"We don't know who struck first, us or them, but we know that it was us that scorched the sky." [1]
(note: I am absolutely for trying to save the great barrier reef, and I'm not qualified to judge the feasibility or consequences of this approach, so no moral or other judgement intended. If it can be made to work without breaking Earth production, I hope it gets merged)
This is an app I built to help me combat the (previously!) firmly-established habit of pulling out my phone to read the news / reddit whenever I had 5 minutes of downtime. The idea is to channel that energy in a more productive direction: instead of opening XYZNews for the nth time I'll try reading wikipedia - but in a different language. That way I'll learn something new about the world, practice that language, and not blindly stare at the news feed hoping something interesting came up since the last time I looked at it 1 hour ago.
The app offers sources of content in a foreign language (by default wikipedia but any website can be added) and a built-in dictionary, which is activated by double-tapping a word [1]. It's actually worked quite well, and though I do still read HN I've drastically reduced the number of times I compulsively open news websites.
Fun fact, some wikipedia versions (e.g. Italian) have a "quote of the day". Those have become my favorites. Otherwise all pages have an "article of the day" which is often interesting.
As mentioned the websites are configurable. The languages/dictionaries are hardcoded (mostly wordreference), but trivial to add by modifying the source. The built-in browser is sometimes buggy and gets dizzy if it follows too many redirects, but it builds in Android Studio and otherwise works fine most of the time[2]. Any feedback welcome!
(note: no ads, no sign-in, no data is collected by the app)
(disclosure: I've allowed myself to resubmit this because the last title did not show the relevance to the subject of battling social media addiction, which I think is of interest. I believe this is allowed within the site's guidelines)
[1] Although e.g. Chrome has a built in integration with wordreference, it still requires too many clicks.
[2] might crash if you cross the international dateline in a canoe. I mean it might. If you try please let me know.
> MY NAME IS BEING USED IN A PHISHING ATTACK.
> DO NOT RESPOND TO MAIL OFFERING MONEY FOR UNDERGRAD RESEARCH ASSISTANTS.
I wonder if that's been effective. I suppose the targets are students at Princeton so once repeated enough, on his web page and elsewhere, it'll make using his name less profitable.
considering how many people commenting on HN didn't notice it and commenting on something different I don't think it will be much effective - this headline is quite hard to notice for people who are banner blind.
sincere question: what are the better alternatives?
Do any have a (different) key technological component or do they mostly rely on other non-technology-based trust channels like a notary or a lawyer, as other comments have mentioned?
I'm by no means an expert so take everything with a grain of salt.
Notary/lawyer/safety deposit box do sound like proper solutions. I also think 2nd factors like hardware keys, auth apps, also just multiple devices you have logged in, work well in recovery.
For after you die notary/lawyer sounds like the most solid option, they seem quite skilled and experienced with that kind of stuff.
Otherwise you need some other way to recover. Recovery email seems to work quite well, but could be another account, another type of log in, there are many ways; I've had some services send me a physical letter, I have gone to physical stores with my id.
Nothing is perfect of course, but the social one seems unnecessary complex and fragile.
- I like learning foreign languages
- Some (most) days I will open certain news sites more times than I'd like to admit, "just to check if there's something interesting"
This app is an attempt to channel that energy in a more productive direction. Instead of opening XYZNews for the nth time I'll try reading wikipedia - but in a different language. That way I'll learn something new about the world AND practice that language. At least that's the idea. Sometimes it even works.
Although e.g. Chrome has a built in integration with wordreference, it still requires too many clicks. So I rolled my own. This has been sitting on a dusty shelf for a while. But it still builds in Android Studio, so I thought I'd share. Any feedback welcome!
Fun fact, some wikipedia versions have a "quote of the day". Those have become my favorites.
The list of websites is configurable, so one could use it for other websites too - by default each language has wikipedia and a news site. The built-in browser is sometimes buggy and gets dizzy if it follows too many redirects.
