Hacker News: dillutedfixer

New comment by dillutedfixer in "216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]"

dillutedfixer — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 18:25:54 +0000

I was strongly considering something like that, but the actual screen technology in them is not that great. The new OLED panels look stunning in comparison, because generally those commercial sets are older LCD technology.

New comment by dillutedfixer in "216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]"

dillutedfixer — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 18:12:38 +0000

I've been tinkering with electronics for the better part of 40 years so I am fairly comfortable cracking stuff open to at least take a look. The TV's I have (B5) were fairly easy to get into. I unplugged the TV and left it unplugged for a little bit to let all the capacitors drain, then I put it face down on a towel on the floor, took 6 or so screws off the bottom, 1 off the back, then the back panel just pops off because it's held on with some clips. The WiFi/BT module was easy to identify, it has some shielded chips with a shielded ribbon cord going to it. It's on the bottom right hand side if you're looking at the back. I unplugged both ends of the ribbon cord by pushing the clip holding it in back/up. Obviously try all of this at your own risk if you're going to. If you're used to opening up and messing with electronics, it was not that hard or time consuming.

edit: one thing I will add is that I was extremely careful moving the screen or pushing on it while working on it. I have heard the super-thin OLED panels are easy to crack from just a little bit too much force.

New comment by dillutedfixer in "216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]"

dillutedfixer — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 16:27:24 +0000

Well even if they don't do it now, these are just a forced update away from using WiFi to connect to an open AP to do whatever they want. I also really hated the fact that there was really no way to turn BT off. Anytime the TV was on it showed up as a BT device ready to connect, and I would get random neighbors trying to and having to say no to random pop ups approving connections. Now these things are sans any type of wireless, and when it comes time to sell them, it will take me 5 mins to reconnect the internal ribbon cable.

New comment by dillutedfixer in "216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]"

dillutedfixer — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 15:11:57 +0000

It's not connected to the internet. The AppleTV is.

New comment by dillutedfixer in "216M Spy TVs – The LG Smart TV Problem [video]"

dillutedfixer — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 15:01:05 +0000

As an owner of 2 LG OLEDs, I am not surprised at all. I neutered these things the first day I was past the return policy. Opened the back and unplugged the WiFi/BT chip, bought a cheap dumb universal remote with no mic in it, disagreed to all T&C in the TV, updated the firmware via USB and just use an AppleTV over HDMI for streaming. Kind of silly to have to go through all of this but hey thats where we are in 2026 in the US. And I am fully aware that I am typing this on an iPhone thats probably doing the same things that this article is talking about LG doing ;-(

New comment by dillutedfixer in "I added a real-time chat to my blog, people used it to attack me"

dillutedfixer — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 17:01:17 +0000

It controlled lights. IIRC there was a grid of squares on the website that you could click on to turn specific lights on or off. There was a webcam pointed at the sign that refreshed every few seconds so you could see the changes. I remember the sign being right above an escalator.

New comment by dillutedfixer in "I added a real-time chat to my blog, people used it to attack me"

dillutedfixer — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 15:11:23 +0000

Exactly. I remember a website from the late 90s that let anonymous users control an LED sign in some shopping mall in Japan. More often than not there were things like swastikas and penises on the board. This type of behavior is nothing new, unfortunately.

New comment by dillutedfixer in "Seedance 2.5"

dillutedfixer — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 16:25:06 +0000

This. I work in higher education and I would say that in my experience with hundreds of 18-22 year olds in the last few years, their sentiment towards genai images/video/music is overall very negative and skeptical.

New comment by dillutedfixer in "Show HN: Elevators"

dillutedfixer — Sat, 01 Aug 2026 01:53:55 +0000

If you want a trip down memory lane, go to InfiniteMac.org, spin up a System 7.5 emulator, go to the InfiniteHD/Games folder and launch SimTower!! Such a fun blast of nostalgia. I loved the game as a kid and can still very much enjoy it as a mid-40 year old.

New comment by dillutedfixer in "Apple's weird anti-nausea dots cured my car sickness"

dillutedfixer — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 22:58:38 +0000

I started getting nausea from FPS games around the time I got into my 30s. It was when Fallout 4 came out and I just had to play that game. So I did some research and found out about sea-bands. Theyre for morning sickness that pregnant women get. They worked wonders for my FPS nausea. I was able to play through many games after that without getting sick. Put them on about 10 mins before playing and wear them for the duration.

edit: clarity

New comment by dillutedfixer in "Recovering videos from my Sony camera that I stupidly deleted"

dillutedfixer — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 22:06:38 +0000

Fun and useful fact - if you ever buy a Sandisk SD card, there is a license key for RescuePRO Deluxe inside if you peel apart the two pieces of the cardboard that make the packaging! The software works for any type of drive and I have had great luck with it recovering some of my students projects.

New comment by dillutedfixer in "Disk Utility still can't check and repair APFS volumes and containers (2021)"

dillutedfixer — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 16:00:58 +0000

A few years back I found a bug that would make deleted photos show up in the Photos app on iPhone simply by putting transparent PNGs into the photo library. I reported it to Apple via web, no response. I called their support and talked to a very nice guy who had an in-depth conversation with me about it and even watched a video I made showing the bug. He said he was taking the issue "up the chain." About 6 months and two .x.x releases later and the bug still existed. I reported it again, no response.

So I emailed AppleInsider who did a short article about it and within two weeks another .x.x release came out and the bug was fixed.

Sadly I think this is one of the only ways to get big tech companies to take action these days. Cant tell you how many times I have read about Comcast, Verizon, etc screwing someone over and being unreasonable about it until theres an article on ArsTechnica or some similar site about it.

New comment by dillutedfixer in "Eleven Music"

dillutedfixer — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 20:40:40 +0000

Like you, I am just a hobbyist making beats in my room. No expectations of ever being a real musician. But when I'm jamming and I create a beat and synth line, start adding other instruments and really get a song going, there is a feeling that I get that an generated song will never ever ever be able to recreate for me. It's like a rush, an almost a euphoric tingling (and no I'm not on drugs) that happens that almost feels like a runners high. No output from a prompt-driven AI algorithm would ever do that to me. That's the value I see in making art for arts sake, for practicing a craft and for trying to just get better at something for the sake of getting better at it.

New comment by dillutedfixer in "Researchers identify major driver of inflammatory bowel and related diseases"

dillutedfixer — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 21:04:27 +0000

I was diagnosed with UC in my mid-30's, am in my early 40's now. I used to deal with flare-ups about twice a year that always coincided with allergy season (May and October/November). I was living in Colorado at the time and was drinking lots of heavy craft beer quite regularly. Three years ago, I cut out about 98% of alcohol from my life, and when I drank, I only drank clear things - hard seltzers and gin. But only once or twice a month at the most. I hadn't had a flare-up in that entire time, until this last holiday weekend when I drank whiskey and was hit with horrible UC symptoms immediately. As someone in the throes of a flare-up right now, I have to say that research like this is promising. But yeah, for me alcohol, primarily darker alcohol like whisky and red wine, are an absolute trigger for me.

New comment by dillutedfixer in "A 32-Bit Computer Inside Terraria [video]"

dillutedfixer — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 20:33:44 +0000

I just want to say that this is incredibly impressive on so many levels. Your technical skills are obviously amazing but I really love how you were able to put this all together into an entertaining and well-produced video that anyone could understand. If you ever want to get paid 1/4 of what I'm sure you'll make as an engineer, you'd make a great teacher ;)

New comment by dillutedfixer in "Tell HN: DEI initiatives undermine the self esteem of PoC within a company"

dillutedfixer — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 14:11:17 +0000

Thank you for sharing this. I feel the exact same way. Work at a state university. Found out at a big town hall style meeting that I was hired during a "diversity cluster hire." I know I am talented but I was sitting there questioning myself. I am hispanic. Everyone speaking about the cluster hire was white. I appreciate the overall push towards awareness of this issue but I agree this felt like we were being paraded around. I skipped the "DEI Luncheon."

New comment by dillutedfixer in "Dell Tried to Hide Bad Capacitors Problem 2003-2005 (2010)"

dillutedfixer — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 00:11:38 +0000

Oh man, this brings back memories! I worked helpdesk for a mid-sized company in SF these years. Things got so bad with our Dell machines that I would call my local Dell repair tech and he would answer the phone with "Ok how many bulging capacitors this time?". We probably replaced at least 100 motherboards for bad caps in such a short time. Reflecting on that, the amount of e-waste generated from this must have been staggering.

Jerry - if you're reading this, you probably single-handedly kept that place running ;)

New comment by dillutedfixer in "Cache of 19th-Century Blue Jeans Discovered in Abandoned Arizona Mineshaft"

dillutedfixer — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 16:14:36 +0000

Look for Levi's with 100% cotton (well really like 60/40 cotton/hemp), or 99% cotton. These last far longer. All this stupid stretchy synthetic fabric wears out differently than natural fibers and then jeans start to fall apart. The all natural ones feel more stiff at first, but they break in and are super comfortable.

I just shopped at the Levi's store at the mall in San Jose, and the jeans I mentioned were hidden on bottom shelves under all of the horrible synthetic crap. The good stuff is there, you just have to look for it.

New comment by dillutedfixer in "Cats and the Laws of Physics"

dillutedfixer — Sat, 24 Sep 2022 16:57:07 +0000

"Cats do not abide by the laws of physics."

-- Charlie Kelly

New comment by dillutedfixer in "The movie Hackers was released 27 years ago"

dillutedfixer — Fri, 16 Sep 2022 15:23:21 +0000

This is one of the best lines from any movie ever.

I used it on a much younger co-worker of mine when he was having an issue with a website and it turned out to be a problem with cookies.

It was clear to me from his facial response that he had never seen the movie. It didn't go over well.