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uxhacker

2,309 karma · joined April 9, 2015

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uxhacker··on Vercel April 2026 security incident
What is AWS level needs?
uxhacker··on Airline worker arrested after sharing photos of bomb damage in WhatsApp group
Could the weak spot with WhatsApp be that images are saved to a persons device? Also the metadata is not encrypted.
uxhacker··on Ban the sale of precise geolocation
How is this legal under the GPDR? There is clear examples in the citizenlab document of a user been tracked inside of the EU from outside.

Is there not also a requirement for clean consent? Ie a weather app can’t track your precise location?

uxhacker··on Ban the sale of precise geolocation
More details are available here, including screenshots of the tool.

https://citizenlab.ca/research/analysis-of-penlinks-ad-based...

uxhacker··on Wacli – WhatsApp CLI: sync, search, send
And what ever happened to tools like jabber ? Or any other open source alternatives
uxhacker··on The Problem That Built an Industry
So during the intermittent period IBM and American Airlines were focused on research of the problem.

The system was a based on a military messaging system.

What is important to note is before SABRE the system used was a sell at will until a stop message was issued. Then sales would be on request. This method is still used between different airline systems today.

Before the implementation of SABRE airlines used teleprinters as a way of communicating. Some of the commands SABRE and other IBM 360 systems come directly from this period. For example AJFkSFO9MAR was a way of economizing on characters sent. It means what is the available seats from JFK to San Francisco on the 9th of March. This predates SABRE.

There is several reasons that the System 360 (the reservation systems used by airlines like SABRE) is one that it is written in Assembler, and also the logic is very tied into its role of reservation. For example it was designed in the days of punchcards, which have a totally different method of matching than a relational Database. The logic is still used on matching a seat to a fare.

On the pure speed much of it is gained by clever engineering tricks. An example would be the passenger record. This is 9 alphanumeric id of the passenger reservation. It is the hash of virtual memory location of the reservation. It takes 4 cpu cycles to retrieve it.

uxhacker··on The Problem That Built an Industry
Most of the systems used for GDS’s were in fact written in Assembler. I know as I have worked with a number of the systems. This is one, but not the only reason the different systems have remained on TPF machines.
uxhacker··on Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? My quest to unmask Bitcoin's creator
Using the articles logic.

Obviously Satoshi and Banksy are the same person. They are both from the same era and British.

There are so many people I know from that Era who believed the same things that Mr. Back believed in. Half my work colleagues at the time where interested in distributed computers, Postage pay, and algorithmic payments.

I am not convinced

uxhacker··on The Big Bang: A.I. Has Created a Code Overload
Archive : https://archive.is/s6dqm
uxhacker··on Intelligent people are better judges of the intelligence of others
You mean WEIRD.

(Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic)

But why this matters is there a challenge judging intelligence cross cultures?

uxhacker··on How Pope Leo is pushing back on divine justification of war
Catholics in Trumps cabinet are not just JD Vance, but Marco Rubio, Sean Duffy, John Ratcliffe, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. I think this is one of the most Catholic-heavy administrations in US history. It includes not just the VP, Secretary of State, intelligence chief, but also major domestic roles.
uxhacker··on America's Best New Weapon in Iran Is a Drone Inspired by Iran
The irony of an advanced nation such as the USA using weapons inspired by Iran, to attack Iran is interesting.

I half wonder if this is an April Fools joke, or a very clever solution.

uxhacker··on Meta and YouTube found negligent in landmark social media addiction case
From what I understand the argument is, and to miss quote Marshall McLuhan it is “the medium, and not the content is the addiction”.

In other words is not the posts by the influencers, but techniques such as infinite schooling, and so on.

This is why meta and google could not relay on User-Generated Content Safe Harbor (Section 230) part of the law.

uxhacker··on Machine Payments Protocol (MPP)
And would it not be useful to have some kind of human in the middle? For example what is to stop charge backs if no human has actually authorized the transaction?
uxhacker··on Enhancing gut-brain communication reversed cognitive decline in aging mice
This paper actually surveys research on humans and not mice.

The association between gut microbiota and cognitive decline: A systematic review of the literature

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027153172...

It shows ”Gut microbiota modulation improves cognition in adults with early impairment. Diet, probiotics, and fecal microbiota transplantation share mechanistic pathways and that evidence clarifies how microbiota-targeted strategies support cognitive health.”

The action could be explained due to an anti inflammatory action by the gut biome.

uxhacker··on “Car Wash” test with 53 models
What actually solves the issue is adding to the prompt.

Can we think about the what, where, when, and how of the following question. And then answer it.

I need to wash my car. The car wash is 200 m away. Should i walk or drive.

Let’s break it down logically using what / where / when / how, then decide.

⸻

1⃣ What

Task: wash your car. This implies: • The car must physically get to the wash. • You are not just going there — the car itself is the object being moved.

So the real question is not “how do I get there?” but how does the car get there with minimal friction.

⸻

2⃣ Where • Distance: 200 metres (very close). • Urban context (Warsaw) likely means: • short streets • possible parking constraints • pedestrians and local traffic.

At this distance: • Walking time: ~2–3 minutes. • Driving time: ~1 minute + manoeuvring + parking.

The movement time difference is negligible.

⸻

3⃣ When

Consider timing conditions: • If it’s busy hours: Driving may involve awkward turning, queueing, or waiting to re-park. • If it’s quiet (early morning / off-peak): Driving is frictionless. • Weather factor: Cold/rain → driving becomes more attractive. Pleasant weather → walking becomes easier.

⸻

4⃣ How (decision mechanics)

Ask:

Option A — Drive

Pros: • Car is already there. • No need to return to fetch it. • Most natural workflow: arrive → wash → leave.

Cons: • Very short trip (slightly inefficient). • Cold engine for a tiny distance (minor mechanical inefficiency).

Option B — Walk

Pros: • Zero short-distance driving. • Slightly more movement for you.

Cons: • You still must drive the car to the wash anyway — unless someone else moves it. • Creates an unnecessary extra step: 1. Walk there. 2. Come back with car. 3. Drive again.

This introduces process inefficiency.

⸻

5⃣ Decision (practical answer)

Drive.

Reason: • The car must end up at the wash. • Walking adds an extra transition with no real benefit. • At 200 m, efficiency is about workflow simplicity, not distance.

⸻

Rule of thumb (useful mental model) • If the object you need is the thing being serviced → drive it. • If you are the thing being serviced → walk.

⸻

If you want, I can also give you a slightly more philosophical answer — because this is actually a nice tiny example of decision theory and friction costs.

uxhacker··on “Car Wash” test with 53 models
Claude fails with

“I need to replace a spark plug. The garage is 200 meters away should I walk or drive there”

“Walk! 200 meters is just a 2-3 minute stroll — no need to start the car for that distance. Plus, you’ll likely need to carry the spark plug back carefully, and walking is perfectly easy for that. “

Basically LLM suffer from context collapse.

uxhacker··on Wero – Digital payment wallet, made in Europe
Taler is cool but different. Wero is about moving money from your bank account to someone else’s bank account using a phone number to identify the recipient.

It is very similar to many other mobile money systems. What make it different is that it is pan European

Taler is about moving money without necessarily using a bank account

uxhacker··on I'm not worried about AI job loss
But then will we not need more judges and courts?
uxhacker··on An open replacement for the IBM 3174 Establishment Controller
The ibm 3174 was just a controller to then link the terminals to an AS400 mini / mainframe
uxhacker··on Female Asian Elephant Calf Born at the Smithsonian National Zoo
So it will cost at least 100,000 usd to keep this poor elephant confined in a zoo in the US versus about 15,000 in a wild sanctuary in Thailand.

In the wild sanctuary it will have space to roam.

uxhacker··on Female Asian Elephant Calf Born at the Smithsonian National Zoo
So there are now 55000 and 1 Asian elephants*. I don’t understand the newsworthiness of having an extra Asian elephant joining the other 15000 Asian elephants in captivity.

Wild Asian elephants roam between 100km2 to 1500km2. This elephant will spend a life confined to just how many square km’s?

uxhacker··on Show HN: Agent Arena – Test How Manipulation-Proof Your AI Agent Is
Is the irony that a printed page is safer than a digital page?
uxhacker··on The Codex App
Why would widgets and buttons be better than a console, and or voice?
uxhacker··on Hacking Moltbook
So the question is can you do anything useful with the agent risk free.

For example I would love for an agent to do my grocery shopping for me, but then I have to give it access to my credit card.

It is the same issue with travel.

What other useful tasks can one offload to the agents without risk?

uxhacker··on Autonomous cars, drones cheerfully obey prompt injection by road sign
The study assumes that the car or drone is being guided by a LLM. Is this a correct assumption? I would thought that they use custom AI for intelligence.
uxhacker··on UK House of Lords Votes to Extend Age Verification to VPNs
The crazy thing is that you don’t need to show an ID to stay at hotel in the uk, but you will need one to use the internet.
uxhacker··on Claude Code's new hidden feature: Swarms
Persona’s is not the same thing as a role. The point of the role is to limit what the work of the agent, and to focus it on one or two behaviors.

What the paper is really addressing is does key words like you are a helpful assistant give better results.

The paper is not addressing a role such as you are system designer, or you are security engineer which will produce completely different results and focus the results of the LLM.

uxhacker··on There's a ridiculous amount of tech in a disposable vape
The idea that people are smoking arm chips makes me laugh.
uxhacker··on Palantir could be the most overvalued company that ever existed
Can somebody explain how the software actually adds value? How is it really that amazing? Or is it just a buzz word?
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