Hacker News: timthorn

New comment by timthorn in "IrDA"

timthorn — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 08:00:13 +0000

The article is a great read. Though it talks about OBEX, and how Bluetooth wiped out IrDA, but not that Bluetooth took OBEX straight out of the IrDA stack.

Not IRDA, but there was also IRTalk built into some of the Power Book series, allowing native AppleTalk to a diffuse IR access point. I really wanted to try that out but never had the opportunity.

The silent coup: How AI captured Westminster

timthorn — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 06:46:19 +0000

Article URL: https://www.newstatesman.com/technology/2026/04/the-silent-coup

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47700111

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by timthorn in "NHS staff refusing to use FDP over Palantir ethical concerns"

timthorn — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 11:21:02 +0000

Partially redacted details here. The award was over 5 years for half that amount, but could be extended to 10.

https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/0f8a65b5-2...

New comment by timthorn in "The Appalling Stupidity of Spotify's AI DJ"

timthorn — Sun, 15 Mar 2026 10:59:37 +0000

> click on the “books” tab - the author is a technologist

That's rather underselling him. Charles Petzold wrote the canonical reference works for programming Win32 and MFC.

It's like calling Donald Knuth a lecturer.

New comment by timthorn in "An old photo of a large BBS (2022)"

timthorn — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 15:44:13 +0000

And a Televideo 910. Keyboard with added reverb :)

January 1877 – Sir Titus Salt obituary

timthorn — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 11:57:37 +0000

Article URL: https://www.theengineer.co.uk/content/archive/january-1877-sir-titus-salt-obituary

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47046561

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by timthorn in "Can my SPARC server host a website?"

timthorn — Sun, 15 Feb 2026 10:11:52 +0000

Typically, fun memory they'd move to a secure connection for credit card input, but most of the site would be open HTTP - why secure what isn't confidential? Concerns about 3rd parties eavesdropping on the sites you visited weren't a big thing at the turn of the century.

New comment by timthorn in "Byte magazine artist Robert Tinney, who illustrated the birth of PCs, dies at 78"

timthorn — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 15:39:15 +0000

I bought myself a 3 year subscription with my very first pay cheque. I got 2 or 3 issues before it went under. As a way of teaching a teenager about the full range of computer technology from the Cambridge Active Badge through to Big Data, it was and is unmatched.

New comment by timthorn in "Thirty Years of the Square Kilometre Array"

timthorn — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 13:20:58 +0000

The MRAO is a fascinating place, with things left as they were the last time an instrument was used. The floor of the hut where the array cables were aggregated for connection to the cable back to the Cavendish is covered in little plastic caps from the connectors, discarded as the instrument was being set up.

The article talks about HERA; MRAO hosts the prototype for that. IIRC, they experimented with methods to build the dishes with off-the-shelf parts - such as drainpipes to build the ring.

New comment by timthorn in "Doing gigabit Ethernet over my British phone wires"

timthorn — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 11:11:59 +0000

It's possibly because of a ruling from the Advertising Standards Authority back in the ADSL days: https://www.asa.org.uk/resource/broadband-speed-claims-guida...

New comment by timthorn in "Douglas Adams on the English–American cultural divide over "heroes""

timthorn — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 20:39:17 +0000

I wondered, but my 15 year old loved it.

New comment by timthorn in "Douglas Adams on the English–American cultural divide over "heroes""

timthorn — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 19:50:48 +0000

And the lesser known "Look Around You" which might also not land so well with an American audience.

Thants.

New comment by timthorn in "How London cracked mobile phone coverage on the Underground"

timthorn — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 15:25:05 +0000

You might be thinking of Rabbit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_%28telecommunications%2...

New comment by timthorn in "How London cracked mobile phone coverage on the Underground"

timthorn — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 09:38:40 +0000

Are the dual redundant leaky feeders configured to act as a MIMO array?

New comment by timthorn in "Drones that recharge directly on transmission lines"

timthorn — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 11:43:46 +0000

Reminds me of Field, an art installation of planted fluorescent tubes under an HV electricity distribution line back in 2004: https://www.gorge.org/images/field/

New comment by timthorn in "Ask HN: Expository/Succinct Books on Modern Physics"

timthorn — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 10:13:55 +0000

The print copy of Felder and Felder looks to be cheaper than Young and Freedman at both Barnes and Noble and Amazon?

New comment by timthorn in "Ask HN: Expository/Succinct Books on Modern Physics"

timthorn — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 18:36:45 +0000

Ah yes, and they are very readable indeed.

New comment by timthorn in "Ask HN: Expository/Succinct Books on Modern Physics"

timthorn — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 16:07:36 +0000

Felder & Felder's Modern Physics is pretty good (https://www.cambridge.org/gb/universitypress/subjects/physic...). I also second OgsyedIE's suggestion og Young & Freedman.

New comment by timthorn in "Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn"

timthorn — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 12:55:50 +0000

I did learn German at school but it didn't help much when trying to get to Munich airport last year. I could understand what was going on with the cancelled trains at the station I boarded at, but the train I did catch end up tipping us all out after a few stops.

I could make out a bit of what the driver said, but not enough to be sure of the detail, which is what really mattered. I expected to miss my flight, but just made it in the end.

New comment by timthorn in "FPGAs Need a New Future"

timthorn — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 01:17:34 +0000

Sounds like a PLD might suit your usecase? Simpler than an FPGA, programmed like an EEPROM, perfect for glue logic.