MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by sagarkava | 2025-07-17 13:55:44+00:00
Hey bigcat12345678, great question!

Yes, with VideoSDK's Real-Time AI Agents, you can control the TTS output tone, either via prompt engineering (if your TTS provider supports it, like ElevenLabs) or by integrating custom models that support tonal control directly. Our modular pipeline architecture makes it easy to plug in providers like ElevenLabs and pass tone/style prompts dynamically per utterance.

We actually support ElevenLabs out of the box. You can check out the integration details here: https://docs.videosdk.live/ai_agents/plugins/tts/eleven-labs

So if you're building AI companions and want them to sound calm, excited, empathetic, etc., you can absolutely prompt for those tones in real time, or even switch voices or tones mid-conversation based on context or user emotion.

Let us know what you're building. Happy to dive deeper into tone control setups or help debug a specific flow!
by ghc | 2025-07-17 13:56:09+00:00
I think it's unlikely the next bubble will involve the stock market. I mean the last bubble (real estate) didn't either. It can still be a bubble even if it's mostly VC money going into it, because more companies, endowments, pension funds, and ETFs than ever are exposed through VC. I don't know what the "total VC money invested" graph looks like right now, but even if investment stays constant, the lack of exits would still cumulatively result in a bubble-like inflation over time.
by shaky-carrousel | 2025-07-17 13:56:10+00:00
It seems like you are more interested on being snarky than in having a conversation, but I'll try. You are being nitpicky by saying I depend on external systems. Of course we depend on external systems. This is a civilization. At the end of the day we depend on many things. But until now, once we had set up a computer, we did not depend on anything but free resources to code.

You can get a computer from other person, install linux and you can start to code. We can get documentation from internet freely. What we are doing right now is giving up this ability by relying on a very centralized service.

This is going to bite us. New programmers are not going to really learn anything, but how to ask a LLM. And when (not if) the companies in charge of the LLMs decide to raise the price, everyone will pay.

New programmers are not going to ask new questions in forums, because they will work it out the answers with their LLM, and those sessions will be used by the owners to improve the LLM. We are centralizing knowledge and abilities.

And let's not forget the huge energy bill all this LLM dancing is having. People is spending gigawatts of energy asking over and over and over the same questions to an LLM. This is incredibly wasteful.

But yeah, this is all about my "artisanal hand-sculpted code that you’re so proud of". Hopefully you didn't use a LLM to write that line. It would have been a waste.
by a0123 | 2025-07-17 13:56:22+00:00
What the OP of that comment and yourself have missed is that Google is not trustworthy enough to give it permission, which the user you're responding to pretty much suggested as a solution (Google should be trustworthy to be given a one-off permission).

The amount of times Google has been caught out doing things they shouldn't be means that no, no one has to prove that it's a reasonable assumption that Google follows policies, not even their own.

It's for you to prove that they can be trusted (good luck with that!).
by taneq | 2025-07-17 13:56:30+00:00
Just piggybacking on this, if your bank (or eBay or Amazon or whoever) ever calls you to inform you of a suspected hack on your account, and says they're sending you a 2 factor authentication code to confirm your identity, do NOT tell them the code. It sounds obvious when phrased like this, but if you're not familiar with the scam then yeah, it's a scam and they're trying to get your 2FA token in order to access your account.
by xinayder | 2025-07-17 13:56:42+00:00
I've been using it for over 2 years now and I agree there's a spam problem on public chatrooms.

However, what's making me want to quit is that for more than 3 months now, message notifications have been completely broken on Android (Element X and its forks), and there's no fix for it. I completely miss out on important things and now have to build the habit of opening Element X once or twice every 15 minutes, so that it loads the messages from the server, and shows what people have been messaging me lately.

I no longer get message notification details on my phone, instead a generic "you have new messages" pop-up. There are at least 6 issues on GitHub detailing the same issue, but there isn't a fix and it looks like this is not a priority for the development team right now, even though it makes Element X practically unusable.
by cluckindan | 2025-07-17 13:56:54+00:00
In my mind, a better explanation is that they were templates for personally fitted non-metal gloves. The template could be given to a knitter to receive exactly fitting gloves each time. Metal chain would have been difficult to detach from the template, but knit natural yarn would have stretched.

Of course, the end products would not have survived to our time.

This theory explains many things about the object:

- the dodecahedrons have been found all around Europe, but particularly in the north

- they are not in one standard size

- the hole sizings are a good match for fingers

- the same template can be used for both left and right hands, leaving one set of holes for some sort of stick to stand on

Gloves would have been very important clothing items in the northern parts of the empire, and in military use, they would have fallen apart quickly, necessitating their replacement from local sources.

Fingered leather gloves would have been prohibitively expensive if they were available at all, and fur gloves would not have been nimble enough for handling a sword and a shield, or for any other task requiring finger dexterity.

Since they would have been personal items, soldiers would have carried them wherever they were stationed, and kept them after their military careers. This would explain why they were also found in temperate and warm parts of the empire.
by sagarkava | 2025-07-17 13:57:06+00:00
Yes, VideoSDK Real-Time AI Agents are already running in production with several partners across different domains — from healthcare assistants to customer support agents and AI companions. These deployments are handling real user interactions at scale, across web, mobile, and even telephony.

If you're curious about specific use cases or want to explore how it can fit into your product, happy to share more details or walk through an example.
by s-lambert | 2025-07-17 13:57:11+00:00
>that example from Mitchell Hashimoto is working with zig

While Ghostty is mostly in Zig, the example Mitchell Hashimoto is using there is the Swift code in Ghostty. He has said on Twitter that he's had good success with Swift for LLMs but it's not as good with Zig.

I think it doesn't work as well with Zig because there's more recent breaking changes not in the training dataset, it still sort of works but you need to clean up after it.
by Rick76 | 2025-07-17 13:57:29+00:00
I have a different opinion than most of my friends on this topic. They claim that it's just like the calculator, everyone said that if we offset our math work on a calculator it will make us all dumb. So logically the same applies for AI, but it just feels different to me.

LLMs are not perfect, but they can do a lot of the boring work, but this removes any ability for critical thinking, research, honestly English.

Which is why I think this issue is different, especially for students. Think about it if someone was writing a paper and used AI to adjust their writing, they still had to critically think about their stance, the argument behind it but most people use it like, "I have a problem, solve problem", completely skipping all mental strain from the problem.

I know I'm not an expert, so I try not to shake my fist at the clouds, but this is honestly worrying to me.
by aksodidnsjs | 2025-07-17 13:58:03+00:00
Genuinely curious, does education really matter? No one man has the time nor intellect to effectively evaluate all the facts. Most of the lies today are lies of omission / framing. Details left out, stories not covered, etc.

The only rational position is figuring out how to scale trust. Ironically enough, the historic ways of doing that (race, religion, nation) are all more or less “evil” in modern society.

After going through US public schooling and then reading actual source material from various topics covered many years later, it’s hard to see it as anything other than propaganda. “History was written by the victors” doesn’t magically exclude our current regime.
by brookst | 2025-07-17 13:58:29+00:00
Consistency is the hobgoblin.

If the law were truly consistent, surgeons would go to jail for cutting people with knives.

As soon as you recognize that context should matter in law, consistency is no longer possible.

I’m not defending big companies pirating books or saying YouTubers should go to jail, I’m just saying there are material differences in context that make it juvenile to demand perfect consistency.
by graemep | 2025-07-17 13:58:42+00:00
Depends on how much income they get.

Under 16s also pay income taxes in they have income. They also pay various other taxes such as VAT. Non-citizens pay taxes but do not get to vote.

The general expectation is that they should be in full time education or training until they are 18.

All that makes "a minority of people in this age group pay taxes" a very weak argument for giving all of them the vote.
by ziml77 | 2025-07-17 13:58:45+00:00
Need to do this to music too. Otherwise you'll end up in a situation where the game still can't be distributed in its original state because the music that's used is still under copyright. Even when the original developers of a game re-release it, sometimes they have to change the soundtrack if they used licensed music because acquiring a new license may be too expensive or just entirely disallowed.
by joe_guy | 2025-07-17 13:59:07+00:00
What you're thinking of on the Nintendo switch is a recovery mode. Every (most?) modern systems have something like this. It's a lower level area that allows you to fix issues in the higher level areas, even when that's broken (ie, a failed system update). Your iPhone, android, and smart TV all have this.

That being accessible wasn't the mistake. It was all properly secured. It rejected your commands and everything has to be signed by Nintendo's private key. But Nvidia firmware had a buffer overflow bug inside of it that allowed arbitrary code execution.

More details: https://blog.gistre.epita.fr/posts/victor-emmanuel.provost-2...

Bunny, the person who originally hacked the Xbox also wrote a great book on the subject they've since made free: https://bunniefoo.com/nostarch/HackingTheXbox_Free.pdf

If you enjoyed that book they have written others.
by reubenzabraham | 2025-07-17 13:59:21+00:00
Hi HN, author here.

I wrote this after wrestling with a feeling I'm sure many of you have noticed: the internet (especially LinkedIn lol) is becoming saturated with AI-generated content that feels hollow, and it's getting harder to find real signal.

My take is that trying to be "better" than AI is a losing game. The only durable strategy is to play a different one entirely: building a personal monopoly on your own unique perspective, taste, and conviction. This essay is my attempt to lay out a framework for how to think about that.

I've been a PM and founder in tech for a while, and this is a topic I'm passionate about. I'd love to hear all of your thoughts and critiques.
by ivan_gammel | 2025-07-17 13:59:21+00:00
Agree on most of that. However, I do not think energy is the European problem. It's painful, for sure, but migration is something bigger politically (and see recent Economist on that). Russia did play a role in that, but it's the flawed system with which nobody is happy that drives the fringe parties to success.

As for housing crisis, that's something that is defined by how markets work currently - where political influence buys squeeze in building permits and good profits from speculating on this market buy political influence. And of course, there's dual market structure in many cities with subsidized housing that reduces pressure for reform for significant number of voters. We need a big political reboot to overcome that and transition from old party structure practically everywhere, it is already happening, it is uncomfortable to see due to uncertainties in this process, but it is good. The war may have some effect on that, accelerating the process.
by msgodel | 2025-07-17 13:59:22+00:00
I haven't read the article (and would prefer not to experience both the site and the writing) but I would guess what the author means is that getting rid of loneliness will remove people's drive to avoid being alone.

Frankly I think it's fine. PR and marketing people have put a lot of effort into making people anxious about this when the reality is that socializing in a late stage imperial society tends to be a net loss for most people and they are actually better off alone.

The reality is that the technology is incidental. People are grabbing whatever they can to solve their problems and the technology just happens to be there. It's certainly better than the last solution (Instagram and friends.)
by hopelite | 2025-07-17 14:00:16+00:00
You are making a basic mistake. Assuming that the originating company or its interested parties are regular market participants.

They are in effect more like the guys who stand around a cup and ball scam to make it look like there’s action and winners and keys you think you could do better.

A buyback is a removal of the security from the market, not participation in the market.

It’s like people buying their own books to drive up sales in order to get in lists to promote more book sales, which is when they then supply the market with the books their bought once the price has been artificially elevated and has become sticky.

You may not like hearing that and it’s clearly not the mainstream street preferred narrative, but that’s what it is.
by piva00 | 2025-07-17 14:00:26+00:00
Similarly I tend to overdocument everything, everywhere: emails with summaries from in-person chats; messages confirming something decided/agreed upon during a meeting; commit messages with details about why and how something non-obvious was decided and implemented; code comments linking to documents when some product decision was made that I objected to; comments on tickets about decisions/discussions; PR descriptions referencing documents related to the task.

It's not only to cover my ass but also to leave as many breadcrumbs in the trail to anyone that needs to read this in the future to understand what happened (including, most times, myself).

It's saved my ass many times and it's just a natural part of my workflow.
by sometimes_all | 2025-07-17 14:00:28+00:00
There was some brouhaha a few weeks ago when someone posted a screenshot on reddit about an Indian public sector bank's app refusing to run because a user had installed Firefox, and according to that bank, was a "malicious app that could steal user data".

Indian banks and many of the government websites are some of the most user-hostile things out there. Once upon a time, I used to think this was primarily to deter malicious actors from preying on tech-illiterate users, but given that the banks don't want to use all the tools/frameworks out there which help websites be both secure and user-friendly, I've changed my opinion.
by teitoklien | 2025-07-17 14:00:34+00:00
> Detectives were last night accused of acting like East Germany's feared Stasi secret police for quizzing Helen Jones over her calls for the resignation of local councillors embroiled in the WhatsApp scandal exposed by The Mail on Sunday.

The article says clearly “last night”, what you think happened doesn’t change what was said by the woman who explicitly stated what happened to her and had to live through it that night.

(on rechecking yes i’m wrong about daytime vs nighttime indeed they visited at morning)

but even with that you think its acceptable if it’s daytime for police to knock on doors due to facebook posts about not liking current ruling councillor stuck in a scandal ???

if this gets politically acceptable get ready for china like atmosphere in future around politics (without china like infrastructure or growth) forced disappearances , thoughtcrimes & thought police…
by sagarkava | 2025-07-17 14:00:47+00:00
Totally fair. The space moves fast, and it's smart to be skeptical. Here's how VideoSDK Real-Time AI Agents stand out from OpenAI agents SDKs and others:

1. Voice infra included OpenAI agents handle logic and memory, but they don’t include real-time audio infra.

VideoSDK gives you:

- <80ms global WebRTC latency

- Built-in turn-taking, VAD, and noise suppression

- Real-time voice across web, mobile, IoT, and telephony

2. Fully modular pipeline No vendor lock-in. Swap STT, LLM, TTS, and avatars. Change models live per user or use case. Want ElevenLabs for tone and OpenAI for reasoning? Easy.

3. Native RAG + memory Integrated long-term memory and retrieval help reduce hallucinations and keep conversations grounded.

4. Scale-ready Deploy globally with one click using Agent Cloud or self-host with full control. Built for production use.

If you're building real-time, voice-first agents that need to work across platforms and scale reliably, this is purpose-built for that.

Happy to dive into your use case if you're exploring options.
by akazantsev | 2025-07-17 14:01:06+00:00
> If you are currently using Community Edition, your IDE will automatically update to the unified distribution via the usual patch update process. You will get access to additional features at no cost and a more seamless experience. You will also be able to try Ultimate features with just one click.

IDEA Ultimate will be removed, and IDEA Community will become the "main" IDEA.
Show HN: Free AI Tools for Image Editing and Design (2025)
by Cognitia_AI | 2025-07-17 14:01:08+00:00
I curated 7 free AI-powered tools for quick image editing and design — no signups or payments required. From Adobe Firefly to Canva Magic Design, the list is focused on ease of use and quality results for creators and marketers. Feedback welcome!
by mft_ | 2025-07-17 14:01:25+00:00
This looks like a nice, approachable robotic model of a human hand that can be printed and experimented with.

But... is a human hand the best design for a robot to grip things with? Or could we surmise that the human hand evolved as a pretty good hand given the materials and senses that were available to evolve humans from, while in theory a totally different design might be optimal for gripping when constructed from metal, plastic, motors, etc.?
by tomhow | 2025-07-17 14:01:26+00:00
You don't need to keep making these accusations of dishonesty and "gaslighting" by us. You just need to look at our incentives. HN can only continue to exist if we keep the site interesting to the majority of users.

A small contingent of users keeps making the same complaint about the flagging of a category of posts, and their activity indicates they want HN to be different from what it is intended to be.

> certain topics are continually removed from the front page where they are by definition by popular opinion

The role of HN is not to cater to "popular opinion". We very specifically exist to surface projects/topics and host discussions that aren't happening elsewhere.

You keep insisting that it's a "small reactionary minority" suppressing these stories. We know that's not what it is; it's users who understand HN's purpose and want it to focus on what it's intended to be: a site that engages curiosity rather than stirring up rage.

We know that political topics are important, and we do make space for them when there is "significant new information", which, despite these complaints, still ends up being multiple times per week. And we get roughly equal complaints from people that there is too little politics and too much.

You're most welcome to do what others do and email us when there's a story that you sincerely believe is good content for HN, given the guidelines, and we're happy to discuss it and explain our thoughts about it.
by krunck | 2025-07-17 14:01:28+00:00
I've said before that until these "AI" systems become always-on, always-thinking, always-processing, progress is stuck. The current push-button AI - meaning it only processes when we prompt it - is not how the kind of AI that everyone is dreaming of needs to function. ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44423983#44426438 )
by monkeywork | 2025-07-17 14:01:46+00:00
comparing me saying "nah" and describing something as "childish" to the types of things that Zaid-maker was saying in that comment thread is kind of a stretch isn't it?

The person I was referring to as childish:

>No one gives a shit, get out of here!

>BLAH BLAH BLAH

(and then when someone points out he is in fact NOT the maintainer and is a contributor)

>I am the maintainer of this project who says I am not. I only made changes to CI by my choice. Ask maze before making false exceptions to me otherwise you will be hearing from my lawyers next time for harassment.
by TurkTurkleton | 2025-07-17 14:02:04+00:00
The game came first, and the TV shows were spun off from it, which is probably why the game feels more fully developed. It grew into a whole media franchise -- there were Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? game shows on PBS, as well as a Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? Saturday morning cartoon, and more recently, an animated series on Netflix. I don't remember there being Carmen Sandiego segments on Square One but I also don't remember Square One all that well in the first place.
by afavour | 2025-07-17 14:02:09+00:00
I suspect a mass of support for this is a reaction to Brexit, I don't think that's unfair: the generational gap in that vote was huge, with older voters who no longer work (and, to be blunt, have fewer years left to feel the consequences) voted for Brexit while younger generations with entire careers ahead of them voted against.

I can see the argument that 16 year olds are too young to make an informed choice but I've also met a great many people of all ages who are too ill informed to make a choice too. Fundamental weakness of democracy, I suppose.
by SoftTalker | 2025-07-17 14:02:27+00:00
I have a 12 mini, it's about as large a phone as I'd want. I wish the back and/or bezel were a little "grippier" as the phone as it's made is so slippery it almost demands a case, but that adds bulk.

Unlike many it seems, I don't care much about the camera. I'd probably want some sort of camera for scanning QR codes, or snapping a quick photo of something I want to look up later, but otherwise I don't take photos or videos on my phone. I don't use any social media on my phone other than text messaging. This makes the smaller battery size/capacity a non-issue.

Since Apple no longer makes a reasonably-sized phone I'll probably go back to Android after this one dies or becomes unsupported.

I also think it's silly to carry a $1,000 device around with you everywhere, so a "premium" small phone is probably a non-starter for me. My favorite phones were the ~$200 Moto-G phones I had before I got the iPhone (it was a gift).
by amluto | 2025-07-17 14:02:45+00:00
This even works across processes. The initial locale comes from environment variables, and you can’t generally rely on any particular values.

In fact, the “correct” values aren’t even portable. As far as I know, there is nothing resembling universal agreement on how to ask for what some systems call “C.UTF-8”. And, no offense to non-Americans, it’s fine [0] to spell one and one half “1,500”, but it is utterly broken to invoke this behavior by means of an environment variable that no one can quite agree on.

[0] OK, it really is ridiculous that the same string of Arabic numerals, commas and periods means different things in different places.