Top all-time · #933
Gough Lui
Personal blog · goughlui.comhardwarehistoryother
Gough Lui writes Gough's Tech Zone, a personal blog at goughlui.com about hardware and history. Since 2014, 70 different Hacker News readers have linked it 117 times, most often “Collection of V.90/V.92 modem sounds (2016)”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-11-01, and you can follow it by feed.
Rarely recommended · 4 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Gough's Tech Zone for hands-on hardware investigations: battery tests, SSD data retention, flash memory, VHS and modem sound archives, and video codec comparisons.
- Recommended for · 4 comments
- One commenter calls the AA battery test series 'really amazing work' and finds part 3 most interesting; another says the power bank investigations were 'especia
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Reversing the mindless enslavement of humans by technology.
Most-linked posts?
- Collection of V.90/V.92 modem sounds (2016)5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2021-10-31
- SSDs with YMTC Flash Prone to Failure? Check Your SSDs3 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2023-10-10
- /2015/10/16/review-tested-verbatim-lifetime-archival-millenniatam-disc-4x-bd-r-25gb/2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2022-10-07
- Using a Smartphone Accelerometer as a Microphone2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2019-05-29
- /2017/11/22/netflix-uses-my-vhs-cassette-images-without-permission/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-11-28
- /2016/12/19/great-aa-alkaline-battery-test-pt-3-the-results2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-01-12
- Teardown, Optimization: Comsol 8Gb USB Flash Stick (2015)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2019-06-12
- 8Gb USB Flash Drive Endurance Test (2017)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-08-12
- Project: Reviving an HP E-Vectra SFF Desktop PC2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-01-15
- /the-vhs-corner/intro-inside-the-vhs-cassette-vcr/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-11-28
What Hacker News says?
There's this paper, which made the news at the time I think: https://crypto.stanford.edu/gyrophone/files/gyromic.pdf And there's this post, which includes an audio clip: https://goughlui.com/2019/02/02/weekend-project-mma8451q-acc...
Comment linking /2019/02/02/weekend-project-mma8451q-accelerometer-as-a-microphone/
on “Malware can turn off webcam LED and record video, demonstrated on ThinkPad X230”Submitted Great AA Alkaline Battery Test (2016) as a story · 263 points
HN discussionAlso see http://goughlui.com/2016/08/05/diy-build-a-70cm-band-yagi-fo...
Comment linking /2016/08/05/diy-build-a-70cm-band-yagi-for-amateur-satellite-tracking/
on “NASA’s IMAGE satellite, lost since 2005, is alive”Submitted Potential Issues of Using a USB Powerbank as a UPS (2021) as a story · 205 points
HN discussionThe canonical solution in train/subway/metro systems seems to be full-length antennas that span the tunnel corridor. The cool solution would be base stations built into train carriages that then uplink through some kind of backhaul. I think (but need to properly evaluate) that some Australian trains use something like this. EDIT: Nooope nope nope, horribly misread. https://goughlui.com/2014/03/23/random-post-railcor…
Comment linking /2014/03/23/random-post-railcorp-gsm-r-rollout-opal-stuff-and-other-observations/
on “Observing my cellphone switch towers”Submitted Testing DVD-R and CD-R 25 years later: optical disks from Japan as a story · 177 points
HN discussionIt is literally the first result when I do an image search on Google for "VHS Cassette". And when I go to the "Contact me" page on his site [1] I read a lot of passive-aggressive "Don't talk to me, bro" language ;-) Also none of the pictures have any kind of license or copyright info. I cannot even see from the article at [2] that he took the pictures himself. In conclusion my opinion is yes, the designer should hav…
Comment linking /the-vhs-corner/intro-inside-the-vhs-cassette-vcr/
on “Netflix Stole My VHS Cassette Photos for Its Stranger Things Boxed Set”Submitted Collection of V.90/V.92 modem sounds (2016) as a story · 107 points
HN discussionMy understanding is: The author is a VHS electronics enthusiast and had published photos of unmarked VHS cassettes [1]. Some designer photoshopped them to add the "Stranger Things" graphics and Netflix used the photoshopped images without attribution. Author's photographs are literally the first hits in a google search for "VHS cassette". Author did not create a VHS version of the TV program. [1]: http://goughlui.co…
Comment linking /the-vhs-corner/intro-inside-the-vhs-cassette-vcr/
on “Netflix Stole My VHS Cassette Photos for Its Stranger Things Boxed Set”Submitted The Sounds of Dialup Modems and Related Equipment (2014) as a story · 95 points
HN discussionThere is an update, Netflix have replied and said they're investigating. The original post is on goughlui.com, the PetaPixel link is a reblog and hasn't yet been updated: http://goughlui.com/2017/11/22/netflix-uses-my-vhs-cassette-... The Netflix reply (pasting here so the website isn't crushed by HN clicks): Dr. Lui, First, my sincerest apologies that no one has gotten back to you until now. Your blog post was brou…
Comment linking /2017/11/22/netflix-uses-my-vhs-cassette-images-without-permission/
on “Netflix Stole My VHS Cassette Photos for Its Stranger Things Boxed Set”Submitted 8Gb USB Flash Drive Endurance Test (2017) as a story · 74 points
HN discussion"Should Dr. Lui really know how to handle the situation ..." Yes he should. This [1] is literally the second link to the Google search "what do I do if someone steals my photograph" and it has a nice check box of things to do which includes this step: Do some research Find out the infringing person’s name as well as their contact information. This information is often available in the website’s “About Us” section. U…
Comment linking /about-me-a-short-bio/publications-and-appearances/
on “Netflix Stole My VHS Cassette Photos for Its Stranger Things Boxed Set”Submitted Reliving the Dial-Up Experience in 2020 as a story · 39 points
HN discussionIt appears he did get reached out to by netflix "I thank everyone for their attention, time and support. It has been very overwhelming, and has broken a number of records in regards to page-views at my personal blog. Special thanks to PetaPixel who agreed to republish the article in its entirety this morning. As of 12:30pm (UTC+11) while I was away from the desk, I received a reply from Netflix. The reply reads as f…
Comment linking /2017/11/22/netflix-uses-my-vhs-cassette-images-without-permission/
on “Netflix Stole My VHS Cassette Photos for Its Stranger Things Boxed Set”Submitted Round-Up AA and AAA Cells (2022): Results and Analysis as a story · 28 points
HN discussionIt's absolutely not silly. He's spent quite a bit of time on documenting VHS technology: http://goughlui.com/the-vhs-corner/
Comment linking /the-vhs-corner/
on “Netflix Stole My VHS Cassette Photos for Its Stranger Things Boxed Set”Submitted Teardown, Optimization: Comsol 8Gb USB Flash Stick (2015) as a story · 27 points
HN discussionThis may not be exactly what you're asking for but every re-encode introduces additional noise (generational error). Over many re-encodings (even at same high bitrate/quality) the noise will accumulate in a predictable manner. See [0] for an interesting deep-dive blog post on the subject. Now, as for whether or not you can distinguish the re-encoding from it's original source.... difficult but plausible in certain s…
Comment linking /2016/11/22/video-compression-x264-crf-generational-loss-testing/
on “Intel x86 Root of Trust: Loss of Trust”Submitted Project: U3SplitV1 – Breaking Apart a USB 3.x Host Port as a story · 4 points
HN discussionI love the data, but I'm a little mad that Hitachi had to die as a company and got sold into pieces. I'm not sure if I trust what you guys did, calling the old Hitachi Drives as HGST. Technically, the 3.5" drives from Hitachi got sold to Toshiba. For example, the Toshiba DT01ACA300 is allegedly the same design as the Hitachi 7k3000. In the following link, note that the "HDS723030BLE640" is the model number to the 7k…
Comment linking /2013/02/26/toshiba-dt01aca300-aka-hitachi-hds723030ble640-drives/
on “What is the best hard drive?”Submitted Optical Discs from Japan – A Visit to Mag-Lab and Daiso as a story · 4 points
HN discussionOffice 95 doesn't look that functionally different from Office 2003: Office 95: https://i0.wp.com/isoriver.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/06... Office 2003: https://imag.malavida.com/mvimgbig/download-fs/office-2003-s... Honestly even Excel 3.0 (1990) doesn't look that disimilar ( https://goughlui.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/about-excel.... ) So that's 17 years for toolbars vs 13 for ribbon
Comment linking /wp-content/uploads/2014/05/about-excel.png
on “LibreOffice: The Next Five Years”Submitted Audio Induction Loop Receiver (2014) as a story · 4 points
HN discussionYou may be interested in checking out this series of blog posts [1] (with a surprising cameo by Dick Smith himself in the comment section) [1] http://goughlui.com/2014/11/09/tech-flashback-dick-smiths-fu...
Comment linking /2014/11/09/tech-flashback-dick-smiths-fun-way-into-electronics-vol-1/
on “Dick Smith Is the Greatest Private Equity Heist of All Time”Submitted Counterfeit Power Cables – A Fire Waiting to Happen as a story · 3 points
HN discussionIs the encoder any better than previous AMD offerings? https://goughlui.com/2024/01/07/video-codec-round-up-2023-pa...
Comment linking /2024/01/07/video-codec-round-up-2023-part-14-av1_amf-av1-amd-advanced-media-framework/
on “Improving performance of rav1d video decoder”Submitted SSDs with YMTC Flash Prone to Failure? Check Your SSDs as a story · 3 points
HN discussionThere's allegedly nothing different special about blu-ray M-DISCs >Digging further around the M-disc site, it is noted that their section on longevity testing actually features no data about the BD-R discs at all. Indeed, if there were tests, the reports were not actually featured on the site at all. Further poking around in M-Disc Technology pages shows only references to their DVD products. In fact, it seems their…
Comment linking /2015/10/16/review-tested-verbatim-lifetime-archival-millenniatam-disc-4x-bd-r-25gb/
on “Longevity of Recordable CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays (2020)”Submitted Teardown of a wrist blood pressure monitor (ACMMD001) a.k.a. Transtek LS810 as a story · 3 points
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