MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by DonHopkins | 2026-01-09 16:24:32+00:00
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46548366

DonHopkins 16 hours ago | prev [–]

It's a good thing they're effectively dead, but they don't have any useful parts to carve out, because they were a fraud through and through from day one, infested with toxic sexist nepotistic bro culture, and were an embarrassment and warning to the industry. No surprise at all they unethically bricked their useless overpriced electronic waste.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29440213

DonHopkins on Dec 4, 2021 | parent | context | favorite | on: I bought those AR cycling glasses that were on HN ...

Why not simply do what Magic Leap does, and blatantly fake the camera images and games that don't really and couldn't possibly exist?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28838500

And then rip off other people's work without giving them any credit in your patents.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28838443

And then sexually harass the very women you employed to solve the endemic "pink/blue problem" and fix the nepotistic sexist bro culture, and rebuff and ignore her advice, and pay her off to keep their mouth shut when she sues you for sexual harassment.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28838421

And then give the entire AR industry a bad name by not delivering on your outrageously hyped promises, while burning through BILLIONS of dollars and fucking over your foolishly gullible investors.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28838737

fredoralive 8 hours ago | root | parent | next [–]

Don’t be so harsh, at least we got the Steam Deck out of all this.

DonHopkins 5 minutes ago | root | parent | next | edit | delete [–]

In the same sense that we also got [total surrealistic non sequitur] out of it -- no causal connection.

Cocaine addled money laundering sexist nepotistic bro culture deserves all the harshness it gets.

I dare you to waste 6:17 minutes of your life that you will never get back watching this, and tell me they didn't spend a huge chunk of their investor's money on cocaine.

The synthesis of imagination: Rony Abovitz and Magic Leap at TEDxSarasota:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8J5BWL8oJY

>Surprises abound in this multimedia, surrealist talk/performance by Rony Abovitz and Magic Leap at TEDxSarasota. Rony is a recognized innovator and entrepreneur, having co-founded the pioneering robotics company, MAKO Surgical Corp, which was recognized by Deloitte as the #1 fastest growing tech company in North America in 2011. Part of TEDxSarasota's inaugural conference held on 12/12/12 with the theme "Creativity Matters" at the Historic Asolo Theatre in Sarasota, Florida.
by thisislife2 | 2026-01-09 16:25:03+00:00
> If they were trying to collect information about you, they really don't need the installer to be the thing that does it.

They do, if they are being duplicitous about their intent to not harvest user data.

If their browser was a data harvester from the get go, no one who is aware, and worried, about surveillance capitalism would have bothered to use it. And note that they had no problem in offering offline installers in the beginning. Now, once their base has grown, if they have a malicious intent (now or in the future), they can use the online installers to gather our personal data surreptitiously - for example, by profiling our hardware and (if you already had Orion installed) our settings, our bookmarks, our browser history etc. and use that commercially. It also allows them to install unwanted software on our computer in the future (I don't know if you are old enough to know - look up the browser toolbars era).

If their intent to respect a user's privacy is honest, offering an offline installer shouldn't be a big deal. (As far as I am aware, apart from Apple Safari, they are now the only browser that don't offer an offline installer).
by tyjen | 2026-01-09 16:25:44+00:00
This, and most law schools are businesses capturing student debt and too many law students foster a flawed perception of legal practice. There's a surplus of debt-laden law graduates who are unemployed, underemployed, or working in completely different fields. Transitioning to an apprenticeship styled career path would help solve the significant mismatching that's occurring. Too many people misspending their youth and incurring debt by falling for law school marketing ploys.

Turn Tier-1 law schools and state flagship law schools into legal scholarship graduate studies for people interested in pursuing highbrow judicial work.
by kccqzy | 2026-01-09 16:26:25+00:00
I’ve traveled in the Coast Starlight I think maybe five times. It was enjoyable.

Some more pros:

- The food served in the dining car is far better than airplane food.

- You can bring a bicycle along for the ride. You do not need to disassemble the bike or put it on a box. Just walk the bike to the luggage car and someone will take it.
by ozim | 2026-01-09 16:27:15+00:00
Well if let’s say local government like municipalities are paying for school software where you can check your child ren grades.

If there is API I should be able to make my own mobile app to access data or use other app.

Providers push ads and do shitty stuff to block any and all 3rd party access.

If it is that bad business just go away.
by chaboud | 2026-01-09 16:28:03+00:00
Having come from graphics in the 90's, practical high-performance answers typically involve fakery on both primary surface shading and shadow calculation.

I've pulled some tricks like "object-pre-pufficiation" (low-frequency model manifold encapsulation, then following the same bones for deformation) mixed with normal recording in shadow layers (for realtime work on old mobile hardware), but, these days, so much can be done with sampling and proper ray-tracing, the old tricks are more novelty than necessary.

It still pays to fake it, though.
Ask HN: How to stay relevant in the age of AI?
by snow_mac | 2026-01-09 16:28:07+00:00
Howdy friends

In the age of agentic AI, Claude code and all the amazing stuff like Kiro, Q and Cursor. How do you stay relevant? What are the things a web / react developer should learn to be better prepared to go get that next job?

Any advice, books, training courses, things to read and consider would be appreciated.
by robotguy | 2026-01-09 16:28:09+00:00
I was under the impression that Core War was pretty much a solved problem with multiple optimal warrior types in a rock-paper-scissors circular dominance. I have been somewhat interested in Core War for decades now, but I admit I haven't done any real deep dives into the history/evolution of the game. Does anyone have any suggested reading on how Core Warriors have progressed over the years and what the current status is? I follow /r/corewar but it seems pretty dead.

I am currently working on my own ALife simulation partly because of my (possibly mistaken) belief that progress on Core War had dead-ended. Discovering that there may still be more to do in this realm with Core War probably won't stop me working on my project, but I'd be interested to hear what is still going on.
by fzeroracer | 2026-01-09 16:28:46+00:00
I'm sorry, but it is deeply ironic for you of all people to be posting this given your statements on the ICE shooting not even 24 hours ago [1] [2]. You are quite literally the exact basis for this research in question.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46546310

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46546283
by dpark | 2026-01-09 16:29:07+00:00
> You don't "get full" and "get hungry again" by switching UIs. You can consume the same amount whether you switch or you don't switch.

This is actually a compelling argument for Claude Code getting the discount but not extending it to other cases. Claude Code, being subsidized by the company, is incentivized to minimize token usage. Third parties that piggyback on the same flat rate subscription, are not. i.e. Claude code wants you to eat less.

Of course, I don’t believe at all that this is why Anthropic has blocked this use case. But it is a reasonable argument.
by menaerus | 2026-01-09 16:29:15+00:00
I took the Fediversity project as an example because it was mentioned above in the comment and not an example of something I wanted to specifically point it. Truth to be told 90% of other EU funds are similar if not the same in the context of grants, and no, I don't find it sufficient, and no, I don't think such strategy will yield anything worth the salt. You will keep the developers have fun with their projects but something worthwhile? Forget. It doesn't exist at such minuscule scale.

The only bigger denominator in terms of funds is Horizon which is completely political, and not worth mentioning at all, if that's what you wanted to suggest. It also operates under minuscule scale in terms of grants (up to 2.5M over 2 years) or funding (1-30M). No possibility for seed rounds which implies you already must be in the business and already have an almost viable product ready to deploy to the market tomorrow (EU bureaucracy calls it TRL6-8). This is all ridiculous and shows how detached from reality people making decisions there are. They even hire "experts" to weigh your application for which you know ... ta-da ... have to hire yet another "expert" to write that application for you. 100s of pages to prove your idea worthy. Once a year. World innovation runs at much much higher pace.

So, sure the R&D environment in EU is built on a very fertile ground and Brussels is doing their best to "call for an evidence" because open-source software is going to save the economy??? Right.
by grayhatter | 2026-01-09 16:29:18+00:00
earlier in the thread I read nhe plan was to release the source "when it has merit" But that instantly left me with the feeling that the authors of the browser, and I have very different opinions on what the word merit means. Such that they would be incompatible, and I'd never want to use it. This is a decision that has lowered my opinion about exactly how much I can trust Kagi.

> Kagi founder here. Orion isn't open source yet primarily because we're a 5-person team that spent 6+ years building this and created significant IP doing so,

But it's possible I haven't considered some detail where I might agree it's reasonable. Can you describe or offer any insight into the "significant IP" that you need to protect and defend? What threats from a larger company are you primarily concerned about?
by jedwhite | 2026-01-09 16:29:46+00:00
Yes, you can use this with any text file and file extension to send file content to Claude Code with unix-like pipe support. Markdown happens to be a format that models like Claude work well with. And they provide a very readable way to mix structured and unstructured content along with code. But I use this with other plain text files regularly.

You could also pass commented code/scripts straight into Claude Code using it quickly without changing how they execute. The prompt instructions could go at the top of a valid file (say python/typescript) as comments, e.g.

`claude-run --azure --opus my_script.py`
by chasing0entropy | 2026-01-09 16:30:31+00:00
Any work aged human should be able to lift 50lbs.

That's roughly the weight of a small child or the torsional force required to drag an average sized male on grass.

That's the weight of a Fully loaded suitcase for a flight.

I mean, it's a fraction of the linear force required to push a stalled sedan and about the necessary force to remove, maneuver, or install a car battery

Lifting 50 lbs should be a general societal requirement. Thanks McDonald's for stating the obvious.
by wasmitnetzen | 2026-01-09 16:30:39+00:00
The template references a site which uses the Retail Price Index[1] (even though it says it uses the Consumer Price Index?), Bank of England uses the Consumer Price Index. Over such a long period a difference of 30% doesn't seem that much.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Inflation/UK/dataset
by sosodev | 2026-01-09 16:30:53+00:00
I'm not saying that pre-trained only models are useless. They've clearly extracted a ton of knowledge from the corpus. The interface may seem strange because it's not what we're accustom to but they still prove valuable. Code completion models, for example, are just LLMs that have pre-trained exclusively on code. They work very well despite their simplicity because... the model has extracted the signal from the noise.
by IggleSniggle | 2026-01-09 16:31:20+00:00
Compiled Lua vs LuaJIT is a major example imho, but maybe it's not especially pertinent given the looseness of the Lua language. I do think it demonstrates that the concept that it is possible to have a tighter type-system at runtime than at compile time (that can in turn result in real performant benefits) is a sound concept, however.
Ask HN: Why is Claude Code so cheap?
by figassis | 2026-01-09 16:31:45+00:00
It makes no sense to me as I see the price of my token usage reach and surpass the $1k mark. This has to be a bet. And the bet is that those of us who become very good ad building things with the help of AI, are helping make it so good that we will both become incalculably more productive over time, and we will teach it all our processes, and the ways in which it fails and how to recover, and everything else. To the point where we get so hooked (ie our productivity drops to pitiful levels that you're no longer completive, as in your employer will fire you within a month).

This will make AI table stakes, you won't live without it, and that is when prices will start reflecting the actual cost. And there will be nothing we can do about it.

As an engineer that sees the value in what we do, and also the value AI is adding to my workflows, I am very conflicted and don't know what do think, or how to help others navigate this.

For me, I am going to use my mountains of knowledge and experience (which goes beyond SWE) and build better products faster, while I have a lead on AI, so that hopefully I am at a position where I don't care if AI replaces my present skills. I the future, my worries should be if AI will replace my business (or businesses).

What are your thoughts?
by crossroadsguy | 2026-01-09 16:31:49+00:00
Not this but Golden Chariot (and Palace on Wheels - not sure this one still runs) was a dream since I was a student. When I could afford it, I was no longer interested. A few people I know took those rides and had nothing extraordinary to say of it. The prices are in USD so I guess it’s literally the “Raj Trip” trap for the foreigners and that’s what I heard from those few Indians I know who travelled in these. For the ultra rich Indian it holds no pull, and the rich Indians - they’d rather go elsewhere in that cost than cross the same tracks and platforms knowing fully well what lies below 2 feet and around it, in fact they can damn picture it in HD
by noAnswer | 2026-01-09 16:32:00+00:00
I sometimes wonder if I'm doing something wrong (as a German citizen). What are all this legal letters, people supposedly get all the time? Since I have "Briefankündigung" where I get a picture of the envelope via e-mail the night before it gets delivered I just checked all my mail of 2025. (Excluding Spam, not even 10 letters. The majority where RFID-card delivers.) I got the voting card for the 2025 Bundestag election and the car tax guys did sent me something because of a new car. Why the later didn't use Elster for that, I have no idea.

I give you that. Most organisations are paper first and you have to login and select "digital communication only" once.
by ortusdux | 2026-01-09 16:33:12+00:00
From the link:

In May 2012, Los Alamos published a white paper titled “Amount of Zeolite Required to Meet the Constraints Established by the EMRTC Report RF 10-13: Application of LANL Evaporator Nitrate Salts.” In other words, “How much kitty litter should be added to radioactive waste?” The answer was about 1.2 to 1, inorganic zeolite clay to nitrate salt waste, by volume.

That guidance was then translated into the actual procedures that technicians would use to repackage the waste in gloveboxes at Los Alamos. But something got lost in translation. As far as investigators could determine, here’s what happened: In a meeting in May 2012, the manager responsible for glovebox operations took personal notes about this switch in materials. Those notes were sent in an email and eventually incorporated into the written procedures:

“Ensure an organic absorbent is added to the waste material at a minimum of 1.5 absorbent to 1 part waste ratio.”
by stickfigure | 2026-01-09 16:33:50+00:00
It's interesting to think how non-linear progress is; geopolitical tensions ended this overland route and it would still be incredibly risky.

Related, the Damascus <-> Baghdad bus from the 1930s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlmpfHuLo14

It's a Calum documentary. He does these in-depth studies of historical curiosities like snow trains and WW2 rescue buoys. One of my favorite channels.
by lukan | 2026-01-09 16:33:59+00:00
I say it depends how he communicated it. If the other persons assumed he did not have money at all (and he was not clear about it) it is close to fraud - otherwise it is an awesome exercise in humbleness and expanding ones mind about the illusion of money. Not being dependent on it.

I used to hitchhike with a very low budget, but liked my independence and feel not comfortable to be dependant on other people, if there was no one in time, I took a bus. (If there was one)

But buddies I travelled with also took the no money approach serious (despite also having a bank account somewhere). Partly ideological, partly spiritual motivations. Not being dependant on money. It is freeing.
by RandomTisk | 2026-01-09 16:34:02+00:00
There's a strange pattern of die hard obstinence, even in the face of basic and common facts that we as as society until fairly recently all agreed upon. The reason is that works, if you admit fault/guilt then the usual consequences follow. If they remain obstinate, there's a chance they can project their crime on someone else which doesn't really work except it does retain for them a certain level of public support, from those who "see" what they want to see.

It's devastating society.
by willparks | 2026-01-09 16:34:29+00:00
I'm pretty sure the message is about the general goodness of humanity and the positivity of connection, "the better angles of our nature." As the culture gets more divided and us vs them, people are actually fundamentally good and helpful. I'm sure the people who helped him also got a positive experience out of it. It is not zero sum that he took something from them, both were positively affected by the experience.
by gostsamo | 2026-01-09 16:35:05+00:00
> I am having trouble seeing myself emptying my bank account to purchase a boat ticket for someone who has more money than I do.

Another strange example. In the entire article he does not give one example where he is the helper or offers reason why he would help or why people should help. It is all about the taking as far as I can read. IDK, just I'm not inspired or excited.
by palata | 2026-01-09 16:35:09+00:00
Wow, that's a lot of bad faith. I'll try once, and once only:

There has been a ton of money thrown at US drone companies in the last 10 years. A TON. From the government and from VCs. It's not that those companies are so small or non-existent: it's just that consumers do not buy their products. Which is why most drone companies have conveniently pivoted to the military now. And with the military funding, they have money.

And they have been lobbying A LOT to ban DJI, and they are winning that fight. But that does not mean that the consumers want to buy their US drones. DJI drones are still vastly cheaper and better, and professional users (including US government entities) rely on DJI. So much that it is unreasonable to just ban all existing DJI hardware. It has to come progressively so that those consumers can get used to paying a lot more to get worse drones.

There is no question here: without regulations, NOBODY can REMOTELY compete against DJI, period. If you don't understand that, then you don't understand the drone industry.

> But now you are saying that Huawei was about to unseat them and therefore needed to be banned. So… which is it?

Huawei and TikTok and DJI are Chinese companies. US people never forget to mention that they don't exactly play by the same rules (e.g. they can grow in their protected market until they reach a size where they can try in the rest of the world). US companies cannot do that (try to build a US smartphone manufacturer and compete with Apple in the US, just for fun).

But in those very rare situations where US companies get competition (and that will happen more and more from China), and those US companies suddenly find themselves in the weaker position, the VERY FIRST thing they want is more regulations.

"When I win, that's because I am the best. When I lose, that's because the rules are against me". You think Europe sucks because their tech companies lose against the US? Have fun comparing the US to China then :-).
by AngryData | 2026-01-09 16:35:48+00:00
Is this just a PR piece for Elon Musk?

As for the title, we already are going to fall behind, the only question is how far are we going to allow ourselves to fall behind before we change our economic policies. Or alternatively, how far can we fall behind before American hegemony becomes impotent and can be completely ignored by the rest of the world?

Unfortunately I think we may just keep blindly worshiping all the worst aspects of capitalism until complete collapse. Gen Y and Z may have changing thoughts about it, but im not sure it will add up enough to change the geriatric political landscape for another 2 decades, by which time the US will have lost all its leverage to do anything but dog everyone else's footsteps trying to pick up scraps.
by FloorEgg | 2026-01-09 16:35:50+00:00
I feel pretty silly about all of this. Part of the reason I was so adamant about my stance is that I've had comments flagged in the past, which at the time I felt wasn't appropriate (I really thought fell within the guidelines) and I mistakenly thought the moderators had done. So over time I adapted my interpretation of the guidelines, which is what I was representing here.

Now I realize I was being censored by who knows who based on their interpretation of the guidelines, or who knows why, not the people who run this site. Worse, I let it bias how I use the site and now propogated that pattern out on to others.

I really don't know what to think about all this as there is a lot to unpack and reflect on, but I've unflagged this submission.

Thanks again for clarifying how flagging works for me it's made a big difference.
by koke_vidaurre | 2026-01-09 16:36:16+00:00
I thought into that too! but not yet.
as you want the agents perform bash commands to interact with differnts services, by now you need to run it on your local computer and terminal where is assumed you'll handle properly all secrets.

but, yes! I imagine too in a near feature talking with my headphone to a my local computer and coordinating from there when I'm afk