MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by einsteinx2 | 2026-01-30 14:38:57+00:00
> When the world is on fire and people are suffering

The problem is that the world is always on fire and people are always suffering.

Especially so because now we hear about the whole world’s problems, and no matter how peaceful a state the world is in there’s always a war or something happening somewhere. It’s been like that for all of human history and I don’t expect it to change any time soon.

I don’t think it’s healthy to live your whole live hearing about these problems that you have no ability to affect at all. In my experience it only has negative effects on your life and whether you’re tapped into the real time news feed or not, it doesn’t actually change these events in any way.
by Someone | 2026-01-30 14:39:01+00:00
> Unlike the PC market, the comprehensive list of "other vendors" is two entries long

Before there was “a sort of standardization in the industry” the comprehensive list of “PC vendors” was one entry long.

Years before that, there were several times there was “a sort of standardization in the industry”, both of which led to there being many vendors.

- the Altair bus. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-100_bus#IEEE-696_Standard: “In May 1978, George Morrow and Howard Fullmer published a "Proposed Standard for the S-100 Bus" noting that 150 vendors were already supplying products for the S-100 Bus”

- CP/M. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CP/M#Derivatives: “CP/M eventually became the de facto standard and the dominant operating system for microcomputers, in combination with the S-100 bus computers. This computer platform was widely used in business through the late 1970s and into the mid-1980s.”
Show HN: Running our stack on a $25 Hetzner node with Coolify and SQLite
by icemelt8 | 2026-01-30 14:39:08+00:00
We recently moved the infrastructure for Wetarseel away from complex cloud setups to a single "big" server. The goal was to reduce both the monthly bill and the "mental tax" of managing distributed services.

The Hardware: We’re using a single Hetzner VPS (~$25 USD/mo) providing:

8 vCPUs

32GB RAM

200GB NVMe

The Architecture: Instead of a fleet of microservices, we run everything on this one node using Coolify as a self-hosted PaaS. It gives us a Heroku-like experience (Red/Blue deployments via GitHub webhooks) without the per-resource cost.

The Stack:

Frontend/Backend: Next.js and Bun.

Database: SQLite. Since it’s just a file on the NVMe, latency is near zero.

Queues: BullMQ orchestrated via a local Redis instance.

Storage: Self-hosted S3-compatible storage for assets.

Why we did this: We found that vertical scaling is underrated. With 32GB of RAM, we have massive headroom. Using SQLite removes the need for managed DB overhead, and Coolify handles the "plumbing" (SSL, networking, backups).

It’s been surprisingly stable and "just works." I'd love to hear from others who have ditched complex cloud infra for "boring" single-server setups, or any questions on the trade-offs we've made.

Link to article [https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-we-chose-coolify-hetzner-...]
by icemelt8 | 2026-01-30 14:39:43+00:00
We built Wetarseel with a focus on keeping the "mental overhead" of infrastructure as low as possible.

The Hardware: > We’re using a single Hetzner VPS (8 vCPU, 32GB RAM, 200GB NVMe) for ~$25/month. Compared to the big cloud providers, the vertical scaling headroom here is massive for the price.

The Stack:

Orchestration: Coolify (self-hosted PaaS). It handles SSL, GitHub-triggered Red/Blue deployments, and Docker management.

Runtime: Next.js and Bun.

Database: SQLite. Having the DB as a local file on NVMe makes latency negligible and simplifies backups (it's just a file copy).

Workers: BullMQ via Redis.

Storage: Self-hosted S3-compatible storage on the same node.

The goal was to see how far we could get before needing a distributed system. So far, the performance has been excellent, and "it just works." Happy to answer any questions about the setup or the trade-offs of going single-server.
by Insanity | 2026-01-30 14:40:05+00:00
Can’t exactly relate to the post. I never had a device die on me like that. All my devices with Li-ion batteries are “daily drivers”.

I do tend to keep charge between 20-80% where possible, and fortunately haven’t seen significant battery degradation.

I’m on a 4 year old iPhone and even that easily gets me through the day still on 80% charge.

My only AA device is my HHKB keyboard and I wish it had a USB-C rechargeable battery instead.
by thesz | 2026-01-30 14:40:06+00:00
> When you know half a dozen programming languages or web frameworks, the next one takes you a couple hours to get comfortable with.

Learn yourself relational algebra. It invariantly will lead you to optimization problems and these will also invariantly lead you to equality saturation that is most effectively implemented with... generalized join from relational algebra!

Also, relational algebra implements content-addressable storage (CAS), which is essential for data flow computing paradigm. Thus, you will have a window into CPU design.

At 54 (36 years of professional experience) I find these rondos fascinating.
by Aurornis | 2026-01-30 14:40:08+00:00
Distributing our infrastructure is a good thing.

Putting them all in one or two places isn’t good for reliability, disaster resilience, and other things that benefit from having them distributed.

Data centers do more than just run LLMs. It’s a good thing when your data is backed up to geographically diverse data centers and your other requests can be routed to a nearby data center.

Have you ever tried to play fast paced multiplayer games on a server in a different country? It’s not fun. The speed of light limits round trip times.

> I guarantee it's not to run LLMs.

Are you trying to imply something conspiratorial?
by datsci_est_2015 | 2026-01-30 14:40:24+00:00
It’s definitely a result of the money at play, which is unprecedented in scale and (imo) speculation.

But this is, in theory, why we have laws: to fight power imbalances, and money is of course power.

Tough for me to be optimistic about law and order right now though, especially when it comes to the president’s biggest donors and the vice president’s handlers.
by westurner | 2026-01-30 14:40:53+00:00
ScholarlyArticle: "Ferroelectric ultraviolet photodetector material with ultrafast response speed" (2025) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-68069-6

NewsArticle: "Novel ferroelectric ultraviolet photodetector achieves near-10,000-fold speed increase" (2025) https://phys.org/news/2026-01-ferroelectric-ultraviolet-phot...
by therobots927 | 2026-01-30 14:41:02+00:00
How the conflict started? You mean decades of random killings by Israel? You know they use Gazan kids for target practice? That’s sick behavior. Sorry but your propaganda doesn’t work anymore. No one outside of Israel buying it. Look at the US polls. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/10/03/americans-vi...
Softflation
by adibalcan | 2026-01-30 14:41:15+00:00
Thanks to artificial intelligence, we can now produce many more software applications using the same resources.

Even people without programming skills can build their own applications.
The result? A much larger number of apps, increased competition, and significant pressure on marketing and sales.

Naturally, this intensified competition leads to lower prices and faster progress.
I call this phenomenon softflation.

What is your opinion about this phenomenon?
by anonymous908213 | 2026-01-30 14:41:46+00:00
Before getting through the article, I had in fact completely misinterpreted the intent of the headline; I assumed it was anti-LLM-hype because of "code is cheap". Code is, indeed, cheap. Not because of LLMs, but because it has always been so.

I think what we're witnessing is hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people who aren't software engineers, who have played around and dabbled with the idea of coding but who are not professionals, suddenly having their world expanded. As a hobbyist, they can suddenly create proof-of-concepts for all kinds of things without bothering to learn anything. And, not knowing better, they think that this is what software engineering is: just writing code for cool toys. If it compiles, it's good enough, right?

Of course, the difficult part of the profession has always been the engineering. You need to turn that code into a product that survives contact with the real world, that survives contact with thousands or millions of users, that is secure, performant, as bug-free as possible, that is easily extendable and maintainable for years or decades to come. That is and has always been the difficult part, and LLMs have shown zero indication whatsoever of being able to replace professionals in this role.

And so here we have a blog post written about Linus merging an LLM-generated commit on his toy project, once again completely missing the point of the difference between a hobby and a profession, and ignorantly proclaiming that the former will replace the latter.
by SJMG | 2026-01-30 14:41:46+00:00
> I wish they had attempted to measure product management skill.

We're definitely getting better at writing specs. The issue is the labor bottleneck is competent senior engineers, not juniors, not PMs, not box-and-arrow staff engineers.

> I think AI is shifting entry level programmers to focus on expressing requirements clearly

This is what the TDD advocates were saying years ago.
by emsign | 2026-01-30 14:41:49+00:00
Data centers raise electricity bills and use too much ground water. Due to the AI bubble more data centers need to be built in areas that cannot support these facilities, deregulation, investor and political pressure ensures this, i.e. corruption. The last remaining spots are near residential areas. So people are pissed because of:

* noise pollution, infrasound from HVAC travelling long distances making people sick

* power outages priorizing data centers at the expense of residentials

* rising electricity bills

* rising water bills
Show HN: Today is Friday What are you building?
by cranberryturkey | 2026-01-30 14:42:01+00:00
I’m building a few
Projects that are ready for users

https://bittorrented.com a torrent-first
Streaming platform

http://marksyncr.com a free bookmarks synchronizer web extension for chrome safari and Firefox based browsers

http://defpromo.com a zero-cloud self promotion web extension for all browsers helps automate commenting on social media posts to promote your product api keys required

https://giv1.com Publish Newsletters & Podcasts. The complete platform for content creators. Publish beautiful newsletters and podcasts

https://tutorlinkup.com The Premier Cryto-friendly Marketplace for Test Taking Services, Tutoring and Homework Help

https://www.parklookup.com Explore thousands of national, state, county, and city parks across America. Plan your next adventure today.

http://summaryforge.com Turn long readings into ready-to-study notes and quizzes. Perfect for students cramming before exams.

http://coinpayportal.com a non custodial crypto payment gateway Easy to integrate similar to stripe with web hooks and manage multiple businesses

http://qrypt.chat a free quantum resistant chat application

http://disrupthire.com ai assisted engineer consulting services

http://saasrow.com link directory for saas and ai

http://ugig.net Connect with skilled engineers and workers who leverage AI tools to deliver exceptional results. Free to browse, free to apply.

http://cryptoshot.space an ethereum jackpot game just connect your wallet and take a shot at the jackpot contract is open source

https://postammo.com a viral content idea generator for social media posters. Includes native mobile, PWA and web extension apps.

http://icemap.app an anonymous, real-time incident reporting platform that helps communities stay informed about what's happening around them.

http://pairux.com - (coming soon) Collaborative screen sharing with simultaneous remote mouse and keyboard control. Like Screenhero, but open source.

If you want to try out an app and provide feedback you can always email support@<domain.name> or join our discord at: https://discord.gg/U7dEXfBA3s

---

Hire me: Anthony "Chovy" at +1 (408) 656-2473.
I'll build you something similar for $2500 USD in a week.
https://github.com/profullstack
by ecshafer | 2026-01-30 14:42:03+00:00
In these small rust belt towns, even 40 jobs is a huge boost. You have the hands on sysadmin and network guys there, which yeah thats small. But you also have facilities, security, maintenance. When you combine this with the stimulus to the local economy through construction its a positive. Sure its not a 10k person factory, but there are places where the biggest employer is Walmart. These places look at an Amazon Warehouse or a Datacenter as being a big benefit.
by wing-_-nuts | 2026-01-30 14:42:59+00:00
>the reason those consoles are so iconic is because we were children.

If that were the case, we would only really love the games we grew up with. I stayed at an air bnb that had a ps2. I sat down and played ace air combat; a game I'd never touched on a console I'd never had as a child, and I had a blast.

I also recently picked up fallout 1/2 for a couple bucks on steam, and while the controls and graphics weren't great, I still enjoyed the game even though I never touched it in childhood.

Realistically, there are a few games for the xbox / ps2 era where the graphics really have not aged well, but for the most part I am not a pixel snob, at all.
by embedding-shape | 2026-01-30 14:44:02+00:00
Hey, thanks a bunch of the review of the code itself! Personally I hadn't really looked deeply at it yet myself, especially the Windows and macOS code, interesting to hear that it as a slightly different approach for the painter, to me that's slightly unexpected.

Agree with your conclusion :)

Would be interesting to see how the architecture/design would change if I had focused the agent on making as modular and reusable code as possible, as currently I had some constraints about it, but not too strict. You bring up lots of interesting points, thanks again!
by ericmay | 2026-01-30 14:44:04+00:00
> I think you misunderstand the feeling in Europe.

No, I understand it. Thanks. I disagree with it - that's different.

> Pretty sure many Europeans genuinely doubt it.

Let's just get to the point: do you want the United States to leave military bases in Europe and withdraw from NATO and other security commitments related to Europe? Because you and others seem to keep "doubting" it, so maybe we should just do what you think we're going to do then.

> The US has been documented to spy on EU politicians forever.

The EU spies on the US too. This is common practice. Don't be naive.

> That's another thing: I don't think that Europeans see China as an ally. But this hasn't changed dramatically in the last year.

Right... of course "China isn't an ally". But the EU is happy to do trade deals with China (which won't last by the way, once the products that were going to the US start going to Europe and grind Germany's manufacturing capabilities into dust while China continues to limit your access to their market) even when they are actively helping Russia invade Ukraine.

Time and time again folks like yourself and others sit here even in these comments and say things like "China isn't doing anything to Europe" and "the US is supporting Russia" and then you act surprised when Americans say fine, maybe we will support Russia when we've sitting here giving tens of billions of dollars in equipment to Ukraine, selling them weapons we also need, providing intelligence and logistical support, including active targeting of Russian assets in Russia, seizing Russian oil tankers funding their war economy, which Europe was too weak to do until the US took the lead, maintaining tends of thousands of soldiers, aircraft, tanks, and more in Europe including in the Baltic states, Romania, &c, and more.

Maybe you and others who feel like you do should be more introspective about how the EU has behaved, and how you yourself sounds to Americans. When I read comments like this, and keep in mind I think the US should have went straight to war against Russia when they invaded, it makes me want to write my Congressman and tell them to stop supporting Ukraine and leave NATO. But maybe that's your goal too. :)
by nofriend | 2026-01-30 14:44:19+00:00
>regardless that there is broad disagreement and no charges

Disagreement from a class that refuses to disagree with their leader and no charges from the administration that committed the crime.

>What drives someone to feel emboldened to park their car in the middle of an ICE operation and then attempt to drive off after being told to stop?

Presumably they thought the problem was that they were in the way, for which driving off would resolve.

>What drives someone to run around spitting and kicking out lights on an ICE vehicle?

The purpose of sending ICE there was to intimidate people, and dear leader was quite open about that. So we might rephrase the question as "why does a deliberate intimidation attempt lead people to feel intimidated?"

>It's like I can understand why someone is a sports fan, despite not following sports myself. I can fully understand, although I don't support, why someone would join the Taliban or Tren De Aragua or whatever other group. I can understand those things. But I still struggle to understand the above.

Really? So then think of politics like sport, with the dems and repubs being two teams, and ICE being like fans from one team, and protesters are fans of the other, and they go out in the street to support their side. Now imagine that instead of your team losing being completely inconsequential, it could lead to you being poorer, your rights being taken away, etc. Now you understand politics, congratulations.
by lkey | 2026-01-30 14:44:48+00:00
When I was a child, my mother would arrange get togethers by calling an coordinating with other mothers. In so doing, they would chat for a bit about local gossip or life events. Eventually, some of these women became lifelong friends as she aged.

My mother's mother would physically drop in unannounced to the people she wanted to talk to, and they'd have tea and chat a while to coordinate events. This was reciprocal. You are probably already wealthy, and your time can be spent however you like, consider not optimizing it anymore.

Genuinely, why are you using your limited time on this earth doing everything in your power to poison serendipity? If texting identical things bores you, you have free time and free will, make it actually personal so neither of you will be bored. Break the social taboo and call! Or share a calendar like a normal parent or neighborhood group.

If one of my friends with school age kids coordinated with me via clearly prompted text I would assume that we were not as close as I thought we were. That I'm a 'target for personal PR' rather than, you know, a person. It would diminish us both.
by happymellon | 2026-01-30 14:45:11+00:00
If a company wants to sell you something, but wants to block access to information, the default position for everyone should be "it's probably because it's bad".

If I have an investment fund and I refuse to tell you about the current performance, I hope you would be sceptical.

If I try to sell you medicine and redact the information about whether it does what I claim, and block you from seeing how many people were poisoned from taking it, I hope that everyone would refuse to take it.

The insanity I'm seeing here from Tesla defenders is amazing. I can only assume they've fully bought in to the vision and tied assets to it and refuse to acknowledge that they might lose everything.
by PKop | 2026-01-30 14:45:17+00:00
Think of context switching when you yourself are programming. You can only hold some finite amount of concepts in your head at one time. If you have distractions, or try to focus on too many things at once, your ability to reason about your immediate problem degrades. Think also of legacy search engines: often, a more limited and focused search query vs a query that has too many terms, more precisely maps to your intended goal.

LLM's have always been at any time limited in the amount of tokens it can process at one time. This is increasing, but one problem is chat threads continually increase in size as you send messages back and forth because within any session or thread you are sending the full conversation to the LLM every message (aside from particular optimizations that compact or prune this). This also increases costs which are charged per token. Efficiency of cost and performance/precision/accuracy dictates using the context window judiciously.
by cobolcomesback | 2026-01-30 14:45:43+00:00
It’s to run LLMs.

In the before-AI world, it mattered a lot where data centers were geographically located. They needed to be in the same general location as population centers for latency reasons, and they needed to be in an area that was near major fiber hubs (with multiple connections and providers) for connectivity and failover. They also needed cheap power. This means there’s only a few ideal locations in the US: places like Virginia, Oregon, Ohio, Dallas, Kansas City, Denver, SF are all big fiber hubs. Oregon for example also has cheap power and water.

Then you have the compounding effect where as you expand your data centers, you want them near your already existing data centers for inter-DC latency reasons. AWS can’t expand us-east-1 capacity by building a data center in Oklahoma because it breaks things like inter-DC replication.

Enter LLMs: massive need for expanded compute capacity, but latency and failover connectivity doesn’t really matter (the extra latency from sending a prompt to compute far away is dwarfed by the inference time, and latency for training matters even less). This opens up the new possibility for data centers to be placed in geographic places they couldn’t be before, and now the big priority’s just open land, cheap power, and water.
by tpm | 2026-01-30 14:46:10+00:00
It's always possible to deny the relevancy of a comparison based on some quality of the compared data. The autonomous car pilot trials will be by their very nature restriced to some locations, with specific weather patterns, etc., so even after the mileage will be 1000x of the current one there will be still options.

At which point will the comparison be considered relevant?
by negamax | 2026-01-30 14:46:12+00:00
I keep on wondering how much of the AI embrace is marketing driven. Yes, it can produce value and cut corners. But it seems like self driving by 2016 Musk prediction. Which never happened. With IPO/Stock valuations closely tied to hype, I wonder if we are all witnessing a giant bubble in the making

How much of this is mass financial engineering than real value. Reading a lot of nudges how everyone should have Google or other AI stock in their portfolio/retirement accounts
by rramadass | 2026-01-30 14:46:30+00:00
Good Article. The author has touched upon all the points that make C still attractive today.

A few more points;

C allows you program everything from dinky little MCUs all the way to honking big servers and everything in-between. It also allows you to span all levels of programming from bare-metal, system-level (OS/System utilities etc.) to any type of applications.

There has also been a lot of work done and available on Formal Verification of C programs Eg. Frama-C, CBMC etc.

Finally, today all LLM agents are well trained on the massive publicly available C codebases making their output far more reliable.

PS: See also Fluent C: Principles, Practices, and Patterns by Christopher Preschern for further study.
by pwg | 2026-01-30 14:46:48+00:00
Flagged stories get that way because some number of readers "flagged" them, presumably because they felt the story did not meet the HN guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

The ability to flag a story is given after reaching a certain karma level (I don't know the exact amount).

So the short answer: because the necessary number of readers clicked the 'flag' link. As to why they choose to do so, your guess is as good as any guess.