MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by FatalLogic | 2025-08-04 15:44:38+00:00
>Steam did support bitcoin at one point but decided to end usage because the price fluctuations made it to unpredictable on their end.

Valve knew that there would be price fluctuations. Everyone knew that, and knew how to deal with it. They just priced the games in dollars, with a conversion to the Bitcoin value at the moment of sale.

But what Valve did NOT expect was that the Bitcoin blockchain would suddenly grow so popular and congested (which was a result of massive publicity from events such as Steam accepting Bitcoin). So suddenly, to Valve's surprise, the average fees to be sure that a payment would soon be processed on the blockchain fluctuated wildly upwards during that period, up to tens of dollars. The Blockchain congestion and high fees were exacerbated by technical and ideological arguments about how the Bitcoin network should function. The "small block" faction won, but Bitcoin quickly became a laughing stock as a method of payment, because second layer solutions to the network congestion weren't ready.

The high fees were a huge problem in themselves for Steam customers, and there were other support issues caused by Steam customer difficulty understanding how to use Bitcoin (and who can blame them?). Customers were angry because they had paid for a game, but their payments were delayed for days unless they paid an indeterminate Blockchain transaction fee which might be more than cost of the game they were trying to buy.

After a few months of that chaos, Steam dropped Bitcoin. So did many other retailers.

Ironic, Bitcoin payments work much better now and fees are lower, but it lost of a lot of goodwill from retailers like Steam during that period, and most of them have not come back.
by taeric | 2025-08-04 15:44:39+00:00
I'm super sympathetic to this. Used to cynically point out that Excel was the most popular "notebook like" interface for computers.

That said, there are a few points against this as a complaint. First, is the incredibly important point that many many tools are people rediscovering pivot tables. There was a fun rant a while back about "your startup is just a pivot table." Hilarious read.

After that, visual workflows are clearly easier for people to understand. Just look at the directions you get with any "self assembled" furniture. Some of that, I'm sure, is to avoid having to translate a lot? Hard not to argue that it is still probably the more effective way to communicate things.

My final caveat is that the symbolic nature of program code is one that is largely lost on people. Specifically, people seem to think the software is independent of the execution environment that is necessary to understand in the language they are using.
by WorldMaker | 2025-08-04 15:45:18+00:00
I've been impressed with Hono's zod Validator [1] and the type-safe "RPC" clients [2] you can get from it. Most of my usage of Hono has been in Deno projects, but it seems like it has good support on Node and Bun, too.

[1] https://hono.dev/docs/guides/validation#zod-validator-middle...

[2] https://hono.dev/docs/guides/rpc#client
by steveklabnik | 2025-08-04 15:45:56+00:00
I’m not sure what those two things have to do with each other, though I did just wake up. The only thing the new allocator stuff would give you is the ability to allocate a standard library data structure with the Postgres allocator. Scoping and handles and such wouldn’t change, and using your own data structures wouldn’t change.

It’s also very possible I’m missing something!
by nonameiguess | 2025-08-04 15:45:57+00:00
This entire situation is badly misunderstood all over the Internet. As the article itself states, alternative payment processors that are used primarily for adult content already exist. CC Bill was the example given. And they accept Visa and Mastercard. They're used by websites with plenty of explicit adult content, including simulated rape, incest, and "teen" porn. It isn't Visa and Mastercard forbidding this. In this case, it's Stripe, though it seems likely they're doing it because of pressure from Mastercard, which in turn received pressure targeting these particular platforms from some advocacy group in Australia. But itch.io and Stream could still use CC Bill, and customers would still be able to pay with Visa and Mastercard.

The reason mainstream websites don't use CC Bill and it is used almost exclusively for porn, is because they charge a lot more than Stripe and the more mainstream payment processors do. There isn't really a ban on this kind of material, provided the platform hosting it is willing to use alternative processors, so much as a price increase.

Even with Pornhub and OnlyFans debacles, they never hosted content that can't be found elsewhere on sites that allow you to pay with Visa and Mastercard. The reason those platforms were targeted was never the content itself, but non-compliance with rules that professional studios have always had to abide by requiring they keep copies of government-issued ID of all performers and provide those to any viewer who asks for it, in order to be able to prove they aren't accidentally hosting content with children or otherwise non-consenting performers.

Ultimately, if a website wants to host content with a guy taking a shit on his twin underage daughters, they can do that, and you can pay for it with Visa and Mastercard, as long as they use something like CC Bill for processing and they keep adequate records enabling them to prove the "underage" characters and not actually played by underage performers, and the people involved aren't actually related. Or, maybe more precisely, you can have real twins in a scene together, but you're then limited by byzantine country-by-country laws I have no personal knowledge of regarding what they are and are not allowed to do together that counts as sex.

The Internet is where nuance goes to die, so this all gets distilled down to "Visa and Mastercard don't allow you to buy porn" by the time most people find out about any of it.
by sidebute | 2025-08-04 15:46:29+00:00
What's the economic justification?

Let's assume we have a staff of 10 and they're fully allocated to committed features and deadlines, so they can't be shifted elsewhere. You're the CTO and you ask the BOD for another $150k/y (fully burdened) + equity to hire a new developer with PDF skills.

The COB asks you directly: "You can get a battle-tested PDF parser off-the-shelf for little or no cost. We're not in the PDF parser business, and we know that building a robust PDF parser is an open-ended project, because real-world PDFs are so gross inside. Why are you asking for new money to build our own PDF parser? What's your economic argument?"

And the killer question comes next: "Why aren't you spending that $150k/y on building functionality that our customers need?" If don't give a convincing business justification, you're shoved out the door because, as a CTO, your job is building technology that satisfies the business objectives.

So CTO, what's your economic answer?
by hugoj0s3 | 2025-08-04 15:46:36+00:00
Cron is great and widely used—I’m not trying to replace it. This is just another option for situations where you need something more readable for non-technical users or when you want to store schedules in a database and display them in plain language. There are valid use cases for both approaches.

The goal is provide a format that’s user-friendly while still being precise enough for developers and systems to rely on. It’s especially useful for things like configurable schedules in apps, admin dashboards, or any context where end users and developers need to share the same language.

I appreciated the feedback and comments.
by emehex | 2025-08-04 15:46:45+00:00
Would highly recommend listening to the latest Hard Fork podcast with Matthew Prince (CEO, Cloudflare): https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/podcasts/hardfork-age-res...

I was skeptical about their gatekeeping efforts at first, but came away with a better appreciation for the problem and their first pass at a solution.
by 0983736882 | 2025-08-04 15:46:48+00:00
> The content is legal

It's not. Look up the PROTECT Act of 2003. It's sad that we live in a world where payment processors of all things have to do the government's job.

You dislike MasterCard's and Visa's actually legal actions, your sole recourse is simply not to engage with them. Best of luck!
by ToucanLoucan | 2025-08-04 15:46:53+00:00
> Anybody complaining about the new browser has just not got it yet, or has and is trying to keep things the old way because they don’t know how or won’t change with the times. We have seen it before, Kodak, blockbuster, whatever.

You say this as though all LLM/otherwise automated traffic is for the purposes of fulfilling a request made by a user 100% of the time which is just flatly on-its-face untrue.

Companies make vast amounts of requests for indexing purposes. That could be to facilitate user requests someday, perhaps, but it is not today and not why it's happening. And worse still, LLMs introduce a new third option: that it's not for indexing or for later linking but is instead either for training the language model itself, or for the model to ingest and regurgitate later on with no attribution, with the added fun that it might just make some shit up about whatever you said and be wrong. And as the person buying the web hosting, all of that is subsidized by me.

"The web is changing" does not mean every website must follow suit. Since I built my blog about 2 internet eternities ago, I have seen fad tech come and fad tech go. My blog remains more or less exactly what it was 2 decades ago, with more content and a better stylesheet. I have requested in my robots.txt that my content not be used for LLM training, and I fully expect that to be ignored because tech bros don't respect anyone, even fellow tech bros, when it means they have to change their behavior.
by Culonavirus | 2025-08-04 15:46:56+00:00
It's not insane at all. Any binary that gets packed with the entire runtime will be in MBs. But that's the point, the end user downloads a standalone fragment and doesn't need to give a flying fuck about what kind of garbage has to be preinstalled for the damn binary to work. You think people care if a binary is 5MB or 50MB in 2025? It's more insane that you think it's insane than it is actually insane. Reminds me of all the Membros and Perfbros crying about Electron apps and meanwhile these things going brrrrrrr with 100MB+ binaries and 1GB+ eaten memory on untold millions of average computers
by CyberDildonics | 2025-08-04 15:47:12+00:00
Hollywood is nepo land.

Says who?

Do you know how many dreamers and artists and great ideas wither away on the vine?

How many?

Movies are going to be like books today.

People are already creating movies with $1k cameras that look good enough to distribute. A lot of them are horror movies because of the budget and most of them are terrible with huge glaring mistakes in editing, pacing, framing, etc. but they can still make money.

And you don't have to obey some large capital distributor and mind their oversight and meddling.

How many movies have you worked on?

Most experienced executives can help guide priorities and make sure there aren't any big overlooked problems.
by colechristensen | 2025-08-04 15:47:15+00:00
I have been the hiring manager several times, I know full well the amount of time it takes, and the overhead from "selecting candidates, reviewing resumes, scheduling interviews, preparing the interview structure, reviewing interviews, advocating for candidates to progress, getting their offers approved, dealing with HR, and the countless other things" as a hiring manager is not that much time, and that's your business not the candidate's.

I respect the candidates I put through the process and consider large amounts of time required for each candidate to be discriminatory and disrespectful.

>Though to be honest, whenever a candidate vocally removes themselves from the candidate pipeline for something like this (which is very rare) it feels like we dodged a bullet.

If you want an underfoot character with no respect for their own worth then yes... you both dodged bullets.
by Sanzig | 2025-08-04 15:47:33+00:00
I have two Tapo units at home, they seem to be working fine without an internet connection.

I created a new subnet and an associated WiFi SSID for it, connected the Tapo cameras, and set them up to act as RTSP cams. I then firewalled the subnet off from anything other than my Frigate NVR server and gateway. They still work fine, they are streaming video to Frigate without complaint. Maybe because they have DNS from my gateway still? (I should probably block that off, it's a common data exfil vector).

Very annoying that internet connectivity is required for initial setup, I'll agree there. They could have just had a bare bones web interface.
by DonHopkins | 2025-08-04 15:47:42+00:00
Not only focus stealing, but focus hostage taking, when one application steals the focus and won't give it back!

Sun's notorious XBugTool stole both my input focus AND mouse motion, and held me hostage when I tried to file a bug against its XView buddy cmdtool. Here is the bug report I filed against the X11/NeWS server as a desperate cry for help while I was trapped in xbugtool's grabby clutches:

https://www.donhopkins.com/home/catalog/unix-haters/x-window...

Date: Mon, 20 May 91 22:45:46 PDT Bug Id: 1059974 Category: x11news Subcategory: server Bug/Rfe: bug Synopsis: I have no mouse motion and my input focus is stuck in xbugtool!!! Keywords: I have no mouth and I must scream [Harlan Ellison] Severity: 1 Priority: 1 Description:

This is my worst nightmare! None of my TNT or XView applications are getting any mouse motion events, just clicks. And my input focus is stuck in xbugtool, of all places!!! When I click in cmdtool, it gets sucked back into xbugtool when I release the button! And I'm not using click-to-type! I can make selections from menus (tnt, olwm, and xview) if I click them up instead of dragging, but nobody's receiving any mouse motion!

I just started up a fresh server, ran two jets and a cmdtool, fired up a bugtool from one of the jets (so input focus must have been working then), and after xbugtool had throbbed and grunted around for a while and finally put up its big dumb busy window, I first noticed something was wrong when I could not drag windows around!

Lucky thing my input focus ended up stuck in xbugtool!

The scrollbar does not warp my cursor either... I can switch the input focus to any of xbugtool's windows, but I can't ... -- oomph errrgh aaaaahhh! There, yes!

Aaaaah! What a relief! It stopped! I can move my mouse again!! Hurray!!! It started working when I opened a "jet" window, found I could type into it, so I moved the mouse around, the cursor disappeared, I typed, there were a couple of beeps, I still couldn't find the cursor, so I hit the "Open" key, the jet closed to an icon, and I could type to xbugtool again! And lo and behold now I can type into the cmdtool, too! Just by moving my cursor into it! What a technological wonder! Now I can start filing bug reports against cmdtool, which was the only reason I had the damn thing on my screen in the first place!!! I am amazed at the way the window system seems to read my mind and predict my every move, seeming to carry out elaborate practical jokes to prevent me from filing bugs against it. I had no idea the Open Windows desktop had such sophisticated and well integrated interclient communication!
by vasco | 2025-08-04 15:47:44+00:00
The assist to keep you in the lane that also auto turns on has been the only cause of 3 near crashes I've had, when renting cars. Never have I even had a slightly dangerous situation other than this bullshit turning the fucking wheel for me. Who the heck thinks that a machine knows best if it should turn the wheel than a human, with eyes, driving? I cannot understand how it ever helped anyone and it's much worse than just a beep, literally trying to steer against you.
by n8sb | 2025-08-04 15:47:55+00:00
Location: Ventura County, Ca / Los Angeles, ca Remote: Yes Willing to relocate: No Technologies: React, Typescript, NextJS, Tailwind, Drizzle, Zod, Postgres

Résumé/CV: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BG8sixGgcAx-8N5bHD5OV6-5Xm9...

Email: nathaniel.bennett@gmail.com

Technologies: React, typescript, javascript, postgres, tailwind, prisma, drizzle, tanstack, css

My name is Nate Bennett. I reside Thousand Oaks, Ca with my beautiful wife of almost 15yrs and 3 children.

I'm a product-minded engineer who loves to think through and map out the opportunities and problems associated with developing a product.

I have founding experience and I have worked remote for much of my career, thriving with both autonomy and team-based projects. In previous roles I have worked with designers to create user-friendly interfaces and interactions from Figma designs and through customer feedback as well as building out database schemas and APIs.

As a former professional athlete, I am looking to join a team where teamwork is paramount and opportunities for growth and learning from others are a daily occurrence.

I’m currently developing a SaaS application called “Great Job!,” a productivity platform for job hunters, learning roadmaps, and AI-enhanced portfolio creation workflows. I'm very interested in AI Engineering and have began to dive deeper into AI topics and use it daily to augment my coding.

Away from the computer I enjoy working out in my garage gym, playing guitar, and playing with my kids.
by SuzukiBrian | 2025-08-04 15:48:16+00:00
Because it's otherwise a great car. I did notice the problems during the test-drive, but I figured it wasn't a problem, since it could be turned off in the console. So I turned them off and forgot all about it. I would never have imagined that some obscure EU-regulation, that I've never heard about, would require them to turn back on.
by blitzar | 2025-08-04 15:48:22+00:00
Its googles advertising network - there are and should be guard rails in place. They should audit the content. They should do KYC. They should do many many things.

"it's better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission (and keep the money either way)" is probably up on the wall instead of "do no evil"

https://support.google.com/adspolicy
by lo_zamoyski | 2025-08-04 15:48:43+00:00
Your distinction is correct as far as it goes, but there is a third observation that must also be taken into account, which is that the tidy division of economic, social, and political matters into private and public domains is uninteresting from the perspective of power. An example of this is how gov'ts, constrained by law, cannot legally engage in widespread surveillance, have found what is morally a loophole by involving private companies who are able to do so more freely. Or, for example, the policing of certain ideas on privately-owned social media which have become de facto public forums. It is completely uninteresting to claim that you aren't forced to use these forums or that you can start your own as jejune free market extremists like to claim. A little intellectual maturity will make plainly obvious why that is the case.

Now, I happen to think that, pace Dershowitz, adult content does not fall within the scope of free speech. The entire purpose of free speech is to allow the truth to be to expressed. Free speech takes an attitude of pragmatic permissiveness toward certain varieties of what are objectively bad speech as the price for that to happen. It's a choice that was made in American political history, but even here, the bounds of what is legally permitted under free speech have not remained fixed for various reasons.

Adult content is nowhere in the vicinity of this notion of free speech, and certainly not its moral purposes. There is no right to produce or to view adult content. There is no right to anything that is objectively unethical, and both the production and consumption of such content is unethical. Gov'ts can choose to take a permissive stance toward such activity for prudential reasons (for example, historically, while prostitution was categorically condemned on moral grounds, gov'ts took a permissive attitude in some respects, because they felt that banning it would cause still greater problems), but they have the authority to criminalize it.

So, given that it isn't a free speech issue, I have no problem, in a free speech context, with private companies banning such content from their platforms or from being the subject of transactions passing through their systems.
by azernik | 2025-08-04 15:48:48+00:00
The "rise of power of the church" was not the cause of and did not exacerbate the collapse of Roman state power in the Early Medieval period. It was in fact in the Early Medieval that the Church was most instrumental in propagating and preserving knowledge.

Since you seem allergic to sources, here's a pretty good layman-aimed overview of actual up-to-date historical view of the arrival of the "Dark Ages" (i.e. the Early Medieval).

https://acoup.blog/2022/01/14/collections-rome-decline-and-f...

https://acoup.blog/2022/01/28/collections-rome-decline-and-f...

https://acoup.blog/2022/02/11/collections-rome-decline-and-f...

(From the narrative you put forward, I suspect your likely citation would be Gibbon. Who's... um... a bit out of date.)
by djoldman | 2025-08-04 15:48:49+00:00
The programmer can define functions that operate on matrices without having to be explicit about the number of dimensions and possibly (types of data, size of data, or length).

Example 1: A function that can take as input a 4x2x8 matrix or a 3x7 matrix.

Example 2: A function that can take as input a 4x2x8 matrix and a 3x7 matrix and output a third matrix.
by j_kauf | 2025-08-04 15:48:55+00:00
Sitewire | Full Stack Engineer | Full-Time | REMOTE (US-only) | https://sitewire.com

Learn more or apply at https://wellfound.com/l/2zf9K9 - I personally review every application, so just mention you found us on HN.

Sitewire is a simple yet powerful construction finance platform that helps lenders and institutional asset managers track project progress, automate work verification, and speed up payments. The company is functionally profitable and expanding 2-3x per year. We’re looking for an experienced and entrepreneurial full-stack engineer (senior or above) to help us achieve an ambitious growth plan. You will be a core member of the engineering team, working alongside peers with the support of a mature founding team expert in construction, mobile, and IoT.

Technologies: Ruby on Rails, Hotwire (Turbo / Stimulus), Tailwind, TypeScript, React, Postgres, Sidekiq. Experience with mobile, data engineering, machine learning, or 3D graphics is a plus.
by seanbeever | 2025-08-04 15:48:59+00:00
SEEKING WORK | Denver, CO | Remote | Mechanical Engineer |

Mechanical engineer with a strong background in CNC manufacturing. I work with clients ranging from start-ups to established corporations, helping to consult and manufacture prototypes. Proficient in CAD design, and have in-house capabilities to machine parts for clients on Haas and Doosan CNC equipment in my 5000 square foot facility. I am able to guide my clients hand when it comes to proper tolerancing, fits, and material selection while overall designing a manufacturable product without excess production costs.

Recent work includes designing and machining electrical enclosures, racecar parts and more.

I am well rounded with skills outside of mechanical engineering including experience in automation and control systems, robotics, software development (Python, C++, Java) and more.

Current projects of mine include developing engine dynamometer systems, including the required control systems and mechanical assemblies to accurately test racing engines: https://www.precisiondynotech.com/

Email: Sean@SeanBeever.com | Web: https://seanbeever.com