Hacker News: acka

New comment by acka in "Run Linux containers on Android, no root required"

acka — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 23:12:52 +0000

Not everyone owns one of the limited range of devices that Linux Terminal is available for. For example, no Snapdragon chips currently in use support the "non-protected" virtual machines required by the Android Virtualization Framework. Also, it doesn't jive with Samsung Knox, so the few Samsung devices that this might work on (mostly international models with Exynos chips) will likely not be supported.

New comment by acka in "Windows 95 defenses against installers that overwrite a file with an older one"

acka — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 21:24:27 +0000

Two words: proprietary installers.

If an installer expects to be able to overwrite a file and fails to do so, it might crash, leaving the user with a borked installation.

Of course you can blame the installer, but resolution of the problem might take a long time, or might never happen, depending on the willingness of the vendor to fix it.

New comment by acka in "Copilot edited an ad into my PR"

acka — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 10:28:08 +0000

An originally macOS-only product, too.

Also, the documentation on Github, linked to by the ad, shows only Mac keyboard shortcuts for operating Raycast.

New comment by acka in "My iPhone 16 Pro Max produces garbage output when running MLX LLMs"

acka — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 09:22:22 +0000

Moon implies there is a planet the moon is orbiting. So unless the planet and its moon are too close to the sun the long term result could also be: solar system.

New comment by acka in "Iran's internet blackout may become permanent, with access for elites only"

acka — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 14:06:18 +0000

Reading comprehension, my friend.

The article you linked to is about the dropped plan to require ID for permission to work in the UK.

The parent commenter is referring to age verification for accessing adult content using "highly effective age-assurance systems" (such as photo ID cards, biometrics, etc.) under the Online Safety Act 2023, which is still very much in effect.

New comment by acka in "Booting from a vinyl record (2020)"

acka — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 15:20:06 +0000

In the Netherlands they used to broadcast software as part of the Hobbyscoop radio show. It was generic BASIC code that could run on a variety of home computers, requiring a small loader program for conversion. The project was named BASICODE[1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASICODE

New comment by acka in "So, you’ve hit an age gate. What now?"

acka — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 18:21:35 +0000

Netflix has been checking accounts against public IP addresses and local networks for ages, at least in The Netherlands. if I use my Dad's account, I get flagged as being "not on the same home network" immediately. I think that using a VPN and Netflix detecting that would only make matters worse, like termination of service.

New comment by acka in "Report: Microsoft kills official way to activate Windows 11/10 without internet"

acka — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 19:59:56 +0000

Developers, developers, developers, developers[1].

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fcSviC7cRM

New comment by acka in "Google is dead. Where do we go now?"

acka — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 07:52:51 +0000

> Why would it plunge instead of re-focusing on things that are intrinsically important?

Because a lot of the economy is focused on creating and maintaining a surplus[1]: make people buy things that they don't really need, make them discard and replace things that they've been convinced are no longer worth it.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surplus%3A_Terrorized_into_Bei...

New comment by acka in "SoundCloud has banned VPN access"

acka — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 13:25:02 +0000

> Years on, our primary data source is literally holding dozens of subscriptions to every commercial provider we can find, and enumerating the exit node IP addresses they use.

Assuming your VPN identification service operates commercially, I trust that you are in full compliance with all contractual agreements and Terms of Service for the services you utilize. Many of these agreements specifically prohibit commercial use, which could encompass the harvesting of exit node IP addresses and the subsequent sale of such information.

New comment by acka in "Voyager 1 is about to reach one light-day from Earth"

acka — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 19:42:29 +0000

The stylus and cartridge needed to play the record were included on each spacecraft. The instructions to assemble the record player were included on a protective aluminum cover.

New comment by acka in "Pebble Watch software is now open source"

acka — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 06:10:20 +0000

This title is misleading. As explained in the comments, there are still non-free binary blobs in the firmware. Please reserve phrasing like "100% X" for things that are indeed "0% Not(X)."

New comment by acka in "AirPods libreated from Apple's ecosystem"

acka — Sun, 16 Nov 2025 15:42:49 +0000

Dongle-based license management or DRM isn't the same as product tying; each dongle just validates the license for the use of a piece of software. But forcing customers to only use ink cartridges from a specific brand, deliberately rejecting or invalidating third-party refill options? That is a form of product tying, and it is being deemed illegal in more and more countries.

New comment by acka in "Unexpected things that are people"

acka — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 05:19:22 +0000

I believe it would be redundant to explicitly grant freedom of speech to an organization such as a union, as its individual members inherently possess this right.

New comment by acka in "Unexpected things that are people"

acka — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 05:04:06 +0000

Corporations can be held criminally liable, but they can't go to prison. And while lots of countries have gotten rid of the death penalty, a corporation can actually be "executed" by getting dissolved.

I think these are some pretty big deals.

New comment by acka in "Google suspended my company's Google cloud account for the third time"

acka — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 22:20:20 +0000

Note that you need to be on a paid Google Workspace plan before pointing your DNS MX records at Gmail as provider, or else your emails will either be rejected at best or simply vanish into thin air in the worst case.

New comment by acka in "Some people can't see mental images"

acka — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 02:15:39 +0000

The Aphantasia Network has several interesting studies and a self-assessment test[2] that you can take.

[1] https://aphantasia.com

[2] https://aphantasia.com/study/vviq

New comment by acka in "Google flags Immich sites as dangerous"

acka — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 07:56:06 +0000

Maybe it's time to revive something like the uzbl[1] project, or start something similar.

[1] https://www.uzbl.org/

New comment by acka in "Could the XZ backdoor been detected with better Git/Deb packaging practices?"

acka — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 08:42:26 +0000

My apologies: yes, I edited my comment to try and clarify that I did not mean executable binaries, but rather binary data, such as the test files in the case of XZ.

New comment by acka in "Could the XZ backdoor been detected with better Git/Deb packaging practices?"

acka — Sun, 19 Oct 2025 22:04:35 +0000

I believe the XZ compromise partly stemmed from including binary files in what should have remained a source-only project. From what I remember, well-run projects such as those of the GNU project have always required that all binaries—whether executables or embedded data such as test files—be built directly from source, compiling a purpose-built DSL if necessary. This ensures transparency and reproducibility, both of which might have helped catch the issue earlier.