Hacker News: simondw

New comment by simondw in "Reimagining the mouse pointer for the AI era"

simondw — Tue, 12 May 2026 18:59:56 +0000

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but what is new about the pointer itself? Seems to be functionally the same as selecting + tooltips / context menus.

New comment by simondw in "That boolean should probably be something else"

simondw — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 21:01:11 +0000

And whether the LED is off is false or true.

New comment by simondw in "Claude says “You're absolutely right!” about everything"

simondw — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 15:20:19 +0000

But... cows do drink cow milk, that's why it exists.

New comment by simondw in "Apple's Liquid Glass is prep work for AR interfaces, not just a design refresh"

simondw — Sat, 14 Jun 2025 00:36:09 +0000

Really? If a company advertises a new red version of their widget and I excitedly upgrade because I love red, but when it comes it's gray just like the old widget, don't I have a case? Surely I don't need to demonstrate that red makes me more productive.

New comment by simondw in "Do AI detectors work? Students face false cheating accusations"

simondw — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 18:07:28 +0000

That makes sense when tools are as dumb as static notes and TI-84s.

But in the (hypothetical) limit where AI tools outperform all humans, what does this updated test look like? Are we even testing the humans at that point?

New comment by simondw in "GAZEploit: Remote keystroke inference attack by gaze estimation in VR/MR devices"

simondw — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 17:30:01 +0000

Which app?

New comment by simondw in "GAZEploit: Remote keystroke inference attack by gaze estimation in VR/MR devices"

simondw — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 16:40:29 +0000

To be clear, the issue this article is talking about is essentially "during a video call the other party can see your eyes moving."

I agree that we should be vigilant when big corps are adding more and more sensors into our lives, but Apple is absolutely not reporting tracked eye-movement data to advertisers, nor do they allow third-party apps to do that.

New comment by simondw in "GAZEploit: Remote keystroke inference attack by gaze estimation in VR/MR devices"

simondw — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 14:43:23 +0000

The technology to reproduce eye movements has been around since motion pictures were invented. I'm sure even a flat video stream of the user's face would leak similar information.

Apple should have been more careful about allowing any eye motion information (including simple video) to flow out of a system where eye movements themselves are used for data input.

New comment by simondw in "GAZEploit: Remote keystroke inference attack by gaze estimation in VR/MR devices"

simondw — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 14:40:11 +0000

> ‘user-spacey’ applications from the OS manufacturer shouldn’t be privileged beyond other applications

I don't think that's an accurate description, either. The SharePlay "Persona" avatar is a system service just like the front-facing camera stream. Any app can opt into using either of them.

New comment by simondw in "GAZEploit: Remote keystroke inference attack by gaze estimation in VR/MR devices"

simondw — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 14:05:13 +0000

> if Apple is providing raw eye tracking streams to app developers

Apple is not doing that. As the article describes, the issue is that your avatar (during a FaceTime call, for example) accurately reproduces your eye movements.

New comment by simondw in "Covid-related loss of smell tied to changes in the brain"

simondw — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 22:00:14 +0000

> Exposure to regular levels of background bacteria and virus keeps our immune system tuned

> While the mask likely does not protect you from background virus and bacteria

If you believe the second statement, why does the first matter?

> it can host all sorts of new growth right against your mouth and face

Have you seen any studies on how quickly harmful growth can build up? I'd guess this to be pretty harmless if you change the mask regularly.

New comment by simondw in "Psilocybin desynchronizes the human brain"

simondw — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 13:26:19 +0000

> The vast majority just . . . sit there

> They're machines which must be used [...] not magic evil talismans

I feel like there's a straw man in there. No one is worried about guns sitting around literally unused, and I don't think anyone cares too much about the used/unused ratio. Obviously the thing people are worried about is how they are used when they are used.

New comment by simondw in "Don't use booleans (2019)"

simondw — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 10:27:02 +0000

> map, and_then, etc. I think this would be called being "monadic".

Strictly speaking, I think providing "map" just makes it functorial. Monadic would need a flatmap. (In addition to the other functor and monad requirements, of course.)

New comment by simondw in "Cold brew coffee in 3 minutes using acoustic cavitation"

simondw — Tue, 07 May 2024 14:44:13 +0000

Ah yes, with a delicious frackuccino.

New comment by simondw in "Flags Are Not Languages"

simondw — Sun, 05 May 2024 12:11:05 +0000

> Arguing you can't do something because someone will be offended is also not very helpful: you can almost always find some offensive interpretation of anything

You mentioned the sorites paradox earlier. Do you think it could be applied here as well?

New comment by simondw in "Flags Are Not Languages"

simondw — Sun, 05 May 2024 12:09:55 +0000

> less likely to confuse anyone than not using any flag

This doesn't seem obvious to me. I don't think the word "English" is likely to confuse any English speaker.

> anyone offended by this needs to grow a tougher skin

Are you saying this with the personal experience of being from a country that now speaks the language of its colonizer?

New comment by simondw in "Pi Day"

simondw — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 19:30:27 +0000

Sure, but by undershooting you can simply wait until the time is 1:59:26.53589793 to celebrate.

New comment by simondw in "How artists are sabotaging AI to take revenge on image generators"

simondw — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 13:54:57 +0000

I think the idea is to profit off the generation of it, not the output works themselves.

New comment by simondw in "Apple introduces spatial video capture on iPhone 15 Pro"

simondw — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 15:20:35 +0000

But one of the lenses isn't a few steps back from the other.

New comment by simondw in "The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus"

simondw — Sun, 16 Jul 2023 21:29:36 +0000

> fictitious nation-state

Are you referring to Cascadia? That's a perfectly non-fictional name for the region (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Northwest).

Or maybe I missed another reference?