News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

mdswanson

I find it fascinating that we keep trying to build things that already exist, but on top of another app (web browser). I mean, it's cool to see, and it will have its use-cases, but I wonder where we'd be if we didn't have to do this.
FYI that if you have the right kind of Dell monitor, you can download their Display Manager software to do the same thing (and more): https://www.dell.com/en-us/lp/ddpm
Re:I'm going back to writing code by hand on Monday May 11, 2026 @03:18PM (#48099440)
I refer to this as "disposable architecture." Not that architecture doesn't matter, but that the architecture that worked yesterday doesn't necessarily need to be the architecture that works today.
Re:The Last Quiet Thing on Monday April 06, 2026 @07:03PM (#47668525)
Re:Descent, ported to the web on Sunday February 15, 2026 @12:18AM (#47021270)
Yeah. Same. Looked all over for an option to flip the controls!
Re:Shades of Halftone on Saturday February 14, 2026 @02:08PM (#47017311)
Fantastic article! I went down this same rabbit hole in 2011 and built a shader for my iOS app called "Halftone." It took the CMYK route and included factors like ink bleed, paper texture, etc. It was the whole reason for the app! Yet...I received constant e-mail from users who asked "how do I remove the dots?"
Re:Scaling long-running autonomous coding on Wednesday January 14, 2026 @07:46PM (#46626345)
Over the past year or so, I've built my own system of agents that behaves almost exactly like this. I can describe what I'd like built before I go to bed and have a fantastic foundation in place by the next day. For simpler projects, they'll be complete. Because of the reviews, the code continually improves until the agents are satisfied. I'm impressed every time.
Re:My Home Fibre Network Disintegrated on Sunday January 11, 2026 @12:59AM (#46573062)
Also much lower power and heat.
Another BirdNET option if you don't want to build your own: https://www.birdweather.com/
Re:Aphantasia and Psychedelics on Wednesday October 01, 2025 @11:46AM (#45439149)
An aphantasia "beginner's guide" for those who aren't familiar or just want to learn more: https://aphantasia.com/guide/
Not too many steps away from this: https://blog.mikeswanson.com/spatial/
Re:The Next Chapter in Swift Build Technologies on Saturday February 01, 2025 @03:36PM (#42901992)
Tim is a unicorn.
Re:Reverse Engineering Call of Duty Anti-Cheat on Tuesday January 21, 2025 @12:18AM (#42776885)
A 2-year legal battle with Activision to overturn a false permanent ban. Activision showed up with zero evidence of cheating and lost: https://antiblizzard.win/2025/01/18/my-two-year-fight-agains...
Unfortunately not. I hope we learn more before WWDC25!
Thanks! Indeed, there are other formats (like OMAF) that describe some of this. In fact, I helped to author one a long while back called OPF.
Thank you! I really appreciate the feedback.
I've described what kind of video this camera is intended to capture: https://blog.mikeswanson.com/apples-mysterious-fisheye-proje...
Re:Kevin Langdon's 'Omni Magazine' unsupervised IQ test (1979) on Wednesday December 18, 2024 @01:37PM (#42453421)
You'll find it interesting that people with aphantasia (I have total, multi-sensory aphantasia) counterintuitively score better on mental rotation tasks: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S105381002...
Re:Getting to Two Million Users as a One Woman Dev Team on Tuesday December 17, 2024 @12:37PM (#42443340)
My one-person indie company released many apps, and one of them (Halftone) had over 6 million users by the time I shut it down. It's definitely possible.
Likewise, I run my Nikon Coolscan on my Windows 11 machine with no special adapters. Works better than my Epson 750 Pro and Sony A7RIII with the right lenses, mounts, and lighting.
I also run a Nikon Coolscan and Epson 750 Pro on my Windows 11 machine. I also shoot slides using my Sony A7RIII with appropriate lighting and mounts. The Coolscan consistently gives me the best results.
Re:Nash equilibria in Ballmer's binary-search interview game on Friday November 22, 2024 @07:08PM (#42218370)
It is. Or at least it was for some of us. I didn't care if the candidate ever got the right answer. I cared about the thinking, the questions, the strategies, and the conversation.
Re:Defender Sound Studio on Tuesday October 22, 2024 @11:52PM (#41921637)
One of my all-time favorites, and wow, this brought back some fantastic memories! What great sounds!
Re:Hobby's algorithm for aesthetic Bézier splines on Thursday May 02, 2024 @08:32PM (#40242821)
Indeed. And this is where arc-length parameterization would help by linearizing t so you can then overlay it with various timing and easing functions.
Now, if we just add Sloot's compression technique, we can include an entire movie library on a single cartridge! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloot_Digital_Coding_System

Older »