I've heard it said that Oracle doesn't have customers. They have hostages.
I started on a faulty 1200 BAUD modem that would only connect at 300 BAUD. And I used to load my programs off a cassette tape. If we keep this up, someone's bound to jump in with a brag about memory cores and punchcards.
I'm one of the greybeards who has the 2400 BAUD modem negotiation tone sequences emblazened in my neurons. For a while I've been meaning to set up some Wireguard connections among some of my systems. Being as busy as I…
This isn't really news to many people with multiple sclerosis (MS). In fact, neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) is often misdiagnosed as MS. I think it was 10 or so years ago that a movement swept over the…
Makes me wonder what the value of a PhD is.
Volkswagon has no jurisdiction over how I manage my fob, which is the client for the vehicle's unlock and start API. Once you hand a bearer token to me that governs full access to the vehicle, including the accelerator…
I can't even manually resolve the merge conflicts alone that happen between my code and that of everyone else submitting code at agent speed in my team's repo. So long as I have financial obligations toward my family, I…
The most plausible near-term path is probably micropayments embedded invisibly in AI agents. Your agent that has learned what you value and can make a reasonable decision to allow a micropayment for certain content pays…
I had an eerily similar situation in a behavioral interview I had with a company where I had a very strong internal referral from a very senior person. I didn't have any time at all to prepare for the interview and was…
I like to ride my bicycle with my friends in rides organized by the (Pacific Northwest) Cascade Bicycle Club. They require that I solve a Google reCAPTCHA in order to register for a ride. Google is already completely…
In my experience the overwhelming majority of services permit me to change my email address.
This guy just went to federal prison on a 25-year sentence: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=Syonyk https://www.idoc.idaho.gov/content/prisons/resident-client-s... Some of his blog posts in the past several months…
> so how on Earth do you expect to realize any of these desires? The same way this sort of thing has always been accomplished: Government regulation. Vote, write reps, donate to the ACLU and EFF, socialize.
The last time I was in SF I used Waymo to get around town and Uber to get to the airport. The Waymo rides were near-perfect. At one point when a delivery truck was blocking 3 lanes, the vehicle assertively merged over…
Whenever I start feeling smug about how cagey I've been about data brokers in the past, I remind myself that enough of my relatives have handed over their DNA to operations like 23andMe so as to render my efforts futile.
It's not just those without smartphones who are penalized. It's those without Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) and spying imposed by Apple or Google on their devices. I run GrapheneOS on an older Pixel. It does…
> Then you print a boarding pass at the kiosk? Those kiosks are gone from many airports. You're going to have to wait in line to get anything printed. And if you fly Ryanair it will cost you over 50 euro.
> That's not a thing. They're literally just cameras looking for a QR code. And yet for me one time earlier this year said QR code on my Graphene OS phone scanned fine at the TSA checkpoint but refused to scan at the…
> It's more about some weird incompatibility between my device and the scanner. I think I held up an entire flight for nearly an hour because the QR code on my Graphene OS Android phone scanned fine at the TSA…
Apple Express Mode lets you use certain Wallet cards when the phone is very low battery and turned off.
> It's often €50 now to print boarding pass at the counter in Europe. I was about to respond, "No way this is true. I don't believe you." But then I found an article claiming that yes, indeed you can be fleeced like…
Printing a boarding pass at home works for the flight out. But what about the returning flight? Just last week I flew back home from SFO. I needed to change the flight at the last minute. The app failed to update with…
I'm all-in on this. If the only way for me to attend an event is to deal with an app on my phone, I automatically assume there are a few dozen other activities or events I'd enjoy doing more during that time and choose…
There's a restaurant my parents take me to when I come to visit that requires you to scan a QR code to get to a website and then order and pay for your food on your phone. You are prompted to provide a tip up front…
> > 1. Parking apps are worse than parking meters. > I certainly don't agree with that one. I really don't miss having to pay for a fixed number of hours and then having to figure out what to do if I'm running late (or…
I've heard it said that Oracle doesn't have customers. They have hostages.
I started on a faulty 1200 BAUD modem that would only connect at 300 BAUD. And I used to load my programs off a cassette tape. If we keep this up, someone's bound to jump in with a brag about memory cores and punchcards.
I'm one of the greybeards who has the 2400 BAUD modem negotiation tone sequences emblazened in my neurons. For a while I've been meaning to set up some Wireguard connections among some of my systems. Being as busy as I…
This isn't really news to many people with multiple sclerosis (MS). In fact, neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) is often misdiagnosed as MS. I think it was 10 or so years ago that a movement swept over the…
Makes me wonder what the value of a PhD is.
Volkswagon has no jurisdiction over how I manage my fob, which is the client for the vehicle's unlock and start API. Once you hand a bearer token to me that governs full access to the vehicle, including the accelerator…
I can't even manually resolve the merge conflicts alone that happen between my code and that of everyone else submitting code at agent speed in my team's repo. So long as I have financial obligations toward my family, I…
The most plausible near-term path is probably micropayments embedded invisibly in AI agents. Your agent that has learned what you value and can make a reasonable decision to allow a micropayment for certain content pays…
I had an eerily similar situation in a behavioral interview I had with a company where I had a very strong internal referral from a very senior person. I didn't have any time at all to prepare for the interview and was…
I like to ride my bicycle with my friends in rides organized by the (Pacific Northwest) Cascade Bicycle Club. They require that I solve a Google reCAPTCHA in order to register for a ride. Google is already completely…
In my experience the overwhelming majority of services permit me to change my email address.
This guy just went to federal prison on a 25-year sentence: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=Syonyk https://www.idoc.idaho.gov/content/prisons/resident-client-s... Some of his blog posts in the past several months…
> so how on Earth do you expect to realize any of these desires? The same way this sort of thing has always been accomplished: Government regulation. Vote, write reps, donate to the ACLU and EFF, socialize.
The last time I was in SF I used Waymo to get around town and Uber to get to the airport. The Waymo rides were near-perfect. At one point when a delivery truck was blocking 3 lanes, the vehicle assertively merged over…
Whenever I start feeling smug about how cagey I've been about data brokers in the past, I remind myself that enough of my relatives have handed over their DNA to operations like 23andMe so as to render my efforts futile.
It's not just those without smartphones who are penalized. It's those without Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) and spying imposed by Apple or Google on their devices. I run GrapheneOS on an older Pixel. It does…
> Then you print a boarding pass at the kiosk? Those kiosks are gone from many airports. You're going to have to wait in line to get anything printed. And if you fly Ryanair it will cost you over 50 euro.
> That's not a thing. They're literally just cameras looking for a QR code. And yet for me one time earlier this year said QR code on my Graphene OS phone scanned fine at the TSA checkpoint but refused to scan at the…
> It's more about some weird incompatibility between my device and the scanner. I think I held up an entire flight for nearly an hour because the QR code on my Graphene OS Android phone scanned fine at the TSA…
Apple Express Mode lets you use certain Wallet cards when the phone is very low battery and turned off.
> It's often €50 now to print boarding pass at the counter in Europe. I was about to respond, "No way this is true. I don't believe you." But then I found an article claiming that yes, indeed you can be fleeced like…
Printing a boarding pass at home works for the flight out. But what about the returning flight? Just last week I flew back home from SFO. I needed to change the flight at the last minute. The app failed to update with…
I'm all-in on this. If the only way for me to attend an event is to deal with an app on my phone, I automatically assume there are a few dozen other activities or events I'd enjoy doing more during that time and choose…
There's a restaurant my parents take me to when I come to visit that requires you to scan a QR code to get to a website and then order and pay for your food on your phone. You are prompted to provide a tip up front…
> > 1. Parking apps are worse than parking meters. > I certainly don't agree with that one. I really don't miss having to pay for a fixed number of hours and then having to figure out what to do if I'm running late (or…