1. I made my VM think it has a CPU fan
Total comment counts : 32
Summary
Malware often checks for virtual machines by examining hardware components like the CPU fan, particularly through the Win32_Fan class in WMI. These checks complicate analysis for security researchers. The CPU fan presence is determined via SMBIOS data. To simulate a CPU fan in a virtual machine using Xen, users can set custom SMBIOS data but must adhere to specific documentation regarding which structures can be overridden. Despite encountering challenges, including a rejected patch for defining the fan structure, the process involves ensuring associated devices, like temperature probes, are defined in the SMBIOS data.
Top 1 Comment Summary
A new antimalware tactic suggests using a passively cooled PC and setting up a Russian keyboard. For further insights, the technique is discussed in an article on Krebs on Security.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article proposes enhancing operating system security by designing it to function like a virtual machine. This approach would require programs to seek permission for accessing resources, making it easier for researchers to study malware. As a result, malware authors would face a choice between facilitating research or limiting their targets, ultimately benefiting everyone except the malware creators.
2. Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (June 2025)
Total comment counts : 630
Summary
Laboratory.love enables consumers to crowdfund independent tests for food products to detect harmful chemicals, particularly endocrine disruptors. Following alarming findings that 86% of tested food items contain plastic chemicals, the platform allows users to suggest products, contribute to testing funds, and receive detailed lab results. If a funding goal isn’t reached in a year, contributors get refunds. The initiative promotes transparency to pressure companies into cleaner supply chains, utilizing ISO accredited labs and public testing protocols. Users can browse, add products, or track their interests on the site.
Top 1 Comment Summary
Laboratory.love is a one-man project that allows consumers to crowdfund independent testing of food products for harmful plastic chemicals, following alarming findings from PlasticList that 86% of tested items, including baby food, contained such substances. The platform operates similar to Consumer Reports and Kickstarter, enabling users to suggest products, fund their testing, and receive comprehensive lab results. If a product doesn’t meet its funding goal in a year, contributors are refunded. Working with accredited labs, Laboratory.love aims to increase transparency and encourage cleaner supply chains by providing accessible data on product safety.
Top 2 Comment Summary
A user is refurbishing a 25-30 year old bicycle and recommends a rust remover from Backyard Ballistics, consisting of 1 liter water, 100g citric acid, 40g washing soda, and dish soap. He suggests that this mixture effectively dissolves rust without damaging the metal surface, unlike citric acid, vinegar, or soda alone. The method is claimed to be as effective as EvapoRust but cheaper and more efficient per liter. The user highlights resources from Backyard Ballistics’ YouTube channel for more detailed instructions.
3. Solving Passport Application with Haskell
Total comment counts : 26
Summary
The UK passport application process has become a cultural phenomenon akin to an online adventure puzzle game. Developed by His Majesty’s Passport Office, players gather an assortment of documents to prove British identity, navigating a maze of complex rules and bureaucratic challenges. The game features both online and paper-based versions, with the latter involving significant postal delays and quirky requests, such as distant relatives’ birth certificates. Despite its high cost and complexities, it attracts many participants, who enjoy the puzzle-like nature of the application process, often taking weeks or months to complete.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the complexities of developing UK government software, which involves codifying centuries of legislation. It highlights challenges such as adapting systems like the HMPO passport system when laws change and the outsourcing of development to costly consultancies. These consultancies often prolong contracts and create inflexible systems, leading to repeated inefficiencies whenever laws are updated. The lack of a central decision-making authority exacerbates these issues, contributing to the high costs of government service delivery.
Top 2 Comment Summary
Haskell’s syntax becomes intuitive after explanation, but initially confusing, even for those experienced with Algol-based languages like C and Python. The language’s numerous operators, designed for conciseness, lack clarity and make understanding the code challenging without prior knowledge.
4. More on Apple’s Trust-Eroding ‘F1 the Movie’ Wallet Ad
Total comment counts : 64
Summary
John Gruber criticizes Apple for sending a push notification promoting “F1 The Movie” through the Wallet app, branding it a destructive decision. By injecting ads into a digital space meant for privacy and security, Apple jeopardizes user trust. Users may mistakenly believe Wallet tracks their personal activities, undermining the app’s reputation for privacy. Gruber argues that such actions contradict Apple’s efforts to present itself as a trustworthy alternative to other tech companies. He suggests that the person responsible for the ad’s authorization should be held accountable.
Top 1 Comment Summary
Apple Wallet’s recent ad campaign related to Formula 1 has raised concerns for violating App Store guidelines, particularly regarding push notifications. According to guideline 4.5.4, apps cannot require push notifications for functionality and must not use them for promotions without explicit user consent and opt-out options. Abuse of these regulations could lead to revocation of the app’s privileges.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author expresses concern that Apple, now lacking the leadership of Steve Jobs and Jony Ive, is experiencing a decline in brand taste, evident in their recent advertisements and products. They hope Apple will hire someone to restore its former aesthetic standards, warning that otherwise, the company may become indistinguishable from other tech brands known for poor taste.
5. The Death of the Middle-Class Musician
Total comment counts : 50
Summary
Rollie Pemberton, known as Cadence Weapon, began his music career online in Edmonton, gaining attention with his debut album, “Breaking Kayfabe.” Despite winning accolades, he struggled financially due to a 360 deal with Upper Class Recordings, which allowed the label to take most of his earnings. By 2015, Pemberton realized he had generated over $250,000 for the label while earning little for himself. After leaving Upper Class in 2021, he released “Parallel World,” winning the Polaris Prize but continued facing challenges with streaming revenues. The shift to digital platforms has further strained artists’ incomes.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article argues for universal basic income as a solution to support artists and address broader economic inequality. It suggests that viewing such “fanciful” ideas as realistic is essential for progress. The author emphasizes that various professions, not just the arts, face challenges due to increasing economic disparity. Instead of making small adjustments to individual industries, implementing broad solutions like basic income, wealth taxes, and regulating large market players are necessary to tackle the shrinking options for making a living.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author reflects on their experience in a cover band, noting that despite good gig payments, earnings were insufficient to sustain a full-time music career. They suggest that weekday performance opportunities, such as restaurants hosting live music, could help musicians earn more and remain in the industry. Without such options, talented musicians may be forced to leave the profession due to financial struggles.
6. Many ransomware strains will abort if they detect a Russian keyboard installed (2021)
Total comment counts : 21
Summary
error
Top 1 Comment Summary
To evade analysis, many malware programs will terminate if they detect that they are running in an environment resembling a malware execution sandbox. This behavior highlights the ongoing cat-and-mouse dynamic between malware creators and security researchers.
Top 2 Comment Summary
Evidence suggests that ransomware groups like Patya, Fancy Bear, Cozy Bear, and Conti have operated effectively due to perceived immunity from the Russian government if the targets are non-Russian. Additionally, individuals identifying as Russian or communicating in Russian may receive free decryption of their systems from these groups.
7. The Medley Interlisp Project: Reviving a Historical Software System [pdf]
Total comment counts : 4
Summary
error
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article mentions an informative website that offers an online emulator accessible at interlisp.org.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author describes their experience with a second-hand Xerox Daybreak and a forgotten project using Interlisp on a DEC Alpha emulator. They also contributed minor enhancements to NetBSD’s Ultrix compatibility.
8. Event – Fast, In-Process Event Dispatcher
Total comment counts : 12
Summary
The article discusses a high-performance in-process event dispatcher for Go applications, designed to decouple internal modules and enable asynchronous event handling. It supports both synchronous and asynchronous processing, featuring a global dispatcher for easy event publishing and subscription through the provided functions. Benchmarks demonstrate its throughput, although results may vary by environment. The project is licensed under the MIT License. For further details, users can refer to the documentation.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The implementation described is optimized for high throughput and broadcasting, placing consumers of the same event type in groups with a single lock per group. During publishing, the lock is used once to replicate events across all consumers’ queues, allowing them to consume multiple events efficiently. In contrast, channels lock one element at a time, leading to more frequent locking. Additionally, the frequent polling for group metadata may not be suitable for low-volume workloads aiming for zero CPU usage.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article suggests that the README file should include a section explaining the underlying methodology and how it compares to other approaches, such as Go channels and LMAX. This addition would enhance the reader’s understanding of the system’s design and its distinctions from other methodologies.
9. Revisiting Knuth’s “Premature Optimization” Paper
Total comment counts : 23
Summary
In his paper “Structured Programming with Go To Statements,” Donald Knuth argues that programmers often waste time on optimizing noncritical code, which hinders debugging and maintenance. He famously states that “premature optimization is the root of all evil,” emphasizing the need to focus on essential code efficiency rather than micro-optimizations. While discussing the use of goto statements for performance reasons, Knuth critiques common practices, suggesting that sometimes small enhancements are significant and should not be dismissed. He advocates for a balanced approach to performance in software engineering, considering even minor improvements valuable.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article critiques the common misinterpretation of Donald Knuth’s quote about “premature optimization.” It emphasizes that the full context reveals Knuth’s warning against optimizing code before profiling, suggesting that attention be focused on critical code after proper identification. The author urges that this clarification should be prominently featured to capture readers’ attention, as many overlook the optimization aspect. Overall, the article aims to enhance understanding of the quote’s significance in programming practices.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article argues that relying too heavily on the idea of measuring performance before addressing it leads to a lazy mindset. Instead, great programmers consider performance from the outset of problem-solving. For example, writing an inefficient O(n^2) nested loop for large arrays should be avoided, as discussing “premature optimization” wrongly suggests that performance should not be prioritized initially.
10. Using the Internet without IPv4 connectivity
Total comment counts : 27
Summary
After a power cut, the author’s ISP lost IPv4 connectivity, affecting access to many websites while IPv6 remained functional. Unable to resolve the issue quickly, they utilized a Hetzner VPS with both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses to maintain internet access. The article explains that the connectivity issue stemmed from Carrier Grade NAT (CG-NAT) used by the ISP, which failed to route IPv4 traffic correctly, resulting in a total loss of IPv4 accessibility, while IPv6 services operated normally. The author details the technical workings of NAT and CG-NAT in the context of addressing limitations.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses using an IPv6 tunnel through a VPS to access the IPv4 internet, referred to as 4in6. It highlights the differing support issues experienced with IPv4 and IPv6 at ISPs; breaking IPv4 leads to clear outages, while issues with IPv6 result in ambiguous problems like partial outages and slow connections, often due to confusion with gateways that expect IPv6 connectivity.
Top 2 Comment Summary
Hurricane Electric (HE) offers a tunnel service for users wanting to utilize IPv6 without ISP support. Interested individuals can visit their site at tunnelbroker.net. Various scripts are available to set up a tun device for routing IPv6 traffic on different systems or routers. Helpful resources include guides from Fedora, Brandon Rozeck’s blog, DD-WRT wiki, MikroTik forum, and Rocky Linux documentation, providing step-by-step instructions for configuration.