MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by jplusequalt | 2026-01-31 16:31:10+00:00
Again, this article is not discussing the quality of generative AI. Sanderson clearly believes himself that AI is already able to produce things that are indiscernible to art from his eyes.

What this article is trying to get across is that art is a transformative process for the human who creates it, and by using LLMs to quickly generate results, robs the would be artist of the ability for that transformation to take place. Here's a quote from Sanderson:

"Why did I write White Sand Prime? It wasn’t to produce a book to sell. I knew at the time that I couldn’t write a book that was going to sell. It was for the satisfaction of having written a novel, feeling the accomplishment, and learning how to do it. I tell you right now, if you’ve never finished a project on this level, it’s one of the most sweet, beautiful, and transcendent moments. I was holding that manuscript, thinking to myself, “I did it. I did it."
by torginus | 2026-01-31 16:31:13+00:00
Thanks for posting this, but if we look at the World Bank's data, we see that outside of Covid, Chinese GDP growth has been in the 5%+ range consistently, something the US hasn't been managed to do even once, and Germany, the economic champion of the EU is in even more dire straits.

As for deflation - why is it bad anyways? We were taught in school the problem is that if I have $1 in the bank and that will buy me a loaf of bread today, but 2 loaves a week from now, I might want to hold on to it, so deflation destroys consumption.

But that makes no sense, because I can buy bonds or stocks from $1, and capitalize on the gains, so I get the same two loaves of bread - the effects are the same, I dont consume today, and I have money for tomorrow.

The difference is I have to trust my money to either a company or the government, and involve a lot of intermediaries and take on risk.

As for your link you posted, I feel like for finance people, a market they cant make money from is indistinguishable from one thats performing poorly, never mind what sort of lifestyle it supports for the everyman.
by modeless | 2026-01-31 16:31:45+00:00
If you read the link you would know that contrary to your expectation other apps advertising E2EE such as Google's Messages app don't allow the app maker to read your messages from your backups. And turning off backups doesn't help when everyone else has them enabled. Apple doesn't respect your backup settings on other people's accounts. Again, other apps address this problem in various ways, but not iMessage.
Show HN: Prefab: Reusable folder templates for Mac with variables and automation
by davidjaykelly | 2026-01-31 16:31:49+00:00
Prefab is a native macOS app that lets you turn any folder structure into a reusable template. You define the structure, add {{variables}} to folder names, file names, and file contents, and optionally run terminal commands after deployment.

I built it because I got tired of the repetitive setup when starting new projects - not just the folders but the boilerplate files, the git init, the dependency installs, etc. Existing solutions were either CLI-only scaffolding tools locked to a specific framework, or way too heavy for what's fundamentally a simple problem.

What it does:
- Drag any existing folder in to create a template, or build one visually
- Variables support text, dates, drop-downs, and toggles with validation
- Post-creation actions run shell commands via NSUserUnixTask (fully sandboxed, no entitlement hacks)
- Deploy from the app, a menu bar icon, or a Finder right-click extension
- Set Finder tag colours and SF Symbol icons on folders in the template

Technical details for anyone curious: it's Swift/SwiftUI, App Sandbox compliant, uses NSUserUnixTask for shell execution which means scripts run from ~/Library/Application Scripts/ - Apple's sanctioned approach for sandboxed apps that need to run user-defined commands. No temporary exceptions needed.

It started as a developer tool but I ended up using it for all kinds of project organisation, so there's a persona system that adapts the UI language and starter templates depending on your use case.
Free, no account, no tracking, no IAP. It's available fore free on the Mac App Store.

Happy to answer any questions about the implementation or take feature suggestions. Still actively developing it.
by solenoid0937 | 2026-01-31 16:32:01+00:00
The PIN is used when you're too lazy to set an alphanumeric pin or offload the backup to Apple/Google. Now sure, this is most people, but such are the foibles of E2EE - getting E2EE "right" (eg supporting account recovery) requires people to memorize a complex password.

The PIN interface is also an HSM on the backend. The HSM performs the rate limiting. So they'd need a backdoor'd HSM.
by buddylw | 2026-01-31 16:32:35+00:00
I have a Swiss Micros DM42, a modern clone of the HP42s on my desk and I have the plus42/free42 app on pretty much every device I own. Stack based calculators are great because the stack works as a little scratchpad when I'm trying to figure something out.

If I'm solving a problem of any complexity I'll move to a more appropriate tool like python or a spreadsheet, but for the simple math that needs to be done around the edges personally and professionally, I like a calculator. If I'm at my desk, I'll use the physical version.
Show HN: Orrery – Spec Decomposition, Plan Review, and Agent Orchestration
by caseyharalson | 2026-01-31 16:32:40+00:00
I was looking for a way to build projects and ideas in the background while I was off doing something else. I felt like coding agents by themselves could do a certain granularity of work, but I wanted to try and push it further. So I built Orrery.

What it does:

- Take an idea or spec and produce an implementable plan (steps, dependencies, outputs)

- Refine, simulate, and review the plan in a trackable way

- Execute the plan with a deterministic step graph (same plan gives same execution order), with tracked step logs/reviews/artifacts

I've used this to do a repo conversion and generate entire projects (take a look at "watchfix" in my github repos as an example). This is still experimental.

Note: "agent skills" are basically repeatable prompts that coding agents can use in specific situations.

Key features:

- Repeatable “agent skills” for idea decomposition, refinement, execution, and review

- Plans are YAML, can be generated externally (e.g., from a spec doc in a Claude project), then simulated/reviewed

- Execution runs in an isolated git branch, and the non-interactive flow is pipeline-friendly

When not to use it (and just use a coding agent):

- Quick one-off changes

- Exploratory development where the plan changes every few minutes

- Simple refactors that don’t benefit from explicit planning

Further comparison vs Claude Code/similar tools: https://github.com/CaseyHaralson/orrery/blob/main/docs/COMPA...

How it works:

- It installs a few agent skills that help guide plan generation, step execution, and review

- A script breaks the plan into steps and then loops through the plan giving background agents the context

Quick start:

- Install + init:

npm install -g @caseyharalson/orrery
orrery init

- Generate a plan: ask your agent to use the discovery skill for [goal]

- Execute:

orrery exec # (optionally inside a devcontainer)

Repo: https://github.com/CaseyHaralson/orrery

Feedback I'd love:

- Would this be useful in your workflow?

- What would make this stand out vs other orchestrators?

- Which part is most valuable: idea decomposition, plan format, review loop, or execution runner?

---

Example Plan Yaml:

metadata:
source_idea: "Simple test plan for parallel and
dependency testing"
outcomes:
- Test parallel step execution
- Test dependency resolution

steps:
- id: "1"
description: "Create config file"
deps: []
parallel: true
context: "Initial config file with basic settings"
requirements:
- Create config.json with app name and version
criteria:
- File exists and contains valid JSON
files:
- test-output/config.json
by duttish | 2026-01-31 16:33:38+00:00
The divergence of being many smaller countries with different regulations, primary languages, currencies etc have been a blocker, but progress is being made[1] and it seems like people are aware of the problem. It just takes a while when every plan needs to be approved by all countries.

1. https://tech.eu/2026/01/20/the-european-commission-launches-...
by pxeger1 | 2026-01-31 16:33:57+00:00
> If somebody doesn't know what double parking is - it's when cars parallel park beside one another, implicitly on the road, making it difficult to see what's beyond them

This is not called double parking. Double parking is something different: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_parking

I don't know about you but here in the UK, close parallel parking is normal and expected, and I was taught to avoid trying to cross in the gap between two parked cars, and to be extra careful if I was going to. In this scenario some blame might lie with the driver for going too fast, but I would certainly also blame the child (or their parent) for stepping far into the road without looking.
by mschuster91 | 2026-01-31 16:34:34+00:00
> There's been little indication that Epstein was interested in prepubescent girls. There's "as young as 14" in the indictment, still old enough to feasibly be visually indistinguishable from 18 year olds.

The thing is, the law doesn't care. People all over the world got busted for such things (including, and that's what I find ridiculous, combinations like 17/19).

My recommendation - even if legal, as soon as you have doubts the other person is of age, just don't. Plenty of fish in the sea.
by steve_taylor | 2026-01-31 16:34:55+00:00
> My money is on the chats being end to end encrypted and separately uploaded to Facebook.

If governments of various countries have compelled Meta to provide a backdoor and also required non-disclosure (e.g. a TCN secretly issued to Meta under Australia's Assistance and Access Act), this is how I imagined they would do it. It technically doesn't break encryption as the receiving device receives the encrypted message.
by verdverm | 2026-01-31 16:35:09+00:00
I don't personally have this problem. One of my clients does, so my questions are ones I'd expect the CTO to ask you in a sales call. They already have an in-house system and I suspect would not replace it with anything other an open source option or hyperscaler option.

Are you going to make this open source? That's the modus operandi around Ai and gaining adoption for those outside Big Ai (where branding is already strong)
by daveguy | 2026-01-31 16:35:53+00:00
Most of what I see are toys. Could you point us to the examples of production software from AI? I feel like I see more "stop spamming us with AI slop" stories from open source than production software from AI. Would love some concrete examples. Specifically of major refactors or ground up projects. Not, "we just stared using AI in our production software." Because it can take a while to change the quality (better or worse) of a whole existing code base.
by 827a | 2026-01-31 16:35:55+00:00
The only platform where I consume podcasts anymore is YouTube, because some (but not all) podcast creators will remove their embedding advertising on the YouTube release of their show, but not Spotify/Apple/etc. And, YouTube Premium gets rid of the platform ads. Lex is one show that does this. And, realistically, I've dropped any podcasts that don't even do this.

There are some podcasters that release ad-free versions on Patreon or similar platforms; but the listening experience on those platforms is so bad that while I would be fully supportive of the concept of direct payment to remove ads, the only platform that functionally supports this at this time is YouTube.
by netsharc | 2026-01-31 16:36:24+00:00
I wonder if keyword/sentiment extraction on the user's device counts as reading "by WhatsApp"...

There's the conspiracy theory about mentioning a product near the phone and then getting ads for it (which I don't believe), but I feel like I've mentioned products on WhatsApp chats with friends and then got an ad for them on Instagram sometime after.

Also claiming "no one else can read it" is a bit brave, what if the user's phone has spyware that takes screenshots of WhatsApp... (Technically of course it's outside of their scope to protect against this, but try explaining that to a judge who sees their claim and the reality)
by armchairhacker | 2026-01-31 16:36:27+00:00
I’ve been thinking that information provenance would be very useful for LLMs. Not just for attribution (git authors), but the LLM would know (and be able to control) which outputs are derived from reliable sources (e.g. Wikipedia vs a Reddit post; also which outputs are derived from ideologically-aligned sources, which would make LLMs more personal and subjectively better, but also easier to bias and generate deliberate misinformation).

“Information provenance” could (and I think most likely would, although I’m very unfamiliar with LLM internals) be which sources most plausibly derive an output, so even output that exists today could eventually get proper attribution.

At least today if you know something’s origin, and it’s both obvious and publicly online, you have proof via the Internet Archive.
Is a RAM-only PWA "Secure Camera" safe for journalists?
by blackknightdev | 2026-01-31 16:36:36+00:00
I'm building a PWA for investigative journalists who need to capture evidence without leaving forensic traces on their devices (even if seized).

The architecture:
1. "Zero-Trace" Camera: Uses `getUserMedia` to stream video.

2. RAM-Only: Captures frame to an off-screen Canvas -> Blob. Never touches the filesystem or Camera Roll.

3. Client-Side Encrypt: Blob is encrypted immediately (TweetNaCl) with a public key.

4. Upload & Wipe: Encrypted blob is uploaded, then memory is nulled.

My hypothesis is this beats "Standard Camera -> Gallery -> Upload" because there are no deleted files to recover from the SSD.

Is "RAM-only" in a browser sandbox reliable enough for life-or-death privacy?
What side-channels (swap files, browser cache) am I missing?

Tech stack: Next.js, Dexie, WebCrypto. Open source.

Hope I can get much feedback I want to make my photo vault app special and make an impact for the world here is the link to my app that I want to change to this www.saecretheaven.com
by youknownothing | 2026-01-31 16:36:54+00:00
Just to throw in a couple of possibly outlandish theories:

1. as others have said, they could be collecting the encrypted messages and then tried to decrypt them using quantum computing, the Chinese have been reportedly trying to do this for many years now.

2. with metadata and all the information from other sources, they could infer what the conversation is about without the need to decrypt it: if I visit a page (Facebook cookies, they know), then I share a message to my friend John, and then John visits the same page (again, cookies), then they can be pretty certain that the contain of the message was me sharing the link.
by sxp | 2026-01-31 16:37:20+00:00
Reading some of the other articles on that site, it's unclear how scientifically sound the original article is. A quick Google search gives different radiocarbon dating for the landslide https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01695...

I don't know enough about the event to figure out the likelihood of either hypothesis, but this other data point is something to keep in mind.
by gruez | 2026-01-31 16:37:33+00:00
>If you read the link you would know that contrary to your expectation other apps advertising E2EE don't allow the app maker to read your messages.

What does that even mean? Suppose icloud backups doesn't exist, but you could still take screenshots and save them to icloud drive. Is that also "Apple has always been able to read encrypted iMessage messages"? Same goes for "other people having icloud backups enabled". People can also snitch on you, or get their phones seized. I feel like people like you and the article author are just redefining the threat model of E2EE apps just so they can smugly go "well ackshually..."
by eudamoniac | 2026-01-31 16:37:42+00:00
There is a lot more to life, and to the sentiment of "America First", than economics. I interpret the MAGA movement as mostly not about economics, but about trying to revert to previous social and cultural norms and values. Sometimes, even acknowledging and accepting the negative economic consequences of that.

For example most Republicans I know, when confronted with the idea that illegal immigrants benefit the economy, still want them deported. The economy is not their primary concern with most issues. Framing Trump's actions always economically misses the point a lot of times.

Moreover, America First is a sentiment of spending our attention and money on our internal problems, like redirecting foreign aid to domestic aid. It's a feeling of, why is Africa getting billions of my tax dollars when I can't buy a house? This is completely unrelated to our foreign business practices except to the extent that we were doing charity for a nebulous status. At least that's what I think people voted for. In practice it has been America burning its goodwill for no reason.
by Flere-Imsaho | 2026-01-31 16:37:44+00:00
I listen to podcasts on my morning and evening commute (in my car). I can skip forward 30 seconds, or back 10 seconds with a click of a button, so I'm baffled why everyone else isn't doing the same??? As I'm not going to buy the thing that is being advertised I don't feel guilty - it's not like anyone is losing out.
by alt227 | 2026-01-31 16:37:50+00:00
Its not ironic, its perfect business sense. 10 years ago they gave a shit about gamers and streamers as they were their main market. Now its all about AI server hardware, and they are fighting off international mega clients who all want to secure their chip output for years to come.

Why would Nvidia give 2 hoots about a living room streaming box now?
by nozzlegear | 2026-01-31 16:37:51+00:00
> I run on Hetzner and am saving big bucks compared to the ridiculously high priced AWS.

IMO even Americans should take a look at whether they need to be using the big cloud providers or not. They're so much more expensive compared to smaller hosts like Hetzner, Digital Ocean, Vultr, and so on. It depends on what you're doing, of course, but I'm American and moved off of Azure last year due to the price and the complexity it encourages.

(Reposting my comment from another thread on the same topic a few days ago.)

> This is why I moved off of Azure and over to Hetzner's US VPS's. For what I was deploying (a few dozen websites, some relatively complex .NET web apps, some automated scripts, etc.), the pricing on Azure just wasn't competitive. But worse for me was the complexity; I found that using Azure encouraged me to introduce more and more complex deployment pipelines, when all I really needed was Build the container -> SCP it into a blue/green deployment scheme on a VPS -> flip a switch after testing it.
by nis0s | 2026-01-31 16:37:56+00:00
I like the idea of this, but how is anything measured? Evaluations are the key aspect in research, and they’re not exactly just about passing metrics.

If these systems can produce something, and that thing is reproducible and usable, then what’s the problem? Seems like an interesting project.

Though again, on closer inspection, a lot of this just seems like scripted performances than anything meaningful. Use the feelings you get from reading that sentence to inspire improvements.
by austinthecoder | 2026-01-31 16:38:04+00:00
To give better context, we're building a new internal app, let's call it AppX. Let's say this app manages IMDB-like data. Many other apps in the org will need to use AppX.

The vast majority of apps are probably used by a handful of people. If any external app with heavier traffic wanted to use AppX, we should architect it accordingly.

Here is the full proposal:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vT5i_J8Kq2VEcyqd...
by vlovich123 | 2026-01-31 16:39:16+00:00
Here’s an alternate spin

> These SDKs, which are offered to developers across multiple mobile and desktop platforms.

> other actors then surreptitiously enroll user devices into the IPIDEA network using these frameworks.

I’m not saying Google did the wrong thing, but it is one private entity essentially handing out a death sentence on its own. The only mitigating thing is that a) technical disruptions were either on their own infra b) legal judgements they then enforced with cooperation from others like Cloudflare. But it’s not clear what the legal proceedings were actually like
by diogenescynic | 2026-01-31 16:39:24+00:00
Even if bears are occasionally right, they aren't right often enough to really be a winning strategy IMO. Look at the S&P500 gains for the last 10 years, some years it's down, but most years it's up. 99.99% of people won't be able to sell at the top and buy at the bottom, so you have to just dollar-cost average and invest in the total marke. FI you do that--you're going to be fine because even if the market is down 22% in one year, it's up double digits 3x as often. You have to just invest with a long-term perspective and can't worry about 6/12 month time horizons.
by cf100clunk | 2026-01-31 16:39:33+00:00
The Shield TV's cylindrical form factor could use a rethink. It is hard to find a good spot for it on a shelf when cords are connected at both ends (HDMI and MMC slot at one end, power and LAN at the other) and the ports are too close for all cords to use right-angle-heads. Leaving it invisible by placing it on the floor or behind other gear sometimes impedes Bluetooth signal, so there it sits, well apart from the AVR, BD, other devices.
by Loughla | 2026-01-31 16:39:35+00:00
The only two complaints about mine is the one set of updates about 5 years ago that killed every connection to my NAS, and that the auto skip function for credits doesn't know if there are scenes after the credits.

But overall, for running it for like 9 years with a cost of less than $200 and essentially zero maintenance, the shield is awesome.
by mlinhares | 2026-01-31 16:40:04+00:00
You don’t have to, this ja the reason. There were multiple successful EU alternatives that were killed by the loads of money the US companies could muster to kill or hobble them. And Europe decided it was fine.

There isn’t even an European card brand that operates across the whole continent, the just accepted to use visa and Mastercard for everything. I hope they change it.
by chrystalkey | 2026-01-31 16:40:10+00:00
I see your point, but thats a really bad comparison. We are pretty certain that there is no giant dinosaur in a lake, but in terms of fundamental research there is a lot we cannot really explain a great many things. We dont even know if we are "looking" correctly, with the right concept in mind.

I agree that money spending must be carefully considered, but for this research there really is no replacement. You can shuffle public spending around, but an Experiment not dont will explain no part of the Universe. If the countries and Supranationals that are able to dont fund them we will be stuck with what we know now until they do.

It is a lot of money, but it is also the only way. Does that meaningfully stop the EU and all others from doing their thing? I would argue no. We can still afford it and so we should.