Hacker News: InsomniacL

New comment by InsomniacL in "Removable batteries in smartphones will be mandatory in the EU starting in 2027"

InsomniacL — Mon, 04 May 2026 17:02:33 +0000

just to note, wireless charging is very inefficient. From the page you linked:

"Due to a 30% to 45% energy loss in battery cells and conversion circuitry, a fully charged 5,000 mAh power bank typically offers an estimated 2,750 to 3,500mAh to power devices"

New comment by InsomniacL in "TikTok will not introduce end-to-end encryption, saying it makes users less safe"

InsomniacL — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 11:30:48 +0000

> Would it be a fair argument to say the police have a better opportunity to prevent crimes if they can enter your house without a warrant?

Police can access your home with a warrant.

Police cannot access your E2EE DMs with a warrant.

New comment by InsomniacL in "Oneplus phone update introduces hardware anti-rollback"

InsomniacL — Sun, 25 Jan 2026 22:29:05 +0000

Does intentionally physically damaging a device fall foul of any laws that a software restriction otherwise wouldn't?

New comment by InsomniacL in "Show HN: Boing"

InsomniacL — Sun, 30 Nov 2025 11:03:12 +0000

Waiting for somebody to write the code to recreate the Star Wars Imperial March: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NDLlWtudpE

New comment by InsomniacL in "Our investigation into the suspicious pressure on Archive.today"

InsomniacL — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 14:35:38 +0000

I thought they were suggesting it was a government body (an FBI operation)

New comment by InsomniacL in "Chess.com regional pricing: A case study"

InsomniacL — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 15:58:32 +0000

They priced me out of a subscription.

£15 a month in the UK for an online chess game is crazy.

I've paid for 3 months but this is my last.

I'm only interested in Game review, but there are about 50 other sub-categories on their site that i don't use.

Only their top tier of membership provides game review and to be honest it's not even that good.

The game review is about the top 'computer' move, not what a human should do, and not one at my elo or to advance my elo.

New comment by InsomniacL in "PuTTY has a new website"

InsomniacL — Sat, 16 Aug 2025 18:29:48 +0000

PuTTY's use of an antiquated website, bizzarro url and difficult to find binaries has created trust issues for no apparent good reason.

New comment by InsomniacL in "Widespread power outage in Spain and Portugal"

InsomniacL — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 17:44:38 +0000

"it is prudent that the cost of maintaining Black Start Capability should demonstrate value to the end consumer"

That sounds like someone explaining why the solution is so bad, before describing what the solution is.

New comment by InsomniacL in "Google is illegally monopolizing online advertising tech, judge rules"

InsomniacL — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 19:54:47 +0000

> Also it is irrelevant of whether publisher earns 75% or 30% of the total revenue. What matters is how much they are earning compared to the next best alternative.

Not if Google illegally monopolizes the market unfairly hindering 'the next best alternative'.

> Google is not a "monopoly" in this space.

You've made that comment on a post where a judge has ruled "Google is illegally monopolizing"...

> In fact the world has far too many Google equivalents but absolutely no one comes close to Google in generating top dollars for publishers.

They have not been able to compete in a fair market.

This comment has some great examples.. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43719246

New comment by InsomniacL in "Google is illegally monopolizing online advertising tech, judge rules"

InsomniacL — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 19:48:15 +0000

> It was argued that this approach allows Google to charge higher prices to advertisers while sending less revenue to publishers such as news websites.

It could depend on how they 'limit the number of bidders'. If they sell seats to be able to bid, then the bids are lower to account for that, and publishers get a share of the bid, not the fee bidders pay. I'm guessing though...

New comment by InsomniacL in "The Greatest Motorcycle Photo"

InsomniacL — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 13:08:58 +0000

what about that does not make sense for you?...

New comment by InsomniacL in "Gumroad’s source is available"

InsomniacL — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 08:36:32 +0000

Isn't that true of anything?

At renewal software provider X might hike license fees for Y to an unreasonable fee, or decide you're not worth the time at all.

I assume you can get a commercial license at any point, not only after you reach X revenue too?

New comment by InsomniacL in "The Greatest Motorcycle Photo"

InsomniacL — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 07:51:23 +0000

I guess he feels the picture would be 'cooler' if the background was removed and AI has made image manipulation readily available to the masses.

Would you have the same reaction if he said ~"photoshop the background out"?

New comment by InsomniacL in "The Greatest Motorcycle Photo"

InsomniacL — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 17:12:25 +0000

look at the right hand edge of the photo to put his comment in perspective.

New comment by InsomniacL in "US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU"

InsomniacL — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 08:21:17 +0000

I found it interesting that when the UK was part of the EU, the Isle of Man was not, but because they held British Passports, the people of the Isle of Man were EU citizens.

Ask HN: What are the best April Fools pranks you've come across today?

InsomniacL — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 13:28:00 +0000

If you've come across any interesting April Fools pranks today, share them below so we can all enjoy.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43546559

Points: 7

# Comments: 3

New comment by InsomniacL in "A note on the USB-to-PS/2 mouse adapter that came with Microsoft mouse devices"

InsomniacL — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 11:09:38 +0000

Once had a very awkward conversation with a sales person in PC World.

I had been given a old retired server from work to take home and learn with... only problem was it had no USB.

I was asking for a PS2 keyboard, he said they don't sell them but I could use any USB keyboard, I told him I don't have any USB ports and I needed a PS2 keyboard.

After awhile of him going back and forth with his manager, only to return to tell me i can use USB, It turned out he thought I was trying to buy a Play Station 2 keyboard and he'd never heard of PS/2!

New comment by InsomniacL in "23andMe files for bankruptcy to sell itself"

InsomniacL — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 13:39:09 +0000

> Once 23andMe gets sold, all of that data belongs to whoever owns it and they can sell it to whoever they want.

Why would a company being sold mean that the data can be used for a purpose it previously couldn't?

New comment by InsomniacL in "Docker limits unauthenticated pulls to 10/HR/IP from Docker Hub, from March 1"

InsomniacL — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 16:00:58 +0000

> This failed, so they've needed to pivot somewhat to reduce their load.

Or it worked, and now through free tier limitations they get more people sign-up and more people taking paid subs

New comment by InsomniacL in "Apple pulls data protection tool after UK government security row"

InsomniacL — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:19:41 +0000

An attacker would have to both compromise the police database AND Apple to retrieve the data.

The Key could even be split, say 3 ways. Apple holds 1 piece, the police hold another, and the Courts hold the third, all three would be needed to decrypt the data.

This is too far in to the weeds though.

It is not beyond humanities ability to have a system as secure as ADP while still providing a mechanism to access terrorists phones for example.