Hacker News: john61

New comment by john61 in "BirdyChat becomes first European chat app that is interoperable with WhatsApp"

john61 — Sun, 25 Jan 2026 05:59:37 +0000

WhatsApp just implemented cross messaging using the open Signal Protocol forced by the EU. We will see if the Signal messenger enables interop with WhatsApp, they are not forced to do this.

New comment by john61 in "BirdyChat becomes first European chat app that is interoperable with WhatsApp"

john61 — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 19:50:36 +0000

WhatsApp uses the open Signal Protocol.

New comment by john61 in "TI-99/4A: Leaning more on the firmware"

john61 — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 11:47:49 +0000

same story here :-)

New comment by john61 in "Briar keeps Iran connected via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when the internet goes dark"

john61 — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 12:57:34 +0000

A relevant talk from 39C3 Congress regarding Russia:

https://media.ccc.de/v/39c3-coding-dissent-art-technology-an...

Coding Dissent: Art, Technology, and Tactical Media

This presentation examines artistic practices that engage with sociotechnical systems through tactical interventions. The talk proposes art as a form of infrastructural critique and counter-technology. It also introduces a forthcoming HackLab designed to foster collaborative development of open-source tools addressing digital authoritarianism, surveillance capitalism, propaganda infrastructures, and ideological warfare.

In this talk, media artist and curator Helena Nikonole presents her work at the intersection of art, activism, and tactical technology — including interventions into surveillance systems, wearable mesh networks for off-grid communication, and AI-generated propaganda sabotage.

Featuring projects like Antiwar AI, the 868labs initiative, and the curatorial project Digital Resistance, the talk explores how art can do more than just comment on sociotechnical systems — it can interfere, infiltrate, and subvert them.

This is about prototypes as politics, networked interventions as civil disobedience, and media hacks as tools of strategic refusal. The talk asks: what happens when art stops decorating crisis and starts debugging it?

The talk will also introduce an upcoming HackLab initiative — a collaboration-in-progress that brings together artists, hackers, and activists to develop open-source tools for disruption, resilience, and collective agency — and invites potential collaborators to get involved.

New comment by john61 in "Odoo: Open-Source ERP"

john61 — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 05:58:57 +0000

This is open core. An old free fork: https://tryton.org

New comment by john61 in "OpenAI's cash burn will be one of the big bubble questions of 2026"

john61 — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 09:55:04 +0000

I would call it the ELIZA bubble. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA_effect

New comment by john61 in "The future of software development is software developers"

john61 — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 07:27:48 +0000

It is just the Eliza effect on a massive scale: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA_effect

Reading Weizenbaum today is eye opening: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Power_and_Human_Reaso...

New comment by john61 in "The biggest heat pumps"

john61 — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 05:56:07 +0000

In Vienna, a hospital is heated by a neighboring data center using a heat pump, while the hospital cools the data center.

https://www.wienenergie.at/blog/fernwaerme-zukunft/#Abw%C3%A...

New comment by john61 in "The biggest heat pumps"

john61 — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 17:13:27 +0000

There is a huge heat pump running in Vienna since 2019:

https://www.wienenergie.at/blog/staerkste-grosswaermepumpe-m...

a bigger one is planned:

https://www.wienenergie.at/ueber-uns/meilensteine/2022-spate...

New comment by john61 in "Koralm Railway"

john61 — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 19:43:03 +0000

> The only options to get around was the expensive train system

can be cheap when you book early. Vienna -> Graz -> Vienna: ~20€

New comment by john61 in "Has the cost of building software dropped 90%?"

john61 — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 20:02:48 +0000

LLMs are calculating probable text/code. A lot of it in very short time. Probable text/code is not the same as correct/proper text/code. It is a huge mass of probable and maybe correct/proper text/code. That is very dangerous as it looks correct but maybe it is not. It is likely that the cost of software will increase because of the unmanageable mess that this creates.

New comment by john61 in "CSS now has an if() conditional function"

john61 — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 08:31:10 +0000

> The distinction between code, config and data is being erased.

This distinction never existed in LISP. Greenspun's tenth rule in action.

New comment by john61 in "India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app"

john61 — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 11:36:36 +0000

The year of the Linux phone in India is coming.

New comment by john61 in "A new AI winter is coming?"

john61 — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 17:28:36 +0000

> The argument that computational complexity has something to do with this could have merit but the article certainly doesn’t give indication as to why.

OP says it is because that predicting the next token can be correct or not, but it always looks plausible because that is what it calculates. Therefore it is dangerous and can not be fixed because it is how it works in essence.

New comment by john61 in "Stopping bad guys from using my open source project (feedback wanted)"

john61 — Sun, 30 Nov 2025 08:39:19 +0000

Stallman's take on the issue: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/programs-must-not-limit-freed...

New comment by john61 in "GNU Health"

john61 — Sun, 12 Oct 2025 04:38:50 +0000

I am happy to live in a country that values data safety for critical patient data.

New comment by john61 in "GNU Health"

john61 — Sat, 11 Oct 2025 18:00:00 +0000

This is meant to be used in hospitals. Where I live no hospital personal uses phones to manage healthcare data. They have PCs.

New comment by john61 in "Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without MS account"

john61 — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 11:57:53 +0000

We united coders have the power to change that. We have done it in the past. We are going to do it again.

New comment by john61 in "Germany outfitted half a million balconies with solar panels"

john61 — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 17:36:18 +0000

Austria

New comment by john61 in "Germany outfitted half a million balconies with solar panels"

john61 — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 17:36:06 +0000

The solar panels are connected to a converter which is connected to the normal grid with a standard plug.