Absolutely random thought semi-related to the topic.
This is one of the better voice clones of Musk but it's still really bad because he never lost his whatever accent, and every voice clone I've heard (mostly the ones on fake Starship launch videos) speaks with perfect American accent.
it seems most of these crosswalks can be configured via app from https://polara.com/ . So either the authentication was leaked or got physically flashed/hacked?
> SIMPLE WIRELESS PROGRAMMING
The iNX is easily programmed using our industry-leading
Field Service App, available for iOS® & Android® – no
expensive software or proprietary devices required! The app allows technicians to configure system settings and
sounds, as well as access actionable data on button counts, flashing cycles, and more.
They said "The app allows technicians to configure system settings and sounds"; They never said the app _doesn't_ allow _non-technicians_ to do the same. What's the big deal?
I'll take garbage ads over dystopian "the city implores you to <some thing I probably would have done anyway if left to my own devices>" messages any day.
I really do not understand people complaining about PSAs. Like learn some emotional maturity? If you weren't going to do the thing they're asking you not to do, then the message wasn't directed at you and you can go about your day just fine.
Different people have different responses to condescension, perhaps? You probably never even considered that. Consider it next time and be better. Hope that helps.
Fifty four percent of Americans read below the sixth grade level. All effective PSA's must primarily target people who don't understand the world around them, and likely never will.
It's not condescending, because it's not targeted to you.
I've come across several of these that if you press them enough say "Change Password". I'm guessing they've never had their passwords changed from default.
Very nice. Totally harmless prank and it clowns on jerks who deserve a good clowning! Hope the pranksters continue and keep it lowkey so they don’t get caught.
The targets of this deserve every bit of shade that can be thrown at them, but unfortunately, this fucks with crosswalk accessibility for the visually impaired.
You apparently don't understand that "hacker" has multiple definitions. Sorry to hear that. The guy who named this site wrote extensively on "hackers", which you're free to read. Try "hackers and painters" first.
If you think this is a site all about people who gain illicit access to systems which they shouldn't have, then you must be very confused by the content frequently appearing here.
And did not do anything malicious like remove the actual accessibility tones.
My point isn’t that they are some kind of Robin Hood, but that their actions don’t warrant anger, whereas the insecurity of a public system we rely on… should.
They could just be "not thoughtful". I understand that you want to present the alternate viewpoint as absurd in order to bolster your own viewpoints, but this isn't reddit and you don't need to operate this way here
Yeah except the tones and walk messages still play, it just doesn't spam wait over and over at a red. Do you think because it's playing a satirical message blind people will ignore the tones and just start running into traffic?
I don't think it even does spam "wait" over and over; I've never heard that in my life. With every such crosswalk I've encountered (in multiple cities across the US) it only says "wait" for each time you press the button.
Why don't you explain the reason and then after you've done that, I can inform you that they don't actually do that. I always mash them to DJ up a Wait-Wa-wa-wa-wai-wai-wait-wa-wa-wa-wait. But I always enjoy it when a Hacker News user provides reasons for why something is a certain way only to find that it's not actually that way.
Haha I have a pet peeve where people “explain why things are a certain way” when they are not that way. Apart from that you can argue about programmable speakers all you like.
It sounds like they still make the normal/expected sounds. So kudos to the pranksters for keeping them safe and available for the people in need of accessibility.
Deviant Ollam has a video with clips from the crosswalks. He also mentions the accessibility is not impacted. Worth a watch if you haven’t heard the AI impressions.
The expected sound is the "WAIT!" voice, which you can clearly still hear. Anything in addition to that is of zero detriment to the accessibility of the system.
As far as the messages I heard, they still announce whatever they should - just with zucks voice and sarcasticly and extra text. But I haven't listened to everything, maybe they did significantly impact someone's life.
I'd prefer to hear an actual example over broad outrage tho
is pretty clear implication. But I'll spell it out for you - people with impairment to senses (primarily vision) rely on this infrastructure to know when it's safe to cross a road.
These devices will also often indicate their location when you hold the button. That can help a visually impared person confirm that they're oriented correctly. That use case is likely why these are field programmable; factory programming would be sufficient for limited prompts (wait, begin crossing, count down, clicks and whistles, etc) but not for street names.
This HN post is seven days old but displayed and ranked as if it was posted 9 hours ago, with all timestamps falsified. The déjà vu effect is disconcerting and an absolute mind fuck. Please stop doing this, ffs. The person who thought this would be a good idea is a madman.
Can confirm. Once dang pinged me directly by email saying that my story was re-upped. The story went again to the frontpage and the date was adapted (IIRC), but the comments were kept:
---
Hi denysvitali,
The submission "PostmarketOS-Powered Kubernetes Cluster" that you posted to Hacker News (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42352075) looks good, but hasn't had much attention so far. We put it in the second-chance pool, so it will get a random placement on the front page some time in the next day or so.
This is a way of giving good HN submissions multiple chances at the front page. If you're curious, you can read about it at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26998308 and other links there. And if you don't want these emails, sorry! Let us know and we won't do it again.
Wild! I definitely remember commenting on this last week and sure enough my comment shows below as “8 hours ago” (while I was asleep). What kind of sorcery is going on?
HN has a "second chance queue" for posts that the powers-that-be believe could've/should've gotten more attention but didn't. Happened to one of my posts once, which was confusing as all hell at first but made sense once I learned about it.
The fact that previously undiscovered posts sometimes get upvoted and make it to the front page after getting their "second chance" demonstrates the feature's utility.
Not really. Interesting posts can get buried easily just because they were posted at a bad time and people don't delve that far into the second or further pages. It's been going for almost 9 years now. I think it's a good idea.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-crosswalk-...
This is one of the better voice clones of Musk but it's still really bad because he never lost his whatever accent, and every voice clone I've heard (mostly the ones on fake Starship launch videos) speaks with perfect American accent.
Something to think about I guess :)
it seems most of these crosswalks can be configured via app from https://polara.com/ . So either the authentication was leaked or got physically flashed/hacked?
Security not included!
H/t Baggott if he’s reading. ;-)
https://www.reddit.com/r/theinternetofshit/
It's not condescending, because it's not targeted to you.
pun intended.
If you think this is a site all about people who gain illicit access to systems which they shouldn't have, then you must be very confused by the content frequently appearing here.
My point isn’t that they are some kind of Robin Hood, but that their actions don’t warrant anger, whereas the insecurity of a public system we rely on… should.
I do not need a PhD in Accessibility Studies to know that the same tones and messages were played as normal, plus the message from “Elon” or “Bill”
Even the hearing aid connectivity was left intact; my dad has one.
So no, I don’t have an intimate knowledge of the field. And I don’t think you need one for this discussion.
(You don't need to answer, I know exactly why - because you agree with OPs viewpoint and disagree with mine)
Sorry, I have a pet peeve about poor reading comprehension.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=woQEJ_fY8Mw
No, no kudos to anyone who fucks with safety devices to make some point of theirs.
I'd prefer to hear an actual example over broad outrage tho
> which disabled people rely on
is pretty clear implication. But I'll spell it out for you - people with impairment to senses (primarily vision) rely on this infrastructure to know when it's safe to cross a road.
https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Silicon%20Valley%20crosswalk%2...
https://news.ycombinator.com/pool (specifically, this post can be found on page 8: https://news.ycombinator.com/pool?next=43673425)
---
Hi denysvitali,
The submission "PostmarketOS-Powered Kubernetes Cluster" that you posted to Hacker News (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42352075) looks good, but hasn't had much attention so far. We put it in the second-chance pool, so it will get a random placement on the front page some time in the next day or so.
This is a way of giving good HN submissions multiple chances at the front page. If you're curious, you can read about it at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26998308 and other links there. And if you don't want these emails, sorry! Let us know and we won't do it again.
Thanks for posting good things to HN!
Daniel (moderator)