Readit News logoReadit News
richardhawthorn commented on Hisense TVs add unskippable startup ads before live TV   guru3d.com/story/hisense-... · Posted by u/akyuu
albert_e · 3 days ago
Cat and mouse.

Then we shall only ever connect to a throwaway wifi ssid created for the sole purpose of setting up that TV and deleted promptly afterwards.

Samsung will then use NFC / QuickShare transient hotspot to helpfully sync all useful info from your Samsung phone nearby.

Then we block that IP address or MAC ID from router side.

Then smart TVs will switch to open mesh networks hosted by unsuspecting ISP customer boxes in neighborhood.

And maybe even starlink.

=====

Maybe wifi standard should stop using static passwords and create a device specific hash to let it connect. Wifi admin should get to approve each device connection request.

richardhawthorn · 3 days ago
I'm going to convert my living room into a Faraday cage, only bringing in pre downloaded content via hard drive. That should solve this problem.

Although I'm not sure my family will be too happy.

richardhawthorn commented on Traintrackr – Live LED Maps   traintrackr.co.uk/... · Posted by u/recursion
afandian · 2 months ago
Curious why you went with a matrix over WS2812 or similar. That PCB looks like it was painful to route!
richardhawthorn · 2 months ago
We switched to a matrix partly for price, partly for improved reliability.

Regular RGB LEDs are a lot cheaper than the WS2812, around 6x cheaper when we made the decision to switch, which adds up when you have 768 of them.

WS2812 LEDs are much easier to route, but if one dies then every LED routed after that one stops lighting up.

richardhawthorn commented on Traintrackr – Live LED Maps   traintrackr.co.uk/... · Posted by u/recursion
iamflimflam1 · 2 months ago
The blog is a much more interesting read than the product site: https://blog.traintrackr.io
richardhawthorn · 2 months ago
Thanks, we've documented how some of our products work, where we get the data, the manufacturing process, and how to write/upload your own code to your board.

We should have a couple more technical posts released this year as we update the way our boards get their data.

richardhawthorn commented on Traintrackr – Live LED Maps   traintrackr.co.uk/... · Posted by u/recursion
richardhawthorn · 2 months ago
Hi everyone, Richard here, the creator of these traintrackr boards. It's great to see this on the front page!

I've been designing PCBs for years, and designed over 250 at last count.

We have a couple of products in the pipeline to come out this year, but I'd love to hear what you think we should build next.

richardhawthorn commented on Gandi's .com renewal price is up 60%   nkrycek.mataroa.blog/blog... · Posted by u/nkrycek
blackeyeblitzar · a year ago
Is name cheap still good
richardhawthorn · a year ago
They recently increased their domain renewal pricing, and as others have said they don't make those prices very easy to find. I moved some .co.uk domains to them a couple of years ago and was surprised when my first bill came in. Their prices look ok for the first year but less so after that.

Having said that they are easy to use, and I've never had a problem managing my domains through them.

richardhawthorn commented on FindMyCat – Open-Source Pet Tracker   findmycat.io/... · Posted by u/popey
WoodenChair · 2 years ago
How do you get cellular data coverage for an IOT device and how come the website says that it would only cost at most a couple of dollars a month? Which networks have a plan for hackers?
richardhawthorn · 2 years ago
1nce [0] and Hologram [1] offer low cost SIM cards for these type of applications.

1nce for example charges €10 for 500MB of data which lasts 10 years. Assuming you are economical with the data it's €1 a year, which is a very appealing price point. Even if you need 500MB a year that's still less than €1 a month.

Hologram charge by the MB (although I'm not sure exactly how much as their pricing page isn't fully transparent), with a 70¢ a month charge per SIM card. I think they offer a free SIM card with a certain amount of data a month free (maybe 1MB) if you just want 1 SIM card.

[0] https://1nce.com/ [1] https://www.hologram.io/

richardhawthorn commented on NYC’s new digital subway map   curbed.com/2020/10/first-... · Posted by u/nbaksalyar
richardhawthorn · 5 years ago
The MTA have been behind other rapid transit networks when it comes to making their data available. You can get arrival prediction information on all stops/lines now through their API, but that wasn't the case until recently. They are still behind the Boston MBTA, where you can get vehicle locations in addition to arrival predictions, and TFL (London Underground) where they have a very well thought out API.

We use all these APIs to power our Traintrackr boards[0], processing the predicted arrival data (or departure data if they only provide that) to show trains moving through the network.

However, these three APIs are all better than the BART API, which seems to change occasionally.

[0] https://www.traintrackr.io

richardhawthorn commented on Show HN: A simple CLI app to organize photos by year/month locally   github.com/wiringbits/my-... · Posted by u/AlexITC
richardhawthorn · 6 years ago
I've been looking for something like this for a while to organise photos from my phone, also without success. I hold all my photos locally and then securely sync them to a remote NAS.

My photo album folder naming structure is slightly different from this, but this will still speed up sorting photos.

richardhawthorn commented on London tube map made from a working circuit board   ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2020... · Posted by u/alkhidr
rmason · 6 years ago
Visual open data! It's not clear to me in America if I can buy the 'Tube' one. I've spent quite a bit of time in London and it just interests me more. Wonder if they'd also consider making a Paris Metro one?
richardhawthorn · 6 years ago
The London boards are for sale in the US - https://www.traintrackr.io/product/

Paris is certainly on the list for future maps.

richardhawthorn commented on London tube map made from a working circuit board   ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2020... · Posted by u/alkhidr
pulse7 · 6 years ago
This! A "tunnel" LED between stations should be only 25% bright and with distinct color.

UPDATE: Maybe a LED per direction in tunnel would also be useful.

richardhawthorn · 6 years ago
Hi, Richard here from Traintrackr

For the MBTA in Boston we did this, but their system is much less complex than London - https://www.traintrackr.co.uk/product/mbta4

u/richardhawthorn

KarmaCake day19October 6, 2014View Original