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zuron7

265 karma · joined April 24, 2015

[ my public key: https://keybase.io/zuron7; my proof: https://keybase.io/zuron7/sigs/r36nSElgKttWdnVUdME1yQab5eBHJEMI3QPMpPmNGoM ]

Website: http://varun.rajamane.me

submissionscomments
zuron7··on Ask HN: Is it just me or is 5G strictly worse than LTE?
Phones seem to optimize for the fastest network instead of network quality. At least on Android it's possible to manually override and select a network through the hidden settings menu accessible through the phone dialler. Just hit ##4636## and you're in.
zuron7··on Airplane.dev raises $32M in Series B funding
Agreed. We exclusively use the Frappe Framework along with ERPNext and it works great for this same use case.
zuron7··on India bans TikTok, WeChat, and dozens of other Chinese apps
Recently unblocked.
zuron7··on India is now producing the world’s cheapest solar power
From the graph in the article it is pretty evident that the margins are very low compared to other countries. This is a case of the government doing something that makes sense for the growth of the country rather than letting privately run companies make large profits.
zuron7··on PiHole-Google: Completely Block Google and Its Services
You can always use YouTube through an alternate resource. Try invidio.us
zuron7··on De-Googling My Life
OpenStreetMaps is getting there. Heavily depends on the quality of maps in your area. For Youtube, you could use something like invidio.us or newpipe, which shows you only the channels that you have subscribed to.
zuron7··on De-Googling My Life
You don't need to. Just use apps that do not need Google Play Services. F-Droid helps out with that. I don't miss anything since almost all services I need to use have very good mobile websites. I'm glad I'm not unknowingly sharing a bunch of my data with them.
zuron7··on Flying-V: Flying long distances energy-efficiently
Pretty sure windows are required so that passengers can see outside in case of an emergency.
zuron7··on WhatsApp users will start seeing in-app ads within ‘Status’ feature from 2020
Use the web version. No ads. Use the app only when you need to post.
zuron7··on WhatsApp users will start seeing in-app ads within ‘Status’ feature from 2020
I'm really hoping that Chat over IMAP picks up. I use Delta Chat every now and then with some journalists who have it installed, and it just makes so much sense. We already have everyone's mail ID's anyway. Or at least I thought so. In countries like India, a large number of people have skipped email and gone to phone based services. So for Chat over IMAP to succeed over here it would need to have phone number based matching cos people do not use their mail ID's at all. Everything gets done over whatsapp.
zuron7··on Ask HN: How close together are your bus stops?
200m is incredibly short. I'd say the average in Bangalore is around 700metres. It varies from 500m in dense parts of the city to 1.5km in the not so dense parts.
zuron7··on Netflix Has 175 Days Left to Pull Off a Miracle
Why not loop through different streaming services through the year? Have only a single subscription at a time. The friction to sign up for a streaming service is minimal compared to getting a new cable connection. Of course, this would require that one be willing to wait to watch the latest episode of a show.
zuron7··on Google confirms Play store will continue to function for existing Huawei phones
There isn't. I have had to self host Gotify to send myself push notifications cos some proprietary apps do not have support to keep an always on connection to the server.
zuron7··on Google confirms Play store will continue to function for existing Huawei phones
I'd be really happy if this leads to app developers making apps that can work without Google Play Services.
zuron7··on Google to push new ads on its apps
They already do this heavily in India. Mostly due to a lack of good road signage. Landmarks are what defined navigation. Where I live (Bangalore), we have junctions named after KFC and Sony, cos those stores have been there for so long.
zuron7··on Google to push new ads on its apps
OSM has better data in certain aspects. The big problem with OSM is not about the data, but that it isn't designed to be used as a map. When someone visits osm.org, it is very barebones and the search feature doesn't work very well to find places unless you know the syntax. The team working on OSM themselves say that OSM is not a map, but instead a database.

Anyway, Google would never have gotten the data that it has without the contributions of the people. And the dedicated mappers in my city have all turned to OSM now. Hence leading to better mapping in terms of road data, bicycle paths and other features that businesses do not care about mapping.

zuron7··on India orders anti-trust probe of Google for alleged Android abuse
Ah, seems that you are right. The government doesn't own it, but sure does seem to have a controlling stake through the Public Sector Banks.
zuron7··on India orders anti-trust probe of Google for alleged Android abuse
The irony is strong with this one considering a lot of Government apps do not work without Google Play Services. Including incredibly popular payment apps like BHIM which was developed by NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India). I know cos I have a phone without Play Services and using Government apps is out of question. Thankfully, there are web alternatives for all servuces
zuron7··on Indian scientists launch preprint repository to boost research quality
to promote competition.
zuron7··on Indian government asks Apple and Google to take down TikTok app
The channel was not blocked. Just the two videos which were deemed to be defamatory. Pewdiepie can contest the decision.
zuron7··on Mass Production of iPhones to Start in India
The company manufacturing on the outskirts of Bangalore is Wistron. Not Foxconn.
zuron7··on Why airlines make flights longer on purpose
There was this other start up which planned to use AGV to tow the planes till the take off point. Would be much simpler than trying to modify the plane itself.

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

zuron7··on Show HN: The CO₂ Emissions for Flying
I think the idea of this website is to show how much CO2 one emits when they take a flight, not to ask them to stop taking flights. Obviously with electric technology, and renewable energy, planes might be soon the only polluting technology that we will be using.
zuron7··on Google has added DuckDuckGo as a search engine option for Chrome users
Or from how many times, people have shebanged their way to google from duckduckgo.
zuron7··on Gotify – a self-hosted push-notifications service
If you don't have Google Play Services, it doesn't use GCM.
zuron7··on Gotify – a self-hosted push-notifications service
I think the major reason this was created was for apps on the F-Droid store and for people who prefer not to have Google Play Services installed on their phone.
zuron7··on Spotify adds 1M unique listeners in India in less than a week
Ah yes, Pandora is better (tried it over a VPN once), but I live in India, so was speaking from that perspective. Spotify comes second for me personally. I've tried them all.
zuron7··on Apple’s 2018 MacBook Pros Attempt to Solve Flexgate, Without Admitting It Exists
Can't argue with that, but these repair houses have special tools which make the entire process almost as efficient as repairing a bulkier and modular device. At the end of the day, we can call it a user hostile measure and it needs to be tackled with government policies.
zuron7··on Spotify adds 1M unique listeners in India in less than a week
But, let's be honest, the experience that Spotify provides is way better than what Saavn does. I can change music remotely on any device, get much better recommendations, and listen to podcasts conveniently.
zuron7··on Spotify adds 1M unique listeners in India in less than a week
I wonder how many of those listeners were already using spotify through cracked APK's.
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