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pomatic

272 karma · joined April 4, 2018

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pomatic··on Ask HN: Is anyone using cloud dev environments (e.g. Codespaces/Replit) at work?
Perhaps you should chat with Alan Cox? IIRC, he was on 28k dialup (over a couple of lines) whilst the more metropolitan of us were on ISDN. Adjust your workflow to your environment.
pomatic··on Stocketa – An app I designed, built and never launched
Stand on their shoulders instead.
pomatic··on Raspberry Pi 5
Given that you can't share the unique details of your use case, what could have been an interesting discussion regarding design tradeoffs is moot.

(And I would politely ask that you don't make assumptions about what I might or might not have actually accomplished in similar spheres, you have zero idea.)

pomatic··on Raspberry Pi 5
An ESP32 seems a better fit to me, and would also be cheaper and more power efficient.
pomatic··on Apple TV, now with more Tailscale
Are your clients set to use the AppleTV as a gateway? That's a fundamental requirement to ensure the packets your devices send in reply get passed back to the tailscale network.
pomatic··on Ask HN: Have you seen this eBay scam? I am out $277
Try reddit r/scams
pomatic··on Show HN: Mavex.ai – Your Personal AI Executive Assistant
I offer this feedback in a constructive vein, as the mistakes you have made are pretty common. Bottom line: This kind of launch/landing page is a real turn off for me, your prospective customer.

- There's no screenshots.

- No demo videos - if this AI is really helpful, you should be able to prove it beyond doubt in a one minute video.

- There's no indication of which platforms are supported.

- What do you think my favourite applications are - i.e. what specifically do you integrate with?

- There's no indication of planned pricing or, if it's free forever, then say so.

- No word on privacy or security - and I'm giving you access to my calendar.

I think you've lost a fair number of potential signups by missing out on the above...

pomatic··on Lenovo Unveils a New Legion Gaming Handheld Device and Accessories
I wonder if these are rebadged/white labelled NReal glasses? They are certainly physically very similar and the nreal glasses work exactly the same way USB-C wise.
pomatic··on 27 years later and the Psion 3a is still wonderful (2020)
I worked at Psion during the Psion 3 era (and then later at Symbian). Hands down the best company I have ever worked for, and such an exciting time. Seeing the software one wrote in the hands of strangers in the street and on the shelves in Dixons was thrilling.
pomatic··on Amstrad Emailer, the UK’s first smartphone
It was featured on The Apprentice right up until it was discontinued, but I don't actually know when that was off hand.
pomatic··on How do Nix builds work?
And renaming of the component parts to clearly differentiate the OS from the shell from the package manager from... making the specifics more easily googlable in the process.
pomatic··on Costa Rica’s enigmatic addresses (2021)
I think No. 1, London might be close? IIRC it's Clarence House/What was or is King Charles' residence.
pomatic··on What is mini FM
Very easy to track... radio direction finding for a static source, even operating at low power output, is a solved problem. Adding a GSM uplink provides zero annonymity because you still need to connect via IP, which can ultimately be unpicked even with TOR or VPN masking if the infrastructure has been compromised.
pomatic··on Show HN: I made a super simple iOS app to track expenses
Re. "disconnected apps": we need a "me-bus (tm)". Any events that relate to "me" should be published, and whatever apps I choose should be able to consume those events. Utilities, banks, home automation... Perhaps even doctors test results... the list is endless. Democratise the data! The potential is huge!
pomatic··on Linode rebranded as Akamai’s cloud computing services
Because DigitalOcean have dark patterns around their subscriptions - they charge for the capability to deploy, not for actual deployments. It's counter intuitive and, however I look at it, I can't get away from the notion that it is a really scummy way of doing business. Which is why I voted with my feet and choose to do business elsewhere.
pomatic··on Show HN: We built a managed Kubernetes provider at half the cost of AWS
I think the smart move here would be to sell the platform, not the service. i.e. allow end-users to deploy your orchestration tools to their own Hetzner tin, and pay you for support. With source escrow or similar, that sidesteps the questions around what happens if symbiosis inc. disappear/go down the tubes/...
pomatic··on MicroCap circuit simulator is now free (as of 07/04/2019)
Unfortunate, founding a company called 'Spectrum Software' to provide software for 'Apple II' systems... Just two years before the ZX Spectrum made it to market. I think I would have been strongly tempted to rebrand, than persevere!
pomatic··on ESP32 Buyer’s Guide: Different Chips, Firmware, Sensors
And really annoying physical layouts - it's impossible to get the LED arrays flush with a front panel because USB connectors etc. are significantly taller.
pomatic··on ESP32 Buyer’s Guide: Different Chips, Firmware, Sensors
You want 2 or more off CH9350 - HID mouse/keyboard to serial adapters - they are designed for exactly your application. Wire back-to-back and piggyback an ESP of your choice on the serial ports to eavesdrop/intercept/augment. Available from Ali.
pomatic··on Ask HN: What to do when Google is about to kill your business?
Isn't the obvious fix to change suppliers? Google does not have a monopoly on your domain. A quick search through historical hacker news articles will turn up dozens of tried and tested alternatives to Workspaces. (e.g. Fastmail)
pomatic··on Dioxus: User interfaces that run anywhere
Runs anywhere... except embedded platforms? (And no, android doesn't count so far as embedded platforms are concerned).
pomatic··on APITable: open-source Airtable alternative
Looks very promising from the landing page... but the one click gitpod instance is localised in a language that I don't speak. (Mandarin? Thai?). Is there English language support available, and if so, how does one turn it on?
pomatic··on Freeform: a new app designed for creative collaboration
I hand-wrote 'hello' on the freeform canvas. I tried command-F to search for the scribble, it couldn't find it. On an infinite canvas. What use is that to man or beast?
pomatic··on Ask HN: Host a website from a living room in 2022?
Do you know what the average power consumption of this box is? It sounds like you may have found a sweetspot!
pomatic··on Threeuk is blocking Tutanota
Worth mentioning Three soap bars and Three phones when tethered use different frequency allocations - so performance will not be comparable between the two. FWIW, I have a three soap bar and it works well in the main, whether in central London or out in the styx.
pomatic··on Ask HN: HN Could Someone Help Me Identify the Name for a Type of Button?
And source from mouser or digikey rather than amazon. The range is much wider.
pomatic··on Extism: Make all software programmable with WebAssembly
I think it would be better described as a 'universal framework for incorporating plugins into your application'. If I am right about these aspirations, they are quite grandiose. Shiver Shades of COM or corba reborn?
pomatic··on Tell HN: If you have trouble focusing on projects/meetings, see a psychatrist
This, I was permanently exhausted. On a bit of whim, I bought a Chinese SpO2 sleep monitor - which then lead to a conversation with my GP and access to further tests, and ultimately a CPAP.
pomatic··on Create Your Own Compiler: A step-by-step interactive tutorial
This approach won't work if you live somewhere windy^ - the cables will chafe and even with the nylon spacer, will likely short and/or electrify the soffit with obvious associated risks.

^source: first hand experience, albeit with cuphooks rather than magnets.

pomatic··on Emacs on an iPad
It does autodiscovery of all no-machine capable devices on the LAN
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