Hacker News: ali_af

New comment by ali_af in "Ask HN: Could you share your personal blog here?"

ali_af — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 05:28:53 +0000

https://ali.af Adding mine to the list here :-)

New comment by ali_af in "How America lost its love for the stick shift"

ali_af — Wed, 12 Sep 2018 01:46:19 +0000

My issue with automatic transmissions is that while they may be able to predict optimal settings in specific conditions, they cannot understand the overall conditions of traffic and operate accordingly.

An example is bumper to bumper traffic moving at high speed. Traffic may momentarily slow down abruptly, then pick up again. All automatic transmissions I have driven react the same when I release the gas, and then press it again as traffic speeds back up. They either stay in high gear, so the torque is not immediately available when traffic speeds up, or worse, they take a few seconds to downshift and then lunge forward.

With a standard transmission, I can put the car in neutral when I see brake lights ahead, slow down with the brakes if necessary, and when traffic starts moving faster, I drop into the appropriate gear for the speed I'm at and the torque I need.

New comment by ali_af in "Huawei caught cheating performance test for new phones"

ali_af — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 03:44:54 +0000

  People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware

I never get tired of this quote, and I will always point to it when people compare iOS/Android or macOS/Windows.

New comment by ali_af in "2003 Request of Afghanistan for Redelegation of the .af Top-Level Domain"

ali_af — Wed, 31 Jan 2018 10:21:09 +0000

I tried registering a .af domain around ten years ago. At the time the Afghan NIC registration process involved downloading a PDF application, manually filling out your WHOIS info and nameservers, then emailing it to them. Registration fees were paid via a wire transfer to their NY bank account. Actually it turns out this is still the process [1]

Eventually though I found a registrar that supports .af domains and I was able to secure mine :^)

[1] http://nic.af/en/page/what-we-do/afgnic/af-registration

New comment by ali_af in "How Apple sidestepped a 2013 crackdown on its Irish tax practices"

ali_af — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 20:48:23 +0000

Note that Cook has been vocal about repatriation and has suggested that it be mandatory to all corporations, then taxed specifically for infrastructure development.

New comment by ali_af in "Ask HN: Why does my credit union check if I'm logged into Steam and Reddit?"

ali_af — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 21:18:13 +0000

Safari sandboxes each tab so you could simply dedicate each one to a specific website.

New comment by ali_af in "Technology preview: Private contact discovery for Signal"

ali_af — Tue, 26 Sep 2017 18:42:59 +0000

Yes, they rolled this out in a relatively recent update.

New comment by ali_af in "iOS 11 reviewed"

ali_af — Tue, 19 Sep 2017 20:04:46 +0000

To add to the list of questionable UI changes, they are continuing to push iMessage Apps and there is no way to remove the icon from the input bar. Now with iOS 11 they have added an additional bar whether you use any apps or not.

New comment by ali_af in "Under iOS 11, authorities won’t be able to image your device without a passcode"

ali_af — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 03:47:08 +0000

I believe that they simply dumped the NAND to circumvent the passcode entry limit then brute-forced. But it was also an iPhone 5C model which does not include the Secure Enclave. This method could not be reproduced on any model beyond the 5S.

New comment by ali_af in "Ask HN: Should a login be a Username or an Email?"

ali_af — Sun, 02 Jul 2017 08:14:03 +0000

Gmail actually banks on the idea that most people just fill out whatever fields they are presented. The phone number is not actually required to register an account.

New comment by ali_af in "The iPhone killed my inner nerd"

ali_af — Fri, 30 Jun 2017 10:47:04 +0000

On one hand you could take advantage of available tools to make your job easier. On the other you could do everything from scratch for personal satisfaction. Neither option discounts the other but I think the author comes off as whiny when he clearly chose the former over latter.

New comment by ali_af in "Crash Bandicoot: An oral history"

ali_af — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 21:51:08 +0000

Andy Gavin wrote a series on the creation of Crash Bandicoot [1]. It covers some of the intricate details and compromises of developing for the Playstation. It's one of my favorite pieces of writing, definitely recommend it to anyone who likes development articles.

[1] http://all-things-andy-gavin.com/2011/02/02/making-crash-ban...