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wiseleo

643 karma · joined November 4, 2010

Founder of Sendlinks. You can find me on Quora as Leonid S. Knyshov
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wiseleo··on Apache PLC4X announcing end of community support due to missing funding
I am interested in that, but my approach is more of a modchip on top of the existing board. It's not that difficult to intercept SPI and I2C in-circuit and thus enable IoT capability for legacy appliances.
wiseleo··on I-95 shutdown: Uber rider trapped in traffic slammed with $600 bill
Uber will adjust these bills. I once was driving for Uber or maybe Lyft and got trapped in the middle of San Francisco Bay Bridge because of police shooting ahead. My customers were stuck with me for several hours. Support adjusted their bills.
wiseleo··on Norton is installing a Cryptocurrency miner called Norton Crypto (NCrypt.exe)
The approach I am taking is background sync of all user-created data into git with automatic one-way replication not accessible through SMB. Git has plenty of tools to manage that and I simply automate all this without exposing the user to the commit process. That way I can just reimage the machine and replicate undamaged data back onto it. The problem is detecting data exfiltration and I don't have a solution for that yet.
wiseleo··on How do I open the Mercedes EQS’s hood?
An electronics tech can repair a random failed motor controller. That information should absolutely not be limited to just factory. When I fix cars, most of the time I have to fix broken wires and faulty ground. Occasionally, I have to fix a failed component in the ECU. They are extremely easy to work on for someone skilled at microsoldering, which is not a hard skill to attain.
wiseleo··on Motorists have been stranded on a major interstate in Virginia since last night
I have replaced fuel pumps. This involves a lot of work and often a specialty wrench. You will usually need to drop the fuel tank, which requires at a minimum raising the vehicle over 18" into air. The standard 14" jack/stands solution most motorists own is insufficient. They need to be replaced mostly because their integrated fuel filter gets clogged by the sediment accumulated at bottom of the tank, which causes the motor to fail. When the tank has plenty of fuel, the gunk at the bottom of the tank is less likely to be ingested by the system.
wiseleo··on Norton is installing a Cryptocurrency miner called Norton Crypto (NCrypt.exe)
Ransomware is a real problem. I despise malware disguised as mainstream antivirus solutions, but we need to protect users from ransomware and that’s a tough problem. I am working in that space.
wiseleo··on Norton is installing a Cryptocurrency miner called Norton Crypto (NCrypt.exe)
I have a priceless screenshot from TrendMicro acting like malware. https://imgur.com/a/ZgLIRLF

The “error” message tells the user the machine is being protected by Windows Defender…

wiseleo··on Google no longer producing high quality search results in significant categories
The problem is that “mountain bike” means two things. To an MTB rider, it’s a vehicle optimized for mountain riding where the top priority is rider’s safety.

To everyone else, it’s a category of vehicles capable of off-pavement riding on trails. They should be referred to off-pavement bikes.

wiseleo··on FreeFileSync: Open-Source File Synchronization and Backup
I love this software. It solves a lot of problems with legacy environments where I tend to operate. :)
wiseleo··on Can a $2,500 audiophile ethernet switch make differences in listening?
Always amusing to read about audiophile hardware. :)
wiseleo··on Excel World Championship Finals
If you like using Excel as an app development platform, take a look at https://youtube.com/c/ExcelForFreelancers

He makes apps that look nothing like Excel using custom shapes.

wiseleo··on Redesigned Notepad for Windows 11
Nothing. Windows has not fundamentally improved since Windows 7 for productivity. I use 10 but 7 was great. Well, Win 10’s virtual desktops are actually awesome.

I see zero benefit in 11. It breaks my workflow without additional apps. I have my taskbar with countless windows on the right side of my screens. This is not supported under Win 11 without 3rd party tools. All of power user tools are ever further obfuscated.

wiseleo··on Redesigned Notepad for Windows 11
This must be inspired by “we see you have Acrobat DC installed so we upgraded your experience to open PDFs in Microsoft Edge”.

This thing is responsible for a lot of helpdesk tickets.

wiseleo··on Redesigned Notepad for Windows 11
Redesigned search/replace? OK, I want regex support.
wiseleo··on Redesigned Notepad for Windows 11
It gets worse. This workaround is also in VBA, which has an enormous install base.

Books on Excel programming explicitly call out this issue. This is one thing I definitely would not want fixed.

You will break countless workflows that have operated for decades.

wiseleo··on After 150 years, we should finally redesign the computer keyboard
Microsoft Natural and its derivatives is an excellent ergonomic keyboard.

Replacing QWERTY is simply hard.

However, adjusting to a Kinesis Advantage also took me several weeks. Although the layout is the same, the keyboard is feels different enough that learning a different key layout might be possible.

Posture matters a lot in ergonomics, and in particular screen height. Raising the screen to eye level reduces neck pain. I adopted piano posture and have less strain on my limbs.

That is why I will never understand typing on a laptop open at 120-degree angle where the keyboard is angled upward and the screen is at keyboard level. That’s the worst of both worlds.

Merely raising the laptop screen to eye level and using an external keyboard makes it far more comfortable.

wiseleo··on Ask HN: Does Everyone Hate Chatbots?
If I can't find something on the website and have to resort to talking to someone, then whatever resources the chatbot has available should be accessible to me on the website directly.

Chatbot is functionally an interactive search box and I should be able to use a search box with identical results.

I prefer self-service websites with the option to talk to a human. Chatbots deliver negative value to me in many situations.

That being said, there are situations where I would implement a chatbot. For example, I offer a service where we don't care what the prospect's problem is since we can solve it. The prospect, however, does not trust us enough to be able to do this and so they want to talk to someone to be reassured that what we claim is indeed true.

For that, I can definitely implement a chatbot. If the inquiry could normally be handled by an outside call center who has no special access, that can be relegated to a chatbot. Everything else should be handled by a human with sufficient access to resolve the matter.

Thus, we need additional reassurance when prospects don't trust us enough and so a better approach is to invest in trust building so they feel that booking an appointment online is more convenient.

wiseleo··on Extreme couponers were sent to prison in $31.8M fraud scheme
Major chains predominantly run on Toshiba SurePOS 4960. That 4-digit number should give you a clue. It is, of course, a spinoff of an IBM monstrosity originating in 1980s.

This thing is programmed in REXX and Java. Many files end in .286

Although there are possibilities for API integrations, users usually use the ssh interface into the controller system. It would take significant effort to add manufacturer coupon validation logic.

By encoding self-contained data, coupons violate the first principle of data security - never trust the input.

Source: I service 4960 controllers for major chains. My first encounter having to edit REXX files using native tools was very interesting.

wiseleo··on How Long Does It Take Ordinary People to “Get Good” at Chess?
Interesting data.

Rating rises sharply when you spend time studying the game and then remains mostly flat after reaching the next stage of mastery. If you play tricks, which catapults your ratings, you will eventually stabilize at a level where those tricks are less effective.

It helps to play many games to fully understand theory and make it part of your own playstyle. What can be truly fascinating, and that's what I am thinking of datamining thanks to this code, is which openings the person who improved gravitated towards and what they gave up. I have a hypothesis those with 100+ Elo gains eventually settled on a few openings and studied their theory.

This code can be adapted for better tournament prep. For example, it should be possible to determine which tactics are most effective against that player. :)

wiseleo··on A patent troll backs off
Comment A2 is pure gold

"Commented [A2]: Whoever wrote this sentence might be the same person who writes patents. It would be helpful in the future to write and speak in plain English. You are dealing with an ordinary court, not a patent examiner.

wiseleo··on L0phtCrack Is Now Open Source
I remember the l0pht bbs :)
wiseleo··on Phrack Issue 70
The band released a new album. :)
wiseleo··on The Air Force Has Been Trying to Kill the A-10 Warthog for 14 Years
There's a Gatling gun on the F35A. There's a plane on the Gatling gun on the A10. :)
wiseleo··on Ask HN: Do you enjoy or dislike anime?
Love it. I would say "Mask no kamen (2005)" was the inflection point. Prior to that, I watched a bunch of shows and enjoyed some of them, but then I randomly stumbled onto this masterpiece. It is so good that I was motivated to lookup its director, Hamatsu Mamoru. It truly is unlike anything else you will watch.

When you see something that good, it makes you wonder what else is out there. Among the thousands of generic shows, there are true gems like Initial D. Did you know that Initial D continued with Season 5 after taking an 8 year break? Many fans don't know the new seasons exist.

How many even know that shows like Crest of the Stars exist? Its plot complexity resembles Babylon 5.

Then there's Kaiji. Kaiji is just... something else... Truly, truly something else. A simple game of rock/paper/scissors becomes a life or death experience when combined with gambling, greed, and group dynamics. Interestingly, they released a side story from the perspective of the villain's middle manager! It is absolutely insane how they apply corporate tactics to what happens to the hapless groups of gamblers.

Now there is such a masterpiece as Soul Land from China. Chinese donghua are taking animation to next level, although their stories tend to share the same plot. Soul Land makes you feel like you are inside a video game. Not everyone likes 3D anime, but this is done exceptionally well. Tencent is offering an official subtitled release through its YouTube channel, which recently became a paid offering and I paid for it.

wiseleo··on Exposing Fraud and Deception in the Retro Video Game Market [video]
I could not believe my ears that someone would actually admit what he was doing on video at 22:20. "I am forming a market" "help make the market".
wiseleo··on GitHub’s engineering team has moved to Codespaces
Customer support is a computer with a mere human overlay. A profound statement.
wiseleo··on About 90% of Animators Quit Their Jobs Within 3 Years
Renaming my extension to "Dungeon" :)
wiseleo··on FEC Asks Congress to Ban Prechecked Recurring Donation Boxes
Let's not forget "official poll" emails that aren't. I have no way of knowing if I am being polled or solicited. Hence, my voice is now excluded from political polls.
wiseleo··on Everything has changed in iOS 14, but Jailbreak is eternal [pdf]
Details on that technology https://www.apple.com/child-safety/pdf/CSAM_Detection_Techni...
wiseleo··on I've got a broken combine harvester – manufacturer won't give me software key
Very funny.

On my car: remove 5x 19mm lugnuts, remove wheel, reinstall 2x lug nuts, remove 2x 21mm caliper assembly bolts, remove the caliper assembly, use a 4" C-clamp over the existing used inner brake pad to retract the caliper piston, replace pads, reinstall caliper assembly, reinstall 21mm bolts to secure caliper assembly to steering knuckle, remove 2x lug nuts, reinstall wheel, install 5x lug nuts torqued to 85ft/lb.

Need to swap rotor? It's only secured by 2 of those lugnuts, so just do it then.

What's dangerous? It will not allow you to do it wrong because parts will not fit. You need exactly two sockets: 21mm and 19mm.

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