riskable
@riskable@programming.dev
Father, Hacker (Information Security Professional), Open Source Software Developer, Inventor, and 3D printing enthusiast
- Comment on Palworld Developer Reveals The Pokémon Patents Nintendo Claims It's Violating 1 day ago:
The largest contributors to Open Source make their money from patents and other IP.
The data in that video is (probably) accurate but your statement is completely wrong: In that list only Intel makes anything but trivial amounts of money from patents. In fact, Microsoft, Google, and Docker have famously lost shittons of money thanks to patents. They basically siphoned money out of those companies into the pockets of lawyers and provided absolutely no benefit to society.
For fuck’s sake: Features were removed from Android because of software patents!
Not only that but Google makes almost all of its money from advertising, not “IP”. Same for Meta which is oddly missing from the graph (even though they contribute to and maintain a ton of FOSS stuff).
Then let’s talk about #1: Redhat. They absolutely would be 1000% behind banning software patents. It’s nothing but trouble for them.
I’d also like to note that Microsoft has been very much in favor of software patents since they were invented by the courts (remember: no legislation added software as a category of patentable subject matter: They exist as a result of court rulings!) because they thought they would put an end to open source software (see: Halloween documents). However, software patents have actually cost Microsoft more than they ever helped the company! In short: They’re idiots. They opened a can of worms that’s kept them constantly under attack but because those worms also hurt their perceived enemies they’ve doubled down on their decision.
- Comment on Palworld Developer Reveals The Pokémon Patents Nintendo Claims It's Violating 1 day ago:
Software existed for decades without (software) patents and has innovated and evolved vastly more quickly than any other science. Then we created software patents and things actually started to slow down (because lawsuits take time and threaten to end great software before it even exists).
Software is already covered by copyright which is all that was necessary for some of the richest companies in the world to come into existence (e.g. Microsoft, Oracle). Software patents shouldn’t exist!
- Comment on Palworld Developer Reveals The Pokémon Patents Nintendo Claims It's Violating 1 day ago:
Imagine if any company could just copy an indie game and scale it up/polish a bit and get all the sales.
You’re describing the entire mobile games industry. You think all those top apps in the app stores are 100% original? No. They copied other games.
Also, patents have nothing to do with that. Software is covered by copyright.
Furthermore, “back in the day” manufacturing was expensive and required huge factories to build stuff (in quantity). The barrier to entry was enormous! People were mostly uneducated and there was not much in the way of “shared engineering knowledge”. Ten thousand people could look at a car engine and have no friggin clue how it worked. That’s why patents were necessary: Disclosure
These days disclosure has become irrelevant. Any engineer can look at an invention or product and figure out both how it works and how it was made. At the very least, they can figure out a way to make it. Just look at all the Youtube channels where every day people are making complicated machines, parts, and electronics! The mysteries are gone. Disclosure is unnecessary.
Since the entire point of patents was disclosure why do we still need them?
- Comment on Palworld Developer Reveals The Pokémon Patents Nintendo Claims It's Violating 4 days ago:
Software patents shouldn’t exist!
- Comment on Websites: Then vs Now 1 week ago:
Trying the back button to get out of an ad infestation? You get a new ad! Trying again? Believe or not, straight to another ad!
- Comment on Websites: Then vs Now 1 week ago:
There’s vastly more malicious code now than there was back then. Every company that has an online presence is constantly under attack. Constantly. There isn’t an IPv4 address that exists that isn’t scanned and have an attempt at hacking performed within seconds of being connected.
Not only that but today’s malicious code is much better at what it does with hundreds of amazing features and methods of branching out using different attack methods. Today’s malware is so good it updates itself very carefully/as secretly as possible so that some old compromised machine that no one thinks about anymore can become the next vector of attack inside your network.
All it takes is one active vulnerability
Keep all your shit up to date, people! When was the last time you checked your router to see if it had updates? Hmm‽
- Comment on Websites: Then vs Now 1 week ago:
People are accepting of ads because ads are literally everywhere. A world without ads would be very strange indeed!
Every logo that exists and every product that has its own name/brand printed on it is an ad. Every product name in a catalog or simple list is an ad.
A world without ads would be like hundreds of years ago when you could buy soap that just looked like soap with no labels and no packaging at all. When the only food you purchased was bare produce/meat (or the whole animal). But even then any assembled/manufactured product would have some sort of “maker’s mark”.
I mean, how long have humans been branding cattle? That’s the original use of that term!
- Comment on Pocketpair reveals specific patents featured in Nintendo's lawsuit against Palworld 1 week ago:
Software patents shouldn’t exist!
- Comment on Why do Republicans bring up Kamala's "lies"/shortcomings as a way to claim Trump is better? 3 weeks ago:
Surely they can’t all be this dumb.
After a few decades following American politics you’ll realize that yes, yes they can all be that dumb.
Just have a general conversation with your most conservative neighbors about basically anything and you’ll quickly learn that there’s nothing they don’t have an opinion on and their level of ignorance is… Impressive.
Like, dude, you’re 60+ years old and you think hurricanes are a conspiracy‽ The point where they lost their mind was long ago.
Sooner or later you can’t help but wonder if they ever had sanity or they just faked it long enough to have a career/survive until retirement.
- Comment on Please don't crash. Please don't crash. Please don't crash. 5 weeks ago:
It’s probably just full of unplayed Steam games.
- Comment on Diego Garcia: What is on the secretive UK-US island in the Indian Ocean? 1 month ago:
Anyone care to guess how long before that island is completely submerged due to rising seas?
Doesn’t exactly seem like a long-term base.
- Comment on How do I avoid enshitification of my keyboard and mouse 1 month ago:
Building your own keyboard is supposed to be fun. You do some research to figure out what you want. Maybe order some sample switches to try out, pick out a keycap set you like, and eventually settle on a kit.
When you order your kit it’ll include a case, a top plate, and a circuit board. If you get one with hot swap sockets you will not have to solder anything. You can literally just press the switches in.
Then when you’re done you screw everything together, put your keycaps on, and you have a working keyboard. Sometimes you have to flash the firmware as a final step but that’s not rocket science. You do not have to know how to program.
- Comment on How do I avoid enshitification of my keyboard and mouse 1 month ago:
You don’t have to solder if you use hot swap sockets for your switches. Even if you never plan to swap the switches the hot swap sockets mean you’ll never have to solder a thing 👍
- Comment on How do I avoid enshitification of my keyboard and mouse 1 month ago:
Just build your own keyboard. That’s what I did (and it turned out fantastic) 🤷
Mice are much easier to deal with since there’s 500 million of them to choose from. Just pick a generic, no-name brand that doesn’t need drivers and you’re all set.
Aside: Building a keyboard isn’t rocket science. It’s just a bit tedious (buy a kit). Unless you invent your own 3D printable keyboard switch and stabilizers from scratch then design an analog circuit board to work with them (also from scratch). Then it’s a bit more like rocket science 🤣
- Comment on Oxygen 1 month ago:
God’s keyboard
- Comment on Be more specific 1 month ago:
Astronomers: The Sun is a recent development
- Comment on Men: What sequence do you fellow to dry your body off after showering or bathing? 2 months ago:
I just shake myself off like a dog.
- Comment on Ayaneo officially enters the U.S. gaming market — $399 Next Lite and $999 Kun now available at Best Buy 2 months ago:
The thing runs Windows so it’s not a Steam Deck competitor… It’s a has-been at launch.
Windows is absolute garbage for a handheld gaming device. When are these manufacturers going to learn and just ship the things with Linux? Many Chinese devices (made for running emulators) ship with some customized Linux so why aren’t more mainstream manufacturers doing it? Seems like a no-brainer to make a better device and save money on licensing costs.
- Comment on LED Sign 2 months ago:
It’s the WiFi password
- Comment on Why is Kamala Harris being held at such a higher standard than Trump this election? 2 months ago:
Rich people believe that no matter how rough the world gets they will be fine as long as they remain rich. History has shown repeatedly that this is a false assumption, demonstrating that the rich in America really are just as dumb as poor conservatives who get suckered into voting against their own interests every election.
Also many of the absurdly wealthy are sociopaths and narcissists (because our economic system allows people like that to succeed by stepping on everyone else). To them, all that matters is how they look among their “in group.” So if they think they’ll look better by being a few billion richer they do whatever it takes to get there… No matter the long term consequences. Either to them or anyone else.
- Comment on How different would the world be if school never ended but you could leave and come back anytime you elect to? 2 months ago:
It’s already like that except the funding part. There’s free online learning for basically anything available to everyone in the world, 24/7. And people do take advantage of it.
You can learn whatever TF you want from reliable, trusted sources it’s just that all you get from it is the knowledge. You don’t normally get a degree or a certificate or anything like that. Because those things are for traditional institutions (and how they make money).
If you really want to learn something, go learn it. What’s stopping you?
- Comment on How different would the world be if school never ended but you could leave and come back anytime you elect to? 2 months ago:
It’s already like that except the funding part. There’s free online learning for basically anything available to everyone in the world, 24/7. And people do take advantage of it.
You can learn whatever TF you want from reliable, trusted sources it’s just that all you get from it is the knowledge. You don’t normally get a degree or a certificate or anything like that. Because those things are for traditional institutions (and how they make money).
If you really want to learn something, go learn it. What’s stopping you?
- Comment on Majority of antisemitic incidents committed by leftists, not Islamists or neo-Nazis, research find 2 months ago:
The source they “cite” is the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CSM) which is a far-right group founded by a rich, Republican donor, Adam Beren. It started out innocuous enough… With no history whatsoever it asked a whole lot of companies to sign a very boring pledge to not support antisemitism. These companies signed it because, “Why not? Antisemitism is bad. Sure.”
Now CSM is running around claiming “over 700 companies” support it and making videos blaming “woke” ideologies for… Antisemitism (I kid you not):
forward.com/…/combat-antisemitism-movement-woke-a…
You can learn more about CSM here:
- Comment on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz: Proponent of Licenses for Illegal Aliens 3 months ago:
The crime that “illegal aliens” are guilty of is an administrative violation… That’s why they’re called, “undocumented”. It’s an administrative offense. Usually they enter the country legally then overstay their visa. There’s not even an implied threat or danger there… They’re just people.
Driving a vehicle without a license is an imminent danger for everyone. Not just a threat to life and liberty but a rather large economic threat. Without a license there’s no guarantee that the individual went through any training whatsoever nor will they have any insurance. Even if they’re a victim of something like a drink driver they can’t get justice since the unlicensed driver will be at fault (in addition to the drunk).
The “national security threat” mentioned in the article is bullshit. These people need to provide some proof of residency in order to obtain the license. It’s not like they’re just saying, “I’m Joe Blow” and walking out with a government ID.
Not only that but the licenses in question clearly state that they were obtained without proof of citizenship. So it’s not like any law enforcement will ever get confused about their status.
- Comment on Civil servants cannot wear ‘fetish gear’ to work, minister confirms 3 months ago:
There’s a big problem here: Every kind of clothing is “fetish clothing” to someone.
- Comment on Old AF 3 months ago:
If something is “older than dirt” that means it’s at least 18,000 years old but can be millions of years old depending on where you live:
- Comment on AP Headlines Called Harris Indian American in 2016, Black in 2020? 3 months ago:
Why is this an issue? I don’t get it.
In 2016 she was the first Indian American senator (but not the first Black senator) so that context makes sense.
In 2020 she was the first Black, first Indian American, and first woman vice President. So that headline makes perfect sense too.
Why would anyone get upset over these headline differences? They weren’t even published by Democrats and there were probably dozens of similar headlines from other news organizations at the time.
- Comment on Mushroom Guides 3 months ago:
You either get a
tasty treatbland, mild dirt flavor or incurable certain death.FTFY
- Comment on Eat it 4 months ago:
It’s not like there’s signs in the sky.
If there are, landing might not be the best option! Best to fly over the apocalypse 👍
- Comment on Eat it 4 months ago:
To be fair, a 250g RC aircraft can cause a lot of destruction to a plane that’s in the process of taking off/landing or to a car on a highway.
Having said that, they really have gone overboard with the regulation. Restrict airspace near airports and over highways, not something as ambiguous as “over people”. They also (still) require a spotter for FPV which is just silly. The point of the spotter is so you can figure out where it went if you lose control (presumably, to take responsibility if it crashes into something important and does some damage). Anyone flying FPV is going to know exactly where the RC aircraft was when they lost control (and modern ones will return themselves home if contact is lost like that).
They need to focus more on regulating features instead of “what and where”. If every RC aircraft has to have a return to home feature that would make more sense than something super ambiguous like, “don’t fly above people.”