MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by tialaramex | 2025-11-13 16:32:05+00:00
So e.g. the UK does not have speed signalling. One yellow lamp illuminated means "Prepare to find the next signal at danger". OK, so, how fast can I go? Well, it depends, your route knowledge might tell you that the "next signal" is up a steep rise, you can go pretty fast, even if it is at danger that rise will scrub off all the speed and normal braking is enough. Or, you might know that there's a sharp bend soon and so even moderate speed is excessive because you'll de-rail on that bend.

In daylight there are speed signs but, trains accelerate and brake much more slowly than your car, so while they're a useful reminder you cannot correctly drive the train based on observing these signs. At night you may not see them at all.

Then does your route diverge? In some cases the intent to diverge is signalled, unlike speed, Flashing double yellow for example means "Prepare to find the next signal at: Prepare to find the next signal at danger" plus "Your route will diverge". However you really need to prepare some distance in advance of this information anyway in some cases, so you need to know, long before the signals and certainly long before being able to actually see it, that you will make a turn.

The UK also has unsignalled stations - places where a passenger train will ordinarily stop, and must obey signals, but there are no starting signals, so you need to remember whether you were under a cautionary signal say five minutes ago, which still applies now, even though meanwhile a dog escaped, some idiot threw yoghurt at people and then two hundred soccer fans boarded your train.

The "Driver's Reminder Appliance" is meant to help with this last part, it's basically just a button you can push, to remind you that you pushed the button and restore your mental state...
by lukan | 2025-11-13 16:32:17+00:00
Well this was quite openly communicated, why germany bought the F35 for example. To still get (nuclear) protection. (with the homebuild Tornados phasing out and the Eurofighter not getting a licence so easy, only the F35 is capable of delivering nukes with german pilots).

But I think it was a pretty bad appeasement deal.
by piqufoh | 2025-11-13 16:32:18+00:00
Apparently if a light-bulb blows at a station, two different contractors need to be called - one company has a contract for replacing consumables while another has a contract for repairing faults.

https://youtu.be/bNEEJX0VM6k?si=1hGCnYx826ffGOPj
by AnotherGoodName | 2025-11-13 16:32:51+00:00
It's pretty much global fwiw. I wrote route qualification software for places outside of Europe.

It should also be made clear that you don't need to get an actual qualification from a bureaucratic org. You basically just need to document the last time the driver drove the route with another qualified driver and then document that they've kept the qualification up to date. It's a documentation process and just not that onerous. Also absolutely required for any railway since trains don't stop or accelerate quickly. You need the drivers to know what's coming ahead and no amount of signage or signalling can beat knowing the route.

The only concern i have is the guard qualification. That does seem overboard but... i don't know the UK and chances are there's nuance to this. So i'd have concern with anyone reading GPs post and thinking this is the cause of UKs railway inefficiency.
by jijijijij | 2025-11-13 16:32:58+00:00
I would totally buy it, if it's not silly expensive. I am not a power gamer or whatever, at all.

I absolutely do not want gaming mingled with my primary PC usage, work and stuff. For reasons of OS choice, data integrity, security and distraction management/work-play-separation. Can't over-emphasize the importance of this. But to me there is no question PC gaming is superior. However, I can't justify building a full-blown "gaming PC" just for gaming.

Some years ago, I got a PS4 Pro just to satisfy my occasional gaming urge and I love the console form factor, no tweaking and press power to play ergonomics. I wish I could install some mods for old games, tho, and the PS4 library is super limited compared to Steam. I also feel sad, the PS lock-down means unnecessary hardware obsolescence. And I hate Sony's rent seeking for online services and would never buy PS Plus.

I know quite a few people in my social sphere who are exactly in the same spot I am, who would love exactly what's shown with the Steam thingy. It will all depend on the price.
by albinn | 2025-11-13 16:33:04+00:00
Out of curiosity, what are you proposing instead? I'm currently working in a small company (less than 4 full time employees). And while we can never support native apps for all the platforms I have been wondering what we would use instead of a web app?

The advantage of the web app is that it just works, without installation, so there's no friction there. I'd very much prefer a native app, but the overhead is quite high, no?
by aleph_minus_one | 2025-11-13 16:33:17+00:00
What you describe is in my opinion a corner case. The following is just my personal opinion on this topic; it is very easy to argue for a different viewpoint:

I personally think that the central point whether it is a transpiler or not is whether the generated output is in the "spirit" in which the output language was conceived to be written by a human programmer.

So, if the outputted CSS code is in a rather similar "spirit" to how a human programmer would write it (though having possibly lots of traces of being auto-generated), it is a transpiler.

For example, if a transpiler generates hundreds of rules for CSS classes, but humans would solve the problem very differently using CSS code, it is rather not a transpiler, but some program that uses CSS as an output format for the reason that this is the output format that has to be used for technical reasons.

This of course encompasses the case of minified CSS code: hardly any programmer would write minified CSS code in a text editor.

Similarly, I would argue that a "transpiler" that generates highly non-idiomatic C code (i.e. it is "insanely obvious" that the output is not C code in the sense how the C language is "intended" to be used) is not a transpiler, but rather a compiler that uses C as some kind of high-level assembler code for output.

In this sense I would indeed say that some "transpiler" that generates highly non-idiomatic JavaScript code is in my opinion rather a compiler that uses JavaScript as an output format because it is necessary because this is necessary to run the code in the browser. I am of course aware that many programmers do have a different opinion here.

So, I would say a strong rule of thumb to decide transpiler or not transpiler is: if there was a choice to use a different output language than the destination language - would the transpiler use the latter one instead? So, to answer your question

> And furthermore, what if you run Prettier on the minified output, turning it into readable CSS? The pipeline as a whole would input SCSS and output formatted CSS and therefore would be considered a transpiler, but the subprogram that does all of the SCSS heavy lifting would input SCSS and output minified SCSS, making it not a transpiler.

If the goal is clearly to generate idiomatic CSS code that can be well understood by a human programmer, by my stance it clearly is a transpiler. If you, on the hand, create such an example just to find a corner case for "transpiler or not transpiler", I would say it is not.
by kattagarian | 2025-11-13 16:34:13+00:00
>I thought xbox was doing well?

Microsoft lost the console wars. Their new generation (Series S & X) sold almost 1/4 of what PS5 did because they basically don't have any exclusive game that you can only play in their hardware. Microsoft invested heavily in their Gamepass subscription (that has more than 35 million users) and they believe that the future is on PC. The newest xbox hardware, a handheld made by Asus, is a PC running windows. The next generation of xbox hardware that will compete with the PS6 will also very likely be a PC. The xbox console is dead.
by lukan | 2025-11-13 16:34:20+00:00
"An extreme and inaccurate statement. The US is still party to NATO Article 5, meaning the blood of our young people is pledged to be shed to defend, say, Estonia. That has not changed"

What changed is the US President saying things like, he will encourage Putin to invade countries not spending so much on military.

What also changed is the US President threatening members of the EU militarily over greenland for example.

Reliable allies don't really do that.

(you probably do not realize the shock Denmark felt over this, that went deep and the change will not happen over night, but it will happen)
by toss1 | 2025-11-13 16:34:21+00:00
Same here. But we are evidently in the minority.

Fortunately, it seems OpenAI at least somewhat gets that and makes ChatGPT so it's answering and conversational style can be adjusted or tuned to our liking. I've found giving explicit instructions resembling "do not compliment", "clear and concise answers", "be brief and expect follow-up questions", etc. to help. I'm interested to see if the new 5.1 improves on that tunability.
by VikingCoder | 2025-11-13 16:34:28+00:00
My wishlist for the next version:

1. Microphone.

2. Headphone jack. When I'm trying to not wake the kids, this would be nice.

3. Dedicated Volume Buttons.

4. A quick way to make it act like a Roku Remote. This would prevent me from needing yet-another-controller.

5. A beep speaker just for "find my controllers". (Similarly, a dedicated "find my controllers" button on the Steam Machine.)

6. I hope the Indicator LED can turn different colors, to make it easier to figure out which controller matches which player...

7. I'd love an e-ink one-line display on it. By default, when it's not playing, have it show a string I set - "Property of VikingCoder" for instance. When it is ready to play, it could show "Controller 1". In some multi-player games, it could be a cool way to send secret messages to only one player.

8. A tiny front-facing camera for QR code / barcode scanning.

9. Maybe an NFC reader, or RFID reader.

10. The e-ink display could also help me choose which device I want it paired with. Steam Machine. Steam Frame. My phone. The Roku.
by cestith | 2025-11-13 16:34:58+00:00
The x86 running Windows isn’t perfect. The x86 rack system running Linux isn’t perfect. Android isn’t perfect. The Ford F150 isn’t the perfect pickup. Budweiser is far from the perfect beer.

The phrase “worse is better” has a lot of historical significance in computing. Long before that, though, Adolphus Busch started his brewing empire. If you take a brewery tour at an Anheuser-Busch brewery, they’ll tell you that the company’s flagship product, the aforementioned Budweiser, was never intended to be anyone’s favorite beer.

That’s right. One of the top selling beers in the world was never intended to be a personal favorite of a single buyer or beer drinker. What it was designed to be was unobjectionable, approachable, and good enough to serve your guests when their preferred beer runs out. There are so many varieties of beer that are so different, and they are often loved by some and despised by others. So an intentionally unremarkable but quality beverage was marketed to be a very popular second or third choice.

If most households have a Playstation and a Deck or Frame, or have a Switch and a Frame, or have a PC and a Deck then in total numbers the Steam machines just might be the top seller even if it’s not a universal favorite.
by poszlem | 2025-11-13 16:35:05+00:00
I firmly believe people are deluding themselves if they think that without US patronage, Europe wouldn't devolve into its historical norm, a state of internal warfare.

The popular narrative suggests a 'United States of Europe' is forming, but this seems like propaganda when you look at the reality, nations are already returning to the historical status quo, prioritizing their own agendas and pulling in separate directions, much as they always have.

A recent, clear example is the debate over using frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s war effort. That single issue exposes the deeper divides. Belgium objects because it wants to shield its own financial sector. Germany backs the idea because it would spare it from taking on more of the financial burden. France, meanwhile, has long argued for a different approach, issuing joint EU debt, an option that many financially weaker member states would favor, but one Germany refuses to accept.

EDIT. Unfortunately HN has decided that "I am posting too fast", because I wrote 4 posts, amazing work, I love getting throttled by mods with not reason! So cannot really respond in the thread. EDIT2. As always, thank you for downvoting without addressing the argument.

I'll just update this one:

> Do you really believe Europe would devolve into actual > internal warfare, without the US? What about the EU? I > believe it has successfully kept the peace ever since its > predecessor, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) > was created - specifically to avoid another war. > Your example is very on point: the member states are talking > - not fighting - to protect their own interests.

It’s really not hard to imagine this turning into something very different. All it takes is a major political shift in Germany or France, and both are already close to that point. A lot of people are still thinking in peacetime terms, but we’re past that. The parties that are likely to come to power soon are not going to keep talking about “European solidarity,” because a core part of their message is that this solidarity has come at the expense of their own country’s strength.
by giancarlostoro | 2025-11-13 16:35:07+00:00
I mean, you have the same "problem" when peer coding in person. Whoever is officially working on the fix will commit it. I've helped devs get around a hump for ages, you don't get "credit" for all the work you do. It's why I hate most ticketing systems (when management starts to ask why your tasks fell behind), they don't let you correctly track multiple people when they work together.
by hilios | 2025-11-13 16:35:32+00:00
>If I do GPL, I have to make sure that I'm following the rules set out in that license

If its all your own stuff you don't really have to care about the license. Otherwise the rules are pretty simple, include a GPL license and if requested by a user supply the source code (which you can even charge some money for).

>and making sure others who have based their code on my project have done the same.

If you don't care what others do with it, you don't have to enforce it.

As the sole copyright holder (A)GPL only gives you more options.
by SilverElfin | 2025-11-13 16:36:25+00:00
In my opinion it’s because of several things. They took over Xinjiang and Tibet, and committed large scale atrocities in both. They threaten Taiwan. They abandoned the treaties around Hong Kong. They continue to harass India - a sort of ally of NATO countries - over borders they share. Let’s also not forget crimes against Chinese people during the cultural revolution and since then.

They’ve also engaged in widespread campaigns of asymmetric warfare against other countries. Lots of cyberattacks. Theft of intellectual property - corporate espionage but also copies of designs and hacks of government agencies. Unfair protectionism in their own markets. Lots more to list.

But mostly because the CCP just can’t be trusted with their power, because they’re neither democratic nor support liberal values like free speech. I think there’s a lot to admire about China and Chinese citizens. But their government is ultimately a threat to the world order and the progress of liberalism.
Show HN: Open-Source NotebookLM Alternative
by nazar_ilamanov | 2025-11-13 16:36:36+00:00
Open Notebook is a tool where you can upload your own sources - PDFs (textbooks, research papers), Github repos, documentation websites, and other URLs. Once uploaded, you can either chat with an AI about them or run “apps” on top of those sources.

Apps can be anything. Right now, I’ve built the following: - turn articles into short video overviews - create a mind map of the source - create summaries or other reports about the source - generate quizzes or flashcards to help study the source

You can also remix existing apps or create one from scratch.

I built this because I wanted to make self-learning less painful. I enjoy diving into new subjects (electronics, space, math), but the usual options feel limited: long lectures, repetitive ChatGPT chats, or slogging through PDFs and textbooks.

NotebookLM looked promising in this space, but I found it too rigid - the outputs weren’t bad, but they weren’t adaptable to how I wanted to learn.

Open Notebook takes a different approach: it exposes the full workflows behind the AI outputs (LLM prompts, steps, formats). That means you can see exactly how a video, podcast, or summary is generated, change the process, or share your own workflows with others.

That is why I consider Open Notebook to be the "open source" version of NotebookLM.

I’d be interested in feedback on what’s useful, what’s missing, or how you’d want to adapt it for your own learning.
by StopDisinfo910 | 2025-11-13 16:36:58+00:00
> The market has shifted drastically since he made his big break in 2008 and he doesn't seem to be able to adapt to it

The market currently lives in some kind of post-rational reality where NVidia is worse more than the GDP of Germany, indices are dominated by a few interlinked companies using creative accounting and multiples are through the roof. Meanwhile, the government is openly trying to influence the central bank and probably fudge key statistics.

Find me someone who is really adapting to this market and not actually winging it hoping the plane doesn't crash.
by nalekberov | 2025-11-13 16:37:04+00:00
IMHO it's because so many people take decisions in rush. e.g. let's not design database, put whatever data shape we came ip in alpha version and see where it goes. Sometimes people favor one particular technology because every other startup chose it.

To be quite honest today's software engineering sadly is mostly about addressing 'how complex can we go' rather than 'what problem are we trying to solve'.
by alextingle | 2025-11-13 16:37:19+00:00
"AI" is a much more palatable story for decision-makers than "we over-hired, and now the economy is tanking".

Stories like these are hard to square with studies that show zero or negative productivity improvements with AI.

I wonder what's going to happen when the AI companies stop essentially giving away their product, and start trying to make money. Does the whole ridiculous circus just stop dead?
by mhh__ | 2025-11-13 16:37:27+00:00
This is only "true" because anything run efficiently by the private sector is so demonstrably better than any communist-fantasy alternative that no one bothers arguing any more.

Should Tesco be run by the government? I use Tesco more than I take trains.

May be of note also that the best train in London (the Elizabeth line) is run by a tendering process
Show HN: AI-built tools with security by default
by zvonimirs | 2025-11-13 16:37:59+00:00
Hi HN, I’m Zvonimir, one of the creators of Pythagora.

For the past two years we’ve been building an all-in-one platform for creating full apps with AI. While others focused on raising rounds and hype marketing, we stayed heads-down on the tech: frontend, backend, debugging, everything. Honestly, we’re still not sure if that was the right call, but we wanted something real first.

That work led to *Secure Spaces*, which we’re launching today. Every app now runs inside its own private environment where authentication and access control happen before any code runs. Even if AI writes something risky, it can’t expose data or systems.

We’d love feedback from anyone building or securing AI-generated tools.

Demo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svWJORNUamo Docs: https://docs.deployments.pythagora.ai/docs/spaces/secure-spa...
by jmadeano | 2025-11-13 16:38:26+00:00
> I actually like the idea, not sure about monetization.

To be fair, we're not sure about monetization either :) We just had a lot of fun building it and have enjoyed seeing what people make with it.

> It also requires access to all the data??

Think of us like Tampermonkey/some other userscript manager. The scripts you run have to go through our script engine. That means that any data/permission your script needs access to, our script needs access to. We do try to make the scripting transparent. If you're familiar with the Greasemonkey API, we show you which permissions a given script requests (e.g. here https://www.tweeks.io/share/script/d856f07a2cb843c5bfa1b455, requires GM_addStyle)
by hylaride | 2025-11-13 16:38:55+00:00
The core problem, I think, is that K8s is overly complicated for 95% of deployments out there, but it's become the default standard.

People then start creating tooling to mask some of the complexity, but then said tooling grows to support the full K8s feature set and then we're back to square one.

Because the rush to K8s was so fast (and arguably before it was ready) the tooling often became necessary.

> Helm charts are meant to be written by someone with the relevant skills sitting next to the developers.

That makes sense for large organizations, but it still gets complicated depending on how your service plugs into a greater mesh of services.

I currently treat helm the same way I treat Cloudformation on AWS (another horrid thing to deal with). If some third party has it so that I can easily take the template and launch it, then great. I don't want to go any further under the hood than that.
by nayuki | 2025-11-13 16:39:26+00:00
> box of instant noodles for $0.99 USD

If you as a consumer care about rounding, then just buy three of them: 3× $0.99 = $2.97, which rounds down to $2.95 USD, netting you a $0.02 bonus (the maximum possible).

The rounding is done at the end of the transaction, not per item. I speak from experience in Canada - it is indeed possible to execute this transaction in real life. And basic food items have no sales tax, so the price you see on the shelf is the price that you pay at checkout. It is 100% realistic to go into a food store, grab 3 items at $0.99 CAD each, and pay $2.95 CAD in cash.

Because you as a consumer has control over the transaction, I find any arguments against rounding to be ridiculous.
by fullstop | 2025-11-13 16:39:37+00:00
> What Sweeney thinks has nothing to do with it.

I don't know if this is a fever dream or if it actually happened, but I seem to recall reading something about Tim Sweeney using Linux for a week to see how it compared. If he liked it, Epic Megagames would publish titles w/Linux support. He ended up complaining about some irrelevant things in KDevelop and it was pretty clear what his intentions were before even trying things.

I can't find any reference to this online, but I'm pretty sure that it happened. This would have been ~1998.

edit: It may have been Mark Rein?