Hacker News: octo888

New comment by octo888 in "Dutch 'idealist' bank ASN blocks non-Google Android, including GrapheneOS"

octo888 — Fri, 06 Nov 2026 17:33:08 +0000

Recent suggestions of having screenshots for the new messenger app might give the answer. The official replies were "our users try out the new version directly instead of looking at static images of it" and that "a video would be needed" (links below)

Regardless, the developers are very experienced and smart, and know that screenshots are often used to advertise a product, so I guess it's a very conscious choice.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49669944

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49669684

New comment by octo888 in "Pixel 11 doesn't yet meet the GrapheneOS security standards and may be skipped"

octo888 — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 09:25:00 +0000

Haha yeah nah meanings of words don't change when people get accused of them with solid evidence

New comment by octo888 in "Pixel 11 doesn't yet meet the GrapheneOS security standards and may be skipped"

octo888 — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 06:52:54 +0000

> GrapheneOS has never ... brigaded on social media

False. From some drama recently. Proof: https://ibb.co/6J0CyVz6

The screenshot reads:

"If you have an established account on Hacker News, enable "showdead" in your settings, open our flagged posts and press "vouch" to help restore them. People have gone back through quite a lot of our posts and wrongly flagged them despite there being nothing inappropriate at all. 12 Sept 2026, 16:21 "

Perhaps warranted, but definitely the definition of brigading.

New comment by octo888 in "Ofcom fines 4chan £20K and counting for violating UK's Online Safety Act"

octo888 — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 21:14:36 +0000

Sigh. It's been 42 years since it was cleared up and that most people became citizens. Can we stop with that remark already

New comment by octo888 in "Dutch government takes control of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia"

octo888 — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 19:42:43 +0000

Let's hope so

New comment by octo888 in "Vodafone admits 'major outage' as more than 130,000 report problems"

octo888 — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 16:58:37 +0000

Wonder if it's anything to do with the in-progress merging with Three?

I've noticed my MVNO Vodafone service, which was faultless, suddenly declining. Random dropouts are fairly common, no connection inside some big buildings (whereas Vodafone's infrastructure is known for being better inside and Three's much worse. Makes me think I'm being shunted onto Three's infrastructure)

New comment by octo888 in "Fastmail desktop app"

octo888 — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 09:04:32 +0000

Fastmail servers are in the US btw

And the company is based in Australia.

They're not at the top of the list for anyone concerned about privacy

New comment by octo888 in "Ryanair flight landed at Manchester airport with six minutes of fuel left"

octo888 — Sat, 11 Oct 2025 11:52:17 +0000

And then from Edinburgh to Manchester (184 miles) instead of Newcastle (91 miles) or Teeside (125 miles), both airports Ryanair operate out of.

New comment by octo888 in "Ryanair flight landed at Manchester airport with six minutes of fuel left"

octo888 — Sat, 11 Oct 2025 11:46:33 +0000

I wonder if the pilots considered Newcastle (or Teeside)? The METARs showed favourable weather conditions at Newcastle and many planes landed there that day without issue I believe. Also far closer to Edinburgh than Manchester. I wonder if they thought that Manchester being further south, had a better chance of better weather?

New comment by octo888 in "Ryanair flight landed at Manchester airport with six minutes of fuel left"

octo888 — Sat, 11 Oct 2025 11:08:03 +0000

Yup. They also popularised excessive baggage under the seat, and I routinely used to see obvious hazards that would impede an evacuation. Staff would turn a blind eye. Probably still do

Further, with the baggage being there in easy reach under the seat, I reckon people would be more tempted to take it with them when evacuating.

That they're are a safe airline seems to be incredible luck - they have all the components for it not to be.

New comment by octo888 in "Ryanair flight landed at Manchester airport with six minutes of fuel left"

octo888 — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 20:40:13 +0000

> Under FAA rules this was a screwup

An oversight I'm sure they can fix ;-)

FAA as a yardstick? Hm

New comment by octo888 in "A story about bypassing air Canada's in-flight network restrictions"

octo888 — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 15:19:23 +0000

Do consumer rights exist in the skies? Genuine question!

New comment by octo888 in "Python 3.14 is here. How fast is it?"

octo888 — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 15:11:07 +0000

Yes hah.

> I’m more interested in the 3.14.15

That was indeed the joke

New comment by octo888 in "Python 3.14 is here. How fast is it?"

octo888 — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 19:31:33 +0000

Here's hoping they make 16 patch versions

New comment by octo888 in "Why Self-Host?"

octo888 — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 19:25:00 +0000

[warning: old man rants at clouds]

Maybe I'm getting old, but I think at this stage I want the third, often-unspoken route: no data.

Let go of things

No need for infrastructure when you have nothing to host. And data that doesn't exist is the most secure in the world.

Is my home a home – or the premises of a small-business? Racks, servers, cables, smart devices, the fan noise etc!

It does feel like we are operating our lives more and more like a small business these days: managing data, managing logins, "B2B" with hundreds of companies (EULAs, contracts, invoices, subscriptions...), files, archives, backups, contacts, appointments, app after app after app...on and on.

I wish life were simpler. Maybe a lot is in our control, more than we realise

New comment by octo888 in "Why are so many pedestrians killed by cars in the US?"

octo888 — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 12:37:06 +0000

I'd love more of this kind of frank discourse because I'm tired of decades of political pearl clutching "even just one death is a tragedy"

New comment by octo888 in "Why are so many pedestrians killed by cars in the US?"

octo888 — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 12:34:57 +0000

How have touchscreens had such a free pass compared to mobile phones?!

Just kidding I know the answer is lobbying

New comment by octo888 in "Bank of England flags risk of 'sudden correction' in tech stocks inflated by AI"

octo888 — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 10:19:33 +0000

Interesting. Thanks!

New comment by octo888 in "Discord says 70k users may have had their government IDs leaked in breach"

octo888 — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 10:13:53 +0000

Fingerprints are not required in the UK to apply for a passport (for UK citizens who didn't apply for naturalisation etc). Biometric doesn't just mean fingerprints.

New comment by octo888 in "Bank of England flags risk of 'sudden correction' in tech stocks inflated by AI"

octo888 — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 17:25:02 +0000

Wow position 140 on HN after about about 3 hours. Brutal lol