MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by embeng4096 | 2026-01-09 22:15:35+00:00
Former band kid who also just got a digital keyboard. Ime learning to read the staff just came from putting in the time on the instrument, but I’m also looking for ways to speed that up. I had the idea of making flashcards and even putting it into an SRS like Anki to see if I can make the process of (re-)learning the staff faster and make it stick. If you come across anything that would help I’m interested too!
by D-Machine | 2026-01-09 22:15:40+00:00
You cannot say if this is a substantial change or not, because you need to know by how much the groups actually differ on average, i.e. you need the unstandardized effect size, expressed as a mean difference in the scale sum scores, or as an actual percentage of symptoms reduced, or etc. In general, there are monstrous issues with standardized mean differences, even setting aside the interpretability issues [1-3].

See also my response to GP.

[1] https://journals.plos.org/mentalhealth/article?id=10.1371/jo...

[2] https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1348/0...).

[3] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00031305.2018.15...
by cauch | 2026-01-09 22:15:41+00:00
But same is true about "good food": some people will prefer some specific food and someone "good food" may not be the taste of someone else.

And yet, it would be ridiculous to pretend that we cannot say that there is an advantage in avoiding cooking a dish made with dirt and toxic waste. The fact that we cannot define an absolute objective "good food" is not at all a problem.
by dns_snek | 2026-01-09 22:15:49+00:00
Do you think they're stupid and just don't realize that they pay for it with taxes?

You're not factoring in the most critical piece of financing - the mental burden. You don't want to be stuck figuring out how to get enough money to pay for mental health services when you need them the most. That's when your earning potential is at its lowest, and every minor obstacle to getting help gets magnified ten fold.

That may as well be a death sentence unless you're privileged enough to be able to easily pay for it with savings. Realizing that you need help, figuring out how to access it, and actually following through is hard enough as it is without any added financial burden.
by susam | 2026-01-09 22:16:08+00:00
Most people who are into competitive programming have moved to <https://codeforces.com/>.

If you're looking for a community, there is also an IRC channel named #algorithms on Libera where competitive programming discussions are on topic. The channel is not officially associated with the Codeforces community but there is some overlap, in the sense that some people who are active on Codeforces also spend time there. Visit <https://web.libera.chat/#algorithms> to join the channel via the web gateway.

Disclosure: I am one of the people who has been operating this channel since 2007, first on Freenode and later on Libera.
by dekhn | 2026-01-09 22:16:38+00:00
With products from a vendor like Thor Labs, you're getting a lot of quality and knowledge built into the system. Mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, optical engineers... all of which means an edu kit like that will train a student to be useful in most grad research labs (which often build their systems out of thor labs components).

It sort of depends on what your goal is; personally, I live to see something expensive on Thorlabs, and make a simplified, less accurate, and far cheaper alternative in my home lab. But that's rarely how folks in labs do it- instead, they will focus on getting people to be useful for performing state of the art research, which usually depends on applying hundreds of years of experience to make some tiny marginal improvement, which frequently depends on having extremely precise and accurate gear.
Show HN: I built an app that blocks social media until you read Quran daily
by kalyfacloud | 2026-01-09 22:17:25+00:00
Hey HN,

I'm a solo developer from Nigeria. I built Quran Unlock - an app that blocks distracting apps (TikTok, Instagram, etc.) until you complete your daily Quran reading.

The idea came from my own struggle with phone addiction. I wanted to read Quran daily but kept getting distracted. So I built this for myself, then shared it.

Some stats after 2 months:
- 123K+ users
- 64.9% returning user rate
- 31M events tracked

Tech stack:
- React Native
- Firebase (Auth, Firestore, Analytics, Cloud Messaging)
- RevenueCat for subscriptions
- iOS Screen Time API + Android UsageStats

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/quran-unlock/id6754449406

Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.app.quranu...

Would love feedback from the HN community!
by rdm_blackhole | 2026-01-09 22:17:28+00:00
You can disagree all you want, the facts don't lie but if you prefer to stick your head in the sand and pretend that none of this is happening, then by all means continue to do so.

This is a real problem with most Europeans honestly. Not being able to admit when things are not working. And then finally we wake up 5 years too late and the writing is on the wall.
Show HN: Vect AI– Replace your marketing agency with autonomous agents
by MMAFRAZ | 2026-01-09 22:17:34+00:00
I built Vect AI because I calculated that 80% of my startup's burn was going to "human latency"—waiting for agencies to deliver work I could have done myself if I had the time.

Vect AI is an Autonomous Marketing OS designed for high-leverage founders. It is not a "writing tool." It is a state-machine that:

Ingests your Brand DNA (Voice, Strategy, ICP).
Monitors Market Signals (Real-time trends on Reddit/Search).
Spins up Agents to execute the work (Full SEO clusters, Video Ads, Email sequences).
It is designed to let a single founder output the volume of a 10-person Series A marketing team.

We are live. You can deploy your first agent for free.
by vunderba | 2026-01-09 22:17:48+00:00
They certainly have less training than police - where typical academy can last anywhere from 4-8 months. As I understand it, ICE agents only have 47 days of training.

From the Atlantic:

> New deportation officers at ICE used to receive about five months of federal-law-enforcement training. Administration officials have cut that time roughly in half, partly by eliminating Spanish-language courses. Academy training was shortened to 47 days, three officials told me, the number picked because Trump is the 47th president.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/08/ice-rec...

https://archive.is/Fu8wN
by ericmcer | 2026-01-09 22:17:54+00:00
It is really easy to have a routine when you are single and healthy in your 20s. It stops working so well later on. If you have friends, partner, kids, parents, pets, work, health issues etc. the routine is going to be challenged. If that only happens once every few months no big deal, but now that I am in my late 30s with a partner, kid, 3 pets and elderly parents. I literally have something derail my day almost every single day. Carefully planning my week would be a recipe for misery.

I think really successful people are ones that just don't give a shit, like full on narcissism. Like my dream is X, I need to do Y today. The dog is sick? My kid needs a ride? My parents need help? Not my problem I am doing Y full stop.
by theragra | 2026-01-09 22:18:05+00:00
I have extemely weird bug where on Windows, many games crash quickly. My laptop is Lenovo legion 7i pro w/rtx4080.

I tried a lot of things, inclusing full windows reinstall, driver rollback, cleaning from dust etc etc. Crash reason is listed as "other" Nvidia driver error code.

Bazzite using Proton it works flawlessly. God of war,KCD2 and others. I guess, it will be Linux gaming for me from now on.

I am still puzzled why this situation even can be. If you have ideas, be my guest.
by thewebguyd | 2026-01-09 22:18:37+00:00
> figuring out how to not require willpower

This goes for coping with a lot of executive function problems and disorders.

Part of how I have to manage my rather severe ADHD is specifically crafting an environment that's as ADHD friendly as possible, much to my wife's dismay.

That means nothing can ever be hidden away or out of sight, otherwise I will immediately forget it exists. It means every bill must be on autopay, or it will not get paid. It also means living as minimally as possible, for me. Even something as "simple" to a neurotypical like washing dishes or doing laundry is a seemingly impossible mountain for me to climb. I solve that by owning as little as possible, and I also remove choices by, for example, just owning multiples of the same exact outfit.

The moment any sort of friction or context switching is involved in a task, I am going to fail, so I have to architect my life in a way that reduces friction as much as possible.
by quotemstr | 2026-01-09 22:18:51+00:00
> I do think a huge number of people are infatuated with the idea of programming but hate the act itself. I have tried to teach a lot of people to code and it is rare to find the person who is both enthusiastic and able to maintain motivation once they realize every single character matters and yes, that bracket does have to be closed.

I think it's legitimate that someone might enjoy the act of creation, broadly construed, but not the brick-by-brick mechanics of programming.
by lossolo | 2026-01-09 22:19:18+00:00
The issue I have with your argument is that you're treating inaction as neutral. It isn't. Choosing not to act against coordinated foreign influence operations is itself a choice with consequences. If a hostile state can freely run thousands of fake accounts to inflame divisions, amplify extremism, and erode trust in institutions (and we deliberately tie our hands) then we're not preserving some pristine free speech environment. I mean we're ceding the information space to whoever is willing to manipulate it most aggressively.

The "marketplace of ideas" doesn't function when one participant is a state apparatus with unlimited resources pretending to be thousands of organic voices.
Your slippery slope argument applies to laws we already have and accept. Lets take US as an example, the Foreign Agents Registration Act has existed since 1938. Foreign campaign contributions are illegal. These laws require distinguishing foreign influence from domestic speech. By your logic, these should have already devolved into tools of domestic political persecution. Have they? Imperfect enforcement, sure. But "the government of a faction I disagree with might someday abuse this" hasn't been a reason to repeal FARA.

Another issue that I have with your argument is that you've identified risks of action but proposed nothing. What's your actual framework here? If coordinated foreign information warfare is real and harmful, and ongoing (which you acknowledge) what should democracies do? I mean if your answer is "nothing, because any tool could theoretically be abused" then you are not offering any policy, right? but basically you are arguing for resignation.
by squeaky-clean | 2026-01-09 22:19:29+00:00
When I played (original vanilla) WoW I remember getting 2-3 fps in 40 player raids. The cursor wasn't tied to the game's framerate though. So with the right UI layout made from addons I could still be a pretty effective healer. I don't even remember what the dungeons looked like, just a giant grid of health bars, buttons and threat-meter graphs.

This would have been on some kind of Pentium 4 with integrated graphics. Not my earliest PC, but the first one I played any games on more advanced than the Microsoft Entertainment Packs.
by alnwlsn | 2026-01-09 22:19:56+00:00
It would make a lousy desktop computer even if it was 10x as powerful.

- high current 5V USB power supply you probably don't have

- HDMI micro port you have like 1 cable for

- PCIe through very fragile ribbon cable + hodgepodge of
adapters

- more adapters needed for SSD

- no case, but needs ample airflow

- power input is on the side and sticks out

GPIO is the killer feature, but I'll be honest, 99% of the hardware hacking I do is with microcontrollers much cheaper than a Pi that provide a serial port over USB anyways (and the commonly-confused-for-a-full-pi Pi Pico is pretty great for this)
by HDThoreaun | 2026-01-09 22:20:10+00:00
I see zero reason to believe the $200 subscription is losing money. Anthropic makes subscriptions cheaper because 1. Most users dont use all their allocated tokens 2. subscriptions create a lock in effect, even if its a weak one 3. Easier to raise money when you can point to your ARR from subscriptions 4. Lowering revenue variance month to month is very valuable for businesses
by LolWolf | 2026-01-09 22:20:23+00:00
Hopefully you enjoyed the post then!

I think there's just such a huge middle ground that's missing (for funny historical reasons[1]) between "children's toy" and "lab-grade equipment" especially in optics, which is why I was excited to make this my first foray into making a fully 3d printed "useful-ish" thing that doesn't really exist otherwise.

---

[1] This is because most lab equipment was made _in the lab_ back in the 60s or so, and having this technical ability was a huge advantage for many labs. Now, personnel cost/hours are much more expensive relative to equipment, so people will pretty much pay whatever to get lab-grade stuff.
by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF | 2026-01-09 22:20:30+00:00
> There are plenty of places online to discuss politics and current events

Where? I keep seeing this claim but I don't think it's accurate. Not trying to be snarky, but you might find that all of those places you would suggest are distinctly different from HN in a way that leaves HN frequenters wanting HN. (Though, maybe not; I am genuinely curious for any suggestions.)

> HN is intended to be something else

I don't really disagree but I also firmly believe that if the political situation in the US magically reverted back to ca. 2010, people wouldn't be posting an article reporting about another video that surfaced showing how a woman was extra-judicially executed by an ICE agent; it would be something like Obamacare Bad and it would get flagged because it's way more obviously partisan.

The only reason this is considered "political" at all is that a certain politically partisan tribe in the US is trying desperately to paint the events as anything other than the factual statement that "a woman was extra-judicially executed by an ICE agent".
by 9dev | 2026-01-09 22:20:32+00:00
Hard disagree from me there. I don’t care what language a tool is built with, I’m neither interested in their choice of code editor, nor whether they use AI in the process or not. It’s a means to an end, not some flaw to be ashamed of and forced to disclose.

If something gets built with AI or not at all, that’s a net positive as far as I’m concerned.
The Abstraction Trap: Why Layers Are Lobotomizing Your Model
by blas0 | 2026-01-09 22:20:46+00:00
The "modern" AI stack has a hidden performance problem: abstraction debt. We have spent the last two years wrapping LLMs in complex IDEs and orchestration frameworks, ostensibly for "developer experience". The research suggests this is a mistake. These wrappers truncate context to maintain low UI latency, effectively crippling the model's ability to perform deep, long-horizon reasoning & execution.

---

The most performant architecture is surprisingly primitive:
- raw Claude Code CLI usage
- native Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations
- rigorous context engineering via `CLAUDE.md`

Why does this "naked" stack outperform?

First, Context Integrity. Native usage allows full access to the 200k+ token window without the artificial caps imposed by chat interfaces.

Second, Deterministic Orchestration. Instead of relying on autonomous agent loops that suffer from state rot, a "Plan -> Execute" workflow via CLI ensures you remain the deterministic gatekeeper of probabilistic generation.

Third, The Unix Philosophy. Through MCP, Claude becomes a composable pipe that can pull data directly from Sentry or Postgres, rather than relying on brittle copy-paste workflows.

If you are building AI pipelines, stop looking for a better framework. The alpha is in the metal. Treat `CLAUDE.md` as your kernel, use MCP as your bus, and let the model breathe. Simplicity is the only leverage that scales.

---

To operationalize this, we must look at the specific primitives Claude Code offers that most developers ignore.

Consider Claude Hooks
These aren't just event listeners; they are the immune system of your codebase. By configuring a `PreToolUse` hook that blocks git commits unless a specific test suite passes, you effectively create a hybrid runtime where probabilistic code generation is bounded by deterministic logic. You aren't just hoping the AI writes good code; you are mathematically preventing it from committing bad code.

Then there is the Subagentic Architecture
In the wrapper-world, subagents are opaque black boxes. In the native CLI, a subagent is just a child process with a dedicated context window. You can spawn a "Researcher" agent via the `Task` tool to read 50 documentation files and return a summary, keeping your main context window pristine. This manual context sharding is the key to maintaining "IQ" over long sessions.

Finally, `settings.json` and `CLAUDE.md` act as the System Kernel
While `CLAUDE.md` handles the "software" (style, architectural patterns, negative constraints), `settings.json` handles the "hardware" (permissions, allowed tools, API limits). By fine-tuning permissions and approved tools, you create a sandbox that is both safe and aggressively autonomous.

The future isn't about better chat interfaces. It's about "Context Engineering" designing the information architecture that surrounds the model. We are leaving the era of the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and entering the era of the Intelligent Context Environment.
by krapp | 2026-01-09 22:20:57+00:00
There are a few users who, when you see their name in certain contexts (usually politics) you just know that comment chain going to turn into a train wreck. I'm not going to name names but anyone who's been here long enough could probably guess a few repeat offenders.

But mostly in my experience it's otherwise perfectly normal users who at some point just decide to post something racist or bigoted, advocate violence (again, usually in political threads) or antisemitism or espouse some insane conspiracy theory nonsense. At that point I no longer care about anything else they might have to say.
by skywhopper | 2026-01-09 22:21:35+00:00
Your experience is not the same as other people. No one cares if you don’t understand their own life and choices. Get off your high horse and stop assuming that “those dumb depressed fat people just need to sleep better, eat better, and exercise and obviously it’s just that easy”. If you had success with whatever method, that’s great. We’re thrilled for you. But what works for you is not a universal solution.
by bflesch | 2026-01-09 22:21:56+00:00
I was trying to say that even though the US administration is actively escalating with Europe, I don't think the point in time has been reached where they want to go full berserk and cut Europe off from services by US tech companies. Cloudflare CEO tries to trigger such an escalation right now, but I'm not sure the US administration wants this kind of escalation right now, because it would also accelerate migration away from Microsoft and other US tech companies, hurting their revenue. For FAANG $7M is peanuts, and they won't leave billions on the table just because Cloudflare CEO has a big ego.
by wincy | 2026-01-09 22:22:01+00:00
I assume the “anti-cheat” he brings up in Doom: The Dark Ages is actually Denuvo, which likely would have some issues running, although a January 2025 post on Phoronix indicates maybe it does work, or Denuvo support is being worked on? [0]

Doom The Dark Ages is a single player game, so I’m not sure who you’d be cheating against, aside from maybe some real Buzz Killington’s saying you’re “cheating Microsoft by pirating it”.

[0] https://www.phoronix.com/news/FEX-Emulator-2501
by padjo | 2026-01-09 22:22:29+00:00
Should be possible to give a good estimate if you know the camera configuration. Clearly the car didn’t hit him very hard if he’s still holding a phone in one hand afterwards.

To me this video confirms that the story from the administration that he was run over and hospitalised is nonsense.

It also confirms that the couple were being confrontational and obstructionist, but I still don’t think that’s a reason for her to die.

A rational organisation would reflect and ask how this sort of scenario can be handled better in future, but that doesn’t seem likely here.
by mindslight | 2026-01-09 22:22:57+00:00
We had been talking about whether they were physically impeding ICE agents, but now you're framing things as if being "there for a while" would be a problem in and of itself. Meanwhile in America it is every citizen's right, and perhaps even duty, to observe and criticize government agents. To be very clear: stayed stopped on the street [0], observing, filming, and heckling government agents is all Constitutionally-protected activity.

Moving the goalposts to unsupportable standards ("middle of an awkward u-turn" ?!?) makes it hard to assume good faith.

And furthermore, ICE has body cameras. Surely if there was footage of ICE agents actually being impeded, it would have been widely publicized by now. Instead, we've only heard wild assertions claiming they were. And with the reputation of this administration, it's only reasonable to assume those are bald-faced lies.

[0] when done in furtherance of other Constitutionally-protected activity and not being policed in line with normal traffic enforcement
by HauntingPin | 2026-01-09 22:23:44+00:00
Anecdotal data isn't sufficient to infer a universal rule. The point of my comment wasn't to argue for drugs. It was to push back against the idea that drugs like anti-depressants are unnecessary and bad, which I see all the time when this topic comes up. A common take is "why use or prescribe drugs when apparently exercise works fine against depression?"
by mothballed | 2026-01-09 22:24:12+00:00
Trump will pardon them of all federal crimes. If they are charged by the state, they will use jurisdiction removal and/or supremacy clause to squash it from jeopardy in the state court. Even in the unlikely event both of those fall through, it will take years to wind through that process, and by the time that happens the case will be so cold prosecution cannot follow through (see prosecution of Lon Horiuchi).

The only chance any of them see justice is if the US is invaded. Even in a Nazi/SS scenario, only about 0.03% of the SS were convicted and very few of those the rank and file are analogous to the ICE on the street.

If you mean extra-judicial punishment, then the chance of that is also zero. The bravest we have representing us is on the street, and even of those all they did was shout "murderer" then back off and let their friend bleed out when the police said they were not allowed to render aid. So basically it is safe to say of those of us speaking who were not on the street already, that we would do even less than that.

Best case scenario is the people vote "lets not do that again" and we actually don't. But in no case do the murderers actually find accountability.