Hacker News Reader

badwolfon Apple announces ability to download apps directly from websites in EU

Folks on this site vastly overestimate how much people who actually buy and use these devices care about literally any of the stuff being talked about in this thread.

Apple's schtick was "It just works." that's what people like and want. They don't want to have to go thru and make choices, dig thru settings, install other app stores, explain to meemaw that the nice man cold-calling her telling her to install this special app isn't actually from the IRS coming to arrest her, etc...

They just want it to work.

badwolfon Universal Basic Income Has Been Tried over and over Again. It Works Every Time

This is something I've been on board with for ages. Just give everyone a SNAP card, homeless person to Bill gates.

badwolfon Apple Vision Nope: Why I returned mine

https://www.apple.com/apple-vision-pro/

They don't market it as a "developer device" or a "prototype." They are selling this as a consumer product. Watch movies! Look at pics of your family! It's your new giant computer monitor! Facetime with your friends while you're cooking and packing your luggage!

badwolfon British intelligence able to read and flag private Snapchat messages

https://values.snap.com/privacy/privacy-by-product

Snap doesn't mention encryption in regards to chat, only in "my memories"

badwolfon Instagram Threads triples downloads in December, reaching top; X falls to #36

It seems it's once again time for the HN elite to declare Threads dead because they personally don't use it or know anyone in their amazing inner circle who uses it. This will surely be the year of the Linux desktop!

badwolfon Apple Vision Pro review: magic, until it's not

Why bother with an esim, when you can use something like Amazon Sidewalk, just use whatever nearby Echo or other device to send whatever small data packets

badwolfon Alaska 737 cockpit voice recorder data erasure renews safety debate

Weird how the "privacy heavy" EU manages to have 25 hr recording requirements...

badwolfon Two pharmacists figured out that oral phenylephrine doesn't work

Not medical advice, but you'd probably get a similar response just by using regular ol' saline nasal spray for those lighter allergy or dust symptoms.

badwolfon Clear wants to scan your face at airports – privacy experts are worried

My most recent travel to and from Austin, the Clear line was massively longer than just walking up to the precheck line. Flying out of Austin the Clear line was piling up through the ticket counter area. I could count the people in the Precheck line on one hand.

badwolfon McDonald's ice cream machine hackers say they found 'smoking gun'

Yep.

me: "I'll have a milkshake please"

McD: "ice cream machine's broke"

me: "ugh. Ok, I'll just have a coke"

badwolfon Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

It seems the CEO of Beeper is literally doing that.

badwolfon Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

Good news, once Apple implements RCS next year, no more postage-stamp sized MMS! Halleloo!

badwolfon Epic vs. Google: Google Loses

That's... life.

DVDs come out. Now I have to rebuy all my VHS movies on another platform...

badwolfon Beeper Mini is back

Because it's sent as MMS. Apple implementing RCS next year will mitigate that.

badwolfon Apple cuts off Beeper Mini's access

I've personally found Apple users are some of the quickest to install updates/upgrades in bulk/mass.

I think one of the key reasons, other than apple sending push notifications that it's going to automatically install overnight, is they bundle candy/goodies to entice users to update asap - Want the new emojis so your friends stop sending you scary black boxes with an x over it? Update now.

badwolfon Meta sued by privacy group over pay up or click OK model

Also important to remember this is _average_ revenue per user. Consider that the cohort of users that are more likely to pay the monthly subscription are probably more valuable ad targets (more disposable income to spend online)

badwolfon OpenAI researchers warned board of AI breakthrough ahead of CEO ouster

This has been refuted.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/22/23973354/a-recent-openai...

badwolfon Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

Or talent...

badwolfon Apple announces that RCS support is coming to iPhone next year

I have a feeling with the EU's DMA this will just become more prevalent with every messaging platform forced to "open up"

FB Messenger will have a "green bubble" for messages to people using whatever other app they're forced to integrate. Same with Whatsapp, Telegram, etc...

badwolfon Starship will attempt a launch this Friday

(x) doubt.

badwolfon Starship will attempt a launch this Friday

or his previous 4/20 launch license...

badwolfon Starship will attempt a launch this Friday

Yes, this is true, but for this to not be a problem, it also has to suppose that those higher-flying bits of debris don't subsequently collide with other higher-flying satellites.

badwolfon EU data regulator bans personalised advertising on Facebook and Instagram

Every time this type of discussion comes up, I'm amazed at the cognitive dissonance of the EU. They restrict data transfer to the US because "The US government might spy on your data" while simultaneously pushing to break encryption for everyone so ... the government can spy on all your data.

badwolfon EU data regulator bans personalised advertising on Facebook and Instagram

> The ISPs have all the same data and regularly share it with the government in response to warrants.

I'd amend this to note ISPs also gladly share this information with... Advertisers.

Do people on HN use Credit Cards? Your transaction info is also sold to advertisers.

badwolfon uBlock Origin 1.53

This is not true.

badwolfon How America moves homeless people around the country

Overdoses and tweakers exist just about everywhere, you just don't see them because... they are housed.

badwolfon Google paid $26.3B in 2021 to be the default search engine

Apple is quite fine with people making web apps, and have been expanding Safari's capabilities to support them. In the latest major iOS, PWAs can now even send push notifications to the user.

badwolfon Excel will allow certain auto data conversions to be turned off

You could even have a helpful office themed avatar that can provide those tooltips. Make it a fun paperclip!

badwolfon Excel will allow certain auto data conversions to be turned off

If I'm doing a lot of moving around of things, and wanting to keep more complicated formulas working, I'll usually just use named ranges for my own sanity (and as a convenience for whoever may need to take over a workbook after me) - eg, ```=SUMIF(TransactionProductSold,"Product1",TransactionAmount)```

badwolfon "No, it's less effort than that"

Bridging that gap can be difficult. I always try to include leads in business meetings, provide weekly reports on how their work is performing (do users actually like the feature that was built? Is it generating revenue for the company, etc...) I've found teams generally are excited at first, but then immediately start complaining about "more meetings," getting told "You're the PM, why are you asking me, you write the specs"

It definitely needs to be a 2-way bridge, and when both sides can and do come together, great things can happen!