MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by colinb | 2025-07-28 08:00:12+00:00
I left around the time of Brexit so I have no useful opinion on the recent financial/admin state of the UK, though it seems from afar that austerity has done the place no favours. But...

- this kind of authoritarian nonsense is just what Home Secretaries do. David Blunkett brought in RIP (then, to his very slight credit, changed his mind). Jack 'boot' Straw was famous for his I-AM-THE-LAWing. I don't think the Tories are any better.

- No, criticizing the NHS is not against the religion there. The newspapers are forever getting in digs about long waits, unpopular (but perfectly rational) decision from NICE about what drugs to pay for, and junior doctors and their apparent insistence on being paid properly.

- And with that in mind, having lived in three countries (four if you accept that the NHS in England and Scotland are different) I personally think the NHS is fucking fantastic. Someone close to me was diagnosed with a serious illness and immediately swept up in a production line of modern, effective treatment. Sure, it was somewhat impersonal, the biscuits are rubbish, and they were a widget on the production line, but they're also still alive ten years later, and we still have a house and savings.

- kudos to your sister. The UK is an ethnically diverse place, one of the least racist and divided that I've seen, but - like everywhere else - imperfect. The NHS always seemed to me to be a reflection of what things could be elsewhere with doctors, nurses and cleaners hired from all over the world. [which reminds me that while the right-wing press hates the NHS for being free, the left wing press occasionally hates the NHS for bringing in medical staff from poorer parts of the world. They just can't win]
by makingstuffs | 2025-07-28 08:00:44+00:00
In a word, division. The UK is so divided that people are too busy pointing the finger at each other to realise the root cause of the deterioration of our quality of life is entirely generations of mismanagement of the public purse.

Instead of questioning how MPs are entitled to a pay rise while your average person gets made redundant, people are questioning why people fleeing persecution should ‘be paid for with my tax money’.

Brain fatigue and mixed signals combined with destitution and desperation drastically impede the average person’s ability and desire to fact check and extrapolate. We are moving towards a society of down and out people living with no hope serving the elite and those with a bit of money behind them.

My fiancée and I have had enough and are also leaving in October. No idea where to all we know is we have a one way ticket away and will figure the rest out.
by theurerjohn3 | 2025-07-28 08:02:15+00:00
i think there may have been some confusion about the parent comment

you are both agreeing that where the fuels come from matters. If you want to burn fossil fuels in a manner to keep atmospheric carbon neutral using the approach specified in

> Why would growing corn for ethanol and burning it in an engine be any climate-friendlier than growing that same corn for food and burning an equivalent amount of gasoline in an engine?

then the correct approach would be

> Why would growing corn for ethanol and burning it in an engine be any climate-friendlier than growing that same corn for *burying in the ground* and burning an equivalent amount of gasoline in an engine?

unless i am misunderstanding these two comments? some clarity would be great!
by saghm | 2025-07-28 08:03:37+00:00
I don't mind it for a lot of things, but I'm not sure how great an experience it is for something that needs to be installed as part of the initial setup of the system rather than something you can add afterwards. It works fine for stuff like a wifi or graphics driver if you're doing the initial installation without either of those, but for stuff like the filesystem that kind of has to be done up-front, it can lead to a weird bootstrapping problem where you need to have a way of getting the package before you've set up the system, but it's generally not available through the normal means that the installation media provides. You can go out of your way to obtain it elsewhere it, but that's a pretty noticeable downgrade in the experience of setting up a Linux system from what most people are used to, so I think it's understandable that the completely artificial barrier to having it available through conventional means would be frustrating for people.
by burnt-resistor | 2025-07-28 08:03:56+00:00
Doesn't change the end result, but it paints a moral dimension on those who actively profit from the deaths of imprisoned civilians. The money goes into the pockets of the owners of mostly American defense contractors' owners, arms leave for conflict zones, and mostly civilians where Gaza is concerned get made homeless, injured, or flee for tent cities, only to be pushed around again.

Conflating Ukraine with Gaza is genocide-denial gaslighting.
by fjghajkhdfgjlk | 2025-07-28 08:05:54+00:00
I would be interested to see a similar analysis of ByteDance's video editor, CapCut (desktop version). The editor itself is amazing, IMO it has the best UI of any video editing software I've used. Surely, it's full of telemetry and/or spyware, though, but it would be good to know to which extent. I couldn't find any such analysis.
by carlnewton | 2025-07-28 08:08:01+00:00
I'm still working on Habitat. It's a free and open source, self-hosted platform for communities to discover and discuss their local area. The plan is for it to be federated, but that's a while off yet.

- The idea: https://carlnewton.github.io/posts/location-based-social-net...

- A build update and plan: https://carlnewton.github.io/posts/building-habitat/

- The repository: https://github.com/carlnewton/habitat

- The project board: https://github.com/users/carlnewton/projects/2
by badpenny | 2025-07-28 08:08:09+00:00
I may well be wrong, but I suspect that the number of people who "fall for" the protect-the-children narrative, at least to the degree where they believe the proposed change is effective enough to justify it, isn't very large.

I'd argue it works because it's a rhetorical tactic that's highly effective at suppressing dissent. Anybody sticking their head above the parapet is going to get painted as somebody who favours pornography over the safety of children, even though this legislation and opposition to it has very little to do with either.
by beeforpork | 2025-07-28 08:08:29+00:00
Hmm, I don't see any encryption. In the first screenshot 'cyberchef.avif' in the 'input window, the data is just unencrypted hex ASCII. I can fairly easily read the hex: even judging only from the first byte 7D, it is most probably JSON:

7D = { 0D0A = CRLF 09 = TAB 22 = " 73 = s 74 = t 61 = a 74 = t 75 = u 73 = s 4C = L 74 = a ....

So that is just the 'decoded' text. Where's the mentioned XOR encryption?

Also, the 'key' in the second screen shot is a nibble (=one hex character) out of alignment of the listed bytes. It also is not cut from the gap that is in the input text now, as suggested by the visual presentation: the 'key' is 'D0A097D0D0A7D' which is 13 hex digits, and again, a nibble out of byte alignment. It looks like a 0 must have preceeded to make it '0D0A09...' = CRLF TAB, and it total that's 'CRLF TAB { CRLF {'. But the gap was originally '24F70...', which, aligned to bytes, was '224F70...' = '"Op...'

So, the screen shots appear to be bogus or fake or edited.

Why? What's going on here?
by bell-cot | 2025-07-28 08:09:28+00:00
> ... notion of the government acting as it's own prime contactor for something like the Tomahawk program is just absurd and totally impractical.

The small-arms ammo was just their MVP for 1777. By the late 1950's, the government was building stuff like this in it's own (gov't-owned, gov't-operated) shipyard:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Hawk-class_aircraft_carr...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Navy_Yard

I'm thinking that a Tomahawk has rather fewer parts, from fewer subcontractors, than a >60,000-ton aircraft carrier. And doesn't take multiple years of continuous work to build, either.
by reincoder | 2025-07-28 08:09:40+00:00
Thank you for sharing the info.

In both cases, they could opt to download our database locally and use it through their own API system.

We sponsor the AlmaLinux Foundation through a data sponsorship for their mirroring system: https://almalinux.org/blog/2024-08-07-mirrors-1-to-400/

But since privacy is a major concern for them, they should just use our IP-to-country database and host an API themselves on top of it: https://ipinfo.io/lite

We are happy to support and be part of any software that want to use our data.
by jqpabc123 | 2025-07-28 08:10:32+00:00
Hybrids are a compromise --- and as such are less than optimum in every case.

On short trips, you're carrying the extra weight of an unused ICE drivetrain. On longer trips, you're carrying the weight of an unused battery and electric motors.

The case for hybrids rests on the idea that you only have one car. But most households in the USA have 2 vehicles.

What might make more sense for 2 car households is one electric vehicle and one ICE. This would allow you to choose the best vehicle for the trip at hand.

The average daily drive in the US is less than 50 miles so another option might be to go totally electric and rent an ICE vehicle as needed or fly for the occasional long trip.

Any way you slice it, an electrified vehicle of some sort is likely to be in the mix for most drivers going forward --- primarily for economic reasons. I expect solid state batteries to become available over the next few years and will move the needle even more in this direction.
by Msurrow | 2025-07-28 08:10:44+00:00
This seems good from the attendie’s point of view. I would love a similar post on the culture for calling meetings. There are too many “I don’t want to make an effort to understand/solve issue X so I’ll just create a meeting with everyone who might have an interest so we can all spend 1h talking about if the issue is an issue at all, and if it’s an issue what do we do about it”.. makes me so tired.
by skissane | 2025-07-28 08:11:17+00:00
You don’t need Windows for networking. There was lots of networking software for DOS. NetWare was the most popular, but there were heaps of alternatives: Microsoft/IBM LAN Manager, Banyan VINES, DEC Pathworks, Sun PC-NFS - most of those required a server running some other operating system (such as OS/2, Unix or OpenVMS), but there was also a category of “peer-to-peer” DOS networking software which could operate without a dedicated server, e.g. Artisoft LANtastic, Novell’s NetWare Lite and its successor Personal NetWare
by Mudbugs | 2025-07-28 08:11:29+00:00
>or for that matter, the UK.

Hate to say it mate, UK is already one of the worst offenders.

In their own "internet bubble," with curated Google searches that only present a very "Commonwealth countries bias" in search results. After I worked in the UK for a couple of years, I noticed there is a strong bias toward the same sites (Government and UK companies, especially biased toward "facts"). Second, you leave the UK. You will never get it. Try a VPN outside of the UK and search for the same stuff, you will notice it right away.

The UK have used the "think about the children" excuse for different stuff they don't like (Remember the Porn pass Idea? Where you had to go down to your local Tesco to get a "wanker pass" from the cashier.)

Same thing, now just for EU, and they use the "protect the children" excuse, but they have now started to aim at video game companies and others to "verify" age for the sake of "protecting the children". It is horrifying that they want to ID children in the excuse of their "safety". In a couple of years, they will likely offer free in-game currency to trick users into giving away their personal information.
by A_D_E_P_T | 2025-07-28 08:12:03+00:00
Britain is now, without a doubt, the most schizo and poorly-governed country that the world has seen in decades. They're evidently more willing to fight for Taiwan then they are to fight for the rights and freedoms of the English, where quality of life and civic stability have been deteriorating really noticeably in recent years.

Six years ago, my English friends were still fairly optimistic. Now those that haven't yet left are ready to escape to wherever will take them, or are going as far off the grid as they possibly can.
by grishka | 2025-07-28 08:12:56+00:00
This is how it worked out in Russia. First, around 10 years ago, they adopted very limited laws that required ISPs to block websites. Things like drugs and suicide, with the classic rationale "won't someone please think of the children". Then piracy websites were added to that. Fast forward to now, ISPs were mandated to install black-box "ТСПУ" devices on their networks, "to protect against threats", so now Roskomnadzor doesn't even pretend to care about the law. Half the internet is broken. More if you're on mobile data. Everyone knows what a VPN is. I personally have set up DPI bypass tools for many of my relatives.

In other words, if you censor enough of the internet that your population knows ways around that, your censorship simply ceases being effective.
by skissane | 2025-07-28 08:13:48+00:00
Wifi networks are very common today, and yet there are heaps of businesses installing them (and they normally have to install Ethernet at the same time, to connect the access points to the broadband router/modem). The same is true of air conditioners, solar panels, household batteries, rainwater tanks, surveillance cameras, building alarms, fire alarms, fire suppression systems, elevators

Your suggestion that the existence of businesses installing something is evidence the thing is uncommon, is illogical
by immibis | 2025-07-28 08:14:04+00:00
Because most politicians in most countries (even most dictatorships) feel that interfering with the free market is too radical. They feel it's fickle and too risky to upset.

Anyway, if a government tried to make a European smartphone design, it would be treated as any other government supply contract, resulting in a terrible design-by-committee. So in the end, all politicians are willing to do is wait around and say "someone should do something".

It's actually a little better than that. One thing they can do, and have done, is make funds available for individuals and small groups who want to have a go themselves. Notably NLnet funds a lot of projects. They're all small projects though so they're not really capable of displacing megacorps in the free market. Stuff like MNT hardware remains niche hacker stuff.
by johnisgood | 2025-07-28 08:14:08+00:00
Not parent, but after a couple of "finished", functioning projects. I still do not consider myself "good", I lack self-esteem, severely so. I believe everyone is better than I am, even if I am told otherwise. Unfortunately no matter who praises me, that praise has no effect on me. It is really debilitating though, as it stops me from having a job I would be good at, and that pays well, which I really do need as I have MS so my options are severely limited and the expenses keep piling up due to my illness.
by mjg59 | 2025-07-28 08:14:19+00:00
First up: this isn't criticism of the original post in the slightest, it's a wonderful journey through figuring out how a weird device that wants to be on your wifi works.

If you have a device that speaks to an Android app, you want https://github.com/niklashigi/apk-mitm - it'll strip pretty much every known certificate pinning implementation from an apk, and it'll also rewrite the manifest so it'll trust the user-installed certs without having to root your device to modify the system store. Uninstall the original app, sideload the output of apk-mitm, and then you can use mitmproxy on a stock device.

The other thing is that if a device is providing encrypted data to an app, and the app is displaying the decrypted data, then the app inherently either contains the decryption key somewhere or downloads it from somewhere. https://github.com/skylot/jadx will turn an apk into something that approximates Java, and digging through that will often let you figure out what the key is. But some vendors will decide that the appropriate way to handle this is to kick the cryptography out to native code, at which point you're into having to RE something in Ghidra. Depending on your mindset this is either incredibly tedious or incredibly fun, but it's generally possible.

The author was able to build on top of work that had been done by others, but if you're ever faced with a situation where nobody else has done that work, don't just give up. It's worth spending time trying to figure out how code running on a device you own works, and even if you don't succeed in the end you're probably going to learn a lot in the process.
by okanat | 2025-07-28 08:15:07+00:00
No it doesn't work that way. That's a lot of political will for little monetary gain. Don't forget that countries in EU are still quite capitalist and many of the bigger companies have huge investments in the US. EU itself is a quite neoliberal org too. It has all sorts of forced privatization laws.

The post WWII doctrine of US that's applied in Europe is strengthening the bigger businesses. Those businesses use US tech since investing in an actual European tech sector is expensive. Especially after all the first players took critical positions.

The time to invest in that sector was in the 80s and 90s. Europe had a different relationship with the US and it was trying to encite small ex-Soviet states to join, so they can exploit the cheap labor. So nobody actually invested in local tech sector.

It is now an uphill battle that'll cost more than the original investment. Only countries with strong independence urge like France is willing to fight it. Most of the EU countries are not.
by jonathanstrange | 2025-07-28 08:15:44+00:00
This state is not going to last long because LLMs are getting better and the people who write prompts are getting better. Soon the vast majority of content on the net is going to be generated by LLMs to influence you in one way or another, be that politically or as a consumer, and the content is going to be indistinguishable from human writing. And you can be virtually certain that the groups and people with the lowest moral standards will use it the most to sway public opinion.
by nicman23 | 2025-07-28 08:15:48+00:00
it is ok my dude you do not have you use it. you think bitcoin uses more power than all the banks, merchant POS backends like visa and mastercard, things like SEPA, paper transactions, paper printers -because cash- , etc

you even mention gpus not asics and POW as a bad thing. it is the ONLY thing that is worth about bitcoin.

> https://www.web3isgoinggreat.com/

try ctrl+f bitcoin lol
by dvh | 2025-07-28 08:16:30+00:00
I recently used ffmpeg to undo perspective from the image you just provide 4 corners coordinates and it produced straightened image:

ffmpeg -i input.jpg -vf "perspective=x0=784:y0=396:x1=2396:y1=397:x2=684:y2=2479:x3=2610:y3=2467" output.jpg
by immibis | 2025-07-28 08:17:00+00:00
EU businesses are pretty conservative. They don't have the insane amounts of capital that arose in Silicon Valley as a result of the Bretton Woods system. There are companies that size, but they're all in, like, manufacturing, or coal mining. There's no EU company that both has a billion dollars and knows how to be AWS. There are companies with billions of dollars (euros) and there are different startup companies that probably could be AWS if they tried really hard, but never the twain shall meet.
by topranks | 2025-07-28 08:18:23+00:00
Yeah it’s sort of like all the apps that would refuse to run on a jailbroken iPhone.

Basically on such a system you can potentially manipulate the process. Here that would probably be to install the credentials of someone else on the device.

So they want a locked down OS environment where user does not have root privileges and software has to be verified (in this case by Google) to be installed.
by systemtest | 2025-07-28 08:18:27+00:00
I have a G-Shock 5600 watch that can alert me when my washing machine is finished. At the start of the cycle I take note of the total time it takes, I set that time on the timer of the watch and hit start. It will beep once the washing machine is finished. Been doing that for about 15 years now.

It works with all brands regardless of API.
by epolanski | 2025-07-28 08:18:53+00:00
On one hand I agree, one should approach issues as they come, but there's solutions that are hard to ignore such as the need for reusable fragments/components on different pages which already make a cry for dependencies.

Even admitting one wants to go with bare bone web components authoring and maintaining them is expensive, requires lit or something.

Thus, what's the solution? Some sort of templating? Again, you're bringing on dependencies.
by genewitch | 2025-07-28 08:19:31+00:00
starlink doesn't even give you publicly routable ipv6 unless you bypass the starlink router.

My starlink is such that i cannot install/set up things like pfsense/opnsense because the connection drops sometimes, and when either of those installers fail, they fail all the way back to "format the drive y/n?" Also, things like ipcop and monowall et al don't seem to support ipv6.

I looked in to managing ipv6 from a "i am making my own router" and no OS makes this simple. i tried with debian, and could not get it to route any packets. I literally wrote the guide for using a VM for ipcop and one of the "wall" distros; but something about ipv6 just evades me.
by immibis | 2025-07-28 08:20:00+00:00
In the US due to various historical economic factors there's a lot more money going around. Basically the EU has to ship $100 of steel to America to get $100, while America can just print it. America has been printing money and giving it to the rich for a long time, resulting in the American rich having relatively huge piles of money and not enough to spend it on, resulting in highly speculative things getting funding, i.e. venture capital.

There isn't really venture capital like that in Europe. Your business has to bootstrap. There are big businesses that could fund big ideas but they are big because they do one thing well - a company like Airbus isn't going to branch out and build an AWS.
by creshal | 2025-07-28 08:21:31+00:00
LVM was a decent idea at the time, which was the early 1980s. But that locked in many architectural decisions that make it incredibly painful to use in practise, and its devs follow the "it was hard to write, so it should be hard to use" mentality, which make it even more painful.

Self-corrupting snapshots are considered a skill issue on the user's part, e.g., while ZFS simply doesn't allow users to shoot themselves in the foot like that. (And you rarely even need block-level snapshots in the first place!)

Encryption, data integrity, redundancy, are all out scope for LVM, so now you need a RAID layer and a verification layer and an encryption layer and if you stack them wrong, everything breaks. Skill issue! And not LVM's problem in the first place.

ZFS doesn't make you jump through hoops to manually calculate sector offsets to figure out how you can make an SSD cache that doesn't blow up in your face either.

So, no, LVM isn't underrated. It's a painful relic of a bygone age andif anything, overrated.
by cs02rm0 | 2025-07-28 08:21:33+00:00
- No, criticizing the NHS is not against the religion there. The newspapers are forever getting in digs about long waits, unpopular (but perfectly rational) decision from NICE about what drugs to pay for, and junior doctors and their apparent insistence on being paid properly.

This is exactly what I'm saying. The NHS are seen as perfect by some. All criticism is digs that are wrong.

I'm pro-NHS. But this perspective that it's infallible is beyond all reality.