Hacker News: grvbck

New comment by grvbck in "The paper computer"

grvbck — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 09:53:50 +0000

On one of my first qualified jobs, my manager (a lovely older lady) did exactly this. All incoming emails were printed and put into a binder. Then she would go home, write an answer with a pen on the back side of every single one, and on the next day write a new email to the recipient. 10-15 % of all emails she sent this way would bounce because she had written the address incorrectly.

When I showed her the reply button in Eudora (this was in 2001), she was so happy that she bought me a cake.

She struggled with IT but was tack sharp otherwise. So far she's the only boss I've ever really liked.

New comment by grvbck in "Darkbloom – Private inference on idle Macs"

grvbck — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 09:42:36 +0000

Broken calculator or am I missing something here?

  Macbook Air M2  8GB   12h/day -> $647/month

  Mac Mini M4     32GB  12h/day -> $290/month

I mean, I'd be happy to buy a few used M2 Airs with minimal specs and start printing money but…

New comment by grvbck in "Filing the corners off my MacBooks"

grvbck — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 12:03:25 +0000

Not strictly DIY because a professional anodizing workshop did the actual anodizing, but cool results nevertheless:

https://lowendmac.com/2024/ryan-andersons-colorized-anodized...

New comment by grvbck in "You can't trust macOS Privacy and Security settings"

grvbck — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 18:10:56 +0000

That is really poorly worded by Apple, because if I understand it correctly, the "Files & Folders" list is just a list of apps that have requested Full Disk Access/FDA (or other locations).

It's really confusing that some of those settings can be toggled on/off, while the Full Disk Access is greyed out and can only be toggled under "Privacy & Security".

To add to the confusion, toggling FDA off just protects a few selected folders that Apple decided are extra sensitive, like:

  Messages                     ~/Library/Messages
  Safari browsing history      ~/Library/Safari
  Cookies                      ~/Library/Cookies
  Identity services            ~/Library/IdentityServices
  Spotlight data               ~/Library/Metadata/CoreSpotlight
  Phone call history           ~/Library/Application Support/CallHistoryDB
  Facetime data                ~/Library/Application Support/Facetime
  TCC database                 ~/Library/Application Support/com.apple.TCC.db

"Normal" files and folders on your disk (including Desktop, Documents, Downloads, network volumes, and removable volumes) can always be accessed (even with FDA permission revoked!) after a simple prompt. [1]

[1] https://support.apple.com/guide/security/controlling-app-acc...

New comment by grvbck in "Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones"

grvbck — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 16:07:09 +0000

Won't those cut right through the ANC just by volume alone? A domestic fire alarm is 85–120 dB, I don't think my airpods can mute that.

And of course there will always be fringe cases. What if I go to sleep with regular foam earplugs, what if I take a sleeping pill etc. Or what if the warning sound can't be engineered to fit a ANC friendly frequency, like somebody screaming, a car tire screech behind me and so on.

New comment by grvbck in "Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones"

grvbck — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 14:51:15 +0000

> imagine if you were at the grocery store, blocking the isle and someone lightly chimed a bell at you instead of just saying "excuse me"

Greetings from Sweden, where some people will verbally announce "honk honk" (tuut tuut) while avoiding eye contact – then bump into your leg with their grocery cart.

New comment by grvbck in "Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones"

grvbck — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 14:43:07 +0000

I don't know… If I'm sitting at home or at a cafe working, I want my headphones to block all bicycle bells and ambulances on the street. Those in traffic could perhaps just turn their ANC off?

New comment by grvbck in "Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones"

grvbck — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 13:22:30 +0000

For anyone that wants to actually hear the bell before reading all the marketing material:

Bell sound starts at 2:09 in the video.

New comment by grvbck in "Artemis II will use laser beams to live-stream 4K moon footage at 260 Mbps"

grvbck — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 20:16:37 +0000

> Things leave your field a view much faster than anticipated.

Not sure about that. NASA has been using Kineto Tracking Mounts and ROTI (radar-assisted and optical tracking) since 1981. Those systems were developed for the Columbia launch. I find it hard to believe that today's computer-guided cameras would let anything slip out of frame unintentionally.

President's new science council: 9 billionaires and 1 scientist

grvbck — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:45:22 +0000

Article URL: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trumps-new-science-panel-includes-9-tech-billionaires-and-just-one-scientist/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47589111

Points: 53

# Comments: 15

New comment by grvbck in "Gonon: Building a Clock with No Numerals"

grvbck — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 12:09:03 +0000

That's what I was thinking too. A clock without any culture-specific aspects could just rely on astronomy. The most objective form of that would just be a progress bar, from zenith to zenith. Perhaps with a marker half-way, and so on.

New comment by grvbck in "How the Turner twins are mythbusting modern technical apparel"

grvbck — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 10:08:38 +0000

Most likely Ansel Adams, famous landscape photographer.

New comment by grvbck in "Honda is killing its EVs"

grvbck — Sun, 15 Mar 2026 17:34:18 +0000

> you can put panels on your rooftop and slow charge it during the day

The real Mad Max will be roaming the apocalyptic wasteland in a Kia EV5.

New comment by grvbck in "Pentagon formally labels Anthropic supply-chain risk"

grvbck — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 20:17:47 +0000

For now it's in-house counsel Jeffrey Bleich, former special counsel to President Obama.

https://www.inc.com/chris-morris/legal-legend-leading-anthro...

New comment by grvbck in "MacBook Neo"

grvbck — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 16:36:34 +0000

> what exactly are you looking for?

File management that doesn't suck, incl. better handling of external drives.

New comment by grvbck in "MacBook Neo"

grvbck — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 16:16:41 +0000

My 2010 Macbook Pro with 8GB works still. Not a daily driver anymore, but Word, Excel, Lightroom, Garageband, MainStage etc work just fine. Youtube videos up to 1080p play without stuttering in Floorp. It's not quick, but it is useable.

New comment by grvbck in "Welcome (back) to Macintosh"

grvbck — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 02:18:24 +0000

> they do nothing to change corporate behavior.

Well, they should. I've been on Mac since System 6.0.7. I've had a Mac Clone. I've been mocked by more Windows users for "using a toy computer" than I can remember. I remember (and briefly used) BeOS. I remember The Mac Performa-series fiasco. The Copland failure. Steve's return. The launch of OS X.

In all those years, I have NEVER witnessed such widespread dissatisfaction among long-time, loyal users, heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem. Users so frustrated with Apple's moronic decisions and the design of the OS that they are literally paying money to abandon it. I'm one of them. The frustration isn't rooted in nostalgia or resistance to change. It's the accumulation of what feels like contemptuous decision-making.

If that doesn't set off alarm bells in Cupertino, I guess it's just one more proof that parting ways is indeed the right call.

New comment by grvbck in "NASA announces overhaul of Artemis program amid safety concerns, delays"

grvbck — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 18:49:57 +0000

I think the narrative is more difficult now, as is visibility of goals. “Land a man on the Moon and return him safely” is a clear objective, while “decarbonize the global economy” or “make AI safe and useful” are fuzzier, and don’t give you a single flag‑planting moment.

But there's no lack of huge achievements. The Mars rovers are amazing: super-sonic parachutes, retro rockets, deploying a little helicopter with no real-time control is huge. So is planting JWST at the L2 point and unfolding it a million miles from earth.

Also, the NASA budget in the 1960's was 10 times higher.

New comment by grvbck in "Statement from Dario Amodei on our discussions with the Department of War"

grvbck — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 01:24:36 +0000

> They're polluting

They absolutely are, but per capita, USA is polluting 49.67 % more than China.

Source: https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/carbon-fo...

New comment by grvbck in "LT6502: A 6502-based homebrew laptop"

grvbck — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 01:11:24 +0000

> One thing I do know for sure. LLMs would have been impossible.

We had ELIZA, and that was enough for people to anthropomorphize their teletype terminals.