Hacker News: laksjd

New comment by laksjd in "Verifying Apple Reference Images"

laksjd — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 21:24:38 +0000

In the iPhone 18 Pro, Apple added trusted hardware in the camera sensor that cryptographically signs the pixel data, but outside of their own iOS 27 Photos app, there wasn't really a way to inspect and verify these "Apple Reference Image" pictures. After lots of experimentation and poking around, we now know a lot more details about what's going on under the hood, which allowed us to write the first open-source verifier tool as well as this interactive deep dive article.

Apple's approach is quite different from prior works like C2PA, not just that parts of it are integrated with the sensor hardware, but also in that the image that user generally see isn't actually cryptographically signed at all - only the (half-resolution, raw-ish) "reference" JPEG that's stored as invisible metadata inside the image file container is actually signed.

You also need to explicitly enable this reference image mode in the camera app, and then it's also quite easy to accidentally loose the reference part when sharing or exporting the image, so the user experience is definitively still a bit rough around the edges

Verifying Apple Reference Images

laksjd — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 21:24:38 +0000

Article URL: https://pps-lab.com/blog/verifying-apple-reference-image/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50358400

Points: 5

# Comments: 1

New comment by laksjd in "Google is making private AI practical with homomorphic encryption"

laksjd — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 14:28:21 +0000

With GPU acceleration, that 228 to 489s becomes a fraction of a second :)

https://belfortlabs.com/blog/belfort-partners-with-lg-on-enc...

New comment by laksjd in "Docker update ToS: Image retention limits imposed on free accounts"

laksjd — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 14:36:54 +0000

I just got an email notification and while I can understand that they're doing this (all those GB must add up to a significant cost), the relatively short notice seems unnecessary.

New comment by laksjd in "Ask HN: How to become the first result of a Google search for a name?"

laksjd — Sun, 26 Nov 2017 19:07:02 +0000

Your full name does not appear at all in the human readable text of your website...

New comment by laksjd in "“I thought I could ship at least 700 units to stay in business”"

laksjd — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 08:35:25 +0000

Even having a publisher doesn't address the underlying issue: There are simply too many 'indie' games. Relatively simple high-concept low-fidelity retro games don't have a huge audience and that audience is getting swamped with a torrent of games of varying quality.

New comment by laksjd in "Sinking container ships by hacking load plan software"

laksjd — Tue, 21 Nov 2017 15:36:58 +0000

Knapsack is only about weight, while this is about (most likely) packing 3D cuboids. But that problem is NP-hard, too ;)

New comment by laksjd in "Ask HN: What tech were you convinced would take the world by storm but didn't?"

laksjd — Fri, 17 Nov 2017 07:31:53 +0000

But what percentage of systems is actually ONLY implementable using a block-chain-based cryptocurrency?

I love decentralisation as much as the next guy but it's not a feature. Apart from the obvious authority-circumvention (both positive and negative), what killer features do these systems have?

All the interesting projects I've seen for ethereum rely on Intel SGX to bring ground truth about the real world onto the chain.

New comment by laksjd in "How the GDPR Will Disrupt Google and Facebook"

laksjd — Thu, 31 Aug 2017 08:28:26 +0000

Clicking yes might not even be necessary: I recently went to a laywer-oriented event (IANAL) that discussed the GDPR and it had a cheerful talk about "Alternatives to Consent"

The talk listed all the possible ways the law allows you to store/manipulate user data without requiring explicit consent... There are a shocking number and iirc they apply basically whenever you have a direct consumer relationship with some company.

New comment by laksjd in "Ellen Pao: My lawsuit failed. Others won’t"

laksjd — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 08:13:34 +0000

This xkcd came to my mind when I read that: https://xkcd.com/1019/

It's sobering to think about how easy it must be (for a sufficiently funded organisation) to effectively determine "public discourse" on a large number of topics.

Then again, never underestimate just how willing people are (all on their own) to grab their virtual pitchforks without much consideration.

New comment by laksjd in "Epic Games chief pays $15M to protect 7,000 acres of North Carolina wilderness"

laksjd — Thu, 10 Nov 2016 09:02:37 +0000

I'm sorry to say this but your country uses an outdated, deprecated implementation of Democracy. While we respect it greatly for its historical value as one of the first stable implementations, it is no longer recommended for production environments due to its many known critical bugs, most famously the first-past-the-post issue in its election algorithm.

Instead we'd recommend one of the European-republic forks (E.g. Germany's federalism 2.0) or, if you're feeling adventurous, one of the smaller forks like 'Direct Democracy' or the nordic-style forks.

Please note that those newer implementations have significantly higher system requirements, usually calling for a well educated population that is willing to debate and compromise rationally.

New comment by laksjd in "A Method I’ve Used to Eliminate Bad Tech Hires"

laksjd — Thu, 10 Nov 2016 08:01:49 +0000

That's a great idea! Not only does it just 'feel right', it also prevents some of the legal mess people were seeing with effectively moonlighting for the hiring company.

New comment by laksjd in "Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getting sick"

laksjd — Fri, 28 Oct 2016 08:42:43 +0000

As a minor, your parents decided for you, but once you're 18 nothing is stopping you from either trying to re-negotiate the contract (i.e. become politically active) or trying to find a better deal (emigrate). You can also decide to simply unilaterally break the contract (become a criminal) and in practice you could even live without such a contract in a variety of vast areas that are largely uninhabited.

You're not being compelled to accept this contract, but it's such a good deal that few people decide otherwise.

New comment by laksjd in "ZCash Will Be a Truly Anonymous Blockchain-Based Currency"

laksjd — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 21:38:22 +0000

What's the point behind Gulden, though? Why do I need a cryptocurrency for anything they're doing? Do they allow anonymous gulden -> IBAN transfers? If yes, that'd be a unique feature but also one that has obvious potential for misuse and might not go down well with financial institutions and regulators.

New comment by laksjd in "Are closed social networks inevitable? (2010)"

laksjd — Thu, 06 Oct 2016 09:07:38 +0000

That's a great concept: The fact that a list of {name, email, mobilephone number} allows you to effectively re-create your own network wherever you want is pretty cool.

I read the open/closed in the article as less about that and more about the fact that e.g. I can't push a twitter post to Facebook without Facebook specifically putting that function into Facebook. I also can't combine the comment streams from Twitter and Facebook. That's the kind of openness that I thought the article was referencing.

New comment by laksjd in "[dead]"

laksjd — Sun, 02 Oct 2016 10:33:43 +0000

For some reason I get a horizontal scrollbar - there's a bit of white background to the right that doesn't seem like it's supposed to be there.

Why Some Wars Get More Attention Than Others

laksjd — Sun, 02 Oct 2016 10:28:30 +0000

Article URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/world/why-some-wars-like-syrias-get-more-attention-than-others-like-yemens.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12621735

Points: 50

# Comments: 53

New comment by laksjd in "It Costs $30 to Make a DIY EpiPen"

laksjd — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 07:10:56 +0000

I know you're just using it as an off-hand metaphor but fire is actually one of the most useful tools in preventing and fighting large fires (e.g. forest fires).

New comment by laksjd in "Researchers quantum teleport particle of light six kilometres"

laksjd — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 14:51:05 +0000

It's just an if, not an iff ;)

New comment by laksjd in "‘Five Second Rule’ for Food on Floor Is Untrue, Study Finds"

laksjd — Mon, 19 Sep 2016 13:07:46 +0000

Short answer: They didn't survive. IIRC a significant portion of all humans born in past centuries simply died as infants/children, usually from things that are trivially preventable today with basic hygiene, good nutrition and antibiotics/vaccines.

Humanity as a species obviously survived because people simply had a lot of children to compensate the high mortality rates.