Hacker News: elahd

New comment by elahd in "Nearly half of LG smart TV apps contain residential proxy SDKs"

elahd — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 23:39:24 +0000

Put the TV remote in a drawer and only use the Apple TV remote. With CEC enabled, that one remote will control power and volume for the TV and any connected audio devices. It'll also switch to the proper input when the Apple TV is turned on.

New comment by elahd in "Show HN: boringBar – a taskbar-style dock replacement for macOS"

elahd — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 18:18:58 +0000

In addition to changing bar size, would you consider supporting a multi-level bar? This is a Windows (pre-11) taskbar behavior where you can drag the top of the taskbar bar up to add additional rows of windows. uBar supports this, but the app overall doesn't behave well with my multi-monitor setup. Currently using Taskbar, but it's also buggy and only supports a single row.

New comment by elahd in "NYC Congestion Pricing Tracker"

elahd — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 15:45:32 +0000

This is great, but I'd be more interested in seeing how congestion pricing impacts travel times for buses, specifically, (within and around the congestion zone, including express routes from the outer boroughs), as well as overall transit ridership.

@gotmedium, would you consider integrating:

1. MTA's Bus Time feed: https://bustime.mta.info/wiki/Developers/Index and 2. MTA bus/MNRR/LIRR/Access-A-Ride ridership feed: https://data.ny.gov/Transportation/MTA-Daily-Ridership-Data-... 3. Equivalent feeds for city-connected NJ transit services.

New comment by elahd in "Entangled Photons Maintained Under New York Streets"

elahd — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 14:42:10 +0000

Keys on shabbat is doable without an eruv¹²³. (It's not considered carrying if it's an integral part of your clothing.) Eruvs are more for strollers/carrying small kids, dessert/wine when invited for lunch, etc.

¹https://thekeybelt.com

²https://www.judaica-world.com/index.php/adjustable-shabbos-k...

³https://maps.app.goo.gl/ptpGhwLeckdUTjUd7

New comment by elahd in "The pneumatic tube mail system in New York City"

elahd — Wed, 18 Oct 2023 00:46:57 +0000

Verizon, actually. Not the mail tubes specifically, but they own Empire City Subway, a 130 year old company rents out sub-street conduit for telecom. Their tubes are visible when streets are dug up for construction.

https://www.empirecitysubway.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_City_Subway

Looks like their lowest rate (<=2.5" conduit) is $3,660/mile/yr, not including installation, permitting, and city franchising fees. Still interested?

New comment by elahd in "Fixing Penn Station"

elahd — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 14:36:55 +0000

They've been connected since 1991[1]. Amtrak runs trains from Canada/Chicago/Vermont into Penn using this connection. Trains run down Metro North's Hudson Line, through a junction in Spuyten Duyvil[2], down the West Side Line[3] (former northern section of the High Line[4]), and into Penn through a tunnel under the LIRR's West Side Yard[5]. You can see the connection here[6] (follow "EC Freedom Tunnel"). The connection under the West Side Yard was built in '86. The rest of the tracks are over 100 years old.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Line#Empire_Connecti...

[2] https://goo.gl/maps/DgeeiQzryseFg6A5A

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Line

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Line

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Yard

[6] https://www.openrailwaymap.org/?style=standard&lat=40.756798...

New comment by elahd in "Ask HN: Options for Antivirus on Windows?"

elahd — Thu, 23 Jun 2022 14:37:23 +0000

I use ESET NOD32 and am happy with it. It does its job with "dignity" (no Norton-style hyperbolic popups), consumes little resources, and is inexpensive. It does a great job blocking malware and has a nice blocker for "potentially unwanted applications" (https://help.eset.com/glossary/en-US/unwanted_application.ht...).

The cheapest licenses are available on Amazon. Either NOD32 or Smart Security do the job -- I buy whatever is cheapest when the licenses expire.

I'm the family IT guy for my immediate family. Around five years ago, after fixing the nth malware infection on family computers, I bit the bullet and bought a few multi-seat ESET licenses for my parents, siblings, and their families. I haven't had to fix a virus/malware issue since then. Prior to this, they were all just using Windows Defender. I used one of the licenses on my own computers, so I have direct experience with the software, as well.

I install Unchecky (https://unchecky.com/) along with NOD32. This is a free tool that provides a second layer of protection against drive-by toolbar installs.

New comment by elahd in "Ask HN: Gmail popup – already on vs. count me in"

elahd — Wed, 11 May 2022 21:52:34 +0000

I figured this was:

1) An experiment to test the level of familiarity that non-technical users have with two factor authentication. That is, does a person who incidentally enabled SMS 2FA understand that having to enter an SMS code every time they log in is a pattern called "two factor authentication" as opposed to just some weird part of Google's login workflow.

2) An artifact of a user's security preferences living in a protected space that can't be accessed by Gmail's frontend. Gmail's dev team got an order to encourage users to enable 2FA and this is the best they could do.

3) A ploy to get people to review their 2FA settings -- or to be sold Titan Security Keys. Google's security team has sent me several emails over the past few months encouraging me to buy these, claiming that I'm at an increased risk of a targeted attack. I'm not fully bought in to their motives.

(All conjecture.)

New comment by elahd in "South Kensington station's escalator replacement project"

elahd — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 17:46:48 +0000

This isn't just a construction phenomenon. The NYC MTA uses trains for collecting garbage and, until recently, money.

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/mta-refuse-rigs-collect...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_train

New comment by elahd in "Mitmproxy 7.0"

elahd — Sat, 17 Jul 2021 04:00:59 +0000

You may be able to intercept a firmware update and load a binary poisoned with your own CA cert. (Lots of factors at play here, of course.)

I'm working on a similar problem (https://github.com/elahd/esp2ino/issues/16) with a project I maintain to sideload IoT device firmware (https://github.com/elahd/esp2ino).

I've been using both mitmproxy and IOXY (https://github.com/NVISOsecurity/IOXY), an intercepting proxy made specifically for MQTT. IOXY is a small, less mature project, but it's definitely worth checking out as a compliment to mitmproxy. Many devices managed via AWS IoT phone home over MQTT and, my limited experience aside, it looks like many don't bother validating certificates when authenticating over this protocol.

New comment by elahd in "Ask HN: How do you manage backup 2FA codes?"

elahd — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 21:47:51 +0000

- Password manager for both password storage and 2FA OTP generation. (Not the best practice, but the convenience is worth the trade-off.)

- Password manager for almost all 2FA backup code storage. Both the best place and the dumbest place to store these. "The best" because it's pretty secure; "the worst" because it's a single point of failure AND if I can access my password manager I already have access to my 2FA OTPs. I regularly make an encrypted backup of my password vault.

- Authy for 2FA OTP generation for my password manager.

- A printed card in my wallet for 2FA backup codes for my email account and password manager. Password manager master password is kept in a safe (in case I get hit in the head and forget it).

This isn't perfect, but it fits my risk profile.

Medtronic publicly releases ventilator specifications

elahd — Mon, 30 Mar 2020 23:00:34 +0000

Article URL: https://www.medtronic.com/us-en/e/open-files.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22733056

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by elahd in "How do we stop people from blinding other drivers with aftermarket LEDs?"

elahd — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 16:42:50 +0000

We do, but like many things here, it varies from state to state: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_inspection_in_the_Unit....

In New York, where I live, inspections are done by private mechanics (with a state license). There's a posted inspection standard (https://dmv.ny.gov/brochure/new-york-state-vehicle-safetyemi...). Lights must be "of an approved type," but I'm not sure how you can reliably check this in a shop.

Also, some mechanics are more stringent than others. Some are outright shady. New York sets a flat $37 fee for inspections, paid to the mechanic. The fee is low, so there's an awful incentive here to look for high-margin items that "need" to be repaired to pass the inspection. Brakes and windshield wipers are some of those items. A set of aftermarket light fixtures -- if they can even be identified -- not so much. (This is anecdotal, but I've experienced this type of inspection on more than one occasion.)

Other states, like New Jersey, do inspections solely at state-owned inspection facilities.

Regarding sales, it's not illegal to manufacture off-spec fixtures. It's illegal to have them on your car on a public road.

Patent 8,271,321: Apparatus for building management information (BuildingLink)

elahd — Wed, 08 Jan 2020 15:59:27 +0000

Article URL: http://patft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=8271321

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21992510

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by elahd in "Verified by Twilio"

elahd — Fri, 30 Aug 2019 14:24:44 +0000

The telephone network is international. The US is limited in its ability to enforce anti-spam laws against operations running out of other countries. (They also seem unwilling or unable to enforce these laws domestically, but that's a completely separate issue.)

New comment by elahd in "Raspberry Pi 4"

elahd — Mon, 24 Jun 2019 16:15:41 +0000

I have a Pi running Pi-hole, Home Assistant, Node Red, and some custom scripts. It uses a parts bin 2.5" laptop hard drive (via a USB to SATA cable) as the sole boot and storage medium. You can set most Pis to boot from USB and totally avoid touching SD cards.

It was easy to configure and sped up the Pi quite a bit. No reliability issues in about a year of use.

Boot from USB instructions are at https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberry....

New comment by elahd in "Floyd Martin retires after nearly 35 years as a mailman tomorrow"

elahd — Sat, 25 May 2019 13:02:05 +0000

In the US, at least, the post office is entirely self funded. The junk mail actually subsidizes the “legitimate” mail.

New comment by elahd in "NYC Mesh – community-owned network to replace your current internet connection"

elahd — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 13:45:01 +0000

The re-logging in problem can be solved via script. Check for the captive portal login page. If present, simulate clicking the log in button.

New comment by elahd in "Amazon buys PillPack, an online pharmacy, for just under $1B"

elahd — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 19:18:36 +0000

With a few exceptions, paper prescriptions have been outlawed in New York State. Everything is electronic now.

New comment by elahd in "DIY Server Cabinet Using IKEA Parts"

elahd — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 19:40:30 +0000

Aesthetics are great, but did you make any provisions for airflow? I'd be worried about equipment suffocation.