Hacker News Reader

valiant-commaon Jupiter Networks invests $2.5M in enterprise tech accelerator Alchemist

Note: Juniper Networks led the round[0][1], the TechCrunch article and its title incorrectly reference "Jupiter Networks".

[0] See photo in article. [1] https://www.juniper.net/us/en/company/investments/

valiant-commaon High Speed Rail from Sacramento to San Francisco

Can't speak to the planned high-speed rail project, however Amtrak's Capitol Corridor is a decent solution in the meantime, especially for commuters that don't go in every day. Sac to SF (via Richmond/BART) takes just over 2 hours, and the trains have desks, WiFi, etc. If you live near Suisun/Fairfield, it's about 90 minutes.

valiant-commaon I was a senior VP of tech at Starwood: here’s my take on the guest data breach

Agreed. He seemed to make a decent argument that the quantity of records + types of data exposed didn’t add up (based on his knowledge of the system), but this statement (about primary encryption keys) undermined the credibility of the overall piece.

valiant-commaon WWII Bombe operator Ruth Bourne: I'd never heard of Enigma until after the war

The National Cryptologic Museum[1] next to Fort Meade has an extensive collection of code-breaking devices and computers from various time periods, plus a library.

[1] https://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic-heritage/museum/

valiant-commaon Ask HN: What podcasts are you listening to?

Risky Business, if for nothing else than the news segment.

https://risky.biz/RB506/

valiant-commaon Ok-Cancel versus Cancel-Ok

Yes, definitely agree. I feel the latest UI for iPhone alarms and the timer are a good example of how inconsistency in button placement can be confusing.

When a timer finishes, you get a large button at the top for Stop, and a smaller one at the bottom for Repeat. When an alarm goes off, the Stop button is the small one at the bottom, and the larger top button says Snooze. Very often I find myself repeating a timer instead of stopping it.

valiant-commaon A Few Thoughts on Ray Ozzie’s “Clear” Proposal

Just a nitpick. Matthew Green uses the analogy of signing keys being leaked often as evidence that Ozzi’s proposed system would be similarly not secure. This is a weak analogy: signing private keys are often leaked because their use case requires them to be “online” in some fashion (code must be signed with the private key so it can be verified with the public key). Similarly, CAs must use private keys operationally (to sign customer CSRs), increasing the risk of key compromise.

In Ozzi’s proposal, the private key never actually has to exist outside the environment it was created in, only the public key does. As pointed out in other comments, LE would not need access to the private key, either, they could simply submit the encrypted passcode to the manufacturer, who would then decrypt it on their behalf using the private key.

valiant-commaon Apple Maps vs. Google Maps vs. Waze

Indeed — you can choose to “reduce difficult intersections”[0] when selecting a route (tap the gear icon when the route list comes up), which might help in these situations. The article says they the feature was initially rolled out in LA, but it’s at least in the Bay Area at this point.

[0] https://www.engadget.com/2016/06/19/waze-avoid-difficult-int...

valiant-commaon Apple Maps vs. Google Maps vs. Waze

There is an “OK, Waze” feature[0], that does essentially this, although I haven’t used it myself.

[0] https://support.google.com/waze/answer/6268717?hl=en