klinquist

it's harder to disguise 900mhz radios in devices because it'll be in the FCC listing.

The first thing the authorities know to do is put your phone in an RFID bag/enclosure so it can't talk to the outside world.

(so the people that discover these exploits will sell them to the companies for 6 or 7 figures, far more than they would get from an Apple/Android bug bounty)

Unfortunately not a one I can prove to you online. I have a family member who is a district attorney, so that's my source. He said that that companies like the ones mentioned in the article sell licenses to unlock a single phone to a city or county. The city or county pays if they consider it worth it. The cost can be 5 figures.

No. This requires an expensive license for a government agency to purchase in order to take advantage of this functionality.

Nobody clicks share buttons to "just share links"

But ... make it share something more useful and they might use it more.

I author a Caltrain app, and if you are viewing the time schedule, the share button pops up the iOS share sheet pre-filled with "I'm taking train XX leaving <location> at <time> and arriving at <location> at <time>. Track my train <link>."

I wrote a client & server to monitor all of my computers.. ec2 instances, raspberry pis, etc. Similar to Monit & M/Monit

https://github.com/klinquist/machinemon

I wrote a note taking app that synchronizes across iOS/iPad/MacOS and stores my notes in markdown files so that my agents can summarize them each morning, delivering me to-dos, etc.

FOSS https://github.com/klinquist/Notesync

CloudKit makes it easy - and you can send push notifications (all part of CloudKit, no push tokens or subscriptions to manage) to inform the "other" clients when there is new data to retrieve. Best to think about each task being an individual file in CloudKit.

Generally speaking it just works.

I just did this for a MacOS+iOS universal app that lets you take quick notes - and keeps them in Markdown files on your Mac's filesystem (so agents can parse them)

https://www.github.com/klinquist/notesync

Yeah, I also find this annoying. I created a site that lets Ham Radio Parks on the Air operators share photos of their setups in parks (https://www.potaparkpics.com). I do it with no login - you simply specify what park you are in, then upload photos. I use the geolocation (comparing the photo exif against the park you said you were in) as authentication. Works great - but only for iPhone users.

Verkada | Frontend Engineer | ONSITE Full-Time San Mateo CA

I'm Kris, a manager on Access Control at Verkada.

Access Control is a core product at Verkada. We build the systems that power how customers secure and manage their offices, schools, and campuses. Our software unlocks nearly 8 million doors every day. These are mission-critical systems, not internal tools, and reliability and usability matter a lot.

My frontend team builds more than small widgets or forms. We design and deliver entire workflows that bring clarity to complex systems - managing doors, groups, schedules, users - all within a unified, elegant interface. This means working closely with world-class designers (and debating them when needed), but also having the vision and technical depth to lead when design resources are scarce.

I'm looking for a React expert who can bridge craft and leadership: - Lead technically within the frontend team, setting patterns and guiding others. - Collaborate deeply with our web infrastructure and component library teams to shape the building blocks of our platform. - Champion UX - because building secure, intuitive experiences at global scale is as much about design empathy as it is about React/Redux mastery.

This is a team for engineers who want real ownership, visible impact, and problems rooted in production reality. Verkada is pre-IPO with a $5.8B valuation, and the entire engineering org is about 350 people, which keeps scope high and teams relatively autonomous.

Job description: https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/verkada/jobs/5070042007

Email me: kris.linquist at verkada.com

It has also led me to a career in software development.

I find myself chatting through architectural problems with ChatGPT as I drive (using voice mode). I've continued to learn that way. I don't bother learning little things that I know won't do much for me, but I still do deep research and prototyping (which I can do 5x faster now) using AI as a supplement. I still provide AI significant guidance on the architecture/language/etc of what I want built, and that has come from my 20+ years in software.

This is is the project I was talking about. I prefer using codex day-to-day.

https://github.com/klinquist/HomeAssistant-Vehicle-Battery-M...

This is another fun project I recently built using AI:

https://github.com/klinquist/machinemon

I agree with this.

I recently wanted to monitor my vehicle batteries with a cheap BLE battery monitor from AliExpress (by getting the data into HomeAssistant). I could have spent days digging through BlueZ on a Raspberry Pi, or I could use AI and have a working solution an hour later.

Yes, I gave up the chance to manually learn every layer of the stack. I’m fine with that. The goal was not to become a Bluetooth archaeologist. The goal was to solve the problem. AI got me there faster - and let me move on to my next fun project.

this made my day.

There were rumors that this version makes the speaker harder to remove (I remove the speaker from the previous version when I put them in my own cars & motorcycles to make them harder to find). Looking forward to a teardown...

Yes

I have a dedicated travel AppleTV for this. AppleTV is great at hotel captive portals (forwarding the web page to your phone). I am already logged into all my streaming apps, including my home DVR (ChannelsDVR).

because it would be ridiculous for police to be able to track every car everywhere it goes! (10 years ago)

Judges require warrants to put a GPS tracker on your car. Now that Flock cameras are so ubiquitous in many cities, this gives them access to the same data without a warrant.

1. Government having the data is different than private companies having the data

2. Consent

3. Accountability (e.g. A government agency needs a warrant to use your cell phone location data against you).

Verkada | Senior/Staff Frontend (React) Software Engineer | ONSITE San Mateo, CA | Full-Time

I am the hiring manager. Job posting: https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/verkada/jobs/4959350007

Verkada is fast growing enterprise physical security company (Cameras, Access Control Systems, Alarms, Sensors). Engineering is 300-400 people. Pre-IPO with a $4.5B+ valuation.

We have many other engineering positions open, DM me for an internal referral if you meet qualifications: https://www.verkada.com/careers

A project I copied from a previous HN submitter:

https://aschmelyun.com/blog/i-invited-strangers-to-message-m...

I chose a different architecture + a YouTube livestream.

Available from 6AM-9PM Pacific time to keep the printer from making noise while I sleep. All source code on GitHub.

If you can't do four 9s, then you should do the next best thing: Four 8s!

OWM constantly shows the high temp 10 degrees higher than actual on warm days. I emailed them.. 2 years ago? to notify them of this, they said they know... It's still a problem. Santa Clara, CA.

https://caltrain.live is pretty nice (I developed it, along with the Caltrain Companion iOS app)

Perfect for dragging into my context window :). Thanks!

Reminds me of when I hacked my (and your?) water heater! https://www.linquist.com/tech/waterheater