MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by swyx | 2026-01-11 21:04:04+00:00
interesting exercise and well written. my followon questions/work would be:

1a. temperature=100000 is interesting too. obviously "ideal" temperature lies somewhere between 0 and 100000. has anyone ablated temperature vs intelligence? surely i'm not the first person to this idea. commonly people try to set temp=0 to get "deterministic" or "most factual" output but we all know that is just Skinner pigeon pecking.

1b. can we use "avg temperature" as a measure in the way that we use perplexity as a measure? if we see temperature as inverted perplexity with some randomness thrown in, are they basically the same thing inverted? or subtly different?

1c. what's the "avg temperature" of most human communication? whats the "avg temperature" of a subset of "good writers"? whats the "avg temperature" of a subset of "smart writers"?

2a. rerun this negative exercise with constrained vocab to english

2b. RL a model to dynamically adjust its own temperature when it is feeling 1) less confident 2) in brainstorm mode

2c. dynamically inject negative temperature every X tokens in a decode, then judge/verify the outcome, to create high variance synthetic data?

its hard for me to follow the train of thought on 2 because negative temp is essentially not that different from ultrahigh temp in practice.
by rgovostes | 2026-01-11 21:04:49+00:00
I reinstalled my system and attempted for weeks to get Time Machine to complete a first backup. Every time I started it, the progress bar would fill up about 60% and then stall, and eventually kernel panic if the system was left idle for hours. Never happened before I reinstalled, though I have had it randomly decide the backup is corrupt and it has to start over. macOS deserves a better first-party backup feature.
by seec | 2026-01-11 21:05:12+00:00
I agree with some reservations about this being completly generalised. There are still some successfull companies that rewards good players. But yes, there are very few and most of the rest are stuck coasting at a glacial pace, doing stuff that are not very competitive on so many levels it is impossible to describe succintly.

I would also argue that it is not just about the software industry. Many EU industries have become extremely uncompetitive on so many level.
Even when you are ready to pay more for EU made products, it is not easy to find something that is decently competitive and not just a pale copy of better offerings.

It is clear that the EU has become too collectivist but they are still stuck blaming capitalism (just like the soviets I guess).

In France, even old big players that were once at the top and/or were (semi)public organisation have fallen very hard or have been scandalously sold piecemeal to foreign actors.
The problem is not even that they are governement funded but it really is rooted in the collectivist organisation model that gives too much power to politics and very little lattitude to consumer/key actors choice.

Those systems become necessarily corrupted because they rely too much on human behaviors and most humans are fundamentally corrupt.
by bigfatkitten | 2026-01-11 21:06:25+00:00
Windows userland compatibility is outstanding. I can run most 30 year old Windows applications on Windows 11 without a problem. This makes it easy for a commercial vendor to support their applications on Windows.

The same is not at all true on Linux.

Right now at work, I’ve got a bunch of commercial apps built for RHEL9 for which I’m chasing vendors for new builds that work on RHEL10, for a variety of reasons. Dependencies like libXScrnSaver have simply been removed, and so apps linked against that library no longer work.
by consumer451 | 2026-01-11 21:06:49+00:00
The edge case was predicted, but market and political forces chose to ignore it. The GE Type II reactor had known issues. [0]

I should add that I am not strictly anti-nuclear, and it is super interesting that some of the largest funders of anti-nuclear propaganda have been actors from the fossil fuel industry. [1]

[0] https://publicintegrity.org/environment/reactors-at-heart-of...

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2016/07/13/are-f...
by redeeman | 2026-01-11 21:06:52+00:00
but lets make it simple then, I obtain a retail copy of windows 11, go and buy the latest nvidia gpu, released AFTER win11 was released, and it has a proper driver without downloading?

edit:
or another scenario, i go out and buy a new lenovo or dell or whatever laptop, format the disk, install retail windows, and now windows just has the drivers for all this?

or another scenario, I go and buy motherboard, ram, cpu, gpu, install windows, and it just magically has drivers for all the hardware?

the answer is: it does not, absolutely not.
by gruez | 2026-01-11 21:07:05+00:00
>If they really cared, if they had an ethical bone in their body, they would release 18.7.3 to the public WHICH THEY ALREADY HAVE STAGED.

>This is more like blackmail where they are dangling these security issues over everyone's head as some scare tactic to upgrade, instead of giving everyone access to the iOS 18 security patch which already exists.

18.7.3 was released a month ago. Anyone who cared about security updates would have already gotten it using the beta workaround. Anyone who's apathetic about updates isn't going to be swayed by 18.7.3 vs 26.2.
by tracerbulletx | 2026-01-11 21:07:41+00:00
For me its the feeling of true understanding and discovery. Not just of how the computer works, but how whatever problem domain I'm making software for works. It's model building and simulation of the world. To the degree I can use the LLM to teach me to solve the problem better than I could before I like it, to the degree it takes over and obscures the understanding from me, I despise it. I don't love computers because of how fast I can create shareholder value, that's for sure.
by pedropaulovc | 2026-01-11 21:07:46+00:00
CodjiFlo[1,2] - a code review tool inspired by Microsoft's CodeFlow, used by ~40,000 developers. It is especially tailored to power users of pull requests to improve contextual understanding and ease of code review and collaboration.

[1] https://github.com/pedropaulovc/codjiflo/

[2] https://codjiflo.vza.net
by troupo | 2026-01-11 21:08:07+00:00
Yup, I have Nvidia :)

Interestingly enough, I didn't have the same issue with Omarchy/Hyprland. Hyprland doesn't have even the most rudimentary ability to restore windows but it was almost rock solid when it came to coming out of sleep.

Still searching for that one true Linux distribution :) Will stay on Cachy for now because gaming is so much better.
by schiffern | 2026-01-11 21:08:11+00:00
The user-provided location would only be used for the initial bootstrapping. After it connects, the Starlink network itself will localize the receiver to within 1 km.

If the user inputs a bogus lat/lon, it would simply fail to connect. There's no way to 'spoof' your location on this type of global satellite comm network.

EDIT It will be interesting to see what anti-censorship and anti-DOS hardening features are coming in future software updates. Full GPS denial bootstrapping is the most obvious, and actually this should be possible without needing to input a location. Adding offline update packages, so signed anti-denial firmware updates can "sneakernet" across oppressive regimes to recover DOSed terminals, would be even better.
by TheOtherHobbes | 2026-01-11 21:08:11+00:00
The US had Three Mile Island. Japan had Fukushima.

One of the biggest arguments against nuclear is that reactors are insanely complex. Beyond a certain level of complexity, safety and predictability become impossible even with perfect management - which certainly doesn't exist in the nuclear industry.

This is especially true of any nuke system which needs external cooling, because stable water levels aren't a given any more because of climate change. Between floods, droughts, and storm surges, the environment is part of the system - something Fukushima discovered to its cost.
Show HN: WeatherToRun – What to wear and when to run based on weather
by ueudFAYP | 2026-01-11 21:08:57+00:00
I built this because I was tired of checking the weather app for all the details, doing mental math about wind chill, and still wearing the wrong thing on my runs, especially during the winter. It's a simple tool: you put in your location and it fetches weather data, thinks for a sec, and then it tells you exactly what to wear. No overthinking, no charts to memorize. Maybe it's not a good time to run right now or it's better tomorrow, it makes it easier to see that at a glance. I've been using it myself for a few months and it just works. I also tried building using a different design. Would love to hear what other runners think.
by porjo | 2026-01-11 21:09:24+00:00
I don't want to diminish the effort put into this project, but it's a reminder to me of just how many markdown editors there are out there! And yet I'm still searching for the holy grail:

- wysiwyg editor (not live preview)

- simplicity: single binary that can be pointed at a directory of markdown files

- fast launch time, low latency UI

- cross platform

- comes with basic 'extras' like tables & code block support

I actually really like the Confluence editor experience. If I could get that in an FOSS 'offline' package, my needs would be met.
by mschuster91 | 2026-01-11 21:09:38+00:00
> In light of Iran's mullah regime internet shutdown being completely bypassed by starlink portable units

Completely bypassed? Only very few people in Iran have Starlink dishes. Yes, some video material makes it out of Iran, but it's like a few dozen videos and journalists interviewing local sources despite the whole country protesting.

I wish them all the best and hopefully the mullahs finally get the boot - but Starlink is not a panacea for protests.
by josem | 2026-01-11 21:09:43+00:00
Building MatGoat (https://matgoat.com) - management software for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and other martial arts' academies.

I train BJJ and kept hearing the same complaints from academy owners regarding attendance tracking, comms, missing payments, etc.

So I'm building a tool for student tracking with belts progression, automated payments, attendance-based promotion criteria, and a tablet check-in system.

Focusing on Spanish-speaking markets first since it's completely underserved. Currently onboarding early academies, and will market it in the US/UK soon.
by indymike | 2026-01-11 21:09:47+00:00
Since 2008 I've been on linux as my daily driver. You'll find two laptops in my backpack: a macbook air and whatever linux machine I'm using for development. I'm almost to the point with the mac, I use it maybe once a month. So much works better on linux. The Mac (and occasions where I've tried Windows) is not nearly as easy to deal with as it was. Far too many decisions for the user to make, and far too many situation where you just aren't allowed. For example, I once fired up my macbook, only to be jarred by Apple News notifications about a gristly mass murder. While I sympathize with the victims, I do not want my routine broken by news out of my control. So I tried to get rid of Apple news only to be told by Apple support that was not possible.

My computer is mine. I do not want the manufacturer or author of the OS controlling it. Ever. Full stop.
by maxglute | 2026-01-11 21:10:02+00:00
>Under ITU rules established in 2019, satellite systems have to be operating – or have at least one satellite launched and operated for a period of time – within seven years of initial filing, after which they have to deploy 10 per cent of their constellations within two years, half within five years and all within seven years.

1. regulatory squatting on good mega constellation orbits.

2. if i'm reading this right PRC needs to hit 9k in 9 years, 100k in 14 years. Seems doable on PRC speed. If it's half, i.e. 100k with 5 years of filing, then no way target will be hit.
by simianwords | 2026-01-11 21:10:10+00:00
I wrote something similar earlier:

This is because they have entrenched themselves in a comfortable position that they don’t want to give up.

Most won’t admit this to be the actual reason.
Think about it: you are a normal hands on self thought software developer. You grew up tinkering with Linux and a bit of hardware. You realise there’s good money to be made in a software career. You do it for 20-30 years; mostly the same stuff over and over again. Some Linux, c#, networking. Your life and hobby revolves around these technologies. And most importantly you have a comfortable and stable income that entrenches your class and status. Anything that can disrupt this state is obviously not desireable. Never mind that disrupting others careers is why you have a career in the first place.
by burnerToBetOut | 2026-01-11 21:10:20+00:00
Don't mention it :)

I should've also shared this link: https://www.codurance.com/publications/2017/10/23/outside-in...

With that particular style of TDD, the trick to doing it well is to let the design _emerge_.

In my experience, AI coding agents are trained to do precisely the opposite of emergent design.

Cody, at least, convinced me that it's impossible for a coding agent to restrain itself from delivering a fully-formed implementation FIRST, in one fell swoop. And THEN it generates the test afterward.

The kind of discipline that London Style TDD prescribes seems like something only humans are capable of. Even then, only a small percentage of human TDD practitioners are able to be that disciplined.

I'm super interested in following your success with getting AI agents to work in the true spirit of Outside-In TDD.
by mmastrac | 2026-01-11 21:10:39+00:00
Huh, literally setting this up today but using registry.terraform.io/baladithyab/truenas. It works for a few things, but I wasn't able to get user management going.

The other providers are built on the OpenAPI APIs which appear to be brittle and incomplete. I guess this is the websocket version in command-line form?

I'd definitely be interested in switching over if you can flesh this out!
by hn_throwaway_99 | 2026-01-11 21:10:51+00:00
I think many people have a fundamental misunderstanding of what and why people flag on this site. And as someone who also used to have this misunderstanding, I'll explain how I changed my mind on this topic.

A lot of people view flagging as "that is a troll post/comment" or "that was made in bad faith". But I think another reason many people flag is "this topic is highly unlikely to generate any useful discussion" or "this topic may be fine for discussion, but not on HN".

FWIW, I disagree with the flagging in this instance. Most importantly, I did learn something useful in the comments (the bit about how Apple previously almost banned Tumbler due to unintentional CSAM). But I also don't really begrudge folks who voted to flag. Political topics always have a lower bar for flagging IMO, because they nearly always devolve into useless tribal warfare - useless tribal warfare that you can easily get in spades on nearly any other forum/social media site online. And just look at the comments on this post. Most of them I'd characterize as generally uninsightful, and even disregarding my opinion, tons of the comments here are downvoted. So if some folks are a little too trigger happy to flag because they're at least trying to keep HN's uniquely high value discussions, I don't really blame them.

So while I disagree with the flagging in this instance, I also disagree that HN generally has a problem with bad-faith flagging.
by orsenthil | 2026-01-11 21:10:57+00:00
https://picture.learntosolveit.com

I built a browser plugin called "Visionary" that overlays meaningful descriptions and context directly onto stunning pictures of the day.

I noticed that existing picture-of-the-day plugins were built over two decades ago and never evolved to harness the capabilities of modern artificial intelligence. AI can transform the picture viewing experience by distilling complex descriptions into accessible insights and providing references to explore the core concepts in the photo more deeply.

You can get a sense of how this works by visiting https://picture.learntosolveit.com

Get it for Chrome or other Stores

https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/picture-of-the-day/...
by ankit219 | 2026-01-11 21:11:28+00:00
Thats a doublespeak. You are talking about an act with a legal basis. You follow and comply with those regulations lest you break the law.

If it was a voluntary standard or code, maybe you could conform. The thread talks about the ACT and COMPLIANCE in its heading. You follow the regulation, you comply with it, you don't conform to a mandatory set of rules anyway. If you do, that is literally orwellian (because it implies a mandatory legal obidience is same as a voluntary fitting in).
by troupo | 2026-01-11 21:11:34+00:00
From "Safari 15 on Mac OS, a user interface mess" https://morrick.me/archives/9368 from 5 years ago:

--- start quote ---

The utter user-interface butchery happening to Safari on the Mac is once again the work of people who put iOS first. People who by now think in iOS terms. People who view the venerable Mac OS user interface as an older person whose traits must be experimented upon, plastic surgery after plastic surgery, until this person looks younger. Unfortunately the effect is more like this person ends up looking… weird.

These people look at the Mac’s UI and (that’s the impression, at least) don’t really understand it. Its foundations come from a past that almost seems inscrutable to them. Usability cues and features are all wrinkles to them. iOS and iPadOS don’t have these strange wrinkles, they muse. We must hide them. We’ll make this spectacular facelift and we’ll hide them, one by one. Mac OS will look as young (and foolish, cough) as iOS!

--- end quote ---

At the time it was only Safari that they wanted to "modernize". Now it's the full OS.
by wilg | 2026-01-11 21:11:37+00:00
Can anyone read? The text doesn't mention Claude Code or anything like it at all.

I swear to god everyone is spoiling for a fight because they're bored. All these AI companies have this language to try to prevent people from "distilling" their model into other models. They probably wrote this before even making Claude Code.

Worst case scenario they cancel your account if they really want to, but almost certainly they'll just tweak the language once people point it out.
by cickpass_broken | 2026-01-11 21:11:49+00:00
Not really a side project but:

I've been using linux for a few years now as my main/only OS, but have mainly just used Linux Mint as a sorta plug-and-play distro.

Looking to revive my 15 year old ThinkPad (1st laptop ever!) by building up from a base Void linux install. As I'm doing it I'm writing install-scripts and getting my dotfiles in order (after never really doing so for 17+ years as a programmer lol), so I can repeat the process in the future on other machines, or when I want to do a fresh re-install.

https://github.com/staydecent/void-setup
by osigurdson | 2026-01-11 21:12:00+00:00
Oh ok. Yeah, it is just not really complete yet. What this does is displays a UMAP of the embeddings for the selected feature and you can mouse over for labels. It isn't identifying clusters itself yet, finding exemplars, etc. Right now, points that are close to each other are just semantically close - as judged by UMAP.

That being said, there isn't much data for this month yet. If you look at last month's data (https://nthesis.ai/public/e4883705-ec05-4e7a-83ac-6b878cc1e8...) , clusters are more apparent (particularly if you view the tags instead of summary).
by kukkeliskuu | 2026-01-11 21:12:07+00:00
Many of my enterprise customers face the microservice hairball problem. Adoption of microservices has been "too succesful". There may be 200-400 microservices, and ownership may be lacking. The number is typically growing fast, because it is easier to create a new one than use an existing one.

So I started to work on a side project called "Arch Ascent" for addressing these situations. It seems like it is becoming a kind of a architectural governance tool for visualizing and validating software system dependencies.

- Dependency Graph — Syncs projects from SonarQube and visualizes component dependencies using Cytoscape.js, with graph algorithms for detecting cycles (SCCs), clustering (Louvain), and computing coupling metrics

- Visions — Workspaces for exploring architectural scenarios. Each vision can have multiple versions/variations with different layouts while sharing the same definitions

- Layers — Named groupings of components (e.g., "Domain Layer", "Team Ownership", "GitLab Groups") that can be visualized as colored regions on the canvas

- References — Named sets of components defined via Tag expressions, layer membership etc.

- Statements — Architectural intent constraints that can be evaluated against the actual dependency graph, such as existence, containment, exclusion, cardinality etc.

The plan is to also incorporate Grounds, which are Intermediate stable states on the path from the current situation (ground zero) toward a vision. Each ground represents a releasable milestone that moves the architecture closer to the target vision without necessarily fulfilling all its statements. Grounds enable incremental architectural evolution with well-defined checkpoints.

Stack: Django, HTMX, Cytoscape.js, pyparsing for natural language parsing of References and Statements.
by matteotom | 2026-01-11 21:12:45+00:00
idk, the two finger "rolling" pixel-by-pixel scroll seems to work for me - Firefox (also foot terminal, Slack (xwayland), and Signal) on Scroll (a Sway fork) on Debian (testing) on a ~year old Thinkpad X11. I don't think I've done anything to configure or customize it either.

I got a Thinkpad (after a few years on a Macbook) largely because in the past the track point was a lot better than trackpads. But in those years, it seems hardware and/or software have improved enough that I barely use it.
by leecommamichael | 2026-01-11 21:12:53+00:00
Through my own experience moving from IDE & higher-level languages to a simple textual editor and (nullable) systems languages, I've noticed that the way I read and write code is entirely different, and I can remember my "old eye." I think most people reading this view your "noise" as their signal. They get a good feeling when resolving tooling diagnostics (doubled if in an unfamiliar-to-them domain like systems programming.) It makes them feel secure. In that sense, I agree very much with the article: "I honestly think a lot of this discussion is fundamentally a misunderstanding of different perspectives rather than anything technical."

Personally, I've noticed that I pause less and write more now that I've got less tooling in my editor, and that's very enjoyable. I'd encourage anyone to try it. I have no autocomplete or "hover" info, just compilation errors presented aside the offending lines.
by jimmydoe | 2026-01-11 21:13:41+00:00
I still did not get very clearly what can and can’t zed, open code and other do to use max plan? Developers want to use these 3p client and pay you 200 a month, why are you pissing us off. I understand some abuser exists but you will never really be possible to ban them 100%, technically.

Very poor communication, despite some bit of reasonable intention, could be the beginning of the end for Claude Code.
by jojohack | 2026-01-11 21:14:14+00:00
Became more fascinated with the history of my small hometown (Paris, Texas) TLDR: Much of it was wiped out by a 1916 fire. I spent some time recently vibe-coding this interactive map to provide some kind of historic visualization ( which enabled me to see the impact better )
https://gorch.com/parisfiremap/