MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by christoph | 2025-12-13 07:50:27+00:00
I think we must have passed peak Apple this week or something…

I’ve had Clone Hero running badly on an ancient MacBook for my drums, so I decided to swap it out for an M1 Mini that was collecting dust on a shelf. I did a full erase, but I couldn’t get past its activation lock. At all.

This is a piece of hardware I purchased on my credit card, for my company, (luckily) linked to a phone number I control and an email address on a domain I can control, but Apple in their infinite wisdom are still locking me out of my own hardware because I don’t know the password the last employee used on the computer! I don’t want any data off it, thats gone, I just want the computer I spent money on to actually be usable!

I initiated a “recovery” process to unlock it (at Apples discretion?) and they’ve sent me an automated email saying the initial checks are passed and they will contact me again in 7 calendar days. Kafka-esque doesnt even begin to describe it. So for the next week I have to whistle Dixie!

I’ve been a massive Apple fanboy since I swore off Windows a couple of decades ago, giving them a decent high 6 figure spend over that time and influencing countless others to buy Apple devices. Well that very much ended this week & going forwards without Apple will be painful, but the message they sent me couldn’t have been any louder & clearer. The writing has been slowly creeping on to the wall for the last few years, between buckling to UK government pressure, the CSAM photo scanning nonsense, the absolute UI abomination of this new glass crap, this was my final straw.

I’m also going to be relaying their “message” very clearly and loudly now to any friend or family member considering another Apple device.
by kstenerud | 2025-12-13 07:50:43+00:00
These online storage services like iCloud and Google Drive are, and always have been, a trap.

They feel convenient, but they will keep changing their TOS to disadvantage you further and further as time goes on.

Everything you upload is scanned into their AI to create a profile about you that they can then exploit (once again, to your disadvantage). They do it despite regulations against it (Who's to say what they're complying with, deep in their complex data centers? Who's gonna even check? And how?) This is why online services that take control of your data are such gold mines (subscription fees, analytics, profiling, etc). They get you coming and going.

And of course, the account terminations: The earthquakes and "natural disasters" of the online world that destroy lives with no consequence or care.

When your data is not in your sole possession, you own nothing.
by fouronnes3 | 2025-12-13 07:52:09+00:00
The actual heuristic used to pick a solution from an infinite solution subspace is a bit too complex to explain in a comment. I really need a blackboard :D The main goal was actually to find a solution, any solution at all, and fast. I wanted the backwards update to be very fast to feel as magic as possible. So the heuristic is pretty simple and could definitely be improved!
by Scoundreller | 2025-12-13 07:52:33+00:00
This is why I go straight to legal for some things. By letter (the kind with a stamp).

As it could be service or real legal stuff, it tends to get read by someone literate and able to take action.

Had to do that with a bank that refused to talk to me (I hit some kind of identify verification quagmire), but they quickly got someone able to call me and close it on the spot.
by Supermancho | 2025-12-13 07:52:51+00:00
> Mars costs the same as the Moon to reach and return from

0/1

If you stay out of gravity wells, traveling anywhere in space is the same cost, minus the non-trivial life support issues, which only come into play on a trip to Mars and back.

> (Mars) is a much easier environment to stay in, even over as short a period as a month

0/2

> (the moon) isn’t a stepping stone to anywhere.

0/3

Humanity has gotten there before Mars for the precise reason that it is a stepping stone.

None of what you posted is factually true and, in good faith, I have to wonder why you might believe these things.
by hadlock | 2025-12-13 07:52:55+00:00
Giving the llm access to Ghidra so it can directly read and iterate through the Sudoku puzzle that is decompile binaries seems like a good one. Ghidra has a cli mode and various bindings so you can automate decompiling various binaries. For example right now if you want to isolate the physics step of Microsoft flight simulator 3.0 codex will hold your hand and walk you through (over the course of 3-4 hours, using the gui) finding the main loop and making educated guesses about which decompiled c functions in there are likely physics related, but it would be a lot easier to just give it the "Ghidra" skill and say, "isolate the physics engine and export it as a portable cargo package in rust". If you're an NSA analyst you can probably use it to disassemble and isolate interesting behavior of various binaries from state actors a lot faster.
by kazinator | 2025-12-13 07:54:53+00:00
About commercial displays:

> A spokesperson from Panasonic Connect North America told me that digital signage displays are made to be on for 16 to 24 hours per day and with high brightness levels to accommodate “retail and public environments.”

Some TV's err on the side of being too dim for daytime viewing in a bright room; that could only be a plus.

If it's too bright in a way that can't be turned down, you could always DIY a tinted shield to put over it for evening viewing. We used to use things like that over CRT monitors once upon a time.

> Their rugged construction and heat management systems make them ideal for demanding commercial use, but these same features can result in higher energy consumption, louder operation, and limited compatibility with home entertainment systems.

I've never heard a commercial flat screen display make a sound.

> Panasonic’s representative also pointed out that real TVs offer consumer-friendly features for watching TV, like “home-optimized picture tuning, simplified audio integration, and user-friendly menu interfaces.”

That person doesn't understand how this would be used at all. The user hooking up their streaming box to the display panel only needs the panel to do video (e.g. via HDMI cable). The display is not involved in audio at all.

I use a 1/8" plug stereo cable going straight from the Android box to a pair of RCA jacks in the speaker system. Bluetooth could be used but the wire has lower latency, 100% reliability, and not using BT means that the speakers are available for pairing if someone wants to use them from a phone. They have a remote control that can switch between two copper line inputs, and BT. The TV's volume is kept at 1%; it would make no difference if it had no speakers.
by srazkvt | 2025-12-13 07:55:04+00:00
sure, but that doesn't change the fact that doas(1) is a suid binary. everything done would be done as root, from parsing the config file, checking the rights, and finally executing the command.

capsudo here would rely on singular unix sockets with file access rights, so in essence, it would indeed be similar to what you could do with doas, but the idea here is to seperate things. with doas, doas would check if you have the correct group or user to do the command, while with capsudo, the kernel would check it, and reject it if you don't have the right.
by secfirstmd | 2025-12-13 07:55:52+00:00
So as someone who runs and trains cyber incident response teams. Where a big focus is on MMTx and reducing chance for adversary breakout times. Which are gonna get worse thanks to AI. This paper was actually part of me calling the approach Formula One IR.

Specifically about getting people joining the IR to already have their assigned speciality and first moves ready to go and to begun, as a way to support the incident handler. There's really big benefits to studying the metrics of specific incidents you have to the minute by minute level. So much time saving to be made, accuracy to be enforced and duplication to be reduced.

You can find there's less time wasted in an incident dividing out jobs or lost go inevitable context switching to join the incident. There's already searches, people and clarity about what should mostly likely be done in the first few mins, even though the plan will change and details initially are probably scare. It's really effective and cuts MMTx down a huge amount.

Obviously then the handover itself is a vital part in IR to get done accurately and with speed. So that flows into all of the above. It's a really good paper for thinking through workflows

I must get around to writing it up some day.
by inkyoto | 2025-12-13 07:56:03+00:00
Civil tribunals in Australia (an equivalent of small claim courts in other countries) do not involve lawyers in vast majority of cases and encourage self-representation instead.

In fact, the NSW Civil Administrative Tribunal explicitly requires the Tribunal’s explicit permission for a person to be represented by somebody else, including a lawyer.

But tribunal's decision is binding on the commercial entity, should it be found at fault and incurs penalties for avoidance or non-compliance with the decision.
by haspok | 2025-12-13 07:56:06+00:00
I remember the last time I took the train in Austria, between Wien and Linz there was a section where the odometer on the train was showing 220 km/h.

A large part of Austria is the Alps, that poses special challenges for trains. That's why these base tunnels are so important. Funny you ignored the comment about the Semmering tunnel being built, and how it will help with the travel time on that section.

Flights are so cheap because they are subsidized (primarily the fuel), and their CO2 emissions are just swept under the rug. There is also this problem of not having enough high speed cross-country trains, and even if they exist, you usually have to change trains and book tickets separately for each country. The EU has a plan to improve on this in the next 20 years.

> trains on that route are typically full of loud obnoxious people talking on their phone on speaker mode, who don't have courtesy for others so it ruins any enjoyment of sightseeing unless you have good noise cancelling headphones.

Yes, because Ryanair or Wizzair flights never have loud obnoxious people...
by usefulcat | 2025-12-13 07:57:18+00:00
> the range of blue jays, a temperate bird living all across the Eastern U.S., only extended about as far west as Houston. They

I get why the green jay’s habitat would have expanded northward (from more tropical areas) in a warming climate, but I don’t get why the blue jay’s habitat would have expanded west of Houston.

Like many places, central Texas is warmer than it used to be, and maybe drier, but I wouldn’t think you could call it more “temperate” now.
by Jensson | 2025-12-13 07:58:19+00:00
> I confess I have never encountered - or thought about - organizations with inverted hierarchies

Managers tend to make less than pop stars etc, the range exists. On some engineering teams the non-technical manager makes less than the engineers.

Being a manager doesn't mean you are well paid, he is just a bureaucrat managing the relations to those who want your services.
by rglynn | 2025-12-13 07:58:57+00:00
I agree with the first half as it echoes my experience, but the second half hasn't been my exp.

To talk about design patterns as not as useful, only to then mention big O notation seems strange to me unless you are in a context where performance is critical?

Worrying about O(n) IME is far less important than choosing the right architectural pattern. O(n) issues are usually observable via metrics or QA and are typically straightforward to fix. By contrast, recognising that your pattern choice is wrong is harder (since it manifests during dev rather than in prod) and takes more effort to rectify.

I also disagree that patterns don't deserve a name. I have found it very useful when discussing with both seniors and juniors to have a common name for a pattern being described. Seniors known instantly and it can be helpful to have a resource to point juniors to if they aren't familiar. I have also found it useful when English isn't the first language.

I do agree that seniors don't typically try to fit standard patterns to their problem in a way that a junior might, that's a fair point.
Show HN: Zunorm – BYOM Spreadsheet Editor
by ashv | 2025-12-13 08:01:42+00:00
Hi HN,

I built Zunorm, a simple spreadsheet editor where you can make simple, targeted edits using your own models.

Instead of uploading your data to a closed AI service, Zunorm lets you:

- Bring your own model (via OpenRouter or local Ollama)

- Apply natural language edits directly to spreadsheet cells

What it’s good for -

- Cleaning or reformatting columns

- Quick AI-assisted edits without writing formulas or scripts

- Supports only CSVs for now

Still early, feedback welcome, especially around UX and real-world spreadsheet workflows.

Thanks for checking it out
by ChadNauseam | 2025-12-13 08:02:52+00:00
Google makes money off search, which requires that users want to visit websites. All websites using HTTP are not secure. Unsecure websites are uninteresting to most users, but most users don't have the know-how to distinguish what sites are using HTTPS and which aren't. So the simplest solution is to get all websits to switch to HTTPS before it becomes a problem
by t23414321 | 2025-12-13 08:02:56+00:00
.. and confront about Prolog or else in recent years - likes: "intended benefit requires an unreasonably (or impossibly?) smart compiler" (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14441045) - isn't quite similar to LLMs, for that, requiring.. impossibly smart users ?? (there were few - assuming they got what they wanted . not peanuts)
by cthalupa | 2025-12-13 08:03:28+00:00
> do not involve lawyers in vast majority of cases and encourage self-representation instead.

Sure, but if it's a corporation, who is going to represent the corporation besides a lawyer? In the US, some states explicitly do not allow a lawyer and require a different officer of the company represent them, but plenty do allow lawyers.

If Paris is taking Apple to the tribunal, there's no single human equivalent to Paris on Apple's side. This seems like the exact sort of situation where a lawyer is approved to represent somebody else.
by rglynn | 2025-12-13 08:03:51+00:00
> The truth is that design patterns are at best stagnant in quality and quantity over time (GoF is over 30 years old!), but the quantity and quality of problems is infinite.

I think once you have spent enough time in a software space, nothing is really new under the sun. That's why I think the GoF has aged well (controversial opinion I know!).
by alex1138 | 2025-12-13 08:05:34+00:00
I always knew Google and Facebook did this (let's make Oculus a Facebook requirement! oops now you're banned - genius, brilliant, all the people working there have an IQ of 600) but now the trifecta is complete

Seriously can we fucking have any products that work, in the 21st century

Or is the answer just "lol automation is cheaper"
by zoky | 2025-12-13 08:05:50+00:00
Contact a known and trusted security researcher who can verify to the world that you did what you said you did, so everyone else can have as much time as possible to figure out exactly how fucked they are. Doing nothing isn’t an option; once someone figures something like that out, it signifies that conditions were ripe for the discovery to be made, and it’s only a matter of time before it’s discovered again independently.
by kilpikaarna | 2025-12-13 08:06:15+00:00
>That is in no way a reasonable suggestion. You’re suggesting a raspberry pi (first red flag) along with a command line program. This is not reasonable in any sense of the word.

Uh, the guy writes programming books for a living.

But since he's all-in Apple he could just use Time Machine to some sort of NAS and get a more streamlined version of the above.
by sfblah | 2025-12-13 08:06:53+00:00
This is a great point. It would make a lot more sense simply to require a 25-foot easement along the lines of the checkerboard for unrestricted public access or a road. That would have the effect of forcing the ranchers to move their fences back ~12 feet.

In compensation, ranchers could be given the right to create structures or rights-of-way on those same easements to connect their diagonal pieces so as to make them more useable, as long as the public has a reasonable right to access their areas.

This situation honestly makes me wonder how the ranchers even use these squares, since they face the exact same access problem, just with the opposite corners.
by snowe2010 | 2025-12-13 08:08:05+00:00
And that website is hosted somewhere, you’re using several layers of network providers, the registrar has control over your domain, the copper in the ground most likely has an easement controlling access to it so your internet provider literally can just cut off access to you whenever they want, if you publish your apps to a registry the registry controls your apps as well.

There are so many companies that control access to every part of your life. Your argument is meaningless because it applies to _everything_.

A trustless society is not one that anyone should want to be a part of. Regulations exist for a reason.
by ang_cire | 2025-12-13 08:08:21+00:00
I had the uncommon privilege of attending a year of high school in Japan, and rest assured there is no lack of propaganda in other countries' schools, even if often by omission of truths.

I am not Australian, but I suspect high school textbooks are likely less than entirely forthright about sensitive subjects like Residential Schools and their role in settler-colonialism.
by bitwize | 2025-12-13 08:08:39+00:00
Ah yes, the elusive grue jay. As blue jays are corvids—relatives of crows and ravens, the grue jay, known for its habitat in colossal caves, is a relative of the similarly chthonic Deep Crow: https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/03/21/the-crevice
by christoph | 2025-12-13 08:09:48+00:00
I can’t speak for the author, but I attended a science conference earlier this year that was almost half science, half healing/meditation workshops. I’m not going to name names, but there were some pretty big academic names there who also have clearly woken up to modern science being more than a bit cult like. Research a couple of areas of science that are currently verboten and see who & what you find there maybe?

It’s just quiet whispers in small conferences at the moment, but this is how the breaking of all spells begins. The momentum is & will continue to build, and probably quicker than many imagine (or will like!).
by pjmlp | 2025-12-13 08:10:37+00:00
Cross compilation and cross platform are synonymous in compiled languages, in regards of many issues that one needs to care about.

Cross platform goes beyond in regards to UI, direction locations, user interactions,...

Yeah, if you happen to have systemd Linux libraries on macOS to facilitate cross compilation into a compatible GNU/Linux system than it works, that is how embedded development has worked for ages.

What doesn't work is pretending that isn't something to care about.
by heavyset_go | 2025-12-13 08:10:48+00:00
This happened to me[1] a decade ago, now. Left Apple hardware on shelf for a year or two, Apple in the mean time did their iCloud migration or something, and my login account could no longer unlock the device. It's been effectively bricked since.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26482635
by general1465 | 2025-12-13 08:14:32+00:00
It is also stupidly transparent attempt, which will create rally around the flag effect for EU - Sure EU has issues, but when you have two powers openly claiming that they are out to get you, you are not going to sleep, you will start barricading your house.

Countries are not really intending to leave the EU, not even Hungary, because they know very well that big boys outside will turn them into their toy.
by ang_cire | 2025-12-13 08:15:20+00:00
> It’s banning access to harmful content for people under 16.

Even the most comically overt authoritarians will use justifications like this to ban content.

> One morning I logged into Reddit and saw a video of Charlie Kirk get his head blown off.

Then I think you may have seen a fake video. No such thing happened to him. If we're discussing serious subjects such as censorship and deaths, avoiding hyperbole to falsely bolster an argument is probably best.

> I’m really glad my 12 year old daughter didn’t have to see that…

Why would you give your 12yo daughter unrestricted access to Reddit, as a parent? Why must the government stop her, for you?

Also, since that already happened, and government restrictions weren't in place, and she didn't see it, clearly you've just disproved the need for those restrictions to avoid that outcome; your daughter didn't see the harmful content, despite there being no government-mandated restriction.
by usr1106 | 2025-12-13 08:16:55+00:00
It used to be exactly one third, i.e 16 2/3 so you can have generators on the same axle. However, being exactly one third caused unwanted resonance effects. So with the advent of power electronics it has been slightly shifted to 16.7 Hz. Within tolerance for the motors, but no unwanted resonance anymore.

My high school physics is not sufficient to really understand it.
Homeownership in Australia
by nextelleunli | 2025-12-13 08:17:09+00:00
A developing problem that impacts the economic and social well-being of individuals, families, and the country at large is Australia's unaffordability of homeownership. Without addressing the structural reasons, government involvement and policy initiatives are unlikely to resolve the fundamental problem of property price inflation, even though they can offer some respite. Policymakers must take into account long-term measures that support affordability and assist in restoring homeownership as a feasible goal for Australians, especially for younger generations, as the housing market continues to change. Many people may never be able to realize their dream of homeownership unless such reforms take place.

Visit our website at https://aussierealestate.net.au/.
by snowe2010 | 2025-12-13 08:18:19+00:00
It’s not reasonable because you’re assuming that 1) they have the time to set up that network infrastructure 2) their skills align with that 3) they have the knowledge to do so 4) they live in a country without strong regulations that would make such a thing unnecessary.

Just because you know objective-c doesn’t mean you know a damn thing about raspberry pis, backup programs, NASes, or anything else. It doesn’t mean you know or want to manage your own network infrastructure. They’re a Mac app programmer, not a Linux professional, not a micro-computer professional, not a network engineer, not a sys admin.

Time Machine wouldn’t work here, because it needs the files locally and he’s already stated he doesn’t have a 6tb drive.
by pegasus | 2025-12-13 08:18:54+00:00
> No, it is not.

Yes, it is. You seem to have misunderstood what I wrote. The critique I was pointing to is of the amount of examples and energy needed during model training, which is what the "learning" in "machine learning" actually refers to. The paper uses GPT-3 which had already absorbed all that data and electricity. And the "learning" the paper talks about is arguably not real learning, since none of the acquired skills persists beyond the end of the session.

> So am I.

This is easy to settle. Go check any frontier model and see how far they get with multiplying numbers with tool calling disabled.

> Not a great time for you to rest on your intellectual laurels. Same goes for Penrose.

Neither am I resting, nor are there much laurels to rest on, at least compared to someone like Penrose. As for him, give the man a break, he's 94 years old and still sharp as a tack and intellectually productive. You're the one who's resting, imagining you've settled a question which is very much still open. Certainty is certainly intoxicating, so I understand where you're coming from, but claiming anyone who doubts computationalism is not bringing any arguments to the table is patently absurd.