Hacker News: mmglr

New comment by mmglr in "Roku Warns YouTube TV Customers That Service Could Go Dark"

mmglr — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 19:27:49 +0000

> It tracks what you watch and superimposes ads.

Tracking can be turned off in the settings. I have several Roku TVs and Roku boxes and don't see any ads "superimposed". The only ad (singular) I see is on the home screen.

New comment by mmglr in "Roku Warns YouTube TV Customers That Service Could Go Dark"

mmglr — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 19:23:44 +0000

> Roku hardware and UI is superior to anything on the market.

I have to agree. I've used Apple TV, and while its UI is fancier, it lags, crashes and just doesn't have the same "ergonomics". Something as simple as toggling captions and changing picture modes while paying a video is so much easier on Roku. And, all the menus provide by the Roku OS just feel snappier.

New comment by mmglr in "Volkswagen launches its first all-electric SUV, the ID.4"

mmglr — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 19:22:12 +0000

The 1st edition is already "sold out". Reserving the AWD Pro S Gradient, a $49,675 car, is $100. So I suspect the 1st edition was around that same reservation cost. Too low. Everyone has $100 laying around. IMO reservations should be 10% msrp so that only serious buyers can make reservations.

New comment by mmglr in "Apple doesn't care about album cover art"

mmglr — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 22:42:47 +0000

> Cover art is no longer useful for music discovery or intriguing fans when an album "drops". Those were UX/UI things last ... century. Now they aren't. They're vestigial embellishments at best.

Unless you have proof this is moot.

New comment by mmglr in "Apple doesn't care about album cover art"

mmglr — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 22:39:14 +0000

In the 2012 version of iTunes for iOS a user can flip the iPod Touch/iPhone horizontally to view cover flow. So I would I consider that a user choice. For everyone else, where album art did not matter, one could keep the device in vertical orientation.

New comment by mmglr in "Apple doesn't care about album cover art"

mmglr — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 22:34:15 +0000

> So they're aware that really most people don't really care any more.

Unless you are on the Apple Music team and have access to some study how would you know that?

New comment by mmglr in "Apple doesn't care about album cover art"

mmglr — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 19:36:30 +0000

> Maybe album cover art is just less meaningful in the year 2021.

Maybe cover art is less meaningful *to you*. FTFY. To the author it is meaningful.

Today UX/UI teams are making decisions for everyone and not allowing anyone to deviate from those decisions. Less and less apps offer users a choice via a settings UI. To me the fix is simple allow users to customize their UI.

New comment by mmglr in "Shitty Software Kills People"

mmglr — Sat, 27 Mar 2021 21:37:10 +0000

> I always wonder whether contributor names to closed sourced software should always be transparent.

Are you implying that the developers that created this back office tool should be liable for the false police reports?

If so then then counterpoint based on having made back office apps: the individual contributor (i.e. developer) may either (1) have little to no say in what the app is doing as they are simply implementing the requirements as provided and/or (2) have no knowledge of how it might fail (e.g. when the app is integrated as part of larger business processes)

New comment by mmglr in "Cars Have Your Location. This Spy Firm Wants to Sell It to the U.S. Military"

mmglr — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 17:16:06 +0000

What is unclear from this article, and perhaps manufacturer specific, is if a vehicle has a telematics system but the owner does not have an active subscription is vehicle data still being collected?

New comment by mmglr in "Environmental impacts of food consumption by dogs and cats (2016)"

mmglr — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 23:14:25 +0000

> Well, dogs theoretically don't need meat, so if we can feed them impossible burgers, they'd be fine.

Just by doing some cursory reading on the topic I came across [1] which suggests this isn't entirely true.

[1] https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/nutrition/dogs-can-adapt-t...

But you do make an interesting point about younger people replacing pets with children.

New comment by mmglr in "Texas’ power grid crumples under the cold"

mmglr — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 23:18:11 +0000

> Texas is unusual in that almost the entire state is part of a single grid that lacks extensive integration with those of the surrounding states.

PNM in NM already has problems keeping the power running in that state. So I don't think peering with them will be of any help. I can't speak to OK, LA and AR.

It's a shame that nuclear has become a political football. As a Texan I would like to see more investment in Nuclear.

New comment by mmglr in "Autopilot on Cars for $999"

mmglr — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 22:33:41 +0000

Is the device running Android or something else?

I understand this is marketed as a "dev kit". And I understand the cost benefit for shipping a COTS OnePlus phone to provide the camera and UI. But I wouldn't buy one of these due to how much windshield visibility is blocked by the device and the wire dangling from the headliner.

It would be better to have the camera and wiring hidden away next to the rear view mirror similar to how other driver assist cameras are packaged, with a CAN connected processing box in the glovebox (so audible chimes can be made), and infotainment screen integration for the UI (perhaps as an Android or CarPlay app).

New comment by mmglr in "Autopilot on Cars for $999"

mmglr — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 22:11:48 +0000

If anything it sounds to me as if the comma provided a false sense of security. Drawing from experience driving 9 hours is already grueling. At hour 10, 11 or 12 would you have been able to take control during a failure of the system?

New comment by mmglr in "Ercot nearly at capacity for Texas power grid"

mmglr — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 08:22:55 +0000

in these conditions would it make a difference?

New comment by mmglr in "Apollo 14 50th anniversary images find Alan Shepard's ball and how far he hit it"

mmglr — Fri, 05 Feb 2021 05:41:39 +0000

Very little truth to what you wrote here. You can get into great universities with solid A’s. And you can certainly graduate from a state school with minimal to no debt.

New comment by mmglr in "The Battle of GameStop"

mmglr — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 00:17:30 +0000

There is certainly a problem with how teenagers are misinformed about college, and that education debit is difficult to discharge.

However, I do agree that one should have little to no student loan debt. I am a millennial and was able to graduate without student loan debt. I went to community college then transferred to a state school. I earned a scholarship to do a masters in computer science. Then I found a six figure income job at a medium sized company not FAANG or some startup. All I did was found a degree that had a high ROI by googling which was at the time CS.

New comment by mmglr in "Ajit Pai Is Officially Gone"

mmglr — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 21:06:07 +0000

> His official FCC Twitter account, where he antagonized people who criticized him, has been deleted.

Are gov't officials allowed to delete their official use Twitter (and any social media) accounts just like that? I would think posts should be archived or put in read only mode for posterity?

New comment by mmglr in "What You Should Know Before Leaking a Zoom Meeting"

mmglr — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 20:50:40 +0000

Agreed. My comment was poorly worded as I did not intend to give advice.

New comment by mmglr in "Turn off that camera during virtual meetings, environmental study says"

mmglr — Wed, 20 Jan 2021 20:47:48 +0000

> Just one hour of videoconferencing or streaming, for example, emits 150-1,000 grams of carbon dioxide (a gallon of gasoline burned from a car emits about 8,887 grams), requires 2-12 liters of water and demands a land area adding up to about the size of an iPad Mini.

Out of curiosity what is the water used for? Is it from hydroelectric power? Also, what is "land area adding up to the size of iPad Mini" referring to?

New comment by mmglr in "What You Should Know Before Leaking a Zoom Meeting"

mmglr — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 04:52:36 +0000

Some articles found by googling [1] [2] from two years ago describe this capability as "ultrasonic watermark" so it is not new. I think this is coming to light as Zoom has become popular with the pandemic. For a journalist wanting to sanitize audio I would think they need to remove anything higher than 15kHz.

[1] https://www.nojitter.com/video-collaboration-av/zoom-takes-v...

[2] https://venturebeat.com/2019/01/22/zoom-is-bringing-ultrason...