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thatBilly

35 karma · joined August 11, 2013

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thatBilly··on Bambu Lab shutting out 3rd party slicers
Bambu Lab’s network plugin API will now be off-limits to third-party slicers. You will have to use Bambu Studio or slice, save the gcode then upload it using a separate Bambu Connect application.
thatBilly··on Canon wants us to pay for using our own camera as a webcam
He discovered this information about his $900 camera but has found that it also applies to other models, likely the Canon EOS-1D X Mark III.
thatBilly··on Smartphones wiped out 97% of the compact camera market
The British Automobile Association (AA) used to have a network of operatives on bikes (cycle scouts) who would salute members displaying the AA badge if they were approaching a police speed check.

This warning activity was tested in court and found to be illegal, as interference with the police undertaking their duties. Their response to the judgement was to switch the warning method to NOT saluting members if they're approaching a speed trap because apparently they couldn't be found culpable for inaction. So they would only salute members if the coast was clear. A bit like a warrant canary.

thatBilly··on Smartphones wiped out 97% of the compact camera market
I struggle to understand how mid range digital compact cameras are so bad. I have to use them for work (for reasons below) and usually at night with the flash.

So the camera flash is obviously far superior to a phone flash but apart from that, my phone (Note 20 Ultra) dominates all the Olympus and Ricoh cameras I've had in recent years. When it's raining or foggy and I have to take a photo, I am forced to use my phone instead of the company supplied camera. If I need to do a video clip, again the phone is my go to. Looking towards the sun, same again.

If I could use my phone for all the photographic records I take at work then I would but I still rely on the form factor of the camera which is more resilient amongst tools and dirt and on-screen display which shows a sequential photo/filename reference that I can quickly note down.

How does a £1000 phone have such an incredible set of cameras which destroy the dedicated camera on a £300-400 digital compact?

thatBilly··on Fissure: The RF and Reverse Engineering Framework for Everyone
USRP X310, USRP B210, HackRF, RTL2832U, 802.11x Adapter, USRP B205mini, LineSDR and bladeRF
thatBilly··on Nosferatu: The monster who still terrifies, 100 years on
I really like Nosferatu and I suspect anyone else who does would really enjoy "Shadow of the Vampire" (2000) with John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe and Eddie Izzard.
thatBilly··on Nacirema
Hi pjc50, are you Scottish?
thatBilly··on Epiousios
One of the latest History of English Podcast episodes explains the origins of punctuation and spacing between words. https://historyofenglishpodcast.com/2021/07/29/episode-150-a...
thatBilly··on A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)
When David Shepherd (brand director for Topman) said Topman customers only wore a suit for their first interview or their first court appearance in 2001, I was sure it would be the end of them.

Didn't seem to bother people though. Maybe the "hooligans or whatever" who shop there don't pay any attention to the news?

thatBilly··on The Last of the Iron Lungs
"Negative pressure"? Ughhh!
thatBilly··on Mailable Live Animals
I have bought and sold hundreds of invertebrates around the world, all transported by standard mail services.

I've sent probably 40 parcels successfully and received around 80 in the past 15 years. We avoid sending them in winter, if it's not the height of summer (depending on species) we enclose heat packs. They are always extremely well insulated, ventilated and padded. Poor packaging and mailing is heavily criticised in the pet invertebrates hobby, people are ostracised if they continue to endanger livestock or potentially cause injury to mail workers.

I had one parcel containing dozens of centipedes from China damaged, with centipedes escaping.

I had a parcel from Germany containing tarantulas sat at the post office for days because the postman on foot thought the parcel was too big and the one with the van disagreed. Tarantulas died.

I have some limited experience of mailing reptiles in the UK from around 15-20 years ago but it's heavily frowned upon, probably illegal and reputable dealers will only use pet couriers. I could imagine a small snake could be mailed safely but I'm also horrified at the thought of mailing a bearded dragon or chameleon.

thatBilly··on Ask HN: Why is Bluetooth so unreliable?
Wouldn't WiFi in its initial days be 802.11 legacy or systems prior to the IEEE standard such as WaveLAN?

You are right though. I vaguely remember messing about with WaveLAN and I don't recall it being as flaky as some of the early 802.11 systems.

thatBilly··on Swedish prosecutors drop Julian Assange rape investigation
So he can leave the embassy now?
thatBilly··on Fidget spinner craze inventor struggles to make ends meet
She launches a USA only kickstarter (all rewards ship to US only). I genuinely hope she does well but I don't understand why she would exclude the global audience and alienate potential customers.
thatBilly··on Sandra Bland arrest video has continuity problems, anomalies
There was a 2011 ruling in England where the judge said that officers were so regularly on the receiving end of the "rather commonplace" expletive that it was unlikely to cause them "harassment, alarm or distress".

The Met continues to arrest people for swearing at police as they rejected the ruling. I know that Police Scotland continue to arrest people for swearing at police but I'm not sure how/if it has affected forces in England and Wales. At the time it was reported that the precedent could likely quash any future charges in similar circumstances.

thatBilly··on Mac OS 7.5.5 running on Apple Watch [video]
I'm more interested in how the uploader got a verified Youtube account, especially with <20 subs and 3 videos.
thatBilly··on Similarities in packaging of cyanoacrylate nail glue and ophthalmic preparations
I find it interesting that they "feel that the manufacturers of nail glue products should be forced to address some remedial action, to ensure that these preparations are packaged differently from therapeutic preparations".

Shouldn't the manufacturers of these therapeutic products take the lead and differentiate their packaging? If they could force CA glue distributors to change their packaging, the next battle would be forcing eardrops to change theirs, then e-liquids, then homoeopathic stuff and all the other products that are distributed in generic dropper bottles.

thatBilly··on Bike blog: Experiments in Speed [video]
This guys is a wannabe Graeme Obree - obree.com

http://obree.com/obree-news/297-ihpva-world-land-speed-recor...