Hacker News: de_dave

New comment by de_dave in "Ask HN: How do you keep up with HN these days?"

de_dave — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 08:04:24 +0000

A quick occasional glance through https://serializer.io/ has been serving me well for a few years now!

New comment by de_dave in "Show HN: Pardus Browser- a browser for AI agents without Chromium"

de_dave — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 11:39:03 +0000

How does this compare to Lightpanda, which appears to be trying to solve the same issue? https://github.com/lightpanda-io/browser (personally super happy to see Chromium-free solutions in this space!)

New comment by de_dave in "Report reveals Android users switching to iPhone at 5-year high"

de_dave — Wed, 17 May 2023 18:43:01 +0000

I wonder what the equivalent data are for iPhone to Android switchers. It could also be similarly high, suggesting consumers are switching in higher numbers both ways?

New comment by de_dave in "Ask HN: What was the best software that you used during 2022?"

de_dave — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 20:21:47 +0000

If I could only pick one, it would be Dynalist [0]. I know it's essentially just another webapp (with mobile apps) for writing lists, but for some reason is the first one I actually found myself using, both at work and personally.

I primarily use it to keep work logs, write high-level system designs, remember dinner recipes - or generally anything valuable or useful that can be expressed in list form.

[0] https://dynalist.io/

New comment by de_dave in "New system76 laptop: Oryx Pro"

de_dave — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 07:42:23 +0000

On my third XPS 13 now, each of which came with Windows, but I've been running Linux flawlessly on each since day one.

So not sure what the techs would be referring to.

New comment by de_dave in "Ocado's burning robotic warehouse"

de_dave — Fri, 08 Feb 2019 09:20:40 +0000

This isn't strictly true. I know in South London that Tesco orders are not "picked from local stores by hand" - they're packed in and dispatched from the same enormous warehouses and depots that supply the stores, and there's some degree of automation involved (although not to the same level of Ocado.)

tomscott: the closest I've ever come to falling for a Gmail phishing attack

de_dave — Fri, 23 Dec 2016 12:22:13 +0000

Article URL: https://twitter.com/tomscott/status/812268998742118400

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13244399

Points: 4

# Comments: 0

New comment by de_dave in "Mastercard sued for $19B in Britain's biggest damages claim"

de_dave — Fri, 09 Sep 2016 16:20:58 +0000

Not a misprint: https://www.adyen.com/blog/eu-interchange-fees-cap (good summary of the regulation and what it covers)

Philae Found

de_dave — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 13:53:18 +0000

Article URL: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Philae_found

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12430298

Points: 1238

# Comments: 125

New comment by de_dave in "Android Instant Apps: Android apps to run instantly without installation"

de_dave — Wed, 25 May 2016 13:48:36 +0000

How does that work if the APK is huge (or bigger than a couple of megs at least)? That doesn't seem very "instant" to me...

Is the APK re-arranged perhaps so it can, in effect, "progressively" download the app as required?

New comment by de_dave in "Android Instant Apps: Android apps to run instantly without installation"

de_dave — Wed, 25 May 2016 11:58:32 +0000

My assumption is that layouts/graphics are downloaded to the device, but application logic is run remotely.

Can't find any confirmation though.

New comment by de_dave in "Ask HN: How do you encrypt your laptops?"

de_dave — Tue, 24 May 2016 15:39:20 +0000

Allegedly it's 256-bit AES and would take thousands of years to brute force. (Allegedly, because of course there's no way for me to easily verify!)

New comment by de_dave in "Ask HN: How do you encrypt your laptops?"

de_dave — Tue, 24 May 2016 15:18:33 +0000

You're correct, it's not going to stop someone who knows exactly what they're doing and has the time/patience/tools to brute force. But it is enough to stop casual thieves from stealing more than just hardware, which is (fortunately) my main concern.

New comment by de_dave in "Ask HN: How do you encrypt your laptops?"

de_dave — Tue, 24 May 2016 14:31:46 +0000

I use the standard hardware encryption of my SSD (a Samsung 830 in my 2012-era Dell XPS 13), which requires I enter the passphrase when I turn my machine on.

Advantages:

  - OS neutral
  - Seemingly as fast as running 'unencrypted' 
    (I assume performance is identical, the only
    difference being the passphrase is stored in
    my head rather than the BIOS)

Disadvantages:

  - Limited to an 8-char (!) ASCII passphrase
  - I've no idea how secure it really is
  - Can't audit the algorithm (not that I have
    the technical ability to)

New comment by de_dave in "London may elect it's first Muslim mayor"

de_dave — Thu, 05 May 2016 10:15:35 +0000

He did put up a good opposition to the other party during that time though.

New comment by de_dave in "James Goodfellow patented the ATM, created the first pin code, earned £10"

de_dave — Mon, 02 May 2016 15:07:54 +0000

"Money" being Guardian Money, the section of The Guardian newspaper devoted to money matters that this article belongs to.

SteamVR Launch

de_dave — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 14:42:13 +0000

Article URL: http://www.steamvr.com

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11430729

Points: 3

# Comments: 1

New comment by de_dave in "Duplicacy: cross-platform cloud backup tool based on lock-free deduplication"

de_dave — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 12:38:52 +0000

  During beta testing only binaries are available.

Why?! Surely this is the optimum time to provide source code, given the amount of trust one has to place in these things to not lose/misplace your data.

New comment by de_dave in "SourceKit Chrome Extension Cannot Be Uninstalled"

de_dave — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 07:55:21 +0000

It's a Chrome bug: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=517910...

New comment by de_dave in "Ask HN: What's your primary development laptop?"

de_dave — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 17:14:23 +0000

Dell XPS 13 (2013) - i7, 8GB, 256GB running Fedora. It's been fantastic. The runtime recently went off a cliff to 2-3 hours though so I bought and fitted a new battery - it took all of 5 minutes and it now lasts 6-7 hours on a single charge again.

Cost ~£750 from Dell's refurb store and can easily see it lasting anther 3 years. Bargain!