Hacker News: SwamyM

New comment by SwamyM in "Google Chrome update will close the door on ad blockers"

SwamyM — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 20:58:42 +0000

If you don't mind me asking, do Waterfox and Librewolf add significant benefits that you wouldn't get by customizing base Firefox?

New comment by SwamyM in "Google Chrome update will close the door on ad blockers"

SwamyM — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 20:52:27 +0000

Does anyone use any Firefox forks (Waterfox, Librewolf, etc.) as their primary browser for privacy and performance reasons? I know Zen is fairly popular for it's UI choices but I am interested to see if any of the other options are actually superior to Firefox.

New comment by SwamyM in "GrapheneOS fixes Android VPN leak Google refused to patch"

SwamyM — Sun, 10 May 2026 11:08:48 +0000

That's debatable. Pretty much every generation of the Pixel phones have had some major issues. They've even had to do multiple extended repair/replace programs due to some of them. Heck there is even an ongoing issue where one of their updates has caused multiple generations of their devices to be bricked (and that still hasn't been fixed) - https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-march-update-b...

On a technical level, yea, it may be great hardware but in practice, I don't think it is. As an Android user, I wish it were but it's not. Samsung is so much more reliable as an end user (even with their own issues).

New comment by SwamyM in "Windows quality update: Progress we've made since March"

SwamyM — Sun, 03 May 2026 12:27:13 +0000

Wasn't aware that there was an Edcation version but that unattended installer site seem like a great way to install, without using a bunch of random Power Shell scripts.

New comment by SwamyM in "Windows quality update: Progress we've made since March"

SwamyM — Sun, 03 May 2026 10:52:53 +0000

Anyone have a good guide to (re)install Windows without any of the bloat? Preferably using Group Policy vs registry changes.

I've seen Tiny11 referenced but haven't seen a good guide for it.

New comment by SwamyM in "Msgvault: fast private email archive and search system"

SwamyM — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 22:49:43 +0000

Would love to see support for Google Voice messages in the future.

New comment by SwamyM in "Danish pension fund divesting US Treasuries"

SwamyM — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 23:39:37 +0000

Or why GOP legislatures in states like Wisconsin or North Carolina remove powers from Governor, AG and other elected positions only when Democrats win but not when Republicans do?

New comment by SwamyM in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2025)"

SwamyM — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 02:58:06 +0000

For the Technical Account Manager and Technical Customer Success roles, do you require a technical background or is a willingness to learn enough to be considered?

New comment by SwamyM in "Microsoft has urged its employees on H-1B and H-4 visas to return immediately"

SwamyM — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 21:46:05 +0000

Same with the Republicans in the US and the deficit, "small" government, etc.

New comment by SwamyM in "Signal Secure Backups"

SwamyM — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 02:24:36 +0000

In addition, it looks like third-party apps (there are a few) that interface with the official Signal client maybe against Signal's TOS. They haven't enforced it yet from what I can see but it's a possibility and that's a fairy large risk IMO.

New comment by SwamyM in "Signal Secure Backups"

SwamyM — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 21:20:21 +0000

For anyone else that's not familiar, this is referring to https://molly.im/ which looks like it's a fork of Signal. And looks like it interops with Signal, so you can talk to your regular Signal contacts as well.

That's very interesting.

My only concern with it would be how sustainable it is in the long term. I am using Threema currently, which has a plan for enterprises, so that seems more reliable but it's lacking in features and usability.

New comment by SwamyM in "Signal Secure Backups"

SwamyM — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 20:45:58 +0000

While we are on the topic of Signal, does anyone know if it's possible to have a lock/PIN to open the Signal app itself that's different than your device lock/PIN?

Threema has this feature and it's reassuring to know that people can't open my chats when I hand my phone to someone. Or if I give the device lock/PIN to someone I trust for backup purposes but don't want them to have access to chats themselves.

Last I checked this was not possible with Signal (at least on Android).

New comment by SwamyM in "Electromechanical reshaping offers safer eye surgery"

SwamyM — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 15:44:48 +0000

This is something I am considering as well, so I am definitely interested in hearing feedback from other users that have gotten LASIK or have looked into it.

If it matters, I have slight astigmatism in both my eyes.

New comment by SwamyM in "Pixel 10 Phones"

SwamyM — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:46:42 +0000

> 2: When I sort my photos on a Pixel, I sort them in folders. The "camera" folder is where the unsorted photos are. When I sit in a bus or in a cafe, I go through it and sort the new photos into folders. This seems impossible on iPhones. Everything stays in the main folder forever. You can add photos to albums, but that does not remove them from the main folder. So there is no way to know which photos I have already sorted.

This along with iOS dumping pictures from WhatsApp, etc. into your main pictures folder is such a huge deal breaker for me. If I am backing up my pictures to a hard drive, there is no easy way to select just the pictures taken on my phone. Seems like such an oversight but I suspect it's a way to drive people to sign up for iCloud storage.

New comment by SwamyM in "Phone searches at the US border hit a record high"

SwamyM — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:40:14 +0000

> That's terrible advice, please stop giving terrible advice like that. ICE need to have probable cause (about you specifically, by name, not just your street or zipcode or "people of your ethnicity/appearance" or "people in that store/restaurant/parking lot"), beyond a verbal "uhh we think you're here illegally". You have the right to ask them why. And the 4th Amdt still exists, for all people, so no they can't stop you in your vehicle or inside your own house without probable cause and a [signed, valid] warrant [naming you specifically, and signed by a judge].

This is technically true but in practice (as we've seen multiple times recently), if ICE wants to stop you or interrogate you or even arrest you, they will do so without a warrant.

New comment by SwamyM in "M5 MacBook Pro No Longer Coming in 2025"

SwamyM — Fri, 08 Aug 2025 20:52:48 +0000

Most of corporate America is still primarily using x86 systems.

New comment by SwamyM in "EPA says it will eliminate its scientific research arm"

SwamyM — Sat, 19 Jul 2025 06:04:15 +0000

> Edit: When the democrats removed the filibuster for judicial confirmations they started us on this path. Predictably the Republicans responded by including the scotus. That was the end of an independent judiciary. It just took a while for it to be sufficient to kill democracy. And to be clear, no ratings agency in the world still considers the US a democracy. At years end it will be an official downgrade from flawed democracy to electoral autocracy or competitive authoritarian state.

While this is technically true, it conveniently ignores why the democrats removed the filibuster which is that:

    “In the history of the Republic, there have been 168 filibusters of executive and judicial nominees. Half of them have occurred during the Obama administration — during the last four and a half years,” Reid said.

Source: https://apnews.com/united-states-government-united-states-co...

As always Republicans cause a crisis and then take it to the extreme and Democrats usually end up taking the blame.

Not that they are blame free but they are also usually inept and they defer too much to 'rules and order' when the other party is not playing by the same rules.

New comment by SwamyM in "MAGA Doesn't Mean Making Profits Great Again"

SwamyM — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 23:03:15 +0000

> Anyone who thought kicking immigrants out of the country would be good for business was either blinded by nostalgia or had no understanding of the modern economy.

I think there's another reason why most MAGA people are opposed to immigration but yes, I suspect a majority of them don't really understand how the modern economy works.

New comment by SwamyM in "I built an app to backup Live Photos from iPhone to external hard drives"

SwamyM — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 19:38:19 +0000

I would love this if it allowed me to backup all photos taken with the iPhone to an external drive. Currently, Apple dumps all pictures (from the Camera, from iMessage, WhatsApp, etc.) into folder makes it difficult to backup just my pictures.

New comment by SwamyM in "Why JPEGs still rule the web (2024)"

SwamyM — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 17:01:46 +0000

> So what's left? I have a whole bunch of .HEIC photos and I'd really like if Windows Explorer didn't freeze for literal minutes when I open a folder with them.

Yea, how is this still the case in 2025?

My family has a mix of Apple and Samsung devices and they move/backup their pictures to their Windows machines whenever they run out of space but once they move them, they can't easily view or browse them.

I had to download a 3rd party app and teach them to view them from there.