Hacker News: yashg

New comment by yashg in "TikTok goes dark in the US"

yashg — Sun, 19 Jan 2025 07:11:55 +0000

TikTok was banned in India years ago. There was some noise initially but eventually everyone moved to Instagram Reels/YT Shorts. A few homegrown apps tried to capture the space but couldn't compete against Meta and Alphabet's entrenched network effect and superior platforms. TikTok wasn't as big in India back then as it is in the US right now but it was gaining traction and then lost it all. The same alternatives already exist in the US as well, people will move on in no time.

New comment by yashg in "They see your photos"

yashg — Sun, 15 Dec 2024 04:13:18 +0000

I understand that tech companies simply care about whether the user will click on the ad, video or like the next song or show. But can this also be used to change user's preferences or thought process?

New comment by yashg in "They see your photos"

yashg — Sun, 15 Dec 2024 04:05:01 +0000

Exifpurge.com. A portable Windows app to remove all exif data from multiple photos.

New comment by yashg in "A kid made $50k dumping crypto he'd created – then came the backlash"

yashg — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 04:26:50 +0000

I wonder in what currency the kid actually made that money. Solana tokens I believe. Can they be converted to actual money with which he can pay his college tuition in future?

New comment by yashg in "The Salvadoran government has 5,940 bitcoins worth $582M"

yashg — Sun, 01 Dec 2024 07:03:33 +0000

There's an innate human desire for gold. Humans crave gold so much that empires have been built and destroyed over it. That's a utility baked into the commodity. Many cultures hoard gold. Most of that gold will never be sold. Much of it is purchased for ornamentation and most of the time it just sits in a locker. In many cultures it is in fact considered a shame if family gold has to be sold.

Think of it this way - if there was no one to buy the gold from you, would you still buy the gold? Answer is yes. Many people all over the world would buy gold even if they could never resell it. The same can't be said about magic internet tokens. They have no inherent utility apart from the hope that a bigger fool will buy it from you at a higher price in future.

New comment by yashg in "Trump wins presidency for second time"

yashg — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 10:47:07 +0000

When the Access Hollywood tape came out back in 2016 I thought his campaign was over. How can someone who openly boasts about sexually assaulting women, ever be considered for any public office, let alone the most powerful office in the world? In most countries of the world a scandal of that scale would end a politician's career instantly. But not in the US. Not for him at least. I just can't understand how anyone can separate his character flaws from his policy and think he cares for anyone but himself.

New comment by yashg in "Trump wins presidency for second time"

yashg — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 10:37:53 +0000

>>incumbents all around the world have performed terribly post COVID Except India. Yes, ruling party did lose majority on it's own but they still formed the third successive government despite terrible handling of the COVID.

New comment by yashg in "47-year-old Voyager 1 fired up thrusters it hasn't used in decades"

yashg — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 06:08:34 +0000

A radio signal takes more than 22 hours to reach Voyager 1. And it would take the same to get a response back. Incredible. And imagine the patience needed to send commands and wait for the outcome on the part of the engineering team. You can't afford to send a wrong command and have the luxury of undo. Also, I wonder how many generations of engineers must have worked on the project by now.

New comment by yashg in "Ford patents in-car system that eavesdrops so it can play you ads"

yashg — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 07:03:32 +0000

Everything is becoming about ads. Ads, ads everywhere. On phone, on computer, now even car. This despite everyone knowing that consumers HATE ads. It's like companies are using ads as a ransom. Pay us more money on a regular basis else we will make your life miserable with ads and more ads.

New comment by yashg in "Passengers at EU Airports Not Allowed over 100ml of Liquids on Cabin Luggage"

yashg — Sun, 04 Aug 2024 12:17:21 +0000

Hasn't this rule been there for many years? I have flown to UK twice and there ere always restrictions on 100ml per bottle. Even lost a deodorant bottle because of that (security made me throw it away).

New comment by yashg in "Passengers at EU Airports Not Allowed over 100ml of Liquids on Cabin Luggage"

yashg — Sun, 04 Aug 2024 12:14:41 +0000

It's called decanting. And no you don't end up spilling the fragrance all over your hands while transferring it to a small bottle. Yiu can also buy travel sized bottled of many popular fragrances which are specifically meant for travelling. But yes, in general full sized fragrance bottles aren't meant for carrying along while travelling.

New comment by yashg in "California DMV puts 42M car titles on blockchain to fight fraud"

yashg — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 17:55:42 +0000

Not sure how it works in the US, but in India when sell a car, we have to get the registration transferred to the new owner. Till the new owner doesn't get the car transferred to their name, the old owner is legally responsible for anything that happens due to the car.

Also when we borrow money to buy the car, the hypothecation is recorded on car's registration certificate and ownership records. When the loan is repaid, we have to get it removed by submitting closure documents to authorities.

So like a property transaction, change of title also needs to be recorded in official records.

New comment by yashg in "California DMV puts 42M car titles on blockchain to fight fraud"

yashg — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 17:50:42 +0000

Such articles shilling blockchain had disappeared for some time. It seems they are back. Yet another in a series of good old IT project that doesn't actually need "blockchain" but uses the term to make headlines. Here in India I use an app provided by RTO (India's equivalent of DMV) where I can see my car's registration details, insurance, PUC (Pollution Certificate) and even my driving licenses details. There's another app that shows my traffic rules violation tickets and I can even pay the fines online if there are any. None of it requires "blockchain". This project is most probably using the good old SQL database at the backend to store actual data and there's an app front end. Even if uses a blockchain - it's a private blockchain and offers zero benefits over a regular database.

New comment by yashg in "Proton Wallet – a safer way to hold Bitcoin"

yashg — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 13:16:05 +0000

Is Bitcoin still thing outside of habitual gambling circles? I thought only the doomsday cult that is waiting to get rich after a global economic meltdown cared for BTC in 2024.

New comment by yashg in "User returns after 100k-hours ban to continue conversation that got them banned"

yashg — Sun, 21 Jul 2024 13:18:27 +0000

I was also also once banned from a forum for a few years. I kept going back there, never created a new account. Just waiting for the years to pass. It was not some crusade to get back, I was just curious and every few years when I would remember, I would check out the site. Until one day the site disappeared. It would have been fun to be able to log back in and just say "I am back".

New comment by yashg in "My daughter (7 years old) used HTML to make a website"

yashg — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 09:13:01 +0000

This is so cool. The site loads fast, is responsive and will work on all browsers.

My very first website on Geocities looked pretty much like this.

Joy of creation.

Good job.

New comment by yashg in "Python grapples with Apple App Store rejections"

yashg — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 01:05:14 +0000

The code signing certificates that MS requires are ridiculously expensive. It's a cartel of certificate isseuers. It's a downright robbery. We need something similar to Let's Encrypt for code signing.

New comment by yashg in "I got tired of hearing that YC fired Sam, so here's what actually happened"

yashg — Thu, 30 May 2024 12:35:59 +0000

"We didn't fire him, we just asked him to leave because he decided to become CEO of another for profit company."

OK. It doesn't matter anyway.

New comment by yashg in "Ask HN: What would you spend your time working on if you didn't need money?"

yashg — Tue, 28 May 2024 18:22:04 +0000

I would just create software. I love coding little programs that make life easier. It gives me joy of creation. In fact that's what I have been doing, in last few months I have created (1)a video GPS viewer, (2)Windows based authenticator and an (3)online clipboard. After my day job and on weekends, this is how I like to spend my time. I have stopped trying to create the next killer app. I am just going to create whatever I feel like creating. Links to my latest creations (1) https://yash.info/camgeoplayer/ (2) https://authwin.com/ (3) https://klipit.in/

New comment by yashg in "We need 70% less coders as the AI handles most of the coding"

yashg — Mon, 27 May 2024 07:06:38 +0000

"Second things like call centers, the language models have become so sophisticated now. They can operate in multiple languages, 14, 15 languages easily. In the past, that hasn't been something we can do. So we can redeploy people off that given that the AI can do it." For the customers this is going to be a horrible experience and frustration of going in a loop with an AI model. Anyone facing a problem not listed in the 10-15 predefined problems and resolutions is going to have an excruciating time trying to get any meaningful resolution.