Hacker News: bengtan submitted

With Apple's recent announcements about blocking tracking pixels in emails, I wonder if they might also consider doing something about tracking links too.

I wrote https://bengtan.com/blog/whats-in-email-tracking-links-and-pixels/ and I know of some techniques that can be used to bypass tracking links (ie. Discover the destination URL of a tracking link without actually crawling the tracking link).

It would be great for privacy if Apple also started disrupting tracking links (and then the rest of the email service providers do so too).

How do I get in touch with the Apple software engineer(s) who are working on email-privacy/anti-tracking-pixel software? I'm just a random no-name person on the Internet. Can anyone help me please?

Thanks.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27586819

Points: 28

# Comments: 13

Deep-sea creature is long-armed and bristling with teeth

bengtan — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 12:54:45 +0000

Article URL: https://theconversation.com/this-deep-sea-creature-is-long-armed-bristling-with-teeth-and-the-sole-survivor-of-180-million-years-of-evolution-162842

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27539045

Points: 2

# Comments: 1

Tell HN: I curate HN stories which didn't reach the front page

bengtan — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 13:07:48 +0000

Hi,

I'd like to introduce, and ask feedback for, my newsletter Interesting Things [1][2].

It's a response to the notion that many interesting stories posted to HN flies past and are not seen. Maybe they could, and should, be surfaced again somehow. A newsletter seemed like a good way to do it.

I experimented by trawling through the 'newest' section of HN. The first few times were mind-numbing. Gosh, there's so much noise in there! . But eventually I became more selective and efficient and it became repeatable.

Then I evolved it and added stories from reddit, newsletters that I subscribe to, and some other places. Whilst a portion of the stories are still from HN, it's no longer only from there.

The criteria is 'What I find interesting' but, since I'm a typical HN reader, the interest profile ends up being similar. It's mainly tech but with splashes of startups, science, productivity, etc. I omit politics. I also try to omit product/press releases, big corp stuff, and stories that would be covered by the mainstream tech press.

There is little overlap with other Hacker-News-based newsletters and digests. This is intentional. They cover the top stories from HN. Mine does not. (Maybe there might be one or two 'tier 1' stories, but the majority are not.)

So anyway ... if you'd like to read interesting stuff (whether or not it was unnoticed by HN) please have a look at Interesting Things. I hope you guys like it and find it ... well ... interesting.

I'm also looking for criticism, feedback and suggestions for improvement. Some sample questions: Do you like the one-two liner blurbs? Are the blurbs useful? What do you think of the distribution of topics? Are there areas where you'd like to see more (or less) coverage? Please let me know. I'm happy to talk.

Thanks for reading!

[1] https://bengtan.com/interesting-things

[2] https://bengtan.com/newsletter/sample (redirects to the latest public edition)

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27492255

Points: 220

# Comments: 62

Creating a High Yield “Savings Account” with Crypto and DeFi

bengtan — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 07:10:10 +0000

Article URL: https://every.to/almanack/creating-a-high-yield-savings-account-with-crypto-defi

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27490474

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

Juggling from Above

bengtan — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 06:28:51 +0000

Article URL: https://kottke.org/21/06/juggling-from-above

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27457497

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

HashiCorp Makes Writing a Priority

bengtan — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 06:19:51 +0000

Article URL: https://slab.com/blog/how-hashicorp-makes-writing-a-priority/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27457429

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

Why a Mediocre Keyboard App Is Topping the App Store Charts

bengtan — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 06:17:04 +0000

Article URL: https://gizmodo.com/why-a-mediocre-keyboard-app-is-topping-the-app-store-ch-1847010395

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27457409

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

What's in email tracking links and pixels?

bengtan — Wed, 09 Jun 2021 12:01:02 +0000

Article URL: https://bengtan.com/blog/whats-in-email-tracking-links-and-pixels/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27446907

Points: 173

# Comments: 103

Laptop stand that supports work on the move

bengtan — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 15:35:13 +0000

Article URL: https://www.fiberstand.com/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27369894

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

A newsletter that curates stories which didn't make the frontpage

bengtan — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 14:01:55 +0000

Article URL: https://bengtan.com/interesting-things

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27368787

Points: 4

# Comments: 5

Ask HN: What do you think of my newsletter of Interesting Things?

bengtan — Mon, 31 May 2021 13:35:07 +0000

Hi,

I'd like to introduce, and ask feedback for, my newsletter Interesting Things [1][2].

It's a response to the notion that many interesting stories posted to Hacker News flies past and are not seen. Well, if they don't get seen, but deserve to be, then maybe they could be surfaced again somehow. A newsletter seemed like a good way to do it.

I experimented by trawling through the 'newest' section of Hacker News. The first few times were mind-numbing. Gosh, there's so much noise in there! . Eventually I learnt to be more selective and efficient and it became repeatable. Then I added some other sources of content. Now, whilst a large portion of the stories are still from Hacker News, it's not only from there.

The criteria is 'What I find interesting' but, since I'm a typical Hacker News reader, the interest profile ends up similar to Hacker News. It's mainly tech but with splashes of startups, science, productivity, etc. Like Hacker News, I omit politics. Unlike Hacker News, I try to omit product/press releases, big corp stuff, and stories that would be covered by the mainstream tech press.

Whilst the interest profile is similar to other Hacker-News-based newsletters and digests, there is little overlap in stories. This is intentionally so. My newsletter does not focus on the top stories from Hacker News.

So anyway ... if you'd like to read interesting stuff that went unnoticed by Hacker News, please have a look at Interesting Things. I hope you guys like it and find it good for some weekend reading.

I'm also looking for criticism, feedback and suggestions for improvement. Some sample questions: What do you think of the (boring) name? Do you like the one-two liner blurbs? Are the blurbs useful? What do you think of the distribution of topics? Please let me know. I'm happy to talk.

Thanks for reading!

[1] https://bengtan.com/interesting-things

[2] https://bengtan.com/newsletter/sample (redirects to the latest public edition)