davidjade

That’s also probably why when publishing apps to app stores you have to attest to the forms of encryption your app uses.

Except the steel armature inside can turn to hidden rust and if you do something and crack the ferro hull they can be a total loss. A lot were home built so finding a quality build is another issue.

There’s a reason insurance won’t touch them.

Project source is here: https://github.com/yogthos/chiasmus

I wrote software for a company that did legal forms on a PC - used by those same users that mastered WordPerfect for DOS. Those users typically had lower powered PCs even as Windows was slowly gaining traction in the market. Lawyers were slow to upgrade to more powerful PCs when WordPerfect for DOS was their main use. I pitched that Windows was the future but my boss at the time, rightly so, argued that those users could not adopt it on the hardware they typically used.

The compromise was I developed the new software as Windows 3.0 apps and used a text-based rendering compatibility layer called Mewel that implemented the Windows API in text mode for single DOS applications. A few #ifdefs and I could compile for both Win16 and DOS Text mode. This not only allowed me to develop under Windows using the superior at the time Borland compilers, it gave the company a solid footing when the legal world finally came around and wanted Windows software - we had it finished already. Sales slowly transitioned to the Windows version and then it really took off around Windows 3.11 (Windows for Workgroups).

That company was later bought by Pitney Bowes because they were the only company with Windows compatible legal forms software for Windows. Performa (or was it Proforma - I can't remember) was the name of the software.

I was just there this week and it has of course changed a lot. I was also there in either 73 or 74 as a kid - the visitor center has also grown a lot since then.

Well worth the visit (and you really need two days to see everything - we spent 10 hrs and felt rushed and saw only about 75%). Even with the Disney-ified aspects (a few movie rides/experiences and kids activities), it still seems a lot like a museum experience. The artifacts are amazing (like standing under a Saturn V, seeing equipment from the American first space walk, and then walking on the original (relocated) launch tower footbridge that the Apollo 11 astronauts used).

The three astronaut memorials were a bit of an emotional to see in person - pieces of Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia as well as tributes to all those who have sacrificed their lives in this pursuit.

I was recently in a friend’s Tesla model 3 for the first time and all the buttons on the doors simply had a dash “-“ on them. No information about what they were for at all. Same dash for opening the windows and the opening the door. But no indication of which was which.

Having witnessed a large commercial ship going 15 kts run over a smaller 30 foot sailboat I can assure you it was not “pushed aside” unless by aside you mean pushed under.

Here's what they just got caught doing on Android - "secretly communicating with Meta’s apps on Android devices"

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/06/protect-yourself-metas...

Except, what happens when apps get removed from the iOS App Store and moved to another store for distribution? If people want to continue or need to use those apps then they would have to use these other app stores.

What if those apps moved to other stores so they can skirt Apple's review and other consumer-friendly restrictions? How is that better for consumers that use Facebook, Insta, etc... for them to have apps with less review and less scrutinized for their behavior? Some of Apples policies have been good for consumers of apps.

Just witness how Fb, etc... already try and skirt those rules that are in place to protect users from tracking and other abuses. Seems pretty logical to assume they would all jump ship to another store to not be under Apple's review process if they could.

I don't doubt for one minute that Fb, etc.. would not jump to another store with less restrictions, and either pull their existing apps or leave them severely restricted in the Apple App Store as an "incentive" to download from the other store.

I have a pretty vivid memory of reading an article in the late 70’s or 80’s in a computer magazine (BYTE?) of a hardware/software project to digitize piano rolls. They were digitizing original Gershwin (he created a lot of piano rolls) and discovering new things about the way he played. I’ve search and searched but cannot find that article anywhere.

Anecdotal I know but my app converts from free trials at 4x iOS vs Android. Has done so for years and years. Same app, same price, same audience (North American boaters). Similar free trial numbers too.

Niche app that sells at a higher price than your average app. Ie my users have disposable income but the Android users don’t like to pay for higher priced apps like iOS users will.

For better or worst, Fb has become the de facto place for cruising sailors to share information about different regions of the world. Tips, alerts, advice, questions, etc. I sail the world and there is no other place for groups quite as good for finding the information we need. There’s a niche group for every area around the world full of people sharing advice and answering questions. The good groups have great moderation and quality content.

I recently searched for LFP bikes and found basically none.

Would love to have one though as keeping one on a boat I would only feel safe with a high quality LFP at the capacity needed.

I really like this and I think it is off to a good start. But I also think there will be interesting/hard corner cases (such as offline/reparse point files - I logged a request for that in Discord).

I don't think it needs to cover every special case but that's because I don't really want to use it to be a Explorer replacement. I see it rather as a supplemental tool.

There is a successor project as well: https://github.com/SpinalHDL/VexiiRiscv

This is an idea that I’ve long wanted to explore. It’s along the lines of using the GEFS weather model, where the standard deviation model output parameter can be used to predict how settled a model run is.

Anything you can share? I would love to play with this, although my interest is in marine weather forecasts.

Fun fact: the DOS version of the Cakewalk music software in the late 80's had a scripting language (CAL) that was very loosely based on Lisp. The author (Greg Hendershott) later went on to write a lot about Lisp.

That would be good. Easy enough to filter Intel vs AMD that way as well as a particular CPU.

Cool. It would be great to be able to filter Intel vs AMD. Or perhaps even by processor family.

There is also Uno

https://platform.uno/

And where were these rebranded Sumo's? We only saw Sumo's this year for $4-5/lb nearly everywhere we looked. Were these rebranded things really Sumo's or did they just look like Sumo's.

I did see something that looked like a Sumo call a 'dekopon' citrus at major grocers on the east coast, but they were maybe $1/lb cheaper as best and not as good or large as one with a Sumo sticker. They were more tart and not as an intense flavor.

It's my understanding that the variety has existed for a long time in Japan and Sumo is just one specific branded citrus sub-variety from California.

We’ve been living with credit freezes for over 10 years now, ever since a bunch of fraud incidents (thanks leaky IRS). Only ever have to deal with it when we need credit (rarely), putting in for a temporary lift. Bonus is we get zero refinance or CC offers in the mail.

It’s likely unrelated, but bad timing for AT&T as they have applied to end landline service in some areas of California.

https://www.wired.com/story/att-landline-california-complain...

I really love the idea and I hope they succeed in the long run. Having an easily replaceable battery is just about enough for me to want to buy one over any other laptop. It’s always the thing that degrades the fastest for me, even with premium laptops (looking at you, Surface Book 3). I want a laptop that lasts. In the age of everything being glued together, a laptop that can be end-user repaired is refreshing.

Why can’t I recommend a device to my elderly parents where I don’t have to worry about social media apps that trick them into installing apps from outside Apple’s App Store? Apps which are then free to ignore Apple’s guidelines and policies and other anti-deceptive policies?

Apple’s App Store review may not be perfect but Apple trying to police apps to make them adhere to some guidelines is better than nothing.

Remember with Facebook pushed a sneaky VPN as part of their iOS app so they could better track users?

The class I took was for recreational/non-commercial sailing so some of the GMDSS requirements do not apply to those vessels.

I’ve done re-certification every 5 years or so. At every class a SAR person has told us to not expect them to make contact over a sat phone. Now who they will contact first are your EPIRB contacts and ask for your float plan, vessel description, etc.

Maybe it is because they don’t want people to have just a sat phone or InReach and believe they’re good to go.

People seem to regularly be unable to tell SAR where they are even if they have a GPS onboard. I’ve witnessed this just listening to VHF request for assistance in inland waters many times in the Pacific Northwest.

One of the things you learn in taking a SOLAS class (International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea) is that you will most likely not talk with SAR responders even if you have a sat phone. An EPIRB is the primary means of sending a distress call for initiating a SAR response. It’s just the way the rescue system is set up internationally.

I wish someone was doing similar tracking for M-DISC Blu Ray discs but perhaps they are too new to really test yet (other than accelerated aging).

I wonder if this will impact specialized photo and other graphic art printers? Things like the large format Epson and other Pro printers. What about plotters and vinyl cutout printers?

They usually have a ton of driver specific settings, etc. for tuning the output. How will these settings be managed without drivers specific to them?

Here’s a recent (yesterday) example of a benefit though.

I tried unsuccessfully to search for an ECG analysis term (EAR or EA Run) using Google, DDG, etc. There was no magic set of quoting, search terms, etc. that could explain what those terms were. Ear is just too common for a word.

ChatGPT however was able to take the context of the question I had (an ECG analysis) and lead me to the answer right away of what EAR meant.

I wasn’t seeking medical advice though, just a better search engine with context. So there are clearly benefits here too.