MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by layer8 | 2025-05-15 08:06:01+00:00
Physical systems are computable only in approximation. And quantum uncertainty throws another wrench into it. We also know that arbitrarily small rounding errors in the computation can lead to arbitrarily large differences with the actual system down the road. No, cells are not computers (in the sense of the Turing model). (However, that doesn’t mean that one can’t still consider them to be mechanistic and “soulless”.)
by yorwba | 2025-05-15 08:06:10+00:00
"Although decision 21/2022 is annulled for procedural reasons, the Market Court endorses the reasoning of the Belgian DPA and confirms the fine of 250,000 euros imposed. However, the Court rejects the BE DPA's conclusion that IAB Europe acts as (joint) data controller for the processing operations that take place entirely within the OpenRTB protocol." https://www.dataprotectionauthority.be/citizen/the-market-co...

It's not a pure win.
by pjmlp | 2025-05-15 08:06:44+00:00
Ironically the whole way modern IDEs work with virtual filesystems, or the LSP approach, aren't much different than putting an image like layer on top of traditional filesystems.

And still don't have quite a C++ IDE experience that somehow comes close to Visual Age for C++ v4 (from Smalltalk side), or Energize C++ (from Lisp side).
by neom | 2025-05-15 08:07:06+00:00
For the past I guess 20 years of my life now, I've been intently using most of my free time to explore 3 main areas distinctly: quantum mechanical processes, spiritual philosophy, entheogens. I explored them all quite separately as deeply as I've been able to find the time for through following their individual curiosities, however over the past 5 years of reflection, taking a lot of time off, battling myself, they started to come together in concert, and the more I zoned out on this with very basic Himalaya Buddhism, it's where I landed.
Ask HN: Why is no one making FILE_ID.DIZ anymore?
by reconnecting | 2025-05-15 08:07:31+00:00
Back in the BBS days, nearly every ZIP folder contained `.nfo` and `FILE_ID.DIZ` files. I searched for "FILE_ID.DIZ" on GitHub and found only [1], [2], [3] files from last year.

How is it possible that such a strong habit has completely disappeared?

[1] https://github.com/Gargaj/Foxotron/blob/master/file_id.diz

[2] https://github.com/FDOS/freecom/blob/master/FILE_ID.DIZ

[3] https://github.com/TirrenoTechnologies/tirreno/blob/master/FILE_ID.DIZ
by fvdessen | 2025-05-15 08:07:55+00:00
I believe the main purpose of tracking based advertising is to know your gender, politics and social class to show you the right kind of car and pet supply.

This discrimination is quite important and before internet people would self discriminate on those basis and buy different magasines, see different movies, walk different streets and advertisers could target their demographics based on that.

Now everybody goes to the same social networks so the tracking is used to provide this discrimination

A good example is gym membership. There's 20eur/month and 300eur/month ones. The 300eur/month ones really don't want to advertise to everybody, they have a really specific demographic target in mind.
by OrangeMusic | 2025-05-15 08:08:53+00:00
Not to mention... To actually use MCP you need to:

- Google for half an hour to find the correct steps

- Install Claude Desktop

- Find the Claude Desktop settings (which are not the same as the Claude settings)

- From there you can open a JSON file that you manually edit

For all the hype around this tech, I can't believe how user-unfriendly this is.
by ddxv | 2025-05-15 08:13:06+00:00
I've been working on open source mobile app tracking for advertisers to use (an MMP specifically). Would love to connect with anyone in this thread to discuss it.

Specifically, is tracking inside of a single app/property acceptable?

So much mobile tracking is added due to a lack of real HTTPS links (in mobile called deferred deep links). To just know whether a user from link X did or did not open the app.

Happy to chat with people opposed or pro, feel free to reach out for a longer discussion.

https://openattribution.dev
by dijit | 2025-05-15 08:13:42+00:00
The idea is if someone helps you in a really big way that you’re able to reward that. So you can ask the company to give the person either credits for an internal store, or a direct addition to their salary for one month.

Obviously, there are limits to how many pay bonuses you can give out and if it’s direct money or store credits.

Directly asking for a peer bonus’ is not very “googly” (and yes, this is a term they use- in case you needed evidence of Google being a bit cultish).

There are companies who help do this “as a service”; https://bonusly.com/
by podgorniy | 2025-05-15 08:13:45+00:00
There is a noticable issue when one builds LLMs interfaces around single turn conversations. Majority people expect linear conversations.

I've built telegram bot http://t.me/experai_bot as univresal UI to LLMs (with somewhat reduced functionality) exactly around idea "non-reply message means new conversation". Wanna keep context? Keep replying to replies of bot. Non-power user strugge with this idea.

--

Also I observed that OpenAI models performed worse replying to the same questions (for example list of options in reply got shorter) even with smallest system message. That was the case with 3.5, 4o. Don't know how modern ones behave. That made me decide not to include any system messages by default Still I give option to add ones if you need. You can even toggle them to mix-and-match.
by gwd | 2025-05-15 08:13:56+00:00
> I wonder if they go back and add details in or plan from them way back at the start.

I heard a rumor that what Agatha Christie (and perhaps other mystery writers) would do is to write the entire story with no perpetrator in mind; then at the end, see which character seemed the least likely suspect, and then go back and "frame" that person.

On a slightly different note, when I've played the game "Once Upon a Time", which involves structured competitive / collaborative storytelling in a group, one of the hints I always give is to never specify anything unless you need to. If you don't specify what color the sword was, or what town he grew up in, or where the horse came from, then it's easy for later storytellers to incorporate that into their story. (Since although the goal of each player is to bend the story to their own ending, the purpose of the game as a whole is to tell a good story and have a good time. It's more fun to have a satisfying story someone else ended than a stilted, unsatisfying story that you ended yourself.)
Show HN: Solo-built iOS meal tracker using AI, now live on App Store
by deljo | 2025-05-15 08:14:55+00:00
After quitting my job in 2024, I started exploring AI-assisted coding. I had no Flutter experience and used tools like ChatGPT, DeepSeek, and Cursor to learn and build along the way.

Early versions were basic, but I eventually rebuilt the app from scratch using Domain-Driven Design — also learned via AI prompts.

Now live on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6478949034

Features: - No accounts - End-to-end encrypted local storage (Hive) - Optional encrypted cloud backups via Cloudflare Worker + R2 - AI-powered meal logging via a self-hosted orchestrator

Full story, diagrams, and technical breakdown here: https://deljojoseph.com/how-i-built-and-shipped-a-meal-loggi...

Happy to answer questions.
by hellotomyrars | 2025-05-15 08:14:55+00:00
So the person who says their Dyson works great is a liar but also their opinion is invalid because it is expensive.

Your Land Rover is good because it’s expensive but you like it.

Reading several of your comments on this thread are a real whirlwind. If you just flat out reject anyone’s experience that doesn’t reflect your own or that of your mother then I don’t know why you’re even responding to anyone.

I bought just about the cheapest toilet possible and it works identically to the one it replaced that was probably 15 years old. Maybe EU regulations are truly onerous and mad but the standards that have now been thrown in the garbage in the US have not been a problem for me literally ever. Anyone who needs to flush the toilet 10 times is doing something wrong.

I dunno what kind of cats your mom has but I’ve got 2 cats and 4 dogs and I haven’t had a problem with either a modest Shark or a (refurbished) Dyson.
by mschuster91 | 2025-05-15 08:15:45+00:00
The problem is, many people on HN are Americans and assume that the way their jurisdiction works should be an example for everyone else to follow.

Our political and legal system prefers self-regulation first, if that doesn't work then regulation will be introduced, the first offenders will get a slap on the wrist to clarify for everyone what the courts' lines on interpreting the law are, and only then the fines follow.
by defihead | 2025-05-15 08:15:50+00:00
Pls check it out and let me know what you think. The platform is build in the following premises:

Decentralized resilience. Built on top of Lens Chain, Fountain features zero vendor lock in. All of your content is distributed across every Lens app, in the present and in the future.

Own your content and audience. Because of the way Fountain is built, nobody, not even us, can take it away.

Copyrighted automatically. All Fountain posts are timestamped and written into blockchain, with a license of your liking attached.

Earn in new ways. We help you get rewarded directly by the people who enjoy your words.

Human collaboration. Writing with friends is as simple as copy-pasting a link to your browser.

Public goods. Fountain is proudly open source under AGPLv3.
by leetnewb | 2025-05-15 08:15:54+00:00
From my reading, the new API seems like a move in the right direction. But either way, Google is asking Nextcloud to silently break backup/sync-ing until users grant permission, and my guess is that many users won't notice until they discover data loss - the damage to trust and brand would be substantial. And I don't think it is fair for Google to demand in this case when the consequences are almost entirely felt by the users.
by ggm | 2025-05-15 08:15:59+00:00
I think there are two myths applicable here. Probably more.

One myth is that complex systems are inherently bad. Armed forces are incredibly complex. That's why it can take 10 or more rear echelon staff to support one fighting soldier. Supply chain logistics and materiel is complex. Middle ages wars stopped when gunpowder supplies ran out.

Another myth is that simple systems are always better and remain simple. They can be, yes. After all, DNA exists. But some beautiful things demand complexity built up from simple things. We still don't entirely understand how DNA and environment combine. Much is hidden in this simple system.

I do believe one programming language might be a rational simplification. If you exclude all the DSL which people implement to tune it.
by jillesvangurp | 2025-05-15 08:17:09+00:00
What do you think happens if they are caught again? By then the precedent has been set. Easy decision. Fine them again. And obviously the previous fine didn't work so increase it. Courts have no patience for repeat offenders.

Also, it sends a signal to wannabe competitors to this company that there are laws and there are consequences for breaking those.

And of course given that these companies have money, there are going to be lawyers paying attention to see if they can get at that money in some way. Germany is almost as bad on that front as California. Lots of enterprising lawyers here. So, one successful court case can trigger many more once the precedent is set.
by bambax | 2025-05-15 08:17:34+00:00
Yes but at the time Genesis was written, humanity didn't have the means to destroy life at scale. And in the New Testament, "killing the fattened calf" (Luke 15,23) is an incredibly rare event, something one does only when something remarkable happens.

Also, in the Middle Ages in Europe (granted, a very small window in place and time) animal life was much more respected than today.
by ithkuil | 2025-05-15 08:17:56+00:00
indeed, but ultimately this story is written by a human who while trying to imagine a world with "Just machines, bolts and screws, zeros and ones. There is no emotion. There is no art. There is only logic" cannot quite do so.

It's very hard to do so. It's so deeply wired in us. It's part of the mechanism of our brain. We appeared to be equipped with whatever it takes to feel existential dread and we feel whenever our thought wander to the possibility of humanity no longer being there. I hear people feel that when thinking about the heat death of the universe too.
by figassis | 2025-05-15 08:18:32+00:00
I agree. But in the crappy experience topic, it seems to me that this is just bad engineering. If I were to build an algo to show personalized ads, I would definitely account for the likelihood of someone wanting to buy 2 consecutive cars vs a car and maybe some car related products. How was that decision made, because it seems that an entire industry adopted this and called it a day.
by rottc0dd | 2025-05-15 08:20:08+00:00
I meant to say in the way that there is well defined set of alphabets (A, T, G, C) and each triplet of these alphabet is responsible for specific protein to be created and combination of such protein make each cell what it is. (There are 20 different proteins for humans and we have four alphabets coming in triplets. So, if it was pair or quadreplets responsible for proteins, it would have too much or too little. They are not perfect but given the condition, there is some balance)

A single alphabet change in specific places can cause genetic defects like sickle cell anemia. And activation of which one has to generate protein (execute) is dependent on presence of certain things encoded as proteins again.

And viruses when enter a cell, the cell starts to execute viral genetic material. Even if these are not exactly Turing compatible, do they not mimic many aspects of computation?
by zigzag312 | 2025-05-15 08:20:16+00:00
Cache invalidation is hard. Offline-first is also hard and expensive to develop. Single source of truth + backup is simpler.

> No, it would be more annoying, because I couldn't just log in anywhere in the world, and get access to my data. And I would have to manually bring devices in contact to sync them.

You are traveling without your phone? I don't always have an unlimited internet when traveling. If you loose your phone while traveling there's a good chance you won't be able to log in due to 2FA anyway. Devices just have to connect to the same local network to sync. Phone probably connects to your WiFi automatically when you come home. Syncing over internet is also possible.

I'm just saying it could be done. Not that everybody would use it or like it. Although, I imagine getting rid of one dependency (cloud) and having more control would be a plus to some.

Cloud is not magically without issues. People do get locked out their cloud account due to some heuristics flagging it, payment issues, user errors or even political reasons. And it can take a very long time before you get it resolved. Last year there was even a story on HN about Google Cloud accidentally deleting customer's account and deleting all their data.

> But customers by-and-large don't want it.

Do you have any data backing this up?

Phone centered solution could be more cost effective. A casual user would only need a phone, a backup solution (either cloud based or an external drive connected to a network) and a bigger display with input devices (portable or desktop). Possibly one less subscription they have to pay and lower HW costs.
by pjmlp | 2025-05-15 08:20:30+00:00
Depends on the point of view regarding using languages with automatic resource management.

I learn all languages that I find interesting, even if I don't use them, because I am a systems programming nerd, in languages, graphics and operating systems.

So it is always interesting to have an understanding of what Rust is all about, even if I will never work professionaly with it.
by jaoane | 2025-05-15 08:20:33+00:00
In this case the fine was annulled because the procedure wasn’t followed correctly by the public defenders.

I can assure you that if the procedure is followed the way it should be you will be fined for any kind of violation of the GDPR no matter how small you are.

I don’t know where you are getting from this “you can violate the law for free the first time”. I know HN likes to defend the EU any way it can (not because they love the EU but because they hate the US because they dared to choose a leader they don’t like), but this is absolute bs.
by caseyy | 2025-05-15 08:21:10+00:00
That’s understood.

But is 250k euros an appropriate fine for the personally identifiable information that’s been collected and associated with behavioural metrics, political preferences, confidential health data, and other private data points by the 600+ companies that make up IAB and their partners?

This is less than 500 euros per company. They probably pay more each month to host the illegally collected data.

And they probably have the data for millions of EU citizens. Maybe a billion+ profiles worldwide. Granted, the numbers are pulled out of thin air, but what’s a reasonable estimate if not that?

Unless I’m misunderstanding…
by killerstorm | 2025-05-15 08:22:31+00:00
Jürgen Schmidhuber introduced curiosity/boredom mechanisms as a way to improve learning in reinforcement learning environment:

https://people.idsia.ch/~juergen/curiositysab/curiositysab.h...

This mechanism can be formalized.

> Zero reinforcement should be given in case of perfect matches, high reinforcement should be given in case of `near-misses', and low reinforcement again should be given in case of strong mismatches. This corresponds to a notion from `esthetic information theory' which tries to explain the feeling of `beauty' by means of the quotient of `subjective complexity' and `subjective order' or the quotient of `unfamiliarity' and `familiarity' (measured in an information-theoretic manner).

This type of architecture is very similar to GAN which later became very successful
by FinnLobsien | 2025-05-15 08:23:05+00:00
I don't think these things are really done because you get more done at an office.

I think it's more of a litmus test: If you care about your work enough that you're willing to come to the office every day (or even move cities/countries), then you'll be extremely engaged.

So by saying "you have to come to the office 5 days a week", you will only get people who are very engaged and will get a lot done—even if it's not because of the office.

I guarantee there's a Venn diagram of extremely engaged people who also prefer (or will exclusively do) remote work, which office-only companies will miss out on.

But when you're in a high talent-density area like NYC/SF maybe that's not a big concern.

So willingness to come to the office becomes a proxy metric for how much you care, which obviously influences your engagement.
by hn_throw2025 | 2025-05-15 08:24:05+00:00
I have had issues in the past. I was working for a while yesterday and began to feel the discomfort and tension start, so immediately put on the brace I keep handy :

https://www.muellersportsmed.com/b2c-us/en/Open-Catalogue/By...

Instant relief. It’s a Mueller HG80 wrist brace. I love the thing. Sometimes leave it on for longer than I need to, because the support feels really good. Quite slim and unobtrusive too.
by earthnail | 2025-05-15 08:24:06+00:00
On iOS, there are two ways to work around it:

1.) use custom product pages. Users need to have a device with iOS 18, but if they do you can now assign a URL to a custom product page, and the app will receive this URL on first launch. Only works for a small number of static links because you can't dynamically create custom product pages. Good for thinks like influencer campaigns if you have a small number of influencers (e.g. a YouTube channel you support), and since iOS 18 adoption is high enough now this has very recently become a viable method.

2.) use an App Clip. I do this for referral links in my app. The user launches the App Clip, and because the App Clip can receive an invocation URL, you can store that in a shared group container - that's a shared data space between your App Clip and your app. Most users don't know what an App Clip is, so to avoid confusion and make your users assume that they already downloaded the app when in fact they didn't, I recommend just making it a single page with a download button. You can try this flow here (it's a referral link for my app); make sure to open the link on an iOS device, otherwise you will see a fallback website telling you to install the app first: https://tape.it/user_referral/1
by lm28469 | 2025-05-15 08:24:07+00:00
> I disagree. In the long run there was never a way for individual hosts to compete with hotels on price. Hotels have economy of scale so of course they are going to be better bang for the buck in places where both are options.

Reminder that airbnb was supposed to be about renting your place when you were out of town, not buying 5 buildings to become an hotel chain yourself...

At least hotels don't ask you to clean the dishes, switch of the fridge and do the laundry before you leave
by pjmlp | 2025-05-15 08:24:52+00:00
I see it as another take on BASIC for microcontrollers, like BASIC Stamp or mikroBasic, with a language that is more appealing to current generations.

We were able to already do so much on home computers back in the day, in an interactive development enviroment, no need to reach out for C in hardware that is x times better than those home computers.
by AStonesThrow | 2025-05-15 08:25:03+00:00
Hmm, so the leak did include valid mobile phone numbers of that many Steam subscribers. I suppose that could be valuable intel to someone, down the line.

One of my friends was known to quip that Steam had better security than most banks, even in the early days. And it's true that Steam accounts host data and purchases that are quite valuable to the customers, as well as highly attractive to thieves, so customers do well to protect their accounts to the fullest extent.

A long time ago I was the holder of a Steam account, and I was once notified in email that someone had successfully entered both my username and password, since the password was trivial and/or reused from some other account I had. Since the account was still protected by MFA, I chose to take no action at all. But I believe that the perpetrator had some sort of Russian connection, IPv4 geolocation or something. But it was clearly an instance of: https://m.xkcd.com/2176/
by uallo | 2025-05-15 08:25:35+00:00
That is also a problem on a side project I've been running for several years. It is based on a heavily rate-limited third-party API. And the main problem is that bots often cause (huge) traffic spikes which essentially DDoSes the application. Luckily, a large part of these bots can easily be detected based on their behaviour in my specific case. I started serving them trash data and have not been DDoSed since.
by figassis | 2025-05-15 08:26:41+00:00
Would not work, you’d end up with hundreds of such platforms (because why not, free market) and some would even exist for the sole purpose of inferring your consent from multiple other platforms (that would sell access) and it would then become so opaque that you would have no way of actually confirming which choices you made.

I understood as a SWE that the perfect solutions we often conjure never work as expected in the real world because we do not understand basic human nature and also how society as exists today works, including many many perverse incentives.
by xingped | 2025-05-15 08:26:59+00:00
Agreed. I had a bizarre interview experience with them whereupon finishing the interview, the hiring manager emailed me once a week for about 4 or 5 weeks in a row asking if I was still interested. It was bizarre. How many times do I have to say yes? After the 4th or 5th time I just told them no, not any more.