Especially being wider of all dimensions? It has a 2L-smaller engine but somehow weighs 200 lbs. more?

trynewideason Zelda 1 overworld implemented in Hypercard

Animated: https://mastodon.social/@vl_tone/109753267244202329

trynewideason British Rail’s short experiment with travelling pubs (2020)

Stella Artois, Deschutes porter, Elysian Space Dust IPA, and Rambling Route cider for $7.50 as of October: https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/p...

trynewideason Dragon’s Lair Overhaul Black Edition (1/16th scale)

Headline's wrong. It's 1/6 scale, not 1/16.

trynewideason Ask HN: How come no one makes 7“ Android tablets anymore?

Aside from Amazon, Lenovo also still makes a 7" Android tablet.[1]

The 2013 Nexus 7 had a 16:10 ratio 7.02" screen in a 7.83" x 4.72" x 0.41" form factor.

Its bezels were large (62.3% screen-to-body ratio) even for its time. So the next size up isn't 10-11", it's usually 8-9" in a form factor closer to the 2013 Nexus 7's, just with more screen-to-body ratio.

- Samsung's A7 Lite has a 5:3 ratio 8.7" screen in a 8.37" x 4.91" x 0.31" (+0.54" x +0.19" x -0.1") form factor.[2]

- Lenovo's Tab M8 has a 16:10 ratio 8.0" screen in a 7.80" x 4.83" x 0.32" (-0.03" x +0.09" x -0.09") form factor.[3]

- Amazon's 2020 Fire HD 8 has a 16:10 ratio 8.0" screen in an 8.43" x 5.04" x 0.3" (+0.60" x +0.32" x -0.11") form factor.[4]

> Did the rise of big phones kill the market for the paperback-book form factor of tablet? Does nobody want a modern Nexus 7 anymore, like they used to?

There are arguably more flagship and mid-range phones with 6.5" or larger screens than there are smaller phones in that spec range. The Galaxy Note 10+ has a 16:9 ratio 6.8" screen in a 6.39" x 3.04" x 0.31" (-1.5" x -1.7" x -0.1") form factor.[5]

1: Tab M7; 7.0", 1024x600, Android Go 11 https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/tablets/android-tablets/lenov...

2: https://www.gsmarena.com/lenovo_tab_m8_(fhd)-9826.php

3: https://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/tablets/buy/?modelCode=SM-...

4: https://www.gsmarena.com/amazon_fire_hd_8-7610.php

5: https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_note10+-9732.php

trynewideason GitHub to lay off 10% and close all offices

Another stupid demonym in a layoff letter!

a Lattician, a Flexporter, a Scalien, a Relativian, a Plaid, a Swyftxer, an Elastician, a Krakenite, a Dragon, an Asana, a Wistian, a Nuron, a Bird, a Twilion, a Pitcher, an Olivian, a Snyker, a Panda, an Astronaut, a Superhuman, a VTEXer, a Klarnaut, a Lacer, a Mozillian, a Paddler, an Oyster, a SoundHounder, a Vimean, a Zoopligan, a Motive, a Stasher, a Plerker, a Lokaliser, a Courserian, a Udacian, a Racker, a Gitpodder, a Dutonian, a Googler, a HubSpotter, a Workmate, a Splunker, a Zoomie, an eBayer, and a Hubber

trynewideason Gitlab to lay off 7% of staff

Yeah, the "GitHub to lay off 10%" thread is over here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34726735

trynewideason The Underdog Coffee Bean That Java Snobs Hate Is Finally Getting Some Respect

An average Ecuadorean robusta is better than most Vietnamese robustas. Suedhang, the German boutique cafe quoted in the story, has only Ecuadorean and Indian robusta in stock (as canephora, its scientific name), and the Indian variety is only available in a Robusta/Arabica espresso blend, like the one the Boston-based roaster at the end of the article mentions not hating.[1][2]

Couldn't speak to Black Sheep Coffee, which is a UK chain and is only opening its first US location in Dallas this week. Despite promoting robusta's higher caffeine content, it also doesn't sell a caffeinated Vietnamese robusta, only from "southern India, Papua New Guinea, Brazil".[3] Despite the founder's dislike of Arabica, Black Sheep also serves it.[4] Only two of their five beans for shipping are robusta; one's a light/medium roast from India suggested only for espresso, and the other—which is from Vietnam—is decaf.[5]

tl;dr: If you can get an Ecuadorian or Indian light roast robusta/canephora, it probably won't be terrible. Or you can just get a local roaster's average-quality bean and not worry about it.

1: https://www.suedhang.org/en/product/chakra-warmi-en/

2: https://www.suedhang.org/en/product/cuerpo/

3: https://dallas.culturemap.com/news/restaurants-bars/black-sh...

4: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/black-sheep-coffee-lo...

5: https://leavetheherdbehind.com/collections/all/beans

trynewideason Disney’s laying off 7k as streaming boom comes to an end

Or figure out why they, and all other streaming services, are unable to retain subscribers.[1] (Like, say, people subscribing to a service to watch some content, then unsubscribing and joining another service. Or the ripple effect of one subscription raising prices and people suddenly reassessing their subscription spend.)

So of course the response to rational behavior anyone not in a boardroom can easily understand, is to lay off some of the people who aren't in the boardroom.

1: https://www.investopedia.com/should-disney-investors-be-wary...

trynewideason Show HN: We built an open-source LaunchDarkly alternative for B2Bs

100% LD is targeted at product managers, technical account managers, and any other non-developers who want to gate feature rollouts. The devs can just focus on implementing features, flag them, and then forget about it.

That said, LD is an expensive daily pain in my ass, and anything better, or even a little worse but cheaper, than it catches my attention.

trynewideason Why Steam Deck Is One of the Most Significant PC Gaming Moments in Years

Digital Foundry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZKBSf3aLf4

Generally, 7th-gen console era games and earlier can often play at 1080p60, 4k30, or 4k60 depending on the demands. Newer games make compromises. FSR and TSR (upscaling from lower internal resolutions) effectiveness depends on the game.

trynewideason Teenage Engineering Field Desk

I went in expecting a $1,000 folding table and somehow got a $1,600 non-folding table. Teenage Engineering is always surpassing my loftiest expectations.

trynewideason Fundamental Math for Game Developers

> every one of those topics could be the subject of pages and pages of code and writing

> covers much of the material in a somewhat project-oriented way

> Lots of detailed examples and exercises

I guess that's why the guy sells a half-dozen 20-40 hour courses from this website which purportedly do that.

trynewideason Heat pumps are defying Maine’s winters and oil industry pushback

> My utility, NIPSCO, charges $0.25699/therm for gas

Well, there you go. Natural gas in Maine is $1.95 to $3.58 per therm. https://www.maine.gov/energy/heating-fuel-prices

trynewideason Open RuneScape Classic

Not related to Open RSC, but the https://runescape.wiki/ family (linked to from the Open OSC home page) is one of my favorite MediaWiki sites of all time. Jagex helped the Weird Gloop team split them from Fandom in 2020 and they've built up one of the best-looking and -working independent MW installs.

The tutorials are great: https://runescape.wiki/w/Help:Editing

They have an active and friendly community, including in-game cosmetic rewards for editors: https://runescape.wiki/w/RuneScape:The_Wikian

They open-source a lot of their work: https://gitlab.com/weirdgloop

And the staff is looking for additional funding: https://runescape.wiki/w/Forum:Funding_the_wikis

trynewideason Nintendo Will Pay Its Workers 10% More

$75k might. $25k as an entry-level with a doctorate wouldn't.

trynewideason Nintendo Will Pay Its Workers 10% More

Average annual salary across all full-time roles is $75k (about $80k with bonuses). Entry-level roles pay $1,600-$2,000/month. Welch acolytes calm down quickly, then seethe with envy. https://www.nintendo.co.jp/jobs/recruit/requirements/index.h...

trynewideason Żabka Nano – fully autonomous, no-checkout convenience stores (2022)

Those "hot dogs" (which they're also automating, kind of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2FfYF8ft9w )

trynewideason Monocle: A pocket sized open-source AR device

Hell, there are like two dozen fully autonomous Żabka convenience stores in Poland that do this. Unlocks the door for entry, identifies the items you pick up by CV, pays for them automatically without interaction, and unlocks the door for exit. No app or phone necessary, no cashier or staff, no checkout. You just pick the thing up and leave.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t_-Na63kUY, https://youtu.be/ZMVbwVpBkKc?t=115 for the tech

trynewideason Google's Bard shows incorrect information in its launch ad

A test that generates evidence or demonstrates a known truth, which Bard also apparently can't do, and which the marketing team didn't do before making this ad.