
Paged Out – a new experimental magazine about programming - krzkaczor
https://pagedout.institute
======
liability
This is really dope, I love the aesthetic. The varied style of each page is
rather appealing to me, in a way I think it reminds me of combing through
something like textfiles.com or archive.org, you don't know what to expect
next and that's exciting.

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Groxx
> _Android Reverse Engineering_

Heck yes, I wish more people knew this. It's super easy. There's loads of
interesting (and "interesting") stuff in apps. Even better: you can get your
phone's framework code (usually in odex files) and decompile it! I've found
and worked around some insane things that Samsung has done to their SMS
providers on some phones....

~~~
bobbiechen
Cool! What kind of things have you seen with Samsung SMS providers?

~~~
kinow
Also interested!

~~~
Groxx
Most of them were just half-broken APIs (e.g. some less-used query URIs would
just error[1], or had buggy triggers), or only partially-covered indexes (so
e.g. the stock app would be able to display conversations quickly, but [your
query / 3rd party app] might not), or additional columns or queries (very
common, occasionally interesting). A couple had obvious SQL injection bugs
(contacts providers sometimes have these too). And most that I looked at were
using older versions of the provider than the OS should have had, which is...
great. Just great. I don't think fine-grained checks are part of the CTS.

Broken APIs can usually be worked around by doing a couple smaller queries and
gluing the data together (often performs better anyway), partially covered
indexes often mean the same thing (or just making do with less data in your
app). And/or just decompile the stock app and see what it does differently.

SQL injections are fun tho, I managed to use a couple to dump the full
databases, or add / repair missing indexes or triggers (never shipped code
that did this, but it helped locally! would've probably broken if they ever
upgraded the provider version tho). Some phones also try to protect / escalate
Facebook data / access, but if there's an injection you can usually change the
"protected" marker on its data.

[1]:
[https://android.googlesource.com/platform/packages/providers...](https://android.googlesource.com/platform/packages/providers/TelephonyProvider/+/7e7c274/src/com/android/providers/telephony/SmsProvider.java#727)

\---

I love that android has these shared providers, they let you do some super
interesting and useful things, and for the most part everyone plays nice (but
the "social stream" stuff in contacts is... odd, and rare). They seem to get
pretty low amounts of attention tho, e.g. the sms provider had a few rounds of
"caching bug in stock app" -> "finally make that pk autoincrement so it stops
reusing ids" which were painfully obvious from reading the source:
[https://github.com/aosp-
mirror/platform_packages_providers_t...](https://github.com/aosp-
mirror/platform_packages_providers_telephonyprovider/blob/bbf17d5eb952c886ddb6fac8aaa84559226a707f/src/com/android/providers/telephony/MmsSmsDatabaseHelper.java)
. The current version has most or all of these fixed, but it took a few years
to get there.

------
ars
I liked it a lot, the one page format is awesome, and I like the varying
styles - it kept my interest high.

But can I suggest making it half the current size?

By making it smaller you could release more often, keeping awareness/interest
alive. It's also easier to read in a single sitting, rather than have to come
back to it.

~~~
gynvael
Thanks for the feedback - that's an interesting note :)

I don't think we could speed up releases at this point, but once we have a
steady inflow of articles and all the DTP scripts finalized I'll revisit this
idea.

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whatamidoingyo
I would purchase a subscription for physical copies of these. Any plans to
ever do something like this?

~~~
snake117
Seconded. I would definitely learn a lot from this. I love the art style also.

~~~
fit2rule
Third! I love zines, and would happily subscribe to this.

With POC||GTFO as well as "The Diagram", Paged Out will fill a very definite
hole in my daily ablutions ..

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JoeDaDude
Great! Will follow and subscribe. I miss magazines like this, in particular
Algorithm Magazine, edited in the 1990s by A. K. Dewdney.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Dewdney](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Dewdney)
Note: Dewdney's role in the Algorithms Magazine is not mentioned in the
Wikipedia article.

~~~
codetrotter
> Note: Dewdney's role in the Algorithms Magazine is not mentioned in the
> Wikipedia article.

Not yet, but it could be if someone edited the article. That's what's so great
about Wikipedia!

~~~
klez
I've seen this reasoning tossed around a lot, lately.

But usually people forget to prefix that with "if you have third party sources
about this...".

If you just put assertions in the article without backing then, it's likely
that someone will come and dispute (or even just delete) them.

So make everyone (including yourself) a favor and always source what you add
to Wikipedia.

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ramses
Happy to see that there is still interest in this kind of content/aesthetic
(reminded me of Phrack).

Will definitely follow :-)

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h4waii
Very much a nitpick, but I really wish the font remained consistent between
articles.

~~~
xellisx
Didn't 2600 change fonts all over too?

~~~
Thoreandan
It's still publishing. I suppose it does. I hadn't actually noticed that
aspect, as much as expecting it in the magazine format they're going for.

------
hulahoof
Looks amazing! How often can we expect new issues and do you expect around the
same volume of content each issue ?

Edit: I can see it's quarterly in FAQ

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MikeTheGreat
Is there an RSS feed available for it?

~~~
viraptor
Same here. Immediately wanted to add it to my reader for the future... and
can't.

~~~
Groxx
They apparently want to use a mailing list... which is on google groups.

Good news tho! It's public, and you can get RSS feeds for google groups
groups: [https://groups.google.com/forum/feed/pagedout-
notifications/...](https://groups.google.com/forum/feed/pagedout-
notifications/msgs/rss_v2_0.xml?num=50) (click the "about" non-underlining-
text link in the top-right to get rss/atom feed links)

\---

RSS is the only way I follow stuff like this. I don't want emails. I don't
notice emails.

------
atsushin
This is really cool! Looking forward to the next edition of this.

If anyone could point me to something similar, that'd be great (I know of 2600
and Phrack). I'm aware that Lainchan produces their own community magazine,
but progress has been slow.

~~~
anfractuosity
Seen
[https://www.alchemistowl.org/pocorgtfo/](https://www.alchemistowl.org/pocorgtfo/)
?

Edit: I just bought the 2nd print version after seeing that ad :)

~~~
Thoreandan
Seconded for PoC||GTFO ... also like Bunnie Huang's various stuff where I
learned about it from.

------
kevstev
This is great, it feels like the 90s again- at first I was not a fan of the
single page format, it felt a bit short, but I came around to appreciate it-
and if anything it will drive traffic to the linked sites if I want more info,
which the author's will consider a good thing.

Where did you originally put out a call for articles? I generally feel pretty
tuned in to tech circles, but am kind of surprised you were able to get this
many submissions without having to spam lots of places and not have been a
blip on my radar somewhere- and I also wonder what I may be missing in terms
of good communities.

------
ExtremisAndy
Oh, my! This could not be more perfect for someone like me. I have too short
an attention span for long technical articles (not something I'm particularly
proud of btw), so the one-page thing is fabulous. I also love that there seems
to be such a variety of topics. Finally, I actually really enjoy pulling up
and reading a PDF on the iPad. Gives it that real magazine 'feel' that
websites just can't get (IMHO). Well done!

------
devnulloverflow
It looks good. I'm going to print it.

But does every page have a _different_ retro theme, or is there a unifying
pattern to it all that I am not genius enough to detect?

~~~
dangoor
I think that's one of their ideas: the author of the article creates whatever
format they want for their page and then they glue them all together in their
PDF.

------
morpheuskafka
Awesome! I have a write-up I've been meaning to finish/submit somewhere, maybe
I'll try to fit it into a page and send it your way.

~~~
gynvael
Yes please :)

All the details are here:

[https://pagedout.institute/?page=writing.php](https://pagedout.institute/?page=writing.php)
\- technicalities / topics accepted

[https://pagedout.institute/?page=cfp.php](https://pagedout.institute/?page=cfp.php)
\- process

------
SuddsMcDuff
Suggestion: Since you're publishing in PDF format, how about linking to
[https://pdfreaders.org/](https://pdfreaders.org/) on your homepage?

[https://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/pdfreaders.en.html](https://fsfe.org/campaigns/pdfreaders/pdfreaders.en.html)

------
tejohnso
I love everything about this, especially the feeling of nerdy nostalgia. Looks
great on my e-reader.

------
jordanwallwork
This is awesome. Brilliant idea, and some great articles in there too.

One small nitpick that I hope you can fix for upcoming editions is the
shocking alignment of the page numbers on the table of contents. It's just so
messy and amateur looking, please try and tidy that up!

------
gfaure
Reminds me of the zines included in the Zachtronics game EXAPUNKS which serve
both as instruction manual and exposition.
[http://www.zachtronics.com/exapunks/](http://www.zachtronics.com/exapunks/)

~~~
michal-franc
Looks awesome. I have played TIS-100 and Zachtronics puts a lot of love into
their games.

------
ohadpr
Love the idea, reminds me of 2600 and I can't way to read it.

Somewhat tangential: I often want to read PDF files and am never happy with my
printing setup. Is there a service that will print any PDF at high quality,
bind it for larger prints, and snail mail it to me?

~~~
klez
I know you said "mail it to me" but if it's a possibility and you find it
acceptable to move a bit, why not look for a print shop near you? Where I live
there's plenty.

Maybe you can even arrange shipping, after an initial meeting to make sure
they're printing what you want, like you want it.

~~~
ohadpr
That's definitely a possibility. I could also hit print and start thinking
about whether I have enough of the right color ink in my printer.

My motive is that this content is interesting but not enough to get me to
setup meetings with local print shops. More often than not people start
businesses to save others time/money and offer convenience, I'm hoping someone
did it for this particular need.

People could also print the top pages off The Economist every week and I'm
sure some do but the overwhelming majority of those who read it on paper have
it printed at high quality and mailed to them.

------
eps
@gynvael - Please add a conventional mailing list option for following the
updates/new issues. RSS would work too. Twitter even. I can't be the only HNer
for whom the Google Groups option is a no-go for more reasons than one.

------
harel
For a second there it felt like reading an old 2600 issue. Love the format.

~~~
porkphish
Same!

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nukst
It will be fun to say "we're having a new issue next month"... Yeah, I went
for the easiest...

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niknetniko
This is nice :)

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NicoJuicy
Huj, I can also recommend "code magazine", if you have any interest in dot
net.

~~~
whatamidoingyo
>
> [https://www.codemag.com/magazine/subscribe](https://www.codemag.com/magazine/subscribe)

That header takes up nearly half of my screen. Why would they not "display:
none;" on scroll? Jeepers.

------
geff82
What a marvel!!!! Honestly, I am a fan from now on. I'd buy that!

------
alexgmcm
Can you please make the table of contents link to the pages?

Nice publication though! :)

------
kwhitefoot
The contents list doesn't link to the pages.

Also why no HTML version?

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PeCaN
This is a lot of fun.

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skilled
Looks awesome! Well done.

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rhacker
This is just incredible.

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andyidsinga
this is very 2600 - nooice.

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trm42
I was excited about the idea, but PDFs are a big issue. I want my content as
RSS feed, please (although having a RSS feed announcing new PDF issue could
work...).

Edit: The problem is that PDFs are basically usability wise readable only on
iPad and even then not that spectacular. Also my iPad usually stays at home so
no reading from laptop or from phone either.

~~~
bobajeff
I agree PDFs are really hard to read sometimes. Especially with the two column
layout that's really popular on research papers.

This is probably because PDFs are supposed to be a format for printers. What's
readable on paper is not necessarily readable on a screen.

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vonholstein
Why the purple? Dont know if its just me, but found the styling to be a
distraction. The content is good enough to stand by itself without the font
and color gimmickry.

~~~
gynvael
Haha sorry, that's totally my fault.

I hired 5 different artists to design the page decorations, and they delivered
cool and interesting assets. But then I decided this doesn't really align with
my vision and decided to do the decorations on my own in "my usual style".

So yeah, this is what you get when a programmer does page design. Sorry :)

P.S. Actually it's even worse - I kinda like the outcome, so it will probably
stay.

~~~
tonyarkles
Don't apologize for it! The varying fonts, the purple header and footer, they
all add character to it! Thank you for the effort you put into this! It's
amazing and truly captures a wonderful old-school zine with new-school content
vibe.

