Hacker News: nexthash

New comment by nexthash in "Are mental health apps better or worse at privacy in 2023?"

nexthash — Tue, 02 May 2023 21:11:59 +0000

Is this a joke? How could you possibly believe in this delusion, when these apps have been shown over and over again to be gaslighting vulnerable people into divulging sensitive information about themselves to a VC-backed ad pipeline. Have you seen BetterHelp's ads on YouTube? Pure manipulation of people who are suffering.

New comment by nexthash in "Colon Cancer Isn’t Just an Older Person's Disease Anymore"

nexthash — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 08:46:53 +0000

I am taking a class in my college on environmental literature. One thing I learned is how environmental issues are consistently swept under the rug and underreported (like in this article, written by a former chemical & engineering news reporter) in society's discourse on cancer. All the blame for cancer is put on you and your habits, whether smoking or red meat. Big perps of this information campaign include the American Cancer Society. But as really good books like Silent Spring and When Smoke Ran Like Water show, environmental pollution and pesticides consistently correlate with rising cancer rates in modern society. It is ludicrous that one of two men and one of three women will be stricken with the disease in their lifetimes. Why is such a massive factor being hidden from the public? All this noise and focus on treatment... yet no focus on prevention. Because that would require economic changes that put a burden on corporations.

New comment by nexthash in "Google just shut down our $1M business"

nexthash — Thu, 02 Mar 2023 04:49:36 +0000

Not the first time, won't be the last. Google is an egocentric company with a nihilistic and destructive indifference towards its customers. Fortunately people are learning to avoid Google products, as seen with Stadia's demise. Here are some other instances of Google's negligence:

1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19124324

2. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19432702

3. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30855065

4. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23193857

5. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32547912

New comment by nexthash in "Home appraised with a Black owner: $472K. With a White owner: $750K"

nexthash — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 01:00:29 +0000

Yes, it is called the gentrification of minority neighborhoods.

New comment by nexthash in "PINE64 has let its community down"

nexthash — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 19:18:24 +0000

Manjaro is #4 on Distrowatch as of this comment, while Arch is #27. Not saying that popularity is all that matters in a distro, but widespread adoption is really important in getting non-technical benefits such as funding, clout, and people willing to devote time to the project.

About the shadiness: every project takes or is inspired by other projects, none have come up in a vacuum. Even with the sketchy reputation, Manjaro seems to have the support needed to actually turn into a Linux winner in the long-term.

New comment by nexthash in "Why I left Pine64"

nexthash — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 18:59:23 +0000

I would like to disagree with your characterization. I use Linux distros regularly at work (Amazon Linux), in school (Rocky Linux, currently studying), and at home (Ubuntu) when hacking together various projects. I've seen firsthand the issues that come with trying to get a distro to interop with Bluetooth, sound, and software not quite designed for it.

This is not a zero sum game: I believe we can have both an OSS approach to Linux while at the same time having a channel of commercial development that brings more adoption (and fun, hackable devices!). This "one holy way" and the multitude of community-based distros can coexist, in the same way that commercial software companies and OSS communities have already learned to.

New comment by nexthash in "Why I left Pine64"

nexthash — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 18:53:42 +0000

I guess it comes down to that: will Pine64 take an OSS development approach or a commercial development approach? I've been swimming on the question of why Linux isn't more accessible to more people for a while, and have come to believe that a commercial approach is the only way Linux can achieve the work-out-of-the-box dream.

Commercial development allows you to afford to control the hardware, make deals with other companies, and pay people to build compatibility with your system (i.e. Nvidia), which is what Microsoft and Apple did to keep their position. Server distros like Debian, Ubuntu, and Redhat already have deep foundational and corporate backing, and are a joy to use.

There are definitely drawbacks such as vendor lock-in and all the issues that come with corporate vs community control of the software. However, I believe having a single center of development and revenue (to pay for the development), while at the same time having fully open source software and hardware is possible and would have a huge impact.

New comment by nexthash in "Why I left Pine64"

nexthash — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 18:20:11 +0000

My guess is that OS hackers could be considered as one niche, while hackers and builders who prefer not going through a custom Linux install/config for their project (i.e., a weather station or a mobile smart home dashboard) could be a larger one. Definitely not "mass market" or replacing Android levels, but at the same time a significantly larger portion of revenue for Pine64. The switch to Manjaro would provide them with a key backer that allows them to unlock this market. People have been discussing the software quality of Manjaro, so maybe it has a good foundation or connections?

Also: I've seen some hidden costs of supporting custom OS installs being discussed, i.e. procuring extra chips to allow open boot. This may have factored into Pine64's decision.

New comment by nexthash in "Why I left Pine64"

nexthash — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 18:03:54 +0000

> Pine64 is making enthusiast products for hackers, not mass-market devices for non-hackers. Non-hackers have access to plenty of phones which just werk. Part of the promise of Pine's platform and the appeal to the target audience is the commitment to community.

Sounds like either Pine64 has grown past this and decided to pivot, or has been losing revenue due to a lack of customers from this niche market. Personally, as a hacker I love playing with different OSes. However, if I was to use any open source device like a PinePhone or Pine64 board to build something, I'd prefer a stable environment backed by an established foundation. Environment setup is hell, and figuring out which open-source OS works best, if it will be supported in the future, and how to install it would slow me down immensely.

New comment by nexthash in "Why I left Pine64"

nexthash — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 17:35:53 +0000

You come up on your niche, and then when you have access to the broader market, you pivot to the group that will help you grow market power [1]. Similar dynamics exist in a lot of different ecosystems, and Pine seems to be responding to the challenges that have come with becoming big. It's sad that they won't be supporting OS hackers anymore, but they have to pivot if they want to bring onboard more customers (which seems to be the goal behind this decision).

[1] https://www.cgpgrey.com/blog/rules-for-rulers

New comment by nexthash in "Why I left Pine64"

nexthash — Wed, 17 Aug 2022 17:27:02 +0000

I think this is the inevitable outcome of any movement of Linux to the mainstream (Purism has done something similar). As Martijn said in the article, PinePhone devices were operable with 25 different projects. That's 25 different variations of Linux fighting over market share. As Pine enters a growth phase for their business, the consequences of this are going to manifest as paralysis.

Improvements and advancements would stagnate due to the 25x duplicated effort, and resources would be lost in keeping those projects happy. Also, any potential user looking to switch would be deluged with options, which is what crippled desktop Linux.

While I do not understand enough about Pine to know why they specifically made the business decision to gut their dev community and go with Manjaro Linux, my guess would be something along the lines of Manjaro's widespread dominance as a top Linux distro backed by a powerful foundation. Pine is pivoting to what they have decided is their future: a full-stack hardware to software open source offering that in their eyes would have a better shot at cracking open the phone market.

They probably were aware of the consequences, but have bet on making it big and creating a new, streamlined ecosystem after extinguishing this one. It remains to be seen if they will succeed.

Stashpad: A Notepad Built for Developers

nexthash — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 04:25:19 +0000

Article URL: https://www.stashpad.com/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32315070

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

Specifying Spring '83

nexthash — Tue, 26 Jul 2022 02:03:17 +0000

Article URL: https://www.robinsloan.com/lab/specifying-spring-83/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32233412

Points: 80

# Comments: 12

Specifying Spring '83

nexthash — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 09:07:25 +0000

Article URL: https://www.robinsloan.com/lab/specifying-spring-83/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31722936

Points: 1

# Comments: 1

New comment by nexthash in "Akon wants to run a Senegal city on cryptocurrency"

nexthash — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 21:14:10 +0000

It seems building "smart cities" is a trend now... Saudi Arabia started one, Elon Musk wants to build something like that on Mars, and there's all these ideas of floating cities being passed around. I don't know much about Akon's entrepreneurial record but "smart futuristic city powered by a blockchain in Africa" seems like a huge and mostly imaginary leap from "local solar company". You'd be hard-pressed to come up with the cash to build this in America, so doing it in Africa feels like an unrealistic utopian dream disguising a ploy for money.

New comment by nexthash in "Akon wants to run a Senegal city on cryptocurrency"

nexthash — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 07:26:28 +0000

This is so detached from reality I don't even know where to start... A Grammy-nominated singer comes out of nowhere, and decides he will go to an African country to make a futuristic revolutionary city out of nothing powered by... crypto? I seriously can't believe this story has actual traction on here, this is peak crypto, head-in-the-clouds futurism, utopia mentality, and of course complete absurdity. Do people have no sense anymore?

The only philanthropy stories I am interested in are the ones where dedicated people of character start from the ground, consider the needs of actual human beings, and work with their representative governments to bring change. Not this technology-will-fix-everything glitzy renders cryptocurrency-upgrades-society hubristic bullshit. People give that crap way too much airtime. Plus, the singer involved seems to have a sketchy history, which makes his intent here even more dubious (probably not doing this out of the kindness of his heart...)

New comment by nexthash in "The Human Eye Webcam [video]"

nexthash — Fri, 09 Apr 2021 17:57:12 +0000

I think that's the point - we are surrounded by devices that are always watching and listening. If they looked like eyes and ears, maybe we would think twice about how and where we use them.

New comment by nexthash in "Show HN: Simplenetes – I replaced Kubernetes with 17k lines of shell script"

nexthash — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 00:47:48 +0000

I can't believe you are being serious - why are you comparing a shell script to a million-line piece of production software? Apples to oranges. This was written as a joke to make fun of a common gripe against Kubernetes - its complexity. Seems like the Kubernetes community has a bit of a thin skin.

New comment by nexthash in "From buggies to buses, the first Black-owned US automaker did what few dared"

nexthash — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 05:14:15 +0000

Seems like both parts of the quote are valid.

New comment by nexthash in "San Francisco’s Secret DC Grid (2012)"

nexthash — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 04:22:11 +0000

That's actually what Edison's original DC power network was designed around. DC power lines, and a coal chugging power station every mile. Turns out that all the extra pollution and expense is a bad idea, so AC won out. It's been working just fine for over 100 years. Read more here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_currents