Hacker News: jamescun

New comment by jamescun in "A distributed queue in a single JSON file on object storage"

jamescun — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 10:48:58 +0000

This post touches on a realisation I made a while ago, just how far you can get with the guarantees and trade-offs of object storage.

What actually _needs_ to be in the database? I've never gone as far as building a job queue on top of object storage, but have been involved in building surprisingly consistent and reliable systems with object storage.

New comment by jamescun in "Show HN: Witr – Explain why a process is running on your Linux system"

jamescun — Sat, 27 Dec 2025 13:12:57 +0000

Have a look at https://goreleaser.com/ , I've used it a bunch to automate releases of Go-based projects, locally and with GitHub Actions.

New comment by jamescun in "Remember That DNA You Gave 23andMe?"

jamescun — Sat, 28 Sep 2024 13:53:30 +0000

UK citizen and 23andMe customer here. How likely is the sale of UK/EU customer data, or is it worth submitting a GDPR deletion request anyway? Get my data deleted before it's sold.

New comment by jamescun in "Microsoft has serious questions to answer after the biggest IT outage in history"

jamescun — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 15:39:15 +0000

Not sure what questions Microsoft have to answer. A third-party vendor shipped defective software.

I guess the only question they could answer is why they don't provide a framework like Apple do with Endpoint Security for third-party vendors to use.

New comment by jamescun in "Steam's Last Stand"

jamescun — Fri, 31 May 2024 07:36:13 +0000

That channel is a gem!

New comment by jamescun in "Ask HN: How is the Spotify app so bad?"

jamescun — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 09:16:13 +0000

I was recently in hospital with not-so-great WiFi.

With the mobile app, I would often notice Spotify loading album artwork, lyris, artist information and even video before playing the music. It's network prioritisation is deeply disconnected from the users wants.

I remember when Spotify heavily optimised to play music in the quickest possible time. Enshittification indeed.

New comment by jamescun in "Rapid7 throws JetBrains under the bus for uncoordinated vulnerability disclosure"

jamescun — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 15:01:48 +0000

Why is silently patching considered a "no-no by the infosec community"?

If your product's automatic update functionality can reach most users within the responsible disclosure window, that sounds like a net positive? We still learn about the vulnerability but limits the potential fallout of the disclosure.

I'm very much in-favour of the private vulnerability research and responsible disclosure, but the "no silently patching vulnerabilities" sounds more like wanting to own the press to me than actually wanting to improve people's security.

New comment by jamescun in "ICO fines HelloFresh £140k for spam texts and emails"

jamescun — Sun, 14 Jan 2024 10:23:58 +0000

The ICO has always been a bit of a wet blanket. Never really uses its powers effectively. From pathetic fines to putting out press releases about raids before they happen. £140k is just the cost of doing business with 79 million spam emails and 1 million spam texts.

New comment by jamescun in "Better HTTP server routing in Go 1.22"

jamescun — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 13:43:01 +0000

I don't like this. Is there a reason for using a stringified method prefix?

I'd prefer the type safety of verb-specific methods (i.e. mux.Get, mux.Post etc) than magic strings validated at run time. Additionally editors can autocomplete/intellisense methods.

Digg's v4 launch: an optimism born of necessity (2018)

jamescun — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 10:13:47 +0000

Article URL: https://lethain.com/digg-v4/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36210548

Points: 246

# Comments: 327

New comment by jamescun in "Hobby Club’s Missing Balloon Feared Shot Down by USAF"

jamescun — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 20:18:03 +0000

I'm based in the UK and have a passive interest in amateur radio. If I had to guess, it isn't outright forbidden, just a licensed activity. Maybe the license isn't easy to get or widely granted?

Building Our Public API Alpha

jamescun — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 10:14:49 +0000

Article URL: https://riskledger.com/blog/building-our-public-api-alpha/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32562656

Points: 2

# Comments: 2

How we approach virus scanning uploaded files

jamescun — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 09:23:49 +0000

Article URL: https://riskledger.com/blog/how-we-approach-virus-scanning-uploaded-files/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32436198

Points: 5

# Comments: 0

New comment by jamescun in "Ask HN: Who is hiring? (July 2022)"

jamescun — Fri, 01 Jul 2022 15:36:19 +0000

Risk Ledger | Remote/Hybrid London, UK | Full-Time | Backend, Frontend and Product Design | https://riskledger.com

We're a London-based startup, with a mission to solve the problem of security risk in the supply chain, globally. The world runs on data, with every business relationship involving a great degree of trust. We facilitate that trust. Risk Ledger offers a secure social network model for organisations to connect and share their security and risk data.

Risk Ledger is backed by multiple high-profile VCs, including Lifeline Ventures, firstminute capital, Seedcamp, Village Global and Episode 1. We're already working with a number of great companies across multiple verticals to achieve our vision, including the likes of ASOS, Snyk, BAE Systems and the NHS.

Senior Backend Engineer https://riskledger.com/careers/senior-backend-engineer

Senior Frontend Engineer https://riskledger.com/careers/senior-frontend-engineer

Product Designer https://riskledger.com/careers/product-designer

Valve Isn’t a Company Interested in Mods Anymore

jamescun — Sun, 05 Jun 2022 09:22:09 +0000

Article URL: https://thetaxcollectorman.medium.com/valve-isnt-interested-in-mods-anymore-ec1c7371530f

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31629287

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by jamescun in "Unofficial firmware upgrade for Dyson V6/V7 vacuum battery management system"

jamescun — Tue, 24 May 2022 10:13:02 +0000

I bought a Dyson V7, and the battery life even from new is atrocious. On a full charge, unable to cover my very modest London flat, and of course, it cannot be used while charging.

I even fitted a larger aftermarket battery. Still awkward to use. Eventually I gave up, and bought a corded Henry from Numatic.

I cannot recommend a cordless Dyson for anything except light dust busting.

New comment by jamescun in "Using a "proper" camera as a webcam"

jamescun — Tue, 17 May 2022 21:03:00 +0000

Yes, works fine. I'm not sure what it's optimal audio pickup area is, but perched atop my screen ~50cm away from my mouth, I have no issues.

New comment by jamescun in "Using a "proper" camera as a webcam"

jamescun — Tue, 17 May 2022 20:30:35 +0000

+1 for the C920.

Got lucky and got one before the prices of webcams went crazy due to pandemic demand. Think they are back to around ~£60 now.

It just works. Plugged it in, picked up within macOS without a problem, immediately usable in Google Meet. Picture is fine, audio is fine. No complaints.

New comment by jamescun in "US Army's Land Trains (2020)"

jamescun — Mon, 16 May 2022 19:30:06 +0000

> The VC-22 was quickly assembled in a little more than a month.

Most incredible takeaway from the article.

New comment by jamescun in "Req – An HTTP Scripting Language"

jamescun — Tue, 01 Mar 2022 19:19:26 +0000

Great idea! I have a similar, long forgotten, idea in the projects folder also called "req". Look forward to seeing this develop!