22 ms·
At a former company, we were all issued YubiKey Nanos, which just never worked for me. None of my coworkers had a problem, but I couldn’t get the damn thing to
by phrenq 2y ago
At a former company, we were all issued YubiKey Nanos, which just never worked for me. None of my coworkers had a problem, but I couldn’t get the damn thing to register a touch no matter what I did, including swapping keys.
Eventually I came across a thread on an internal list for employees over forty, with several other people who were all having the same problem. The solution? Lick your finger. Gross, but it did the trick. And I’m stuck licking my finger every time I need to make a YubiKey work.
- 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2y agoI wonder if that explains the stereotype of old people licking their fingers to turn pages
- phrenq 2y agoThat’s funny, I hadn’t thought of that. It very well might be true that turning pages is easier for people with more moisture in their skin.
- arccy 2y agoso books are not accessible: kindles are better
- kibwen 2y agoI'm unclear if this was intended to be sarcastic, but it's certainly possible for e-readers to be more accessible than books, at least for models that actually have physical buttons (and especially considering that e-readers can have zoomable text).
- dotancohen 2y agoI am actually reading this on an e-reader. I find it more accessible than either my phone or my desktop. And easier on the eyes.
- InsideOutSanta 2y agoAs far as I can tell, none of the current Kindle models have physical page turn buttons anymore, which is insane to me. Turning the page is the main thing I do on an ebook, having a button on the side is so much more convenient than touching the screen, I don't obscure what I'm looking at, and I don't smudge the screen.
- kridsdale3 2y agoThe BOOX Palma is an e-ink Android device (not a phone) that I run the Kindle app on. It has physical page buttons, and is better than any of the Kindle devices I've used. Also tunable ink speed and color temperature.
- freedomben 2y agoMaybe not accessible in the a11y sense, but definitely accessible in the "can read without DRM" sense. I'll take a book I can keep and read whenever and however I want to one that has to phone home and ask a giant corporation if it's ok.
- grues-dinner 2y agoGet a Kobo and install KoReader.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- zxexz 2y agoYes this is very much the reason. It gets dry where I am in the winter, and it never occurred to me to do this. An older gent in a coffee shop once watched me try to turn a page, and enlightened me. I’ve met more than a few people who have a dedicated finger glove for turning pages :)
- buran77 2y agoWet sponges [0] for people counting money were a very common sight some decades ago before money counting machines and mostly electronic payments. Probably still being used just not so obvious anymore. Regardless of age fingertips will eventually get too dry as the paper absorbs all the moisture and flipping pages or separating banknotes becomes hard. For touchscreens dry fingers are also called "zombie finger" [1]. The screen registers the too minute change in electrical field as noise and rejects the touch event. Some sweat (but not too much) on the fingers makes all the difference. [0] https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sponge-finger-wet-money-damper-260nw-1276035634.jpg https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sponge-finger-wet... [1] https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2015/06/zombie-finger-and-touchscreens/index.htm https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2015/06/zombie-fing...
- freedomben 2y agoI'm also in a dry climate, and even as a teenager I often had to lick my fingers in order to get the plastic bags at the grocery store open (I was a bagger so had to do it all day). Eventually we got smart and started putting wet sponges by the bags, which is also an amazing life hack if you have trouble turning pages.
- pndy 2y agoThat sounds more like a soft percussive maintenance
- kgwgk 2y agoOld people?
- MikeTheGreat 2y agoYes, it does. Source: when I was 5 I saw my grandmother, RIP, doing that and asked her about it. She explained that as she got older her fingers got drier, and now it's just easier to flip pages that way.
- mrkstu 2y agoIts also the only way I can open a plastic bag in the meat section of Costco.
- gessha 2y agoI was shopping at a grocery store and a lady saw me visible distraught by not being able to open a clear bag and she told me to touch some of the produce I’m about to pick up or the moisture around them. Never had the problem again. Thank you, random lady!
- hn72774 2y agoRubbing the opening side of the bag between your palms generates static and opens it too. Learned that from a meat department employee who saw me struggling one day.
- Moru 2y agoI used to do that too. But now the plastic bags are gone and there is these paper bags with slightly offset edges att he opening. Really neat invention, why didn't we do that before? :-)
- smsm42 2y agoRubbing and then blowing on it to enlarge whatever opening has been created usually works just fine.
- Tagbert 2y ago
- wruza 2y agoThere’s a whole “fingertip moistener [pad]” thingy if you need it often. Cashiers and secretaries often use them at work.
- thih9 2y agoOff topic, a dog’s wet nose also works. Surprisingly useful on walks, e.g. when a poop bag won’t cooperate in a critical moment and licking your fingers is not an option.
- Arrath 2y agoWell I'm filing this tip away for future use.
- girvo 2y agoThat is a genuinely useful tip, considering the circumstances I've run into! Don't _really_ want to lick my fingers while dealing with dog poop, but the bags are a pain to open sometimes
- konfusinomicon 2y agoexpert level dog poo management tip!
- eru 2y agoThe dog's nose is wet, because the dog licks it.
- loco5niner 2y agoDog poop is often also wet, and it's right there.
- wruza 2y agoExactly. You turn a bag inside out afterwards anyway, so the dirty part stays inside.
- 2y ago
- coldtea 2y agoIt's not a stereotype and it's not really a mystery. Licking or wetting your fingers for this purpose has been a standard practice across the globe, when people are dealing with turning pages (e.g. for accounting), counting tickets, coupons, paper money, etc. It was never just something older people did (except in the sense that the practice is not as common now, as people in the US and Europe don't need to do it that much anymore, due to changes like reduced use of cash, etc.). So, you might not have seen it since the need is mostly obsolete in most of the west, but it's still a thing elsewhere, and was very much a thing in the US and Europe too until a few decades back. So much so, that there were office gadgets made for this, basically a base holding a small sponge, that you would add water to, and use it to wet your fingers for counting/changing pages. They're still very much sold: https://www.amazon.com/money-counting-sponge/s?k=money+counting+sponge https://www.amazon.com/money-counting-sponge/s?k=money+count...
- TeMPOraL 2y agoI'm not stranger to licking my fingers when dealing with cash, or licking stamps and envelopes, etc. but the way some old people do it was always a little mystery to me. I'd see them taking a second or three to quite conspicuously stick their tongue out and slowly lick their finger every single time before turning a page or a banknote. I always figured it's just a force of habit, but they're doing it in maximum power-save mode, and are way past giving a fuck about how gross it looks to everyone around them. I never considered that maybe they really need to do it this way to keep their fingers moist. (That realization scares me, as it means I too might become an obnoxious finger-licker in a few years.)
- justinclift 2y agoMaybe a key chain instead with a moistened pad that doesn't easily go dry? :)
- TeMPOraL 2y agoHonestly, and in line with a reply upthread[0], fresh saliva may be more sanitary. I mean, it has some non-zero antimicrobial properties, plus it doesn't accumulate random stuff that could grow over time. Yeah, I'm starting to understand why old people may be past the point of giving a damn about the optics. -- [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42036400 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42036400
- BlandDuck 2y agoI can also be used to poison people who read forbidden books: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Name_of_the_Rose https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Name_of_the_Rose
- denotational 2y agoI just finished reading this last night at 01:30; what a book!
- abakker 2y agoTruly an incredible work.
- ttepasse 2y agoI'm a little bit envious. Reading such a great book for the first time. I recommend re-reading it in a few years. Ecos books grow with you; the more you learn about the world and history, the more you'll find in nuance in that book. Maybe more true for me - as a teenager I've read it first as a mostly weird detective story. Later re-reads made me more interested in the weird parts. There is, by the way, a separately published Postscript to the Name of the Rose with some notes on writing the book.
- markman 2y agoI get it now: Jorge had laced its pages with poison, correctly assuming that a reader would have to lick his fingers in order to turn them. Nice pull.
- permo-w 2y agothat's for stickiness, this is for conductivity
- Log_out_ 2y agoUser accounting the with the sibling system.lick the device to prove its your cake or you are thoroughly protected from being thoroughly grossed out by growing up with siblings .
- marcosdumay 2y agoThere exist some "artificial tongues" that people use to turn pages. It's a rosin-like substance that comes in a small can.
- deepsun 2y agoThere exist artificial fingers to tap smartphones, sold in cold climates, so you don't need to take off gloves. Regular sausages in their packaging work great.
- cbzbc 2y agoYou can effectively get these surfaces built into the glove, a number of companies sell such things.
- mirekrusin 2y agoWhy they don't need to be wet?
- cbzbc 2y agoTo activate a touchscreen they simply need to have capacitive properties.
- mirekrusin 2y agoInteresting, it sounds like they should try to invent something that works in similar way to nerves on the skin as you can feel slightest touch regardless of moisture.
- eternityforest 2y agoMaybe multiple accelerometers plus machines learning could improve tao detection?
- deepsun 2y ago
- xyst 2y agojust apply some “hawk tuah”, new tagline for yubikey nano
- willmadden 2y agoDrink more water.
- vdvsvwvwvwvwv 2y agoMoisturizer shoud help too?
- necovek 2y agoI wouldn't drink just any moisturizer.
- miohtama 2y agoCheck under your eyelid that you are not an android
- pipes 2y agoGreat! I'm in my forties and my laptop finger print scanner seems really temperamental, I'll try licking my finger!
- joecool1029 2y agoI used to rub the side of my nose briefly to make fingerprint reader work on thinkpads, I think this coats the finger with enough oil to make it work reliably.
- TeMPOraL 2y agoIt works for my phone's fingerprint scanner. I used to have issues with it, and eventually thought it might be caused by the extra "safety glass" glued on top of the screen. Then one day, after another failed fingerprint unlock attempt, I noticed a text on the screen suggesting to moisten my finger. It must have been added in some system update, and I'm very thankful for that, or else I'd have to wait until this HN thread to figure this out.
- Projectiboga 2y agoAh I'm 56, the touch screen on my phone has gotten finicky. I'll have to see if that would help in a pinch. I wouldn't want to rely on that all the time but under time pressure it is good to know about that.
- szszrk 2y agoI'm almost 40, some years ago I noticed that at winter I get more frustrated with my phones and start thinking of changing them. It turned out each winter I make screens much more dirty and my fingers are drier. Touch gets more random, fingerprint readers success rate drops from 100% to more like 50%. Nowadays I make sure I clean the screen with actual dedicated products often, and make sure I keep hands moisturized. It works well, even if the latter contributes to the former. Haven't changed phone in over 2 years and still don't feel the need for change :)
- veunes 2y agoOils or dirt can interfere with touch sensitivity
- jjtheblunt 2y agoi thought possibly bloodflow is less prevalent on the surface of your fingers in cold weather, and finger touches are harder to detect as a result, but i don't have data or proof.
- dotancohen 2y agoYou should really look at the S series by Samsung. I've been using Note devices since the Note 3, I would not give up the stylus for anything at this point.
- notpushkin 2y agoNot sure if it’s available on your phone, but look for a High touch sensitivity option in display settings. Helps me a lot in winter.
- BobAliceInATree 2y agoIf you’d rather not lick your finger, you can get one of those old-school sponge stamp/envelope moisteners.
- Izkata 2y agoI'm not as old as everyone else here is mentioning, but started having this issue a few years ago with my phone. My fix was to rub my hands together for a few seconds. Don't know why but it's always worked for me.
- mh- 2y agoI'm curious if you have issues with pulse oximeters too. The thing they use to check your blood oxygen level when you go to the doctor. I don't tend to have the issues everyone here is talking about, but those things never work for me on the first try.
- endoblast 2y agoOr lick the back of your hand and then moisten the finger on that. More discreet and more hygienic (well, hygienic for you at least).
- DavideNL 2y ago> Lick your finger. Exactly, i do the same thing with my (new) Macbook Air, it makes the TouchID sensor work much more reliable (also, i use my middle finger by the way...)
- fragmede 2y agoNow the terrorists know which finger of yours to cut off!
- veunes 2y agoI remember how my mom's Touch ID didn’t work. Thank goodness they came up with Face ID
- hawski 2y agoWould breathing on it (wide open mouth air blow, I'm not a native speaker) work as well but be contactless way of achieving it?
- lisper 2y ago> I'm not a native speaker You got it (mostly) right :-) Just one minor mistake: a native would write, "Would breathing on it be a contactless way..." in order to indicate that this is only one of several possibilities. You could also say, "Would breathing on it be the contactless way..." in order to indicate that this was the only possibility. The rule here is really weird. The qualifier is only required when there is a singular noun being used as an object. "Breathing is way of doing it" sounds weird, but "Breathing and licking are ways of doing it" does not. "English is super-weird" sounds right. "English is super-weird language" sound weird.
- montag 2y ago“Breathing on” works as you intended (like breathing on a cold window to make it foggy); the alternative “blowing on” does not.
- justsomehnguy 2y agoreal life verification can /s but not so much EDIT: back in the day cashiers had a thing to moisture your fingers flipping the bills/notes/papers
- planckscnst 2y agoYou can also use some other part of your body that has moisture. My nose and my scalp are really oily, so I can rub my finger on my nose and then do the touch controls and fingerprint sensors and have it work
- mewpmewp2 2y agoGlad it didn't end with what where my imagination went.
- 6510 2y agoI can make your wine glass sing by rubbing the edge with my finger.
- kridsdale3 2y agoThe first people who got their hands on iPads, I recall did test them in this way.
- spectre3d 2y agoApple told us the first iPad supports up to 11 finger multitouch, so people were understandably curious and got creative.
- 6510 2y agouhh how to describe this... you can control how much saliva you push to the front of your mouth when you spit. The correct amount is next to nothing. Rubbing your thumb over your index finger spreads the moisture and provides feedback. (I have to open countless garbage bags, licking is not an option)
- montag 2y agoIt would be amazing if Yubico offered a physical button option. I really hope it’s not the case that capacitive sensors are somehow preferred from a security standpoint (i.e., harder to trigger with a robot).
- fragmede 2y agoyou can just use a hotdog to trigger it if you only have metal/plastic/composite fingers
- NavinF 2y agoHave you checked your A1C (average blood sugar)? I wonder if this is caused by low blood circulation near the surface of your skin. "Excess blood sugar decreases the elasticity of blood vessels and causes them to narrow, impeding blood flow"
- wildrhythms 2y agoI think it's just dry skin. When I worked in corporate IT we had the same issue with Yubikey 'not working' and almost all of those issues came from people working in an especially arid part of the country. "Lick your finger" fixed it every time.
- m3kw9 2y agoSpit on your desk and dab it
- trgn 2y agomy desk in elementary school had a little inkwell in it
- t_tsonev 2y agoIf this is a laptop, it helps to touch the aluminum chassis or an exposed metal part with your other hand.
- creesch 2y agoYeah, some touch buttons work through conductivity and are really sensitive. Fittingly for this post, our cloths dryer has a touch "screen" which is to say that it is a slab of plastic with icons that are touch sensitive. Often enough, I can't get them to register a touch unless I press really hard or if I wet my finger first.
- werdnapk 2y agoWhen my pixel 7 doesn't recognize my fingerprint, I press my thumb on the side of my nose to pick up a bit of skin oils and then my thumb print is recognized.
- luuurker 2y agoThe Pixel 7 series has an optical sensor under the display. I wonder how some oil/cream/etc helps? The newer ones have ultrasonic sensors, so that should be better.
- Kirby64 2y agoIf your skin is dry enough it won’t make good contact with the screen so the “picture” will be bad. Adding a thin layer of oil basically acts as an optical transmission layer. Ultrasonic ones would probably have the same issue, honestly.
- brailsafe 2y agoIt's my only frustration with the Pixel 7. Left hand works fine, right is super inconsistent
- da768 2y agoThe device it's connected to also has an impact, IIRC M1 MacBook Pro 14 wouldn't let me trigger my YubiKey without a USB hub
- sourcepluck 2y agoI wonder if it would have worked to rub your finger off the side of your nose, or behind your ear? It's a trick some flute-players use for the pinky of the right hand, so that it works better rolling between the C, C#/Db and D notes on the bottom. I saw it mentioned in some tutorial once and thought: "no way", and was amazed at how well it worked. I never really asked myself how it works - something to do with skin on (dead) skin working up some friction, I don't know. I'd be curious to know if it would have worked with your YubiKey issue. But maybe it's too late to try now!
- sourcepluck 2y ago[and Eb, I should say]