MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by bjornsing | 2025-04-10 06:38:13+00:00
> Israel is often held to higher political and moral standards than other nations under the guise of justified by its classification as a Western democracy.

If you really think it’s just a “guise” then I can understand your point of view. But it’s very hard for me to agree with that assessment. Israel is treated entirely differently than say Islamic countries in the West. We would never accept the blatant disrespect for international law that they display if they were an Islamic nation, and just keep sending them weapons.

So I’d say the source of the tension is that Israel isn’t really a Western democracy, but it enjoys the privileges of being one.
by hgomersall | 2025-04-10 06:38:40+00:00
I'm interestingly in agreement with you. A learned understanding of our monetary system [1] makes it clear that taxes are primarily about freeing resources that the state can use to provision itself, not raising money. In such a system it is much easier to point out unintended consequences as well as understand what makes a tax effective or not, assuming one chooses to understand it.

The question then is only how much government you want, which is a political question.

[1] relevant to the UK, but equivalent systems exist in any monetarily sovereign country: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4890683
by jillesvangurp | 2025-04-10 06:38:43+00:00
Students will work in a world where they have to use AI to do their jobs. This is not going to be optional. Learning to use AIs effectively is an important skill and should be part of their education.

And it's an opportunity for educators to raise the ambition level quite a bit. It indeed obsoletes some of the tests they've been using to evaluate students. But they too now have the AI tools to do a better job and come up with more effective tests.

Think of all that time freed up having to actually read all those submitted papers. I can tell you from experience (I taught a few classes as a post doc way back): not fun. Minimum you can just instantly fail the ones that are obviously poorly written, are full of grammatical errors, and feature lots of flawed reasoning. Most decent LLMs do a decent job of doing that. Is using an LLM for that cheating if a teacher does it? I think that should just be expected at this point. And if it is OK for the teacher, it should be OK for the student.

If you expect LLMs to be used, it raises the bar for the acceptable quality level of submitted papers. They should be readable, well structured, well researched, etc. There really is no excuse for those papers not being like that. The student needs to be able to tell the difference. That actually takes skill to ask for the right things. And you can grill them on knowledge of their own work. A little 10 minute conversation maybe. Which should be about the amount of time a teacher would have otherwise spent on evaluating the paper manually and is definitely more fun (I used to do that; give people an opportunity to defend their work).

And if you really want to test writing skills, put students in a room with pen and paper. That's how we did things in the eighties and nineties. Most people did not have PCs and printers then. Poor teachers had to actually sit down and try to decipher my handwriting. Which even when that skill had not atrophied for a few decades, wasn't great.

LLMs will force change in education one way or another. Most of that change will be good. People trying to cheat is a constant. We just need to force them to be smarter about it. Which at a meta level isn't that bad of a skill to learn when you are educating people.
by forgotoldacc | 2025-04-10 06:39:22+00:00
India has a bigger population but they haven't risen anywhere near the way China has.

China's rise was due to smart planning and investment in their people and infrastructure. The country went from peasant farmers to the manufacturing hub of the world in a generation. Now they're in the process of becoming a major hub of knowledge workers while keeping a strong manufacturing backbone.

And one thing I rarely see mentioned is that the Chinese government keeps its currency artificially devalued in order to sell their products cheaply and undercut competition. Looking at their economy purely on a GDP basis really underestimates how big their economy is. GDP by PPP is more accurate. If China ever decides to stop loosely pegging its currency and let the value naturally rise, their GDP will very likely swell, since GDP is measured in US dollars.
by brokegrammer | 2025-04-10 06:41:09+00:00
The title should be something like "Could Vitamin D supplementation help prevent acute respiratory infection? Systematic review and meta-analysis".

When I read the "Vitamin D supplementation to prevent" part, I got excited because I thought the research implied that supplementation does help. So I had to read it.

With the first title, I wouldn't read the study because I've read dozens of other studies showing how Vitamin D supplementation doesn't improve health outcomes.
by kqr | 2025-04-10 06:41:20+00:00
Damn! I tried to answer the question without looking at the thread and arrived at a unit cost of 28 % of the retail price, after deducting reasonable guesses at VAT, store margin, shipping, etc. Fairly close to the quoted 25 %.

Fermi estimation is awesome and if you're one of today's lucky 10,000 who haven't heard of it, this is your day!
by internet_points | 2025-04-10 06:42:09+00:00
This is one of the reasons I've been afraid to use parser combinators too heavily. With regular (finite-state) languages I know their time usage, with parser combinators I have no clue, and there are so many different libraries and implementations and some are monadic and some are applicative and few mention worst-case. There are benchmarks https://gitlab.com/FinnBender/haskell-parsing-benchmarks#byt... but what kinds of "dangerous operations" do I have to watch out for when writing with parser combinators?

(I guess part of the problem is just that regular languages have been studied since Kleene had a full head of hair, while parser combinators were more or less unknown until the 80's.)
by wavedynamics | 2025-04-10 06:42:33+00:00
Fortunately, he remained friends with the other guys on the team and continued playing on our company hockey team (hockey-tech startup), so even though he was mad at myself and the CEO, I don't think he wanted to sue us into submission. I think he understood the ~$2500 we owed him (2004) was double the salary of our other guys and potentially could have been the difference between company survival and lights out. He was wise to leave at the time, with a better job in hand. Our finances did get better and we did pay him + interest a few months later. It sucked (and like I said I am ashamed) but there are unfortunate ugly decisions you sometimes have to make at a startup for survival.
by gnabgib | 2025-04-10 06:43:04+00:00
Do you think you're, perhaps over doing self-the promotion?

> Please don't use HN primarily for promotion. It's ok to post your own stuff part of the time, but the primary use of the site should be for curiosity.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

(4 subs, 2 weeks) https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=musicot.github.io

(3 subs, 1 week/5 subs, 1 month) https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=github.com%2Finclusio...

(3 subs 1 week) https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=mainfunc.ai

(2 subs, 2 weeks) https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=mureka.ai

(4 subs, 3 months) https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=trae.ai

(approaching ∞ subs) https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=pingcap.com
by ajb | 2025-04-10 06:45:00+00:00
UK central fuse boxes don't have a fuse/RCD per socket. For example, mine has common ones for the kitchen, downstairs sockets, upstairs sockets, and all lighting -separate ones only for the boiler and cooker.

The wiring system was designed during world war II when there was a copper shortage and someone calculated that it used less to use larger conductors to several sockets than to run smaller individual ones to each socket.
by erremerre | 2025-04-10 06:45:37+00:00
I think the main issue is... hardware.

There is a reason why I have 0 problems using linux on a raspberry PI, yet everytime I try to install in a real computer I got lying around I got a myriad of nosense problems which are particularly hard to solve.

If we want a new OS we need to make it for certain platform which is always identical in terms of hardware. I would say a PS3, Steam Deck, or Nintendo Switch would be good candidates.

They have plenty of identical hardware units in the market, and you could focus on the OS rather than supporting strange hardware issues.

You missed my favourite from the list: ReactOS
by flohofwoe | 2025-04-10 06:45:47+00:00
> I still wonder what would have happened had Jean-Louis Gassée been less greedy and Apple acquired BeOs instead of Next.

Nothing different would have happened. You would have used C++ instead of Objective-C to write macOS UI programs, but other then that macOS would be in the same shitty state it as is today (assuming a wildly popular iPhone would also have happened in that alternative timeline and take the focus away from desktop UI development).

One thing might probably be different: macOS might be less popular amongst developers because BeOS wasn't a UNIX clone (but 'Linux on the desktop' might actually be in a better state).
by LarsDu88 | 2025-04-10 06:46:15+00:00
This guy is blunt... but he's correct.

This company focused all it's effort in reinventing the part of multi-player games that did not need reinventing.

40 engineers for 5 years. I'm guessing at least 20 million dollars spent. 1 million trailer views... Let's say 100k wishlists, 10,000 sales at 30 LTV. 300k in revenue

This company will need to pivot if the game is not successful.

I would say the db could be pivoted for multi-player Figma style apps rather than games, but the coupling of server and db means you can't scale the db layer the same way you could do with literally every other db solution available s your company scales
by BrenBarn | 2025-04-10 06:47:11+00:00
I looked at the referenced study. This a meta-analysis and the number of studies contributing to the findings in each section appears to be rather low (2-8 studies in the sections I looked at), although the sample sizes of some of the studies are large.

The main thing that jumps out at me is that in most cases the moderate drinker comparison groups were, as they say, "at the lower end of moderate alcohol consumption". Their example (in the section on all-cause mortality): "five of the eight studies compared an average of about 0.7 U.S. drinks/day (8.4 g/d) with never consuming alcohol". So this is comparing the difference between teetotalers and people who drank very little. Although definitions of "moderate drinking" can allow up to 2 drinks a day, they had no findings comparing the effects of abstinence vs. consumption at the higher end of that range.

The meta-analysis is pretty formulaic and a lot of text in the main chapters is boilerplate. This isn't a bad thing as it can indicate a systematic approach not tempted by fishing expeditions, but it does mean the ultimate findings are only a tiny portion of the size of the document. To my eye most of the effects appear rather moderate.

This is an area I've been reading up on lately and it's rather fascinating to me that there seems to still be so much uncertainty about this question, given its obvious relevance to public health. I wonder if we'll ever see a durable conclusion on this matter.
by jillesvangurp | 2025-04-10 06:48:13+00:00
Most of us here took their education before AI. Students trying to avoid having to do work is a constant and as old as the notion of schools is. Changing/improving the tools just means teachers have to escalate the counter measures. For example by raising the ambition level in terms of quality and amount of work expected.

And teachers should use AIs too. Evaluating papers is not that hard for an LLM.

"Your a teacher. Given this assignment (paste /attach the file and the student's paper), does this paper meet the criteria. Identify flaws and grammatical errors. Compose a list of ten questions to grill the student on based on their own work and their understanding of the background material."

A prompt like that sounds like it would do the job. Of course, you'd expect students to use similar prompts to make sure they are prepared for discussing those questions with the teacher.
Ask HN: Building a habit app with social features – what would you want in it?
by hemantprat | 2025-04-10 06:48:19+00:00
I'm building a habit tracking app with community-driven features like challenges and leaderboards. Curious what you'd actually find helpful — or annoying — in a social habit tracker. What would make you want to stick with it?

One of its earlier version is on PlayStore named Habithook.
by io84 | 2025-04-10 06:48:32+00:00
Congrats on shipping and selling!

Countering some recurring feedback here: I find the design decisions you’ve made strike a good balance between simplicity and inviting the player in to find their way round. I’m viewing on mobile.

- I can’t easily parse a top-level clue structure but the lack of colours keeps it neat - Guess history would have been useful but omitting it keeps each guess low stakes for a first time user - The keyboard is fine, don’t let the unicode universe in for an ascii input field
by laichzeit0 | 2025-04-10 06:48:59+00:00
The LLM returns a message called ToolMessage which then describes which function to call and the parameters (you register these functions/tools as part of the initialisation step, like when you pass it temperature, or whatever other options your LLM allows you to set). So think of it as instead of steaming back text, it’s streaming back text to tell you “please call this function with these args” and you can do with that what you want. Ideally you’d call that function and then give the output back to the LLM. Nothing magic really.
by chii | 2025-04-10 06:49:14+00:00
> The actual value is still generated by the labor.

The labour _needed_ the money. In other words, the labour doesn't want to take on capital risk (aka, the output turning worthless, or something like that).

Investors aren't leeching, they are taking risks - risks that the labourers dont want to take (otherwise, they would've been the one fronting the cost, rather than expecting to get paid for labour!).

The old idea of capital being leeches only happens when your capital comes from lords who granted you ownership (of the land).
by vintikzzzz | 2025-04-10 06:49:48+00:00
The content is only partially downloaded to the servers, and only on demand. Storage is limited — old, inactive cached data is removed when space is needed for new requests.

There’s also the ability to revisit previously used content via direct links like https://webtor.io/{infohash} — this lets users bookmark a stream or return to it later. However, availability still depends on whether the content is cached or needs to be fetched again.

I actually experimented with making content indexable in the past, but many torrents turned out to be pirated — and eventually triggered DMCA notices. So I chose not to publicly expose anything on the hosted version.

Automation is possible: there’s a public API and a lightweight SDK for embedding content into external websites.
by tweetle_beetle | 2025-04-10 06:49:56+00:00
I agree, it feels like an advertorial trying to sell me products even when it isn't, which is a shame as the underlying content is detailed, original and long form.

> I tracked the vocals in my apartment in the Mission, San Francisco

This has no relevance at all to what is being said at that point in the article. But it feels very much like dropping in references to a specific guitar brand or plug-in before it's relevant elsewhere too. Like an LLM has based the style on SEO blogspam.
by pandaupup | 2025-04-10 06:50:45+00:00
I wanted to share a recent project I've been working on - a Time to Decimal Converter (https://time-to-decimal.org). While the concept is simple, I put a lot of thought into making it both functional and visually appealing.

Key Features: - Convert batch hours, minutes, seconds to decimal format - Mobile-friendly interface - No sign-up required - Free to use

Design Philosophy: - Minimalist approach to reduce cognitive load - Clear visual hierarchy - Consistent color scheme - Responsive design that works seamlessly across devices - Focus on accessibility and readability

Would love to get your thoughts on: 1. The overall visual design 2. User experience flow 3. Mobile responsiveness 4. Accessibility considerations 5. Any design improvements you'd suggest

Any constructive feedback would be greatly appreciated!
by lawgimenez | 2025-04-10 06:51:04+00:00
I've been doing mobile development client work for over a decade, if I remember correctly, around 2012-2016 money was flowing everywhere.

Every company, client just wanted their own app. App for medicine sales people, internal company Android launcher, an app to adjust your window blinds, fitness app, bible/Muslim apps, timer. All these random stuffs.

Comparing it from the past several years, majority of the projects didn't even make it to MVP because of the cost is just too much for them.
Show HN: I made a simple web app that save money
by artemovandrei | 2025-04-10 06:51:14+00:00
Hey HN.

A few months ago, I realized I was still paying for 3 tools I hadn’t used in over a year. Worse? I had no idea when my free trials were ending, and my inbox was full of random invoices.

So I built Subly — a simple tool to manually track all your subscriptions, trial periods, costs, and invoices.

No bank syncing

No email scanning

Just a clean dashboard for full control

Andrei
by Cthulhu_ | 2025-04-10 06:52:43+00:00
This is kind of an ironic comment as Japan was very isolationist - that is, resisting foreign influence, sticking to their own culture / traditions / etc - at least up until the time period of this photo, which is when the Meiji Restoration started and they opened up more to foreigners.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakoku

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiji_Restoration
by chii | 2025-04-10 06:52:46+00:00
> Am I missing something about modern economics?

yes you have.

The home took someone money to build, the land cost money to buy (from the previous owners) - thru the long chain of title ownership that would stem from the conquerors of this land (who ultimately took the land from either natives, or whoever that previously owned it by force).

The previous owners who now got paid by you will use this money for other investments. It is not slept on. Your house is also providing utility (of being a shelter).

You just stopped thinking about the money as soon as it left your bank when you buy the house, and thus you feel that the value of the house is merely being "slept on", when in actual fact, this transaction that is your house is a small cog in a very large system.
by wordofx | 2025-04-10 06:53:07+00:00
> Today, China is competitive with or ahead of America in key technology areas, including nuclear power, AI, EVs, and batteries.

I can’t tell if you’re brainwashed by propaganda or just spreading propaganda.

China is great at making things flashy. But the quality things like EVs is low. The battery quality is not good. The promise of long range cars is often 30% of the promise. Cars leaking. Rusting like American made cars.
by vinay427 | 2025-04-10 06:53:15+00:00
Having lived in both countries for a while, I find the Swiss plugs nowhere near as satisfying, and the flat (non-recessed) wall outlets are also prone to plugs becoming loosened due to weight, similar to the US/CAN/JP plug.

I do quite like the compactness and aesthetic of the three-prong plug with three plugs in a typical wall fixture, and the compatibility with the two-prong Europlug is convenient. However, using even one adapter with a foreign plug often obstructs the other two plugs in a three-plug fixture, particularly as the adapter usually isn’t reversible if grounded, which is quite annoying if that’s the only socket in a room.

I guess the UK plug being large enough to subsume most foreign plug adapters is one silver lining of its size.
by mentalgear | 2025-04-10 06:54:09+00:00
> In the last week, Trump has gone wild on the global economy, saying tariffs are the key to American prosperity.

> As a result, global stock and bond markets tanked.

> The reversal prompted the S&P 500 stock index to climb over 7 percent in just minutes.

> Traders with inside information about what Trump was about to do — some of them, presumably, Trump family members and cronies — just made a fortune.
by vintikzzzz | 2025-04-10 06:54:27+00:00
Good question.

Even though Webtor doesn’t host or index any content itself, users can generate direct links like https://webtor.io/{infohash} to access specific torrents. Sometimes these links get shared publicly — on forums, blogs, or aggregators — and that’s usually how DMCA notices find their way to me.

When that happens, I remove access to that specific infohash from the hosted service. It’s not about removing stored files (since there’s no persistent storage), but about disabling further processing of that particular torrent.
Show HN: Broswerable- open source browser automation library for agents
by codesiddu | 2025-04-10 06:54:57+00:00
Hi HN, Sid here. I made Browserable, an open-source and self-hostable JS library (MIT license) for building agents that can execute web tasks, track status and fetch results: https://github.com/browserable/browserable.

It allows you to build agents that can navigate sites, fill out forms, and extract information. It is currently at 90.4% on the Web Voyager benchmark.

With this library, you can: - Run a browser agent suite in your local machine with one command- npx browserable. - Integrate into existing code with REST APIs/ SDKs. - Self-host the browser agent and scale without being tied to any single browser/ browser infrastructure/ LLM provider.

It comes with a UI to run a task and an admin interface to trace, track and debug LLM calls (and costs). Works with multiple browser providers (Steel, Hyperbrowser, Browserbase) and concurrency restrictions.

We built Browserable because we enjoyed building AI agents to automate tasks for our B2B SaaS startup, but we were frustrated at how hard it was to set up and maintain reliable automations even for simple tasks since the groundwork did not exist. We had to integrate with multiple browser providers with various concurrency restrictions, multiple LLM providers with various rate limits and there was no easy way to tie all the logs back to one single task to analyze the accuracy, latency, and cost of the implementation.

We are hoping to make it easier to build, test and improve agents without having to write all of the infrastructure from scratch.

We would love to know what you are building and if this library would be useful, or how we could make it more useful for you!
by ineedaj0b | 2025-04-10 06:55:53+00:00
i've seen certain groups defend war (really cannot imagine this) and now i'm hearing from the same group i'm a part of, well it's okay to off-shore all this because the president doesn't like offshoring? for years fashion forums have bemoaned the offshoring of american clothing. if the president said he supported communism, would certain groups suddenly become free market capitalists?

have people always been like this? was this 'anything but agree' position common back in the 70s and 80s? is this an american thing or christian society thing?
by chrisvalleybay | 2025-04-10 06:56:22+00:00
I believe we need to practice critical thinking through actual effort. Doing arithmetic by hand and working through problems ourselves builds intuition in ways that shortcuts can't. I'm grateful I grew up without LLMs, as the struggle to organize and express my thoughts on paper developed mental muscles I still rely on today. Some perspiration is necessary for genuine learning—the difficulty is actually part of the value.