MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by sotix | 2026-01-02 15:28:35+00:00
My company had an onsite where presenters were plugging their computers into a projector via HDMI. I watched seven individuals go up with their MacBook Pros, plug the cable in, then get confused why nothing was showing on the screen. Seven times in a row, someone had to run onto the stage and accept the permissions dialog on the Mac allowing the user to share their screen via HDMI. When the eighth presenter took the stage, he plugged the HDMI cable into his laptop running Linux, and the screen immediately output an image. Linux just works.

I switched full time to Linux in 2022 when Elden Ring launched and had better performance in its first week on Linux than on Windows. I personally switched over to KDE Plasma powered by Arch. The first thing I noticed was how perfectly it was immediately. So I'd push the title of the article on step further: Linux has been good for a while.

In the four years since switching over from a dual Windows (for gaming) and Mac (for programming, web browsing, and everything else), I have almost entirely had a better experience in every single area. I still use macOS daily for work, and it is constantly driving me mad. For every task I have thrown at it (from gaming to programming to game dev to photo editing), Linux just works.

On Mac it's more like, "there's an app for that". I have third party package managers on Mac. I use a third party app to display if my internet connection is using Ethernet. It yells at me to delete the CSV file that I created and requires an instruction manual with instructions for the Settings app that have changed three times in three years for how to open the file, add Bluetooth to the menu bar, etc. It even had a permanent red icon on the Settings about not being signed into an Apple ID. And once I signed in, the Settings app has a permanent red icon about paying for Apple Care. My parents have made comments about how they're worried as they get older that they won't be able to keep up with the constant updates and changes to macOS and iOS.

I don't have much to say about Windows besides good riddance. It was far less confusing to use than macOS but was filled with too much bloat and pop up notifications.

The final thing I'll mention is that the first time my girlfriend used my computer, she sat down, opened the browser, and completed her task. She thought that she was using Windows and was able to navigate the new interface without having to spend any time learning anything. For her regular use case of using the PC for an internet browser, Linux just worked. She even asked me afterwards to install it on her laptop to replace Windows! I can't believe we're in a world where that's asked by someone non-technical who just wants a computer to get out of their way so that they can perform their tasks.
by csomar | 2026-01-02 15:28:58+00:00
I've been going through the same thing for over a year now. I dropped out of the job search and started focusing on building my own product instead (though I can't say that's going particularly well either). Since I don't have physical access to EU/US markets, I'm only looking for remote positions.

After the post-COVID boom, companies started laying off people in large numbers. Couple that with tightening restrictions on remote work, most US companies now require work authorization, EU companies have tax compliance requirements, etc.and remote options without a formal employment relationship have become nearly impossible to find.

I don't think learning new programming languages will make much difference at this point. There isn't a new shiny technology that everyone's chasing, and AI companies are hiring very few people. Your best bet is probably finding an in-person job and relocating.
by darkwater | 2026-01-02 15:28:59+00:00
> Would you consider that too clunky?

Absolutely. It's a patch that can achieve a similar result, but it's a patch indeed. A major features of every ticketing system, if not "the" major feature, is the ticket flow. Which should be opinionated. Customizable with the owner's opinion, but opinionated nonetheless. Using labels to cover missing areas in that flow is a clunky patch, in my book.
by martin-t | 2026-01-02 15:29:36+00:00
I don't mean to sound like the stereotypical "I did X and turned out fine" but...

I grew up with an internet access on my computer in my room without anybody watching over my back and without any restrictions and nothing bad really happened. Meanwhile these days some people around me with children around the 10-15 range seem think their children cannot be trusted and restrictions are absolutely essential.

Has the internet really changed that much in the last decade or two? Or are people and media just talking about the dangers more?

---

Also, what happens to these kids when they reach adulthood and the guard rails come off?

Has anybody tried an alternative like teaching children about the actual dangers, how to recognize manipulation, etc? I have a feeling many people (including children) don't really learn unless they get hurt so the best we can do it making sure they do get hurt but only a little.

E.g. let them get scammed in a game instead of real life. Or pretend to be a stranger and try to befriend them, seeing if they fall for it?
by olavgg | 2026-01-02 15:29:40+00:00
The biggest advantage of ZFS from a operational experience, is that when you have problems, ZFS tells you why. Checksum errors? Something wrong with the hard drive or SATA/SAS cables. Is the disk slow, zfs events will tell you that it spent more than 5 seconds to read sector x from disk /dev/sdf. The zfs cli commands are super-intuitive, and makes fully sense. Compared to ie. virsh, which is just weird for managing vm's.

It definitely worth the hassle. But if everything works fine for you now, don't bother. ZFS is not going away and you can learn it later.
by softwaredoug | 2026-01-02 15:30:10+00:00
This is just going to hurt US car manufacturers. Tarriffs are rent seeking. Rent seeking in the long run is brittle. You get a little security now for loss of competitiveness in the future - once the rent seeking goes away, you’re screwed. You haven’t had to compete, so you haven’t adapted. Consumers flee because they’ve just tolerated you - they actively dislike being forced into fewer choices

Rent seeking is industry suicide. It feels like it helps, but it’s not solving the real problem.
by alembic_fumes | 2026-01-02 15:30:10+00:00
This pervasive desire to block, protect, monitor, and control your children's online activities through nebulous supervision tools seems like a particularly American solution to a particularly American problem. Much like how little Timmy simply can't go out to play without a GPS anklet and an air tag behind each ear, so too can't he go online without a supervised account on a supervised device on a supervised connection.

Take an earnest interest in your child's activities, both online and offline. Guide them how to behave in strange, even weird and scary situations with strangers. Be the reliable adult in their life to whom they can tell when they encounter something unpleasant, online or offline. Under the guidance of a parent your children will be safer than behind any amount of protective layers that these so called child-safety apps provide, and they will also know how to help their friends to navigate risk and avoid danger.

Or put another way, if your child must eventually swim in the sea, would rather that they know how to swim, or strap a fifth flotation device onto their back?
by alexpotato | 2026-01-02 15:30:11+00:00
Of all of the uses for AI/LLMs, setting parental controls feels like it would be such a massive net win for everyone involved.

Instead, LLMs are being used to replace support people at the larger platforms (e.g. X Box) with the clear goal of "make it HARDER to get support" (or as patio11 would say "their goal is to get you off the phone as quickly as possible ")
by toss1 | 2026-01-02 15:30:11+00:00
Exactly

>>"Here's what I want: an off switch. A single setting that says "this child cannot go online, communicate with strangers, spend money, or download anything without my explicit permission." Instead I get a maze, complex enough that when something goes wrong, I'm at fault for a tooltip I didn't hover over, a blog post I didn't read, a submenu I didn't find. Maybe that's by design. Maybe it's neglect. I don't know. "

When it happens only a few times, it might be neglect. This is absolutely by design.

And think again if you think any large corporation (beyond a few isolated individuals who will not be employed there for long) has any actual concern for your safety, or to get anything right beyond an appearance of safety and plausible deniability for the inevitable harm caused by their dark patterns.

The only winning move is not to play. Don't play and write about how awful it is. Send them the only message that they will hear. Stop giving them your money.
by dylan604 | 2026-01-02 15:30:12+00:00
my biggest pet peeve was that VLC was always considered a streamer and treated local files as streams as well. for the longest time, stepping within the video was not possible. reverse play was also a bane as well, even with i-frame only content. i have long found players that are better for me, but still find myself using VLC frequently because it still has features these other players do not.
by hypeatei | 2026-01-02 15:30:25+00:00
> were going to compel use of people's preferred pronouns

This is the exact mindset I mentioned above where Democrats are judged based on what they might've done or might happen, while Trump has clearly done things that go against our basic rights yet they're being shined in the same light. To be clear: I'm not saying we shouldn't criticize policy proposals.

> "A huge conspiracy to overtly break the law" is what DEI was and still sadly largely is.

DEI is a very wide tent, and the intentions of it are to widen the hiring pools to consider more people. If there are specific programs breaking the law, then those can be discussed specifically. Right wingers are typically for meritocracy (which has been shown to be a red herring with this loyalist admin, but w/e) and in theory they'd actually support a wider pool of people being considered.

Academia can be quite left leaning, so training about white supremacy or woke shit there is certainly over the top, but I have a problem with the broad brushes you're applying to something that has a lot more nuance. If this lawlessness was as pervasive as you make it seem in every sector, wouldn't we have seen a major loss in court already that requires these programs to be axed across the board?
by n0um3n4 | 2026-01-02 15:30:27+00:00
Location: Mexico
Remote: Yes
Willing to relocate: Yes
Technologies: Elixir, Ruby, Rust
github: https://github.com/n0um3n4
radicle: https://app.radicle.xyz/nodes/seed.radicle.garden/users/did%3Akey%3Az6MkvqpvdaA8YpMzn5sQ67PChE3jRdzQQ69Qmco73HBtyUpm
Résumé/CV: https://noumena.mx/full-resume.pdf
Email: email@noumena.mx
by jqpabc123 | 2026-01-02 15:31:00+00:00
More pertinent question --- why do non-Americans love AI?

Lawyers use it to draft legal briefs.

Court sanctions lawyers for fake citations generated by AI.

https://natlawreview.com/article/court-sanctions-attorneys-s...

AI is inherently unreliable and untrustworthy. In this case, distrust is not just some emotional reaction but pretty well grounded in fact.

Once lawyers learn this themselves from experience, I expect they will move toward legally impressing this upon any who are slow/reluctant to admit as much.

Using technology that is widely known to be flawed for any sort of serious work is a textbook example of "negligence".
by stephenr | 2026-01-02 15:31:28+00:00
Sandisk have been making dual-port usb flash drives for years. I see no reason to buy/use any other kind, in the same way I see no reason buy a printer with a parallel port or a mouse with a ps2 plug on it.

If it's really a significant problem, use the benefits of usb and put a hub or usb extension cord on the desk to connect to.

I just cannot fathom how such trivial factors are a problem for people.
by alex-moon | 2026-01-02 15:31:42+00:00
I should guess it is about liability more than anything else. They want to advertise and sell to children, but they don't want to be taken to court about it. Makes a tonne of sense from a profit perspective, especially as people under ~25 years of age are more susceptible to impulsivity and addiction due to the developing prefrontal cortex. From a sales perspective, the younger the better (as any parent can confirm).
by aebtebeten | 2026-01-02 15:31:58+00:00
There are also much simpler models, see Körner, "The Pleasures of Counting" (1996), Ch 17 ("Time and Chance").

tl;dr: if you have an expected average number of offspring κ in each generation of your fad then when κ=1 the probability that any line lasts for n generations (p_n) becomes small, yet because the average size of the nth generation is still 1, the average size of the remaining lines is p_n^-1, which becomes large.
by pron | 2026-01-02 15:32:25+00:00
> You mistakenly believe the pattern you've seen is predictive

Why mistakenly? I think you're confusing the possibility of breaking a causal trend with the likelihood of doing that. Something is predictive even if it doesn't have a 100% success rate. It just needs to have a higher chance than other predictions. I'm not claiming Rust has a zero chance of achieving C++'s (diminished) popularity, just that it has a less than 50% chance. Not that it can't happen, just that it's not looking like the best bet given available information.

> Notice that your pattern offers zero examples

The "pattern" includes all examples. Name one programming language in the history of software that's grown its market share by a factor of ten after the age of 10-13. Rust is now older than Java was when JDK 6 came out and almost the same age Python was when Python 3 came out (and Python is the most notable example of a late bloomer that we have). Its design began when Java was younger than Rust is now. Look at how Fortran, C, C++, and Go were doing at that age. What you need to explain isn't why it's possible for Rust to achieve the same popularity as C++, but why it is more likely than not that its trend will be different from that of any other programming language in history.

> Why double digits? It is arbitrary, and likewise for your "about a decade" prediction

The precise number is arbitrary, but the rule is that the rate of adoption of any technology (or anything in a field with selective pressure) spreads at a rate proportional to its competitive advantage. You can ignore the numbers altogether, but the general rule about the rate of adoption of a technology or any ability that offers a competitive advantage in a competitive environment remains. The rate of Rust's adoption is lower than that of Fortran, Cobol, C, C++, VB, Java, Python, Ruby, C#, PHP, and Go and is more-or-less similar to that of Ada. You don't need numbers, just comparisons. Are the causal theory and historical precedent 100% accurate for any future technology? Probably not, as we're talking statistics, but at this point, it is the bet that this is the most likely outcome that a particular technology would buck the trend that needs justification.

I certainly accept that the possibility of Rust achieving the same popularity that C++ has today exists, but I'm looking for the justification that that is the most likely outcome. Yes, some places are adopting Rust, but the number of those saying nah (among C++ shops) is higher than that of all programming languages that have ever become very popular. The point isn't that bucking a trend with a causal explanation is impossible. Of course it's possible. The question is whether it is more or less likely than not breaking the causal trend.
by mjg2 | 2026-01-02 15:32:26+00:00
I agree. Parents in the 21st century need to realize the call is coming from inside the house: it's their obligation to protect their child. Unsupervised usage without full due-diligence will lead to incidents like what the blog author describes.

The dilemma of online protection is a false crisis because parents would rather let their children play with fire than nurture their babies.
by tracker1 | 2026-01-02 15:32:37+00:00
When you're talking millions in income it can be that high depending on your state... IIRC, as peer comment mentions, Washington doesn't have state taxes, you still have a nominal rate for Federal at 38% though, and I'm not sure about sales, property or other taxes, which again, likely approach or exceed 50% against total income.

Just checked, seems it's now 37% for the top federal bracket... for what it's worth, I think it's amoral to tax more than half of what someone makes, regardless of how much they make.
by CamperBob2 | 2026-01-02 15:32:53+00:00
Except of course it's not true lol. Horses are smart critters, but they absolutely cannot do arithmetic no matter how much you train them.

These things are not horses. How can anyone choose to remain so ignorant in the face of irrefutable evidence that they're wrong?

https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.15855

It's as if a disease like COVID swept through the population, and every human's IQ dropped 10 to 15 points while our machines grew smarter to an even larger degree.
by kentonv | 2026-01-02 15:32:58+00:00
In my most recent attempt to use AMD, my problems were:

1. I needed to install a bleeding-edge kernel version in order to get support for the very new AMD card I had purchased, which was a bit of a pain on Debian. (With NVidia, the latest drivers will support the latest hardware on older kernels just fine.)

2. AMD can't support HDMI 2.1 in their open source drivers. Not their fault -- it's a shitty decision by the HDMI forum to ban open source implementations. But I was trying to drive an 8k monitor and for other reasons I had to use HDMI, so this was a deal-breaker for me. (This is actually now solvable using a DP->HDMI dongle, but I didn't discover that solution at the time.)

But every time I've tried to use AMD the problems have been different. This is just the most recent example.

Obviously I'm using the open source drivers, since the entire point of everyone's argument for AMD on Linux is the open source part.

The root problem may just be that I'm deeply familiar with the nvidia linux experience after 25 years of using it whereas the AMD experience is unfamiliar whenever I try it, so I'm more likely to get stuck on basic issues.
by ivan_gammel | 2026-01-02 15:33:03+00:00
>I think the differences between inventing a story or song and inventing a theory are not as great as you pretend.

I do not pretend anything and I‘m not talking about inventing a story. I‘m talking about movie production, which, even with heavy use of AI is by orders of magnitude more expensive than a piece of free software, and certainly cannot be done with a single computer.
by thomascountz | 2026-01-02 15:33:07+00:00
As being discussed in another thread about plain-text accounting[1], what I've found most difficult about these tools is the learning curve between "Assets = Liabilities + Equity" and the realities of modeling a household economy.

I appreciate the level of detail in this post. I think there's often confusion that plaintext == easy/simple. The real takeaway is: "if you're going to go through all of the trouble of managing your economy, you may as well make sure you control your data and own your system."

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46463644
by latexr | 2026-01-02 15:33:13+00:00
Why link to an external website instead of the source?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=311049

This is a post of what the Guidelines specifically ask us to not do:

> Please don't post comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html#:~:text=Ple...
by immibis | 2026-01-02 15:34:06+00:00
The internet has changed incredibly in the last two decades, and has almost nothing in common with the internet of two decades ago. Predators of all varieties are everywhere; many of them are billion-dollar companies. Scams are everywhere.

Getting scammed in RuneScape is probably a good learning experience, but is RuneScape still the only game that's like the old experience of RuneScape? That and Minecraft I suppose, but you can't really filter out servers in Minecraft.
by floundy | 2026-01-02 15:35:07+00:00
I’m assuming the author was thinking Minecraft with the kid’s friends would be Peer2Peer or something. I doubt Switch has the power to host a Minecraft server, but I might be wrong.

See Smash, which is entirely Peer2Peer for the main gameplay, but requires a Switch Online membership to play for… what exactly? Hosting a database of player ratings and using it for matchmaking? There’s probably one server rack on each continent running the entirety of Smash online.
by dcre | 2026-01-02 15:35:09+00:00
Thanks for replying! I disagree that current LLMs can't help build tooling that improves rigor and lets you manage greater complexity. However, I agree that most people are not doing this. Some threads from a colleague on this topic:

https://bsky.app/profile/sunshowers.io/post/3mbcinl4eqc2q

https://bsky.app/profile/sunshowers.io/post/3mbftmohzdc2q

https://bsky.app/profile/sunshowers.io/post/3mbflladlss26
by zaphar | 2026-01-02 15:35:10+00:00
I agree, the point of making usage monitored early on is so that you can train your child in what to do when they encounter stuff online. As that training has occured then you can begin to loosen the restriction and give them more freedom. This is the job of parenting. You are teaching your child how to safely and productively engage with the world and the younger they are the more of your time and attention this requires. If you don't teach them someone else might and that lesson may haunt them for the rest of their life.
by simonw | 2026-01-02 15:35:24+00:00
I didn't know about the .text extension for Daring Fireball: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/12/31/photoshop-1-and...

Interesting to see how the original creator of Markdown uses it.

I'm presuming that's the version he edits and not output automatically converted from an intermediary representation.
by dspillett | 2026-01-02 15:35:25+00:00
If you search the page you'll find a reference to having “numerous foot guns”.

I can't say I've experienced either of the ones mentioned, but I have had trouble in the past with output resolution selection (ending up with a larger file than expected with the encoding resolution much larger than the intended display resolution). User error, of course, but that tab is a bit non-obvious so it might be fair to call it a footgun.
by dmix | 2026-01-02 15:35:29+00:00
The Chinese provinces and cities are competing aggressively with each other, both the local governments who provide cheap loans (largely funded by profits from other corporate loans, as China has much lower income taxes than the US) and companies also compete aggressively for dominance both locally and globally.

In the US you usually have 2-3 giant companies who are pets of the federal government and get tax breaks and subsidies if they make 'jobs' in particular states, particularly where useful congressmen live. It's a far more centralized market even though it has little direct government capital investment.

Old legacy companies being propped up in the name of national interests while they slowly become more and more detached from the global market.

On top of that China allowed heavy investment in infrastructure and real estate instead of interfering in it, so everything from property to energy costs are cheaper. Making cost of doing business cheaper.