Top all-time · #2498
AtaDistance
Personal blog · atadistance.netbusinesshardware
AtaDistance is a personal blog at atadistance.net about business and hardware. Since 2017, 31 different Hacker News readers have linked it 55 times, most often “Transit Gate Evolution: why tap speed matters”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-11-01, and you can follow it by feed.
Rarely recommended · 3 of 30 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link this blog for posts on Japanese transit IC cards (Suica, FeliCa), NFC tap speeds, phone NFC support, Japanese typography and Japan maps. One commenter calls it a good summary and says they are a big fan.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 30 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- Transit Gate Evolution: why tap speed matters7 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2022-02-07
- Tokyo Transit Gate Evolution: Why tap latency dictates gate throughput (2019)2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2019-11-01
- /2016/09/20/truetype-gx-model-lives-on-in-opentype-variation-fonts/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-12-22
- UWB Mobile Suica isn't just walk-through gates, it's payments too2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-05-17
- /2023/07/15/foreign-visa-cards-blocked-for-japanese-mobile-and-online-payments/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-08-23
- /2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-08-31
- /2019/10/20/japanese-text-layout-for-the-future-hint-there-isnt-one/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-03-25
- /2023/08/01/how-long-will-the-suica-card-shortage-last/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-08-28
- Global FeliCa (NFC-F) for iPhone and Apple Watch 3 for seamless NFC world standard2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-09-18
What Hacker News says?
People have been hoping that Google opts for global NFC capability but Pixel4 disappointed everyone on that regard. Sony and NTT Docomo have a stranglehold on the Android ecosystem. No JP NFC supporting android phone ever has more than 3 LTE bands. The only unlocked Android phone that isn't crippled is Oppo's Reno A, and that's an expensive middle range Qualcomm SoC, which is slower than Apples 3 year old devices. A…
Comment linking /
on “New iPhone SE”Submitted The Steve Jobs Difference as a story · 11 points
HN discussionhttps://atadistance.net/2024/05/31/jr-east-and-tokyo-private...
Comment linking /2024/05/31/jr-east-and-tokyo-private-rail-lines-agree-to-replace-mag-strip-paper-tickets-with-qr-starting-in-2026/
on “The tiny chip that powers Montreal subway tickets”Submitted Replace Your iPhone X: The Suica Problem Is Everybody’s NFC Problem as a story · 9 points
HN discussionI'm a big fan of this blog: https://atadistance.net/2023/04/04/final-frontiers-how-suica... The author understands Japanese sources and writes about how the various Felica-based systems operate and evolve.
Comment linking /2023/04/04/final-frontiers-how-suica-2-0-will-solve-the-ic-fare-region-barrier-problem/
on “The tiny chip that powers Montreal subway tickets”Submitted Can Japan stop the VISA squeeze? as a story · 5 points
HN discussionThe MIFARE protocol (which Oyster cards use) takes 300ms to 500ms per tap. EMV (i.e. contactless cards) take ~500ms, which slows down normal walking speed. Here's a good summary of NFC protocols used for transit gates: https://atadistance.net/2020/06/13/transit-gate-evolution-wh... The Felica standard is fastest at 100ms per tap, and is used in Japan (e.g. Suica card) and Hong Kong (Octopus card).
Comment linking /2020/06/13/transit-gate-evolution-why-gate-speed-matters/
on “The tiny chip that powers Montreal subway tickets”Submitted The Contactless Tipping Point, Face ID and iPhone SE Reviews as a story · 3 points
HN discussion1. Today we have 4 browser implementors. Only one of them doesn't also own an operating system (FF). We lost opera year or two ago. I would argue that a significant factor in this shrinking landscape is the fact that Apple has locked away ~10% of the market forever (and this 10% is not a random sampling - it includes many high value customers). Sure implementing a browser is technically challenging - my argument is…
Comment linking /2016/09/20/truetype-gx-model-lives-on-in-opentype-variation-fonts/
on “Chrome is Not the Standard”Submitted Tokyo Transit Gate Evolution: Why tap latency dictates gate throughput (2019) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionIt Is a little hard to understand, how 6 years went by and they still have nothing to show for. The only map I find that that good enough is in China. Mainly because there are only a few Data Sources and they are all backed by government. Other location, I have yet to hear a case where Apple's Data is better then Google. It has been going for long time. For example in Japan, where Apple has 50+% market share, has a…
Comment linking /category/maps/
on “Apple is rebuilding Maps from the ground up”Submitted Transit Gate Evolution: why tap speed matters as a story · 2 points
HN discussion> but then based on my personal experience as print media designer the likes of InDesign are full of various special tricks (and language-specific, too) That seems to concur with an informative article by AtaDistance from 2019 that I read the other day [0]: > ... > The result was InDesign 1.0 J which shipped in early 2001. InDesign J was the first, and only, major software application developed outside of Japan that…
Comment linking /2019/04/26/the-state-of-css-japanese-layout-open-type-variable-fonts-and-why-apple-news-wont-happen-in-japan/
on “CSS for printing to paper”Submitted Safari 17.4 Vertical Writing Modes won't change a thing as a story · 2 points
HN discussionEven for Apple, the most profitable smartphone OEM, it took them many years and so much engineering effort to make it work. They started with iPhone 7 JP edition, next their "Global NFC" iPhone X,8 series was pretty much a failure[1]. I can see why Android OEMs don't want to pursue providing solution to a technology that isn't widely adopted, is expensive to implement and has minimal user base [1] https://atadistanc…
Comment linking /2021/10/13/a-iphone-x-nfc-failure-story-for-the-user-and-for-apple/
on “Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro”Submitted Mobile Suica 2.0 as a story · 2 points
HN discussionIndeed. Yahoo Japan Maps is the best maps and transit solution in Japan and it just got even better: https://atadistance.net/2017/05/02/yahoo-japan-map-v5-review...
Comment linking /2017/05/02/yahoo-japan-map-v5-review/
on “A Year of Google and Apple Maps”Submitted The VISA JP Apple Pay announcement and digital banking wars as a story · 2 points
HN discussionThe At a Distance blog has extensively covered Apple Maps' deficiencies (and progress) in Japan where Yahoo maps is the best option. https://atadistance.net
Comment linking /
on “A Year of Google and Apple Maps”Submitted The Second Wave of Japanese Desktop Publishing (2000) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionWell I've seen some other writeups like https://atadistance.net/2020/06/13/transit-gate-evolution-wh... that have also been referenced on HN. Discussions like https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38694411 and others that are probably easy to search for. While some people have a reflexive dislike for AI output, I've done maybe a hundred o3 Deep Research queries now and found the reports to be generally high quality a…
Comment linking /2020/06/13/transit-gate-evolution-why-gate-speed-matters/
on “Japan's IC cards are weird and wonderful”Submitted Replace Your iPhone X: The Suica Problem Is Everybody’s NFC Problem as a story · 2 points
HN discussionIf you're alluding to an Apple watch, it has Felica support wherever you buy it. PS: For anyone in doubt https://atadistance.net/2017/09/12/iphone-x-keynote-global-f...
Comment linking /2017/09/12/iphone-x-keynote-global-felica/
on “Japan's IC cards are weird and wonderful”Submitted Why Tokyo transit gates process contactless cards in under 100ms as a story · 1 points
HN discussionDesktop publishing, especially after the release of the LaserWriter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaserWriter It used to be really hard to get printer output to look the same on the page as what you saw on the screen, and the small details matter when people are laying out a complicated magazine (or whatever) page and need text to flow around images and other design elements. There was a whole Adobe-vs-everyone bat…
Comment linking /2016/09/20/truetype-gx-model-lives-on-in-opentype-variation-fonts/
on “Ssheven: A modern SSH client for Mac OS 7-9”Submitted UWB Mobile Suica isn't just walk-through gates, it's payments too as a story · 1 points
HN discussionThey're now working on walk-through gates using UWB https://atadistance.net/2026/05/13/uwb-mobile-suica-isnt-jus...
Comment linking /2026/05/13/uwb-mobile-suica-isnt-just-walkthrough-gates-its-payments-too/
on “Suica, Japan's First IC Transit Card”Submitted Apple Pay branding and what it means as a story · 1 points
HN discussionOnly because Western-centric systems don't handle non-LTR text properly. https://atadistance.net/2019/10/20/japanese-text-layout-for-... > Baseline font metrics will never deliver great CJK typography because there are too many limitations. > > This is why InDesign J implements virtual body metrics based on Adobe proprietary table information for true high-end Japanese layout. There is no virtual body standard digit…
Comment linking /2019/10/20/japanese-text-layout-for-the-future-hint-there-isnt-one/
on “Things to know about the Great Wave”Submitted Apple Pay drops the FeliCa requirement for Japanese issue payment cards as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
