Hacker News: michael1999

New comment by michael1999 in "iOS 27 is adding a 'Create a Pass' button to Apple Wallet"

michael1999 — Tue, 05 May 2026 21:36:52 +0000

Yeah. iPhone and iPad have gone backwards for my mother every year. Losing the home button was a disaster. Every edge swipe, or double-click is more trouble. The new stuff is great for me, but the original skeuomorphic designs were so much better for my mom.

New comment by michael1999 in "John Ternus to become Apple CEO"

michael1999 — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 21:59:18 +0000

They re-write many apps every few years as part of their major design changes. These re-writes inevitably introduce lots of little bugs in uncommon workflows, and they often jettison whole features like AppleScript integration that cause real problems with users. They then spend a couple of years fixing the worst of these bugs, and things die down. Until the next UI-driven re-write.

New comment by michael1999 in "KLM cancels 160 flights due to fuel shortage"

michael1999 — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 19:27:12 +0000

You can't really hedge a true shortage. You'll get some money, but you can't pump money into a fuel tank.

New comment by michael1999 in "DIY Soft Drinks"

michael1999 — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 15:10:51 +0000

Bummer. I loved the glass bottles in the penguin, but I got tired fighting the durability problems. I got as far as researching custom gaskets and shims, and gave up.

New comment by michael1999 in "DIY Soft Drinks"

michael1999 — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 15:21:53 +0000

How's the durability of the Crystal? I had two of the original Penguin systems, and the seals broke down and the frame stretched. I'd prefer to go back to the glass bottles.

New comment by michael1999 in "Filing the Corners Off MacBooks"

michael1999 — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 22:58:05 +0000

The sharp points by the track-pad are bad design. Ive made some terrible decisions when he wanted to show off.

New comment by michael1999 in "Amazon rewards loyal Kindle devotees by closing the book on old e-readers"

michael1999 — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 16:48:24 +0000

This closes the DRM hole in Kindle. The newer Kindle DRM formats have been robust, but the old DX reader AWZ format was hacked ages ago. Anyone with an old device could download their books in the old DRM, and strip it with DeDRM. But those downloads will end in May.

If you have a decent library at Kindle and want a DRM-free copy, I'd download it now.

New comment by michael1999 in "Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones"

michael1999 — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 13:18:06 +0000

There are a lot of runners on mixed use paths wearing headphones these days. They are an absolute danger to overtaking bikes. A bell they would hear would be useful.

New comment by michael1999 in "Italy blocks US use of Sicily air base for Middle East war"

michael1999 — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 16:27:23 +0000

That is a misleading headline. Italy refused landing to flights outside normal operations without a prior request. We don't know how the Italian government would respond to a request if the US took the time to make one.

New comment by michael1999 in "Is it a pint?"

michael1999 — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 21:27:40 +0000

I have a buddy who used to call Weights and Measures on bars that passed off US customary pints as "pints". It is illegal, but enforced largely by complaint.

New comment by michael1999 in "Just Put It on a Map"

michael1999 — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 22:57:34 +0000

The road network expansions and maintenance required to support the suburbs does. Ottawa has this exact problem. They are widening inner-suburb roads to satisfy demand created by outer-suburb development. A double-whammy.

New comment by michael1999 in "Europe sleepwalked into yet another energy crisis"

michael1999 — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 23:16:57 +0000

Spain didn't.

https://www.ft.com/content/19f2ee15-dc86-4964-b23f-d644b18a7...

New comment by michael1999 in "The modern formatting addiction in writing"

michael1999 — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 16:55:10 +0000

I wind up using this kind of formatting while writing in Google Docs. It's easier to jump around with the nav bar if the structure is legible to the app. But it does make the document less readable.

New comment by michael1999 in "Why is the sky blue?"

michael1999 — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 17:52:20 +0000

It can be - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_flash

New comment by michael1999 in "Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability"

michael1999 — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 18:12:00 +0000

The ugreen one is rechargable - https://www.ugreen.com/en-ca/products/ca-45298

New comment by michael1999 in "Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability"

michael1999 — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 18:11:24 +0000

My need was finding my black wallet in the house when I forget where I put it. My wife has been very happy that she no longer has to field "Hey sweetie, have you seen my wallet?". I walk around asking it to sing to me, and I find it without bother.

As for theft - you might be overthinking it. It's a black piece of plastic that could easily be a door key. Gutter thieves will rifle the wallet and pull out cash, and credit cards, and drop the rest in the trash anyway. Any regular thief knows they don't want to be caught holding someone else's id.

New comment by michael1999 in "Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability"

michael1999 — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 03:55:53 +0000

I have the ugreen card, and it works fine. https://www.ugreen.com/en-ca/products/ca-45298

New comment by michael1999 in "Netflix Migrates to Amazon Aurora: 75% Performance Boost and 28% Cost Reduction"

michael1999 — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 15:33:16 +0000

This matches my testing. Aurora is fast enough that we actual started to contend on the heap locks, and had to tune our batch orders. Too bad network-attached i/o is so slow.

New comment by michael1999 in "Oral microbiome sequencing after taking probiotics"

michael1999 — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 15:29:34 +0000

Yeasts and fungi produce durable spores. But most gut bacteria do not form spores. When they dry out, they die.

New comment by michael1999 in "Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study"

michael1999 — Sat, 20 Dec 2025 22:30:36 +0000

Planning, good sense, and caution go a long way to compensate for physical impairment. Weed is different from booze in that booze increases risk taking, which makes driving such a danger. But that doesn’t mean weed doesn’t impair in some material way compared to baseline.