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Website is hosted on a disposable vape

http://ewaste.fka.wtf/
111•BogdanTheGeek•3h ago

Comments

HardwareLust•3h ago
Your GitHub link in the doc gives me a 404. Otherwise, good stuff!
BogdanTheGeek•2h ago
Thank you, it's fixed now.
BogdanTheGeek•2h ago
And... its down already. It can only handle about 10 requests at a time, so take turns guys :) Here is the same article but with hopefully better uptime: https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/projects/vapeserver/
zacharynewton•1h ago
Sounds like you need some more spent vapes ;)
bombcar•1h ago
The Internet server version of that old photo of a guy with an entire carton in his mouth.
SmellTheGlove•1h ago
Wait, are we back to imagining beowulf clusters [0] of things!?

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf_cluster

elliotec•39m ago
Easy, just set up your other hoarded ones to make a mesh and do some distributed sharding in the vape cloud!
om8•2h ago
https://web.archive.org/web/20250914222638/http://ewaste.fka...
wslh•2h ago
And reading the article mentioned there about "THE CHEAPEST FLASH MICROCONTROLLER YOU CAN BUY IS ACTUALLY AN ARM CORTEX-M0+" (2023) [1]

[1] https://jaycarlson.net/2023/02/04/the-cheapest-flash-microco...

jrmg•1h ago
I wouldn’t want to be the lawyer who one day will have to argue how a device with USB C and a rechargeable battery can be classified as “disposable”.

I thought the point of making them like this was that they technically are reusable, so they can sell them (to people who for some reason keep buying them and throwing them away!) in places where disposable vapes are banned.

bombcar•1h ago
Just like how places with bag bans often just end up with thicker plastic bags that can be sold for ten cents and claimed as “reusable.
orev•1h ago
They are reusable, which many people take advantage of. And it has dramatically reduced the number of tumbleweed bags clogging up nature.
privatelypublic•38m ago
Reasonable people already reused single-use bags. Trashcan liners, dog walk bags, cat scoop bags, etc.

Having recently been reminded that it used to be common to see eviscerated VHS tapes by roads, I've been reminded that we'll always have people who litter.

WD-42•1h ago
They make perfect office/bathroom trash can liners
meibo•48m ago
You've misunderstood the assignment if you don't reuse those, they are perfectly fine for that and will last a long time. Just have one in your bag or car. I've even reused paper bags for more than half a year since the ban.
ViscountPenguin•25m ago
The majority of people reuse those bags, they're pretty great actually. Most people I know have slightly more expensive bags made out of fabric though.
zdragnar•1h ago
Some have replaceable pods / tanks, but most have no user serviceable parts whatsoever.

One the liquid is low enough, the coil will burn a bit, and the whole thing should be disposed of.

One shop near me would take used ones and send them off to be properly taken apart and what not, but most people just toss them I suspect.

Gigachad•1h ago
Some of the new ones have the coil and vape juice in a disposable section while the battery and charge circuitry are reused.
ChrisMarshallNY•4m ago
Each morning, I walk 5K. I start off in the dark. By midwinter, the whole walk is in the dark.

I am constantly walking past disposable vapes in the street, with their LEDs still shining.

Zak•1h ago
I'm confused by why anybody would buy one of these when entirely reusable versions exist, but then vaping seems unwise to me in general except as a way to quit tobacco.
bloqs•1h ago
i have owned lots. they taste better than most permanent vapes. ive tried the whole buy all the best components and perfect juices etc with various tanks of different flavours. disposables just work and taste good, no leaks. they also have a logical end point like a pack of cigarettes. Its nice to switch flavour more frequently, and the packet/vape body colours pressed deep monkey brain buttons for fruit etc
loumf•46m ago
But, then where would you host your website?
Ygg2•43m ago
Used milk carton. It probably has more TFlops than Commodore 64.
cjaackie•1h ago
No, it’s there because the battery can’t hold enough charge for the ratio of vape liquid they put in it. So you get 2-3 full charges and it runs out of liquid.
jsheard•1h ago
You think a Cortex-M0+ in a disposable vape is wasteful, wait until you see the ones with colour touchscreens and Bluetooth radios. It's probably only a matter of time before they start running Android on them.
malfist•1h ago
What's insane is how cheap all those components are. A quadcore processor with ram and memory, WiFi and Bluetooth for pennies at wholesale.

The latest and fastest GPUs might be a marvel of technology, but so is the tech that let's us make and esp32 for almost nothing

ants_everywhere•54m ago
Imagine a beowulf cluster of... wait probably not
dudeWithAMood•1h ago
What were you doing to get traffic from the open Internet to your webserver at home? I always felt that was a risky proposition, but I might just be stupid.
rovr138•1h ago
Open a port or if their router supports it, assign their device to a DMZ.

Why do you think it’s risky? Maybe we can talk about ways of securing it.

Like any server, it’s as safe as the server software (and its configuration).

happyhardcore•1h ago
VPS with public ipv4, connected to home network over Tailscale and forward the traffic with socat. You'd probably be fine opening a port directly but a small VPS is free most places so might as well make the most of it.
Aachen•45m ago
Done it since before I properly knew what I was doing. Haven't had issues. Even though n=1, also now that I'm actually working in IT security, I don't think the risk was ever much bigger than what I could oversee

The main thing is that, if someone gets onto the server system, then they're in my network and they can do attacks on other devices in that LAN (guest wifis are a nice way to isolate that nowadays; that didn't exist back when I started). Same as when I take my laptop to school for example, then others can reach it. I've had issues with others in school doing attacks because the internet was unencrypted http back then (client-side hashing in JavaScript limited the impact though), but not from anyone who tried to hack into the server. Only automated scans for outdated Wordpress, setup files for Phpmyadmin, ssh password guessing... the things they simply try blindly on every IP address. If any of this is successful, you're most likely going to be turned into a spam-sending server or a DDoS zombie; not something with lasting impact once you discover the issue and remove the malware

Most attackers don't do targeted attacks on your system or network unless you're a commercial entity that presumably can pay a nice ransom, or are a high-profile individual. Attackers aiming for consumers send phishing emails and create phishing advertisements, look for standard password vaults if you run their malware, try using stolen credentials on Steam and hope you've got a payment method stored... the usual old things. Having a server doesn't make any of those attacks easier, and besides, self hosting is very uncommon. Even if you and I had a similar enough setup at home with a straightforward path to exploitation, it's a few thousand people that self-host in a country with millions of people. It's not worth developing attacks for

koolala•43m ago
People might hack your toaster and burn your house down? Smart ovens? Smart microwaves? Smart fires?
charcircuit•1h ago
>For a couple of years now, I have been collecting disposable vapes from friends and family.

This act of collecting waste is a sign of a hoarder mentality. It's okay to throw things away.

rovr138•1h ago
Or they had an idea, needed devices to test and be able to destroy if they fucked up.
charcircuit•51m ago
He probably owned a device capable or running a virtual machine which would be much more convenient to deal with.

Also this idea of "but what if I'll need this in the future", is a common theme among horders.

haunter•1h ago
Or turns out you can get virtually unlimited amount of Cortex M0+ microcontrollers for free literally from trash? Sounds like a great idea if you are a hacker
WD-42•1h ago
When was the last time you ran a website on anything cool?
charcircuit•49m ago
The novelty wears off. It doesn't justify keeping trash around forever. Sure it can be a fun project that you get some joy out of, but there isn't a need to preserve it forever.
analog31•1h ago
So the EEs are right. Electrical circuits run on magic smoke.
rimprobablyly•1h ago
Returning 503. Guess it got smoked.
BogdanTheGeek•36m ago
As this vape is so very British, you now have to queue to access the article. I can see that some people are getting though, so that's something.
BogdanTheGeek•1h ago
so I had to throw nginx in front of it so my little router wouldn't explode, but I hope some people will get to experience the relaxing loading experience live.
temp0826•35m ago
The HN way is to colocate a cluster of these and put them behind a F5
prynhart•57m ago
504 Gateway Time-out
Dilettante_•56m ago
I respect the point about not wanting to send the manufacturer any business, but I would love to know the brand so I'd know which ones to rescue if given the chance.
efilife•2m ago
[delayed]

Grapevine cellulose makes stronger plastic alternative, biodegrades in 17 days

https://www.sdstate.edu/news/2025/08/can-grapevines-help-slow-plastic-waste-problem
134•westurner•3h ago•79 comments

Betty Crocker broke recipes by shrinking boxes

https://www.cubbyathome.com/boxed-cake-mix-sizes-have-shrunk-80045058
151•Avshalom•3h ago•149 comments

Rebutting 33 False Claims About Solar, Wind, and Electric Vehicles

https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1218&context=sabin_climate_change
42•toomuchtodo•1h ago•19 comments

OCSP Service Has Reached End of Life

https://letsencrypt.org/2025/08/06/ocsp-service-has-reached-end-of-life
112•pfexec•5h ago•32 comments

Titania Programming Language

https://github.com/gingerBill/titania
44•MaximilianEmel•3h ago•6 comments

Repetitive negative thinking associated with cognitive decline in older adults

https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-025-06815-2
330•redbell•13h ago•127 comments

Writing an operating system kernel from scratch

https://popovicu.com/posts/writing-an-operating-system-kernel-from-scratch/
242•Bogdanp•9h ago•47 comments

Website is hosted on a disposable vape

http://ewaste.fka.wtf/
112•BogdanTheGeek•3h ago•46 comments

Gentoo AI Policy

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Project:Council/AI_policy
11•simonpure•2h ago•0 comments

Irrlicht Engine – a cross-platform realtime 3D engine

https://irrlicht.sourceforge.io/?page_id=45
30•smartmic•3d ago•18 comments

Trigger Crossbar

https://serd.es/2025/09/14/Trigger-crossbar.html
25•zdw•3h ago•2 comments

Why We Spiral

https://behavioralscientist.org/why-we-spiral/
222•gmays•10h ago•69 comments

Models of European metro stations

http://stations.albertguillaumes.cat/
674•tcumulus•18h ago•132 comments

Cannabis use associated with quadrupled risk of developing type 2 diabetes

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-cannabis-quadrupled-diabetes-million-adults.html
74•geox•3h ago•48 comments

You’re a slow thinker. Now what?

https://chillphysicsenjoyer.substack.com/p/youre-a-slow-thinker-now-what
255•sebg•4d ago•113 comments

FakeIt: C++ Mocking Made Easy

https://github.com/eranpeer/FakeIt
7•klaussilveira•3d ago•5 comments

Nicu's test website made with SVG (2007)

https://svg.nicubunu.ro/
139•caminanteblanco•10h ago•76 comments

AMD Turin PSP binaries analysis from open-source firmware perspective

https://blog.3mdeb.com/2025/2025-09-11-gigabyte-mz33-ar1-blob-analysis/
12•pietrushnic•3h ago•1 comments

J-Link RTT for the Masses using Semihosting on ARM

https://bogdanthegeek.github.io/blog/insights/jlink-rtt-for-the-masses/
9•kristianp•1h ago•2 comments

California age verification bill backed by Google, Meta, OpenAI heads to Newsom

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/13/california-advances-effort-to-check-kids-ages-online-ami...
52•heavyset_go•2h ago•33 comments

Introduction to GrapheneOS

https://dataswamp.org/~solene/2025-01-12-intro-to-grapheneos.html
125•renehsz•4d ago•138 comments

Read to forget

https://mo42.bearblog.dev/read-to-forget/
131•diymaker•12h ago•38 comments

La-Proteina

https://github.com/NVIDIA-Digital-Bio/la-proteina
18•birriel•3d ago•3 comments

Geedge and MESA leak: Analyzing the great firewall’s largest document leak

https://gfw.report/blog/geedge_and_mesa_leak/en/
395•yourapostasy•1d ago•118 comments

Observable Notebooks Data Loaders

https://observablehq.com/notebook-kit/data-loaders
68•mbostock•4d ago•16 comments

ChatControl update: blocking minority held but Denmark is moving forward anyway

https://disobey.net/@yawnbox/115203365485529363
446•nickslaughter02•6h ago•314 comments

Fukushima insects tested for cognition

https://news.cnrs.fr/articles/fukushima-insects-tested-for-cognition
112•nis0s•14h ago•59 comments

SpikingBrain 7B – More efficient than classic LLMs

https://github.com/BICLab/SpikingBrain-7B
142•somethingsome•19h ago•38 comments

Implementing namespaces and coding standards in WordPress plugin development

https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2025/09/implementing-namespaces-and-coding-standards-in-word...
22•taubek•2d ago•3 comments

A single, 'naked' black hole confounds theories of the young cosmos

https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-single-naked-black-hole-rewrites-the-history-of-the-universe-202...
181•pykello•21h ago•81 comments