ronnieboy493 (u/ronnieboy493)

ronnieboy493 commented on Can you trust that permission pop-up on macOS? wts.dev/posts/tcc-who/... · Posted by u/nmgycombinator

xp84 · 7 months ago

On the off-chance someone at Apple reads this, I'll repeat my perennial beg that Apple stops popping up 'Give me your (local admin) password right now' dialogs randomly throughout the day because the computer has a hankering to install updates or something.

Anyone with basic skills can whip up a convincing replica of that popup on the Web, and the "bottom 80%" (at least) of users in technical savvy would not think to try dragging it out of the browser viewport or switching tabs to see if it is fake or real.

The only protection against this kind of stuff is to NOT teach users that legitimate software pops up random "enter your password" dialogs in front of your work without any prompting. That's what these dialogs are doing.

Display a colorful flashing icon in the menu bar. Use an interstitial secure screen like Windows does. Whatever. But the modern macOS 'security' UI is wildly bad.

ronnieboy493 · 7 months ago

If macOS still attached modals to windows I think this might be less of an issue [0]. Not fixed, but less bad. In the previous screenshot, the modal lays over the toolbar which really reads as "part of the application". Steve Jobs, when demoing Aqua, made a point of the pain that is detached modals[1].

But here we are, detached modals, because of Apple's weird fetish for mobile UI on everything.

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[0] https://kagi.com/proxy/latest?c=LsHiRSPxhD29sXqLhdI0j1EsQ98n...

[1] https://youtu.be/6-fkYFV7rOY?t=242

ronnieboy493 commented on A Formal Analysis of Apple's iMessage PQ3 Protocol [pdf] usenix.org/system/files/c... · Posted by u/luu

tgma · 7 months ago

Perhaps I should document it and link to it in detail but basically you use Apple Configurator to create a profile and set its restriction flags accordingly and keep it somewhere you can redeploy with ease and simply DFU restore the iOS device so that it gets the latest clean iOS image. After that you don’t activate it by going through the setup screen. Instead you use the connected Mac with Apple Configurator to “Prepare” the device and the computer activates it and pairs it with your “organization” public key and you can add the profiles you created in the previous steps to apply the configuration restrictions. It’s like having an enterprise MDM except you don’t need a server just the local profile is enough.

ronnieboy493 · 7 months ago

> Perhaps I should document it and link to it in detail

Would be very interested in this.

ronnieboy493 commented on Brian Eno's Theory of Democracy programmablemutter.com/p/... · Posted by u/akkartik

notahacker · 8 months ago

Beyond that, a quirk of the American system in many states is registering your party affiliation at the time you register votes so that you can participate in primaries. When you've got >45% of registered voters identifying as being a supporter of one of the major two parties closely enough to add it to their name on the electoral roll, it's not exactly an encouraging environment to break that status quo

Other majoritarian democratic systems often also converge into two party (or two and a bit party, or two parties per region systems) but few seem to normalise voting for the same party every time in quite the same way.

ronnieboy493 · 8 months ago

To further add to that, many states do closed primaries. If a voter isn't registered with one of the two ordained parties, they realistically cannot participate in primaries at all.

If there would six parties to choose from, for example, I think it would be hard to argue that closed primaries are harmful. But since we have a duopoly, they exclude a significant portion of the voting population from participating until late in the process.

ronnieboy493 commented on Brian Eno's Theory of Democracy programmablemutter.com/p/... · Posted by u/akkartik

mettamage · 8 months ago

How come it's just a 2 party system and not a multi party system like in some European countries?

ronnieboy493 · 8 months ago

Not a direct cause but popped into my head:

Previous to 1988 the League of Women Voters[0] handled presidential debates. A fully independent outside organization.

Since then, the Commission on Presidential Debates[1] set rules for admittance to president debates. The CPD was founded jointly by Republicans and Democrats and is controlled solely by both parties.

At best, there _appears_ to be a large, gaping conflict of interest when it comes to admitting candidates to presidential debates. In 1992 Ross Perot was invited to the debates as a third option. In 1996 Clinton and Dole successfully argued for Perot to be excluded from the debates as he had no "realistic chance to win" [2]. Perot aside, what happened was downright anti-democratic and further enforced the two party system.

Now that I'm on this...I'll do another example of this abuse of power. Candidates from third parties have been arrested for protesting outside presidential debates [3,4]. Even if the protests broke the law, arresting opponents for asking to be given a podium to speak at feels bad.

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[0] https://www.lwv.org

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_on_Presidential_Deb...

[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/09/18/p...

[3] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/18/jill-s...

[4] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3740146.stm

ronnieboy493 commented on How the US defense secretary circumvents official DoD communications equipment electrospaces.net/2025/04... · Posted by u/Harvesterify

punnerud · 8 months ago

You could locate the traffic to The White House using this triangulation trick: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42780816

Title:”0-click deanonymization attack targeting Signal, Discord, other platforms”

Maybe not 0-click anymore, but still applies if the user browsing the internet.

ronnieboy493 · 8 months ago

Would that be illegal or are you simply just using public(?) data available to you?

ronnieboy493 commented on Echo – Open Hardware Music Player github.com/amachronic/ech... · Posted by u/todsacerdoti

mouse_ · 8 months ago

> It's primarily designed to run Rockbox

Fuck yeah

ronnieboy493 · 8 months ago

I remember being young and having loading Rockbox on my iPod. Great times.

Playing DOOM, which I hid from my hyper-religious parents, was always a blast. It trashed the battery so I kept it plugged in - it would get very hot. Probably terrible for the device but I was a kid and wanted to slay some demons.

There was a Mandelbrot viewer that was pretty cool. Lots of stuff I'm probably forgetting.

It also functioned as a device for adult images that I would dual boot into. Not the best for my young brain most likely. Still, I have plenty of nostalgia around using computers to solve parental problems. Or creating more because I didn't understand partitioning, boot loaders, or really anything when installing Ubuntu on a family machine. :)

ronnieboy493 commented on Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic washingtonpost.com/climat... · Posted by u/perihelions

globular-toast · 8 months ago

In the UK people consider "speeding" to be going 10mph or more over the limit. So 20/30mph really means 30/40mph, and in addition there are still many places with 40mph (50mph) roads going through.

Speed limit signs don't work. People will drive at whatever speed feels right and this is usually way above 20mph. What works is narrowing the roads. When the carriage way is barely wider than your vehicle it magically makes 20mph feel appropriate and 30mph seem fast (which it is). This has the bonus effect that larger vehicles feel it more, which is perfect considering they are the most dangerous and should be driven by trained professionals who are used to such tight spaces.

It essentially makes driving much more stressful, which is exactly what it should be. The problem at the moment is drivers get everything: big, wide, smooth roads, with the best drainage and grading; the easiest and most convenient mode of transport; but none of the responsibility. We need to shift the balance back. You can drive, but it's a big responsibility and if you fuck up the consequences are serious.

ronnieboy493 · 8 months ago

> Speed limit signs don't work. ... What works is narrowing the roads.

Even if you have every intention to stay within limits they don't work. In the US we have these massive stroads in urban areas posted at 35 mph. When I drive (rarely) I have to constantly monitor my speed. It doesn't feel natural and also takes away from, ya know, paying attention to the road. Aside from my opinion that 35 is way too fast anyways.

At the same time I've seen people complain that roads which are clearly not narrow, are too narrow because they can't barrel down side streets at 50. But at least it forces them to drive slower.

> It essentially makes driving much more stressful, which is exactly what it should be. ... the easiest and most convenient mode of transport ...

It boggles the mind. We sit in these big cozy chairs that transport us almost anywhere with little to no effort. It's pretty incredible. Yet, the most minor of inconveniences can cause a lot of car brains to absolutely lose it. Driving feels adjacent to addiction to many Americans and if people don't get their fix they go into complete meltdowns.

I think people do find driving stressful, but for the wrong reasons. Sitting a red light? Stressful. Cyclist slowing you down? Stressful. Too many other people are using cars at the same time you are? Stressful. It's stress originating from believing you had the god given right to drive like a maniac at all times.

In every part of US cities pedestrian walkways have to cross roads. But really roads should have to cross the walkways. Instead of sidewalks dipping down into four lane highways, roads should have to go up and over sidewalks at intersections. In Amsterdam there was huge expansive brick walkways that cars can use, but they're the foreign entity. Not the pedestrians.

ronnieboy493 commented on A guide to reduce screen time speedbumpapp.com/en/blog/... · Posted by u/nullderef

ronnieboy493 · 8 months ago

Since everyone is rattling off their own solutions.

* I removed all apps that aren't tools/utilities to help me get things done. No entertainment (including RSS!). For example, I have Busycal, Things, and Bear installed along with a few other utilities. I also removed non-essential utilities. There is no need to pay my credit card from my phone. This also has the benefit of reducing tracking.

* Disabled JS for Safari. I would find myself surfing the web and wasting time. Even if I initially started with good intentions. Turns out, a lot of my web usage was "I wonder about this, let's search it". "That was a cool movie, let's see what other people think online". It is an absolute pain to dig 37 menus deep to enable JS again, which forces me to live without it.

* Time limits never worked for me. I'd always ask for five more minutes. Just one more hit Tim Apple, I promise. Last time. They may work for you though.

* Either disabled notifications or set them to appear in daily reviews. Now I get those daily reviews and realize it's filled with stuff that doesn't matter. Every time I pick up my phone I risk falling into a black hole. The less I'm notified to pick up it, the less time I lose. Only alerts from my partner and similar get through immediately.

* Get an alarm clock or use a smartwatch. Seriously. You know those people who wake up and reach over for cigs before they're even out of bed? Don't do that with your phone.

* I lean heavily into my smart watch. For me, trying to create friction on my phone was only mildly successful. A smart watch has a ton of organic friction that feels natural. Instead of giving your Ferarri a flat tire to slow it down, just ride a bicycle. Synthetic friction vs organic friction. I'm bad with analogies. Leaving my phone behind is something I do sometimes but not as much as I should.

* These days the only social media account I have is HN. It's not ideal but everything is a WIP.

There really should be some concerted effort by the government to study these behaviors and what can be done. We dramatically dropped cigarette use with a lot of work and I believe we can do the same with phones.

I still waste time on my laptop but it's not a quick dopamine hit. I spend more time on side-projects though now that I'm forcing myself to be in front of a real machine. Reducing all screen-time is something I still need to work on.