Hacker News: RedComet

New comment by RedComet in "sp.h: Fixing C by giving it a high quality, ultra portable standard library"

RedComet — Sun, 24 May 2026 02:19:39 +0000

You didn't write it, though. And it is slop. If you had actually wrote it, you might learn from some of the criticism or be able to engage with it on an objective level.

New comment by RedComet in "Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent"

RedComet — Wed, 06 May 2026 05:24:40 +0000

On the contrary, you're only defending it because it is AI. If it were some other feature that many didn't want or ask for, you would empathize.

New comment by RedComet in "Android’s new sideload settings will carry over to new devices"

RedComet — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 22:48:05 +0000

Wouldn't it be something if, given all the surveillance already in place, law enforcement punished the scammers instead of the innocent?

New comment by RedComet in "Apple's intentional crippling of Mobile Safari"

RedComet — Sun, 22 Mar 2026 18:02:37 +0000

The keyword is "intentional".

New comment by RedComet in "Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS"

RedComet — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 16:12:22 +0000

Here's to hoping for a smaller phone with a fingerprint sensor on the back and a removable battery, as it's a given graphene will get the chipset right.

New comment by RedComet in "LineageOS 23.2"

RedComet — Sun, 08 Feb 2026 10:24:10 +0000

If the owner of a device can't sign and install their own software, then your definition of PKI doesn't "work" at all.

The first party must be able to entirely decide that "some third party" for it to be anything more than an obfuscation of digital serfdom.

New comment by RedComet in "Jeff Bezos hopes that you'll give up your PC to rent one from the cloud"

RedComet — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 22:01:49 +0000

Strange claiming you "called it', people were saying this far earlier than 8 days ago.

New comment by RedComet in "Why doesn't Apple make a standalone Touch ID?"

RedComet — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 06:51:40 +0000

"once you set the watch up"

This does require an iPhone though, right?

New comment by RedComet in "Android's sideloading limits are its most anti-consumer move"

RedComet — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 16:18:32 +0000

The sideloading change doesn't protect against abusive household members, though. Simple lock screen hygiene and periodic reminders about invasive permissions (e.g. accessibility & location) would do more. And let us not even pretend that is the true motivation for the change. An incidental consequence that you find defensible is simply that.

New comment by RedComet in "Android's sideloading limits are its most anti-consumer move"

RedComet — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 00:35:35 +0000

A straw man in your favor, maybe. Shall we compare the 100 least popular of each store?

Those are more likely to be outright malware on Play.

New comment by RedComet in "Android's sideloading limits are its most anti-consumer move"

RedComet — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 20:52:35 +0000

Let's ignore all of the preinstalled programs, which are signed by Google and do a great deal of spying.

Do you think the 100 most popular F-Droid apps do more spying than the 100 most popular Play store apps?

New comment by RedComet in "Android's sideloading limits are its most anti-consumer move"

RedComet — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 17:15:21 +0000

They are signed, though. Just not by Google.

New comment by RedComet in "Apple pulls iPhone torrent app from AltStore PAL in Europe"

RedComet — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 03:45:21 +0000

It sounds like we largely agree, then, so I'm not sure what you were arguing in the first place. That because the companies are legally able to do this and that [hardware-based] jailbreaking is possible in theory, it can't be opposed?

To your other point, firmware is another battle entirely and currently has less practical value.

New comment by RedComet in "Apple pulls iPhone torrent app from AltStore PAL in Europe"

RedComet — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 23:13:03 +0000

It was an analogy. You're moving the goalposts and ignored the latter point.

And I'm not a foss advocate, I just want to be able to run software of my choosing and without spyware, as has been the case since the advent of personal computing.

As a side note, legality seems irrelevant to your position. What if a world government mandated optional sideloading + unlocking? Wouldn't you then argue against that law?

New comment by RedComet in "Apple pulls iPhone torrent app from AltStore PAL in Europe"

RedComet — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 22:36:15 +0000

By analogy, if food was sold with poison in it, "hey man, you bought it, just remove it if you don't like it. not a chemist? crack a book buddy". And now imagine you had no means of producing your own food and all food sold contained poison.

If unlocking an iPhone and running e.g. AOSP on it were feasible, people would be doing it. And you know that. Your argument is disingenuous.

New comment by RedComet in "Apple pulls iPhone torrent app from AltStore PAL in Europe"

RedComet — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 16:25:44 +0000

You cannot (generally) install and run apps that aren't (recently) notarized, though. They do owe the service inasmuch as they require it for installing and running apps.

New comment by RedComet in "Google is killing first and second gen Nest Thermostats"

RedComet — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 05:34:07 +0000

Not very "carbon friendly". But the recycler they mention will probably kindly ship it do a foreign landfill.

New comment by RedComet in "Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android"

RedComet — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 22:31:42 +0000

The malware excuse is just a palatable false pretense. "We have to protect granny!" Of course, she is getting fleeced by plain scam calls, not somehow sideloading apks onto her idevice, but the truth doesn't help advance their narrative.

New comment by RedComet in "Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android"

RedComet — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 22:11:57 +0000

Cell carriers will just start requiring the attestation as well. And eventually, even an internet connection will - wifi routers will have to attest to ISP equipment, etc.

The final phase is "AI" monitoring everything you do on your devices. Eventually it won't just be passive, either, but likely active: able to change books you read and audio you listen to on-the-fly without your consent. It will be argued that this ok because the program is "objective".

New comment by RedComet in "F-Droid build servers can't build modern Android apps due to outdated CPUs"

RedComet — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 06:59:39 +0000

Will you elaborate?