MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by dbvitapps | 2025-10-07 11:14:42+00:00
I've been working on a document processing API suite that solves a few problems I encountered in my career..

- LLMs are great to provide answers on documents but not so great when you need bounding boxes for them.

- OCRs give you bounding boxes but they don't understand context.

- Mixing them both is a pain.

So we are using vision models to solve this. The result is an easy to use api that gives you an answer for any question you may have but also geometry information for the evidence it found.

We have a few more products lined up down the line but for now this is what you get:

- Endpoints to ask a single question

- A dashboard to define a collection of questions

- Ai enhanced Markdown transforms (our techniques are great for these)

More improvements will come down the line but it's looking good and I wish I had something like this before.

Let me know what you think, any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks!
by rsynnott | 2025-10-07 11:16:00+00:00
I assume you're thinking of China. However, if anything the US subsidises car manufacturing _more_ than Europe (in particular it's always ready with a cheeky bailout, whereas European countries have been more prone to just let failing car companies die or merge), and, for all the talk about BYD (understandable; the media likes novelty, and "scary Chinese upstart is making lotsa EVs" is more media-friendly than "Boring old VW AG is making lotsa EVs"), the European manufacturers are also doing far better here than the US legacy manufacturers.
by gred | 2025-10-07 11:16:03+00:00
> they'll tell me the same thing the annoying guy said, for years, but because they're outside consultants, I'll listen to them when they say it

A tale as old as time:

> Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. [...] Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home." He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. (Mark 6:1-6)
by gherkinnn | 2025-10-07 11:16:45+00:00
The other day I listened to The Verge's Decoder episode with the Ford CEO [0] and unlike most other CEOs, he almost felt genuine. There was a noticeable lack of BS. Have I been played?

The lack of mechanics was mentioned and I recall him saying that they're building up apprenticeship programs and the US should take more pride in blue collar work.

0- https://www.theverge.com/podcast/784875/ford-ceo-jim-farley-...
by rcxdude | 2025-10-07 11:17:36+00:00
When I did engineering consultancy, the team was usually thrown together from whoever was available. Usually they knew each other at least a little but it wasn't exactly the same team on each project. But yeah, the team involved in the sale and the team involved in the execution often had very little overlap (though, sometimes it was the B-team selling something unachievable to the customer and then handing it over to the A-team, which has more or less the same effect as far as the client's concerned. The swapping isn't necessarily a deliberate act of subterfuge but more a consequence of how people's time was managed: clients would generally take some time to actually commit and it's not feasible to keep a team on standby for every sales lead).
by matthewdgreen | 2025-10-07 11:17:38+00:00
My biggest concern when I saw the political controversy around GoF research was that new rules would be used inappropriately to stop important research that keeps us safe. That seems to be happening in this case, more or less as I feared.

As others have pointed out, this is a fairly routine practice that happens even in schools. It’s the nature of the experiment that makes it relatively safe. The fact that it happens in a protected lab is just icing on the cake (they’re dealing with TB bacteria, so it’s inherently non-zero danger just because of that.) You seem to be pointing to the icing and arguing that because one part of the cake might not be perfect, the whole thing is unsafe. But it’s the entire cake that the author is pointing to in their argument. And then rather than engage with the article, you’re arguing that, rather than engage on the substance, we need to engage on the level that some non-experts (who don’t understand the protocols) are scared and hence the correct standard is that we need our practices to reassure them.

But we’ll never be able to reassure terrified, scientifically under-informed people to their satisfaction, particularly when they’ve already decided that GoF is somewhat scary and maybe even partisan. So the result of this attitude is that we can’t do relatively safe but important research on diseases that might save your life or the life of someone you love.
by vintermann | 2025-10-07 11:18:27+00:00
Right? Actually having access to what you saw and heard beyond your memories sounds like a great thing.

But I would prefer not to get it via Google or Facebook.

Even the humble recorder app that came with my phone, which I used to record interviews for genealogy - turns out, I am locked out from my own audio file. It's saved on the device, but I need root to access it. If I get that, my bank punishes me for my irresponsibility by disabling the apps I need to e.g. log in to government websites. I can only get my audio file if I upload it to Google first.

So that another topic is quite relevant.

I'm not so sure it will be inevitable and widely used. I'm sure it will be used by our secret police. I also think they prefer we didn't get it, or at least that our use of it was heavily mediated by a government-partnered organization like Facebook or Google.
by _heimdall | 2025-10-07 11:18:38+00:00
If we're really concerned with heavy metals and particulates added to the atmosphere we should also be considering all of the weather modification projects that go on effectively unregulated.

NOAA collects reports[1] of what is done in the US but they don't officially regulate it. They currently have 1,113 reports publicly available.

[1] https://library.noaa.gov/weather-climate/weather-modificatio...
by Mindwipe | 2025-10-07 11:18:48+00:00
That is... a bit of an oversimplifciation.

Tools like Battle eye and EAC are not just one tool that gives a binary answer, they are tools that detect a huge range of heuristics about the device and how easy it is to interfere with the memory.

While they have been ported to Linux, an awful lot of those bits of telemetry simply don't give the desired answer, or even any answer at all, because that is very hard to so when there aren't proprietary drivers signed down to the hardware root of trust by a third party (and certainly the average Linux user on HN wouldn't want there to be!).

It's really not a matter of "enabled by the developer", it's entirely dependent on what your threat model is.
by graemep | 2025-10-07 11:19:15+00:00
> Looking at current day politics of most western countries, I'm not so sure about that anymore. Most people are only opposed to being labeled as such while supporting fascist politics

Only by broadening the definition of fascism to the point of meaninglessness.

It is clearly not true against any reasonable definition of fascism (e.g. Umberto Eco's 14 features of fascism)
by webdevver | 2025-10-07 11:19:59+00:00
perma-video + llms to scrape through it ("where did i leave my keys?" - "you absent-mindedly left them in the kitchen") plus a million other use cases we haven't even thought of will be way too useful to give up.

"wow you send Every Single Frame of your life to zuck?" - i will have no retort than to hang my head in shame.

i just wonder what google will come up with. they can't let zuck have the entire cake, especially when they had The Vision 10 years ahead of him.
by cb321 | 2025-10-07 11:21:40+00:00
> do the right thing by checking if the standard output is an actual tty (isatty)

This is a very questionable heuristic. I'm not sure the exact date that support began, but I have been piping color output to `less -r/-R` for decades. This can be nice even for less than multi-terminal-page output just for "search".

isatty(stderr) would actually be more accurate for my specific use cases for when I don't `|&` or maybe even `isatty(stdin)`, but those are also imperfect heuristics.

The point is, since "auto" is a questionable heuristic, it is not so crazy/wrong to just default to color-on and have an off switch and that off switch is what NO_COLOR is about (as explained by the very first sentence in the linked article). Desirable defaults ultimately depend upon the distribution of your user's tastes (as always, more|less).
by rsynnott | 2025-10-07 11:22:14+00:00
> Why can't Europe create its own Tesla?

... I mean, Europe _has_ its own Tesla, in VW AG, Stellantis, BMW, Mercedes, etc; their combined global BEV sales are similar to or slightly greater than Tesla's global sales. Why are you expecting one pseudo-monopoly manufacturer? While that _is_ kinda the case in the US, that's more a function of the US car market being pretty broken than anything else.

(It's not even the case in China; while BYD is big, and gets a lot of press, China does have other significant manufacturers.)
by akimbostrawman | 2025-10-07 11:23:09+00:00
>only scandal I actively recall is the Dragon Maid one

Then you have not paid attention at all. Almost every season there is a case like this same with LNs and VNs to a point where it's not even news worthy anymore.

> I mostly remember these with regards to EN gacha game voice actors

No there are multiple people that are infamous anime localizers that are gloating on Twitter how they fix anime by pushed there political agenda, anybody engaging with the medium beyond surface level would know.
by randallsquared | 2025-10-07 11:24:20+00:00
In this respect, Sora and similar systems are going to provide pushback, since it's now becoming viscerally obvious to everyone that seeing video of something doesn't mean that it happened. Just yesterday, a tiktok link of a cat knocking over someone's coffee was being shared in a group chat I'm in, before one of the (nontechnical!) members said, "Wait. This is SORA?"

(There's also the point that human eyes, a brain, and a neuralink product or competitor will constitute a recording device soon, but I've argued that in these kinds of threads before).
by malfist | 2025-10-07 11:25:06+00:00
In no environment is hiring outside help mean your not qualified to exist.

Should a homeowner know how to replace a roof before they can own a house? Repair HVAC appliances, upgrade a switch label?

If I don't know how to make a CPU should I not be allowed to buy a laptop?

Hiring help from outside is how the free market works. Goods and _services_
by raducu | 2025-10-07 11:25:08+00:00
> I have yet to see a chat agent deployed that is more popular than tailored browsing methods.

Not an agent, but I've seen people choose doctors based on asking ChatGpt for criteria and the did make those appointments. Saved them countless web interfaces to dig through.

ChatGpt saved me so much money by searching for discount coupons on courses.

It even offered free entrance passwords on events I didn't know had such a thing (I asked it where the event was and it also told me the free entrance password it found on some obscure site).

I've seen doctors use ChatGpt to generate medical letters -- Chat Gpt used some medical letters python code and the doctors loved the result.

I've used ChatGpt to trim an energy bill to 10 pages because my current provider generated a 12 page bill in an attempt to prevent me from switching (because they knew the other provider did not accept bills of more than 10 pages).

Combined with how incredibly good codex is, combined with how easily chat gpt can just create throw away one-time apps, no way the whole agent interface doesn't eat a huge chunk of the traditional UX software we are used to.
by throwawayben | 2025-10-07 11:25:42+00:00
it is insane to me that they rejected moving to zonal pricing. zonal pricing would give incentive to move power demand closer to production, create costs to nimby-ism, and give the benefits of lower costs to those who live closer. but it might make energy cost more down here in the south east and (in particular) London while benefiting the North and Scotland so we can't have that
by cherrycherry98 | 2025-10-07 11:25:49+00:00
I've seen it where a project needs to get done but the company can't hire anyone for it due to firm wide hiring freezes. So in come the consultants to bang out a sloppy version 1. In the meantime you wait it out until you can hire a real team and gradually transition them in to rewrite what the consultants did. At least the company will have learned something from the consultants trying to implement the project. When your domain is complicated and has many dependencies there's some value in having anyone trying to figure that stuff out.

Of course, when the project is inevitably a late, half functioning, buggy mess you get to blame the consultants.
by Imustaskforhelp | 2025-10-07 11:27:07+00:00
I think the problem with subsidies just as the problem with tarrifs is that they need to be given in a selective process which can benefit them truly.

Like maybe this industry is already very concentrated and those subsidies benefit more to the concentrated rather than general public just as the farmer bailout of sorts...

Its a tough line and bottom line, you expect some true competency in the govt. to achieve it and be knowledgable about it but I guess in the meanwhile people might discuss such stuff.
by jacquesm | 2025-10-07 11:27:21+00:00
There are so many different kinds of expertise, you can't have everything in house. The problem is that now you are going to have to hire someone for something that you are not qualified to do yourself, which almost automatically implies that you are not qualified to make that hire either. So everybody plays it safe and they hire the 'big names' because those have social proof, no matter how crap the actual interaction.
by pards | 2025-10-07 11:28:21+00:00
> clients would generally take some time to actually commit and it's not feasible to keep a team on standby for every sales lead

This is an important reality in consulting. The consultancy cannot keep their best people sitting idle while the clients spend months completing the paperwork.

And it's not just a billability issue. The A team people don't like being underutilized and will find seek employment if they're kept idle too long.

That said, savvy clients will include "named key resources" in the contract to ensure continuity between the sales team and the project team.
by benrutter | 2025-10-07 11:28:58+00:00
Yeah - I wondered about how "quiet" this driving force was. It's certainly a big issue, but the network operator (NESO) published a big paper after the government asked them to suggest how achievable net-0 by 2030 was, which really specifically called out the need for much larger transmission capacity.

I work in the energy sector and hear it mentioned a lot, but I don't really see it published in the media a lot.

In all honesty, most of the dialogue around energy is just unhelpful and partisan - a lot of it seems critical of the idea of a cleaner network, mainly on the assertion that it's making things more expensive. My understanding is that the opposite is true, but either way, I don't often see much discussion of anything past "clear energy bad".
by georgehopkin | 2025-10-07 11:29:11+00:00
Solar energy is now the world’s cheapest source of power, costing as little as £0.02 to produce one unit in the sunniest countries, making it cheaper than electricity generated from coal, gas or wind, according to a University of Surrey study.

Researchers from Surrey’s Advanced Technology Institute argue that solar photovoltaic technology is now the key driver of the world’s transition to clean, renewable power. The study is published in Energy and Environment Materials.
by smeeger | 2025-10-07 11:30:08+00:00
i have a problem with these kinds of titles. you always see these titles that appear to contradict themselves or baffle people in order to bait people into clicking. the title should be “exposure to language in the womb appears to have lasting impact” or something like that. when i see baffle bait on HN it just makes me feel embarrassed. i think there should be a guideline against it honestly.
by Imustaskforhelp | 2025-10-07 11:30:10+00:00
Anything but lowering the cost of living..

this really reminded me of the McDonalds people giving scholarships instead of increasing the prices of their jobs.

But OP specifically says that they have to lower US job's prices to CN's level but that is only really possible bottom line only if the cost of living actually decreases... which is a bigger issue and a bit of paradox for some time as well on how to do it.
by ZeroConcerns | 2025-10-07 11:30:21+00:00
Yeah, this whole "let's sell off state-owned infrastructure on the Free Market" hasn't worked out so well: not only in the UK, but also elsewhere in Europe, the handsome profits of those moves have pretty much evaporated, investments in upgrades have been severely lacking, and now everyone is pointing fingers due to the inevitable capacity meltdowns.

(Note that I'm not opposed to privatization in general, and it has worked out very well in other sectors, noticeably Telecoms, but I'm not aware of it bringing long-term happiness anywhere when it comes to Energy)
by hunvreus | 2025-10-07 11:31:58+00:00
Coolify.io is definitely more mature.

I built /dev/push because I wanted to offer a more streamlined UX, closer to what Vercel offer.

I am planning on adding more runtimes (there's a PR for Bun for example), support for custom containers and support for Docker Swarm, allowing you to manage multiple servers with a single instance.
by mft_ | 2025-10-07 11:32:03+00:00
Something I was pondering the other day, is that similarly to how dashcams are becoming a more everyday addition to cars for self-protection, so in time the personal equivalent of a dashcam might be necessary for in-person interactions. (Basically, the personal equivalent of the bodycams that police are meant to use.)

Such smart glasses may actually lead us there: just record everything I do and say in a week, and I'll tell you it's safe to delete it if I've not had any concerning interactions in that time period.

I don't like that society might be heading this way, but I'd not bet money against it.
by antonvs | 2025-10-07 11:32:32+00:00
The issue is broader than that. The article's addendum points out that both Bootstrap and GitHub removed system-ui from their font stack, and another comment in this subthread mentions that Bluesky has done the same. In each case there's a link to comments and/or a PR which gives reasons.

Bootstrap later added it back, but in the PR discussion it was pointed out that this is still an issue on Chinese and Korean Windows, at least.

> Meh, for my personal website, I'll keep using system-ui.

Well sure, but in that case you could also use your own personal language that no-one else knows.
by jjkaczor | 2025-10-07 11:33:26+00:00
... Well, the "gang of 4" (of which Deloitte is one) - from my experience - doesn't have the good expertise in-house either - when needed, they subcontract or outsource to the specialists... (And I am speaking as someone who has worked alongside them, and also subcontracted with them - I generally warn my clients about the A/B/Z-team game and that they would be better off by contracting with smaller agencies or individuals who actually would "embed" better in their project/team/initiatives)

And apparently so much so that they feel they can even use AI-created reports/materials...
by add-sub-mul-div | 2025-10-07 11:33:32+00:00
During baseball games I've come to get annoyed when I hear the announcer stop talking and take a breath, about to change their tone of voice from conversational to formal so they can launch into one of the micro ad reads between pitches or at-bats.

It's the one type of ad/sponsor I can never block or mute, it's just too short/sudden. It's a 5-10 second read. Muting the tv for a whole 3-minute commercial break doesn't bother me.
by tim333 | 2025-10-07 11:34:22+00:00
Reminds me of PGs 2008 essay passage:

>Sam Altman has it. You could parachute him into an island full of cannibals and come back in 5 years and he'd be the king. If you're Sam Altman, you don't have to be profitable to convey to investors that you'll succeed with or without them.

Looks like he's doing well wheeling and dealing us cannibals.
by dspillett | 2025-10-07 11:34:24+00:00
Linux is now the better OS on the desktop for many more people after the other one got significantly¹ worse than it used to be.

It has been the better OS server-side and for appliance applications (routers, media players, …) for a long time, Windows may be drawing equal but does that count if some of it is due to WSL?

It has been the better OS, or often just the equal OS for a lot of desktop users for a fair while also, particularly non-gamers who don't need other specific tools that don't have a sufficiently compatible Linux offering/alternative. Many use it because the cost is hidden and might use something else given a properly informed choice.

I wouldn't put it in front of my Dad, even though pretty much all he does is no different on Windows than Linux and has been for years, because of compatibility concerns with printers/scanners and because there are others in the family able+willing to support Windows so he isn't stuck waiting for me if he ever has trouble while I'm difficult to contact.

I don't run Linux on my main desktop due to inertia (games are largely what kept me with Windows long enough to have to make the 8->10 transition) but that is not enough any more, partly because it just isn't really there (lack of things keeping me on Windows because they don't work well easily elsewhere, and irritations with Win11 applying a noticeable retrograde force) and partly because my use patterns have changed (modern games are not a thing in my life ATM, my hobbies have changed considerably in the last decade). That machine will be switching over to Linux when I get around to it, or it might just be shut off (almost all data is on Linux on the little house server, and off-site copies, already anyway) in which case the laptop will just gain a dock so it can better use the big screens & whatnot.

--------

[1] I might also take issue with significantly, as that might imply the change is sudden and due specifically to the Win10 EOL. Windows, both 11 & 10 and 8 before them, has been going downhill slowly enough that each extra irritation has faded into something that people put up with before the next one comes along. Recent changes (more ads etc) are generally small² but are the final straw.

[2] Recall (and the justified consternation it creates) is the one recent change that I would call significant in its own right. As irritating as the other AI stuff nagging us to give it something to do is to those of use that don't want it, in many places it just feels like an evolution of Cortana's presence from a UX PoV more than a revolution in its own right, and doesn't feel nearly as invasive overall as the Recall subset does on its own.
by chupasaurus | 2025-10-07 11:34:43+00:00
> My jobs VPN only runs on Ubuntu. There is code in there that checks your OS.

You can fake the data via eBPF.

> But that's for now and needs me spending time fighting them.

As with anything else.

> sssd is starting some light GPO enforcement on my laptop.

Could be avoided via namespaces.

> systemd slowly moves ...

Could be thrown out of the system, unless you're happy RH user.

> Android is also theoretically multi distro

That is out of scope because I'm fine without it's HAL and other parts.

> Facebook

Sad state of affairs, their mobile version worked fine even in lynx.