Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit | ParanoidShroom's commentslogin

Can people spot them?

https://countrx.app/ is something I vibed in a month. Can people here tell? Sure the typical gradiënt page is something to spot, but native apps i think are harder. I would love to see app store and Google Play Store stats to see how many new apps are onboarded.

Looking at distribution channels like Google Play, they added significant harder thresholds to be able to publish an app to reduce low quality new apps. Presumably due to gen ai?

Edit: Jesus guys, the point I'm trying to make is that there are probably a lot more out there that are not visible... Im not claiming i developed the holy grail vibe coding.


I can yes, the phone sample images on your landing page all render as blank screens, and image loading is not web optimized (they load slowly).

Example: https://imgur.com/a/Sh3DtmF


Thanks for the that feedback but my point is about native apps. not a landing page


Works fine in Mobile Safari.


Works fine on Chrome and Firefox, both web and mobile.


no the point is that there should be _more_ shovelware like your app. the fact you were able to publish shovelware doesn't mean that there's a "revolution"; the number of apps published per time doesn't seem to be going up.


Half of the images on the iOS App Store have the Gemini watermark on them (and the Google Play Store link is busted). I would assume most people would think this was built with AI.


Complete with AI generated reviews? Bold move for a medical app.


Google Play store link is broken, 2025-12-14T07:40 -0700


Yeah I know is awaiting review as i mentioned in the post, the point I'm trying to make is that there are probably a bunch out there already being gen ai apps. I don't think there is a clear way to recognize them


> Edit: Jesus guys, the point I'm trying to make is that there are probably a lot more out there that are not visible.

This is visible now and is terrible AI slop. Proved the point.


Lol I've done exactly the same thing past 3 weeks with a python script. Tests are okayish, it's very exhausting spending hours just reviewing tho.


Reverse image search to match dirty XTC tablets to lab reports https://pillscanner.app/

https://kauwenofspauwen.be/en Belgian food hygiene rating from official gov reports


https://pillscanner.app Reverse image search for xtc pills for harm reduction purposes. All out of pocket. No monetisation. No analytics


https://pillscanner.app Reverse image search for xtc pills for harm reduction purposes.

All out of pocket. No monetisation. No analytics


Very cool stuff, bravo! :-)


Do you think FANG companies inflate AI on purpose in order to create a scenario for a bust to happen, they can survive it given their vast warchest of cash


A reverse image search to detect dirty xtc pills. https://pillscanner.app/


The obvious solution to this problem is just not taking random pills.

Also I don't see how this solves anything, just because a pill "looks" like another doesn't mean it is that, it could still be anything.


Chances are if it looks the same and has other matching properties like press qualities (edge sharpness, density, etc), taste, smell, waxiness, and you’re in the same general location, and around the same time, it’s probably the same batch of pills.

Knock-offs tend to turn up later, be of inferior quality physically, and have worse reviews online and in the clubs / social circles.


It's harm reduction. Obvious? That's not how the real world works I'm afraid. Where did I claim this "solved" the problem?


Can we see the interoperability requests that meta submitted? That would clarify if the shade is legit.


While I don't trust Meta, at all, I can see some reasons for legitimate requests. This could for API access so that the Meta VR headset could work as a substitute for Apples own, in some cases, or Facebook Messenger and iMessage interoperability. I sort of doubt that this is what Meta is trying for, but that would reasonable.

It's probably a bit of both. One part Apple being monopolistic jerks and one part Meta wanting to hoover up even more private data. One issue I can see is that the EU would side with Meta, knowing that the EU privacy laws will protect its citizens, but Apple has to consider the ramification for all users, including those not protect be the GDPR. So Apple is forced to open up and Meta will start using the opening to suck up private information on its American users.


Apple has shown recently that they are more than OK giving Europeans and some parts of Asia a different iOS experience than the rest of us.

If they are “forced to open up” in the EU it doesn’t mean they will here.


From another comment here.

https://developer.apple.com/support/downloads/DMA-Interopera...


They are primarily used for configuring your visual voicemail lol. Stop the hyperbolic statements.


https://www.heise.de/news/Zoll-BKA-und-Verfassungsschutz-ver...

Not sure where you get your information, but these are routinely used by police to covertly track targets.


Just because they are routinely used for such does not mean it is their primary purpose.


when we know that govts want this capability, when we know that govt regulators are in the same room with telcos when plans are being drawn up, when we know govt uses these capabilities routinely, why would you doubt it was there for that purpose? isn't this a good time to round up the usual suspects? If the govt intervenes to get this capability and also declares that this should not be the primary purpose, I guess that would make it a secondary purpose? OK, I feel better now, phew!


You’re kind of splitting hairs there, aren’t ya?


No. The Internet is routinely used for porn but it is not its primary purpose.


There’s even a song about how the internet is for porn


Can they be disabled/blocked on the device, when not needed because the user has disabled "visual voicemail" with their carrier?


Could you elaborate on this? What is a 'visual voicemail'? What would a 'silent SMS' have to do with that?


Visual voicemail is when the dialer app on your phone can show the list of voicemails similar to how you would see your email inbox. You can directly play the voicemail messages and depending on the device/carrier, there might also be a text transcription of the audio.

Many carriers implement this via "silent SMS" + IMAP (the same IMAP as for emails). The device will send an activation or status message to the carrier's visual voicemail number and the carrier will respond with an SMS containing the IMAP credentials.

The version of this I'm familiar with is T-Mobile's old CVVM protocol. During initial setup, the device will send a text message containing "Activate:dt=6" to the number 122 and T-Mobile will reply with (in decoded form):

    pw_len=4-9
    vs_len=10
    u=<IMAP username>
    pw=IMAP password>
    rc=0
    st=R
    ipt=148
    srv=e7.vvm.mstore.msg.t-mobile.com
    lang=1|2|3|4
    g_len=180
If visual voicemail is already enabled, then sending the "Status:dt=6" SMS to 122 will also result in the same reply. Putting the credentials in an IMAP client will work and it doesn't have to go over the phone's cellular connection. You can even use curl:

    curl -v imaps://<USERNAME>:<PASSWORD>@e7.vvm.mstore.msg.t-mobile.com/
T-Mobile has deprecated this protocol though. New activation messages will fail with a blocked status:

    rc=0
    st=B
    srv=vvm.mstore.msg.t-mobile.com
T-Mobile replaced this CVVM protocol with two HTTP based protocols: "mstore" (used by OEMs like in the dialer app on Google Pixels and OnePlus devices) and "cpaas" (used by T-Mobile's first party visual voicemail app). I've been working on an open source client for mstore for use with open source Android OS's, like GrapheneOS.

In case anyone is interested, the vvmd wiki (visual voicemail implementation for Linux phones) has information on how several carriers implement VVM: https://gitlab.com/kop316/vvmplayer/-/wikis/Visual-Voicemail.... AT&T's is especially nasty.


I'm not sure if Visual Voicemail really uses silent SMS, but even older phones had a series of indicators such as "voicemail waiting", "message waiting" etc. which the network could control via binary SMS payloads.

By sending one that clears all of them in a network that doesn't use them (or sending one equivalent to the current state for one that does), you can achieve the outcome of initiating SMS-MT (mobile-terminated) delivery to a given ME (phone) without any user notification.

SMS delivery by necessity involves paging the device, revealing its location at a finer level (base station instead of paging area).

So I wouldn't say silent SMS were designed as a spying tool, but they're one out of several ways to silently "ping" a phone and force it to communicate with the network without having to wait for it to cross location area boundaries, get or make a call etc.


Visual voicemail is where an app on your phone can show you a list of voicemails and you can click a button to play them, as opposed to you having to dial a number to access voicemail (the old "press 2 to hear the next message" stuff).


I applied to open garden many years ago, solved their coding challenges but after back and forth it didn't go anywhere.

It seem Stas has since then started clostra.com The fireside chat messenger just rebranded. https://www.newnode.com/download.

I love a good conspiracy but shows little evidence.


Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: