Top all-time · #5905
Huan Truong
Personal blog · tnhh.nethardwareprogrammingscience
Huan Truong's personal blog at tnhh.net covers hardware, programming and science. Since 2011, 13 different Hacker News readers have linked it 53 times, most often “The insane amount of backward compatibility in Google Maps”. The last post was in 2023, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (7) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Huan Truong's posts on Google products, such as the decline of Google Talk and Google Maps' backward compatibility, and on how phone computing compares with older hardware.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 7 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
A List of Posts
Most-linked posts?
- The insane amount of backward compatibility in Google Maps3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2018-02-10
- Phone vs. Supercomputers3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-02-10
- Show HN: My Google Authenticator Watchfob2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2011-02-26
- BKED, the DOS text editor that rendered text the hard way2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2018-05-13
- How did Google Talk change from a dream to a nightmare?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2018-02-10
What Hacker News says?
I know many people who care but they think they can "outsmart" Facebook by having workarounds for its annoying and evil nature. They do it by not giving it their permission to access the address book, location, nude pictures, etc. They told me to " just deny Facebook's request to..." It bugged the fuck out of me and I wrote about it last year [1]. They think they can befriend an evil person who they know too well wo…
Comment linking /posts/just.html
on “WhatsApp co-founder tells everyone to delete Facebook”Submitted How did Google Talk change from a dream to a nightmare? as a story · 803 points
HN discussionI am a software developer in the US with a Vietnamese origin, so I am no historian and my views are probably skewed. I am among the minority Northern Vietnamese people in the US, most Vietnamese people in the Bay Area are (refugees) from the South. People can tell where one comes from with one's accent. It was undeniable that much suffering and injustice was done for Southern people, especially after the war ended.…
Comment linking /posts/lullaby-of-the-artillery.html
on “Vietnam War images from the North Vietnamese side”Submitted The insane amount of backward compatibility in Google Maps as a story · 512 points
HN discussionI think the Google Plus redesign was the beginning of the end. Changing Google Talk into Google Hangouts and trying to be more like Facebook began the process of killing what used to be a great platform. Good piece on that here: https://www.tnhh.net/posts/google-talk.html
Comment linking /posts/google-talk.html
on “Graying Out”Submitted Zenreader: A 4.7" E-Ink RSS Reader as a story · 352 points
HN discussionTotally agree. My mom wouldn't know that damn dialog has two buttons. This is the epitome of “we’re shitty by default, but if you know your way around our system, then you’re fine.” Yeah... how about no? Just wrote about it here: http://www.tnhh.net/posts/shitty-by-default.html
Comment linking /posts/shitty-by-default.html
on “Facebook denies it collects call and SMS data from phones without permission”Submitted “But didn't you write an embedded OS?” as a story · 255 points
HN discussionThis is exactly why I'm using two-factor authentication for gmail (heck, I even ported the two factor auth code generator to my watch so I don't have to panic when my android phone runs out of battery - http://tnhh.net/pancake/chronos-otp.xml :-) However, I don't use Gmail for 'everything,' it's just too dangerous and I feel doing that way Google knows more about me than they should. I think everyone should be hosti…
Comment linking /pancake/chronos-otp.xml
on “Hacked Gmail Account”Submitted My Chumby hacking story: Do you believe in the Users? as a story · 54 points
HN discussionHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I lead a team to translate the whole book to Vietnamese fifteen years ago as a freshman highschool student, and released it for free online. We beat the printed book publisher by months. I should have gotten into tons of troubles, but everyone was kind enough to not beat me down. I didn't get into any legal troubles partly because people saw the values in doing it, partly b…
Comment linking /posts/Harry-Potter-and-me.html
on “Ask HN: What's one book that changed your life?”Submitted Shoving an Arduino into a pillow as a story · 41 points
HN discussionThis domain hijacking idea reminds me of an incident with Google I discovered a couple of years ago that landed me a bug bounty with them. I found out they created email logins with a not-registered domain for their candidacy account. I ended up registering that domain and "sold" it back to them in good faith. At least I can die with a smile on my face -- I once sold Google a domain. details: http://www.tnhh.net/pos…
Comment linking /posts/gcandidate-who-is-interviewing-with-google.html
on “Finding vulnerable Twitter accounts with expired domains”Submitted Is your computer too slow to keep up with your typing? as a story · 14 points
HN discussionMy jaw just dropped upon seeing what can be achieved considering the amount of resource that was used. If you're used to program only with modern hardware (PC/Mac/iPhone/Android/whatever) you'll never understand how insanely fast 2.5k RAM can be consumed. For example, declaring a fixed char[] of 255 chars would consume 10% of the entire amount of physical memory you have (you can, however, have "swap" on the Microsd…
Comment linking /pancake/2011/09/lolz-pic-frame.html
on “8-bit touchscreen ebook reader”Submitted Phone vs. Supercomputers as a story · 11 points
HN discussionRelevant: https://www.tnhh.net/posts/google-maps-insane-backward-compa...
Comment linking /posts/google-maps-insane-backward-compatibility.html
on “URL query parameters and how laxness creates de facto requirements on the web”Submitted Show HN: Building an open-source and high-quality webcam with a Raspberry Pi 0 W as a story · 6 points
HN discussionLocation: Raleigh, NC | St Louis, MO | Kansas City, MO Remote: Yes Willing to relocate: Yes Technologies: C, Golang, CUDA, GPU, Bash, R, HTML/Javascript, Linux, Embedded: MSP430/AVR/Raspberry Pi, algorithm tuning, Git/Github, bioinformatics, basic security. Resume: http://www.tnhh.net/resume.pdf Github: https://github.com/htruong | Google scholar publications: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZTuFnawAAAAJ |…
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (April 2018)”Submitted Hacking Amazon Dash Buttons with OpenWRT as a story · 6 points
HN discussionSomebody has ported Google two-factor to it: http://tnhh.net/pancake/chronos-otp.xml
Comment linking /pancake/chronos-otp.xml
on “The Wristwatch Looks For a New Use”Submitted “I don't give a s*** if my nudes are leaked” as a story · 6 points
HN discussionI have been working on my Anybar implementation on real hardware, so it works on everything and I don't have to worry about any particular DE or OS: http://www.tnhh.net/mobile/posts/led-strip-for-your-computer... Makes a good swag on my desk, too.
Comment linking /mobile/posts/led-strip-for-your-computer.html
on “Ask HN: What is your hardware/garage side-project?”Submitted My venture in hacking a fake vintage radio as a story · 4 points
HN discussionBunnie is among a few people that I look up to a lot as not just being innovative as an inventor and engineer, but also a practical and fearless one at that. The "sue the US government" was a crazy and genius move. I have hacked on his hardware -- the Chumby. I had a lot of fun working that was the inspiration for me to do many things that I do now. In the past job working for the IT department in a small state univ…
Comment linking /posts/crankshaft-chumby-do-you-believe-in-the-users.html
on “NeTV2 – An open video development board”Submitted BKED, the DOS text editor that rendered text the hard way as a story · 4 points
HN discussionAgreed, though I think there were 2 jumps with cell phones, the original mass produced ones circa the late 1990s, and then smart phones circa 2007-2008. Also this: https://www.tnhh.net/posts/google-maps-insane-backward-compa...
Comment linking /posts/google-maps-insane-backward-compatibility.html
on “Could the Apollo 11 moon landing be duplicated today? ‘Lots of luck with that’”Submitted Show HN: Spectre and Meltdown attack explained, simply, for non-programmers as a story · 4 points
HN discussionYep. Here: http://www.tnhh.net/posts/wireguard-router-firewalled-comput...
Comment linking /posts/wireguard-router-firewalled-computer-raspberry-pi.html
on “Ask HN: What free-to-use software inspires you?”Submitted Show HN: Streaming keygen music from my Raspberry Pi as a story · 3 points
HN discussion
