Hacker News: nicolaslem

New comment by nicolaslem in "The WiFi only works when it's raining (2024)"

nicolaslem — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 10:46:47 +0000

That may be one explanation, but more broadly with analog audio it is actually quite difficult NOT to end up with an AM receiver.

New comment by nicolaslem in "Allow me to introduce, the Citroen C15"

nicolaslem — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 13:15:30 +0000

CO2 is a bit of an outlier in the groups of pollutants emitted by a car. Modern cars will emit way less of the other pollutants that are directly unhealthy for humans to breathe (NOx, CO, particulate matter, etc.).

I know the thread is mostly for fun, but only considering CO2 is a bit misleading when accessing how environmentally (un)friendly a car is.

New comment by nicolaslem in "Pebble Round 2"

nicolaslem — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 19:42:31 +0000

I hear you, personally grabbing the charger for overnight stays hasn't been a problem but there are a few compact/inexpensive third-party dongles that are like the official charging cable but without the cable[0]. They can be stay in a car, laptop bag, etc. and charge the watch from an iPhone or another usb-c power source.

[0] Random example for illustration https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CKV9JBR4

New comment by nicolaslem in "Pebble Round 2"

nicolaslem — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 10:26:23 +0000

For what it does, the battery life of the Apple Watch 11 is not that bad. It typically lasts more than 48h for me and charges very quickly. Putting it to charge when taking a shower is enough to not have to think about battery life.

New comment by nicolaslem in "Hacking Washing Machines [video]"

nicolaslem — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 16:44:23 +0000

Another example of firmware update reusing something that is already there: some electric guitar effects from TC Electronics can be reprogrammed by bringing a phone close to the guitar pickups. The phone app encodes the data as sound that is picked up by the guitar pickups and sent down the chain to the effect.

New comment by nicolaslem in "GOG is getting acquired by its original co-founder"

nicolaslem — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 17:34:28 +0000

I don't think it's fair to call Cyberpunk 2077 a colossal flop. It had an awful release, but the company stood behind it and fixed everything that needed fixing. Five years later it is now an acclaimed game that sold 35 million copies.

New comment by nicolaslem in "The post-GeForce era: What if Nvidia abandons PC gaming?"

nicolaslem — Sat, 20 Dec 2025 12:43:26 +0000

What goes into a Nintendo console is not prime silicon. When it's time to design the next console, I am sure Nvidia will still be more than happy to give them a design that they have laying around somewhere in a drawer if it means they ship 100M units.

New comment by nicolaslem in "Systemd v259"

nicolaslem — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 16:45:25 +0000

Maybe I have been here too long but I can guess exactly the content of each thread about systemd/Gnome/Wayland/Firefox before opening the link.

New comment by nicolaslem in "Please just try HTMX"

nicolaslem — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 15:55:50 +0000

I don't think this is straight LLM, it's probably an homage to a line of websites like https://thebestmotherfucking.website

New comment by nicolaslem in "No Graphics API"

nicolaslem — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 09:38:08 +0000

Little known fact, the Steam Deck has hardware ray tracing, it's just so weak as to be almost non-existent.

New comment by nicolaslem in "Roomba maker goes bankrupt, Chinese owner emerges"

nicolaslem — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 12:57:56 +0000

I have an i3 controlled by Home Assistant, it is on an "IoT" network without access to the Internet. Works like a charm. The integration allows to start, stop and view information like battery level, area cleaned, issues, etc. No mapping though.

The only caveat is that to associate it with a WiFi network, the legacy app is required. So if the app is pulled from the app stores, it may not be able to connect again after a factory reset. I don't think the pairing requires access to the Internet but it uses a bluetooth protocol that I don't think anyone reverse engineered yet.

Edit: I vaguely remember that mine also stopped working a year or so ago. I factory reset it, re-paired it and it has been working well so far.

New comment by nicolaslem in "Claude CLI deleted my home directory and wiped my Mac"

nicolaslem — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 09:51:42 +0000

They do get really creative to achieve their goals. Claude Code routinely uses these kind of one liners.

New comment by nicolaslem in "Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop"

nicolaslem — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 09:05:26 +0000

Unfortunately it idles at ~8W, which is quite far from the ~3W of the best in class laptops.

New comment by nicolaslem in "UniFi 5G"

nicolaslem — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 09:52:50 +0000

This is my experience as well. Unless you actually need a directional antenna, an iPhone will be faster and more reliable than dedicated hardware.

New comment by nicolaslem in "How Home Assistant became the most important project in your house"

nicolaslem — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 20:56:14 +0000

Friendly reminder that you should never test a UPS by unplugging it from the wall as this also cuts the ground connection.

New comment by nicolaslem in "DIY NAS: 2026 Edition"

nicolaslem — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 10:46:56 +0000

75W idle is 650kWh a year, that's quite significant in the context of a home.

New comment by nicolaslem in "DIY NAS: 2026 Edition"

nicolaslem — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 10:27:58 +0000

The author is not suggesting anyone should rebuild their NAS every year. Instead he is investigating which options make sense in year X. I remember reading his recommendations back when I built my NAS in 2021 but that doesn't mean I bought new hardware since then.

New comment by nicolaslem in "DIY NAS: 2026 Edition"

nicolaslem — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 10:23:40 +0000

I have been running my NAS on the 304 for 5 years. It fits natively 6 HDDs but I think it is possible to cram two more with a bit of ingenuity. It is tucked away in an Ikea cabinet that I have drilled the back of for airflow.

New comment by nicolaslem in "PS5 now costs less than 64GB of DDR5 memory. RAM jumps to $600 due to shortage"

nicolaslem — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 20:45:55 +0000

That is also somewhat true for GPUs, hard drives and SSDs. They all usually have different cycles but today AI is making them peak all at the same time.

New comment by nicolaslem in "Apple's iPhone overhaul will reduce its reliance on annual fall spectacle"

nicolaslem — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 11:27:47 +0000

What percentage of iOS users use a midi keyboard with their devices? 0.01%?

My desktop audio interface plugs right in an iPhone (USB-C to C), no hub or dongle needed, and provides audio in/out, 5-pins midi in/out, microphone preamp, etc.

If it comes to the flexibility of improvising a jam session with inexpensive gear, we are in a much better place today than 10 years ago when phones had headphone jacks. And I say that as someone who uses wired headphones extensively and carries a 3.5mm dongle everywhere.