skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I am going to try to ELI5, but the concepts run very deep.

Both nixOS and Guix are different to 'regular' distros in the way that they are declarative: there is a file that describes the full OS: every user, every package, every system service, where the bootloader goes and so on. The main idea is that you can take that file, nuke your hard disk, reuse it and you'll have the same OS byte by byte. This concept of reproducibility is not only very comfortable, but has profound ramifications in security (you know no compiler or library has been tampered with malware) or science.

But it goes deeper:
Since the OS is described by a single file you can roll back to a previous version if your file is hosted on git (both OS manage this transparently without the need of a VCS). Users can have their own 'local copy' of that file with their own programs, including their own libraries with different versions. You can have different files as 'profiles' (one for work, one for personal projects, one for gaming) you can activate at any time when you want to switch tasks, or you can try your friend configuration on a chroot or isolated environment on top of your own system.

The main difference between nixOS and Guix is that guix uses guile scheme as configuration language for that particular file. I have plenty of '(packages (if is-laptop acpi)...)' entry on my own files.

guix shell is just a way to create a temporary environment to try something quick without polluting my OS. For instance, if I want to do some hacking on python2 I would do 'guix shell python2' and it will open a shell for me with python2 without changing my python3 binary and python3 libraries on my main system.

BTW you don't even have to change your whole system, both nix and guix can be installed on top of 'regular' distros (google 'guix foreign distro', which is the way I manage my rasperry pis).

There is way more than all that, I definitely encourage everyone to give it a try, it's a mind bending new way to use a OS.
It's not the same as completely accurate facts, but it's much closer to accurate facts than LLMs we had before.
Are new LLM models trained on old benchmarks?
When training new LLMs, does data from benchmarks like MMLU make it into the training data (either questions from the benchmark or related discussion)? If so, are these benchmarks still helpful for evaluating models trained after their publication?
There is no detectable latency. My girlfriend painted a landscape scene in the stock drawing app, came out pretty well on her first try.
Hard drive tracks are really narrow. When you have one head aligned with the track on one platter, the rest of the heads on other platters will only be close to the corresponding tracks on those platters, not fully aligned.

Now that hard drives are using multi-stage actuators (arms with elbows and wrists), it's theoretically possible to align multiple heads to allow writes to be striped across multiple cylinders. But I suspect those advances have instead been used to enable even tighter track spacing (and overlapping, for SMR drives) because SSDs have forced hard drive manufacturers to prioritize density over performance.
ah I forgot grandparent comment said trillion. yeah that's an order of magnitude I would distribute across a cluster if we were in active development and indexes were changing etc. if you're storing that much data you should be able to afford it :)
I installed Windows for a media PC for the first time in many years, and holy shit it’s insane. The dark patterns. The nags. It’s a given they are somehow tracking everything I do and selling all of my files. They are milking boomers who will never switch from Windows as a cash cow, longterm they know Windows is dead as a personal desktop. Their revenue is no longer dependent on Windows PC so it’s an end game scenario.
I don't want to be mean, but that page is too boring. Can you add some photos? Which type of liquid are you going to procces? Sewer water? Industrial effluents? River water to make it drinkable?

The photos may be the unprocesed liquid and the liquid after it started to precipitate and the final result. Perhaps have two flasks, one with untreated liquid and another with treated liquid. Perhaps three flask with two doses and a control. Bonus points for a video. (Do you know the youtube channels of NileRed and Cody's Lab?)

I studies an specialization in Chemistry in my high school, so I understand most of your technical words. Anyway, I'm too far away from the area since then, so I don't remember the difference betwen coagulants and flocculants. (I guess you want to procces a lot of liquid, so a centrifugue is out of plans.) (Are you going to use some filtration?)

But if you want to contact someone with a stronger machine learning background and less chemistry, you need to "sell" the idea and give a more visual description of the task.
Laser Doping His Way to Homemade Silicon Chips
As an aside, Waymo does have a feature which allows you to add stops that, if within certain parameters like the trip being within 30 minutes (I believe) that it kinda treats it as one trip which is rather cheaper than multiple independent trips.

So, for example, I had to pick up my kid from school the other day and found out last minute I wouldn't have a car. So I booked a Waymo, selected my destination, and then also selected that it would be "round trip" in the app. The car got me to the school and an option in the Waymo app for "ready for pickup" was available; the car left after it dropped me off. After my kid came out, I clicked that ready button and another car came to the school and took us home.

The price for the round trip was just over $20. The price for two independent trips would have been about $10 more (if I'm calculating & remembering correctly). So another interesting feature on the pricing discussion which, to my knowledge, isn't an option with the other ridesharing/taxi businesses.
I don't think stock would be a good metric. If I had to guess, Windows at this point is probably just a cost center. Their main revenue streams are office362 and azure. The Windows OS itself is just a rounding error.

Another way to put it. People aren't buying Microsoft stock because of Windows. They are buying because of Azure and Office365.
Brilliant! I have to say, I'm really impressed by how much the US is stepping up it's game, first with TikTok, now this. I wish Europe would do the same. Like yesterday.
The first is not strictly true. See eg the Alien Tort Statute.
Terrifying, I love it :) How was the performance in the end? Did you get a good speculation success rate?

It'd be cool to predict which resources are speculation safe (ie the cache headers don't permit it, but the content in practice doesn't change) and speculate those resources but not ones which you have repeatedly had a speculation abort (ie actual dynamic resources). If your predictor gets a high enough hit rate, you could probably do okay with just a single instance/no snapshot and use an expensive rollback mechanism (reload the whole page non-speculatively?).
Huge Manta Ray Underwater Drone Looks Like A Docked Star Wars Spaceship
When speaking about LLMs, confabulation and hallucination refer to the same thing. The term "confabulation" is just the most accurate description of what's happening, whereas the term "hallucination" refers to something LLMs are fundamentally incapable of.
This will backfire against publishers so hard. Now everyone has to resort to piracy.
do you have any evidence that they're more prone to fire than any other EVs?
I’ll have to look at this over the weekend. I’m very excited to see improvements in dev UX in the JS ecosystem. I’d have a very hard time adopting this in prod tho, being so new.

Are any large projects using it? Corporation sponsors?
Often, I've personally been that engineer, been ignored, and of not for simple dumb luck a death would have happened.

Phillips, Boeing, ...
yeah, everybody arguing in here like writers are making a living off their books
I think this is a specious argument. The value in intellectual property is the right to copy it. You can make a similar argument for other property: you own your car, but the right to drive it was not created by you. You own your house, but the right to occupy it and prevent others from occupying it is not created by you. It's not clear if you are arguing that there is some natural right to own and inherit a car that is granted by some authority other than the state and where that authority comes from.
> There are a number of reasons for this. The AI could have been trained on misinformation; the answer could require some extrapolation from facts that the LLM isn't capable of; or some aspect of the LLM's training might have incentivized a falsehood

This article seems rather contrived. They present this totally broken idea of how LLMs work (that they are trained from the outset for accuracy on facts) and then proceed to present this research as it is a discovery that LLMs don't work like that.
> multiple heads per platter

Conner Peripherals "Chinook": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Conner_Peripherals_"Chino...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conner_Peripherals

It was apparently less of an innovation and more of a desperate measure to offset numerous other technological shortcomings.
Just to be fair, Spotify's free teir has changed significantly and no longer let's you play a specific song anymore.
When a CEO pulls some nonsense and gets his ass handed to him in court, it's not an act of bravery, it's hubris. He set the result both you and I want back ten years by running his organization in such a sloppy manner. Even before the lawsuit they didn't keep accurate records of what they were lending, full stop.
The title looked good.
To be fair, the Windows experience on managed corporate PCs that are imaged without all the fluff and adware is far superior to what consumers get.

I frankly don't know why anyone who isn't tied to very specific software requirements would ever choose Windows anymore.

I had to replace an aging Pixelbook last year and eventually decided the right decision was to get a Mac. It's stable, the hardware is high quality, it does what it needs to do, most non-enterprise software is available, and the custodian of the operating system isn't licensing my data to 3P advertisers. I almost went Linux -- and have built my own Linux machines dating back about twenty years -- but I just wanted a polished, lightweight laptop I didn't have to worry about. I almost bought a new Chromebook, but the software problem is more acute even if the OS is dead simple, and frankly, the hardware -- ever since the Pixelbook -- has been lacking polish (no matter which OEM you buy from).
For what it's worth, I'm actually a senior IC who's cleaned up plenty of messes over decades and who enjoys migrating legacy systems. In my experience, it's the management-level architecture astronauts who don't understand loose coupling who do the most harm. The damage done by low level individuals can be contained if they're working on properly isolated subsystems (which of course requires competent management to set up).

And I'm cynical all right. I used to believe that I could be part of a "we're all in this together" team. But I've realized how rare that is after bad experiences at multiple companies where management sees an antagonistic relationship with engineering as inevitable — because they agree with you that "grunts can't be trusted".
> The line to draw is 10 years to commercialize, and then release into public domain. Statute of Anne was 14 years (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_Anne), but 10 is better for today's age.

I'd vote for politicians who push for laws like this. Sadly none do.
I was about 25 years into my career when I started a new job and the desktop was running windows. I explained I had never really used it and they would need to let me run Linux.
Most musicians make music that nobody wants to hear.
Ubuntu lost me over a decade ago or about a decade ago when I did an install and saw Amazon ads in the DE.

The good news is, as you highlight, today there are quiet a few good distros, some that are not that much more of a hassle then Ubuntu for people to get up and going.
Not everyone has multiple desktop computers at home, especially powerful ones. (With an Apple device to top it up.)

But hardware is more affordable than ever (unless you want a really powerful GPU). What's worse is that you have to separate the tasks between OSes, you can't easily have a default computer for everything, with everything relevant locally available. It's fine if you keep Windows for gaming, and want gaming to be explicitly separate. It's harder if you need Windows for graphics / video, or for CAD/CAM, or for Office. Having important related bits and software on another box may be a hassle.
10K memory safe packages (so far): https://www.cheribsd.org
I wonder if we're already lost (including myself in "we"). The average home user has ditched MS Office, and is using cloud apps such as Google Docs. They don't even have a reason to know what OS they're using. Things like battery life and wake-up times are what my work colleagues talk about at the lunch table. Setup might be a hassle, but occurs once in the life of the computer. Often, the discussion is in the context of an elderly relative who they're supporting.

At the workplace, a large Microsoft shop is buying a complex package of products and services that I can't even identify all of the pieces of. There's Microsoft stuff on my work computer, and on my company supplied iPhone. I must sheepishly confess that it all just works.

For myself at home, my main computer related interest is programming, and a programmer can live a platform-independent life if they want to. This is what I advocate, above and beyond my actual platform preference.

What I suggest to friends if they're thinking of switching (to Linux, Mac, Chrome) is: First, achieve platform-independence by finding the tools that work across OS's. Get up to speed on those tools. Second, switch platforms. That way, you're 99% up to speed before you even switch.
Do I need a different npm package for this on ARM Macs vs my colleagues on Windows boxes?
Once it goes really mainstream, I can see angry Uber/Lyft drivers and/or their supporters destroy Waymos in large quantities (isolated incidents already have happened multiple times in SF [0][1]), driving economical feasibility to zero and causing Waymo to cease operations in some cities.

[0] - https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/11/24069251/waymo-driverless...

[1] - https://abc7news.com/waymo-sf-attacked-self-driving-car-inci...
“The jury convicted Dallman, Courson, Garcia, Jaurequi, and Huber of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement.”

This was just today.

Deadline: “Operators Of Jetflicks, An Illegal Streaming Service With A Catalog Larger Than Netflix, Prime Video And Hulu Put Together, Convicted By Federal Jury”

https://deadline.com/2024/06/jetflicks-illegal-streaming-ser...
Wait but one of the main legal complaints about 21st century IP regimes is that they criminalize what was previously private tortious behavior. That's why the DMCA still rankles so many people.
Burning just wood releases dioxins, so I really wonder how humanity survived till today.
Libraries tend not to put ads into books to fund them.

The physical restrictions in a library - ala, only 1 person could read it at a time - is what prevents publishers from trying to charge more or prevent it.

The basic issue is that if a library is filled with electronic books, the publishers will stand to lose a lot of profit. Now I'm not arguing that they deserve this profit, but there's no good model so far that both preserves the profit motive, but also make available the copyrighted material digitally and unrestrictedly.

Perhaps there could be a form of library "fee" that is funded by tax payers, in a similar way to how public radio gets funded. The state pays some amount to each published author who make their book available in the library, from a pot of money collected from taxation.
Internet Archive isn't printing books, they are lending out digital copies. A publisher would have no reason not to sell a digital copy of their own. There are no production runs necessary on digital copies.
I would compare them, perhaps at my own risk, thusly:

MacOS:Windows::Singapore:Brazil*

(*The US is probably a better comparison, in all honesty.)
They keep saying it doubles the iops, but is that really accurate? From the diagram it seems like half of the platters have their own actuator. Surely unless the data is physically distributed across the platters in a really funky way you'd only see a doubling of iops when accessing two different pieces of data that are each found on platters addressed by their own actuators.
Specifically, any new creative input to the book is copyrighted. Usually, this is things like new prefaces or forewords and new illustrations or cover art.
Desktop operating systems are increasingly irrelevant (to a first approximation). Windows is still very relevant, especially on servers, but even on corporate desktops; you just don't see a lot of Windows laptops at the sort of events and companies that most of the readers here are probably most familiar with. But it's not like most companies developing software for the largely Linux ecosystem are doing much desktop-specific investment either. Apple's a bit more complicated because they still want to sell Macs so their operating system can't get too bad--but it's only there to sell MacBooks.
Authors should have that inalienable right, and it should not transferable via contract or any other means. Publishers, on the other hand, should have no such rights: they own the presses, their inalienable right should be to refrain from using them.
I agree. My solution is to remove software that keeps asking after being denied (logitech!).
Show HN: Character Headcanon Generator
Character Headcanon Generator is a platform that allows you to create imaginative and detailed character headcanons using advanced AI capabilities. It includes options to generate character images and chat with the character.
Create imaginative and detailed character headcanons using advanced AI capabilities, with options to generate character images and chat with the character.
There's only a couple of positive windows posts. Even their astro turf division is sucking rocks these days.
Discussion (146 points, 2 months ago, 94 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40248721
> but that's semantics at best

The problem is when people believe that other people should pay unbounded costs for their safety.
The usual steelman I hear is that Ulysses S. Grant wrote his memoirs on his deathbed because he knew the royalties after he died would take care of his family. I grant that's a marginal case but I don't know that the CBA there actually works on long copyright's side.
It only uses the +1 for prime numbers. 100,001 is not prime.

This rule ensures that there is a unique representation for every number.
I’ve always liked “I’ll burn that bridge when I get to it.”
I have absolutely none of these problems on my Windows 11 pro for workstations desktop. My computer is very much my computer and I seem to have full total control over everything. I'm not sure what I do differently than everyone else but that's just how it is.
I don’t understand the complaints about the software updates (IME they are all letting me know it will happen tonight unless I stop it).

I asked me one time about safari. Over the life of each computer.
Kind of a sad story but it does highlight some of the issues of something like Forth, where if you're not careful, you'll create a very powerful but also kind of difficult for anyone else to understand system.

Interestingly, there's an appearance by 'Mentifex' in the very next email.

That guy was famous: https://www.nothingisreal.com/mentifex_faq.html
In German we use “Akku” which is short for “Akkumulator” for rechargeable batteries.
Wine won't work with a lot of the enterprisy stuff that also requires license servers, etc.

Besides the design stuff, the entire manufacturing industry is dependent on Microsoft. There are thousands -- probably hundreds of thousands -- of air-gapped NT4 machines in factories running very specific but unsupported for 20 years software, for example. All the big MES systems, test software, and various tooling to run factories are all designed for Windows only.
Which, ironically, cannot itself be copyrighted...
I think the truth is we just failed to invest in the manufacturing tech and now they’re beating us in the market, so we’re taxing them to make it hard for them to compete. I’d way rather we just invest and outcompete them. I don’t think they’re intentionally undercutting us they just have lower costs from decades of investment that we haven’t been doing ourselves.
a whole bunch of older pcs are going to be completely useless or quickly become virus machines next year when windows 10 hits end of life and windows 11 won't support the intel 7x00 series of chips. A lot of people are going to be making the decision what computer to get next.
For casual use Google is fine, otherwise use LaTeX
The problem with the Chromebook is that it's basically an educational market product. And that's a different market from most professional users. I'd love a new travel-optimized Chromebook to replace one well out of support. But it really doesn't exist (and there really isn't a perfect MacBook either although the Air isn't bad, if pricey).
True! Thanks for the bug report, I'll try to make the exponent rings larger.
Are tracks physical things in modern disks?

I’ve long assumed we got to the point where the surface of the drive was uniform recording material, “tracks” were just the parallel bands the disk made by recording data. There’s difference in the platter material between two tracks, just the gap the heads leave to avoid interference. Conceptually like audio cassette tape: it’s all magnetic, but the audio is stored in separate tracks.

Is that wrong? Is there some physical coating or gap in the recording media between tracks?

If that’s not wrong, wouldn’t always reading/writing the same track across multiple heads force them to stay in alignment?
> Copyright is literally the opposite of property rights.

Why is that? Property rights, like copyright, is merely a societal construct that have been agreed upon (via legislative processes).

There are countries today that does not respect copyright (or impose their own copyright rules), just like they do so for property rights.

Therefore, this copyright is _exactly_ like property rights. In fact, copyright is slightly less powerful, since they have the potential to expire unlike property rights (tho of course, under US copyright rules, the expiration seems to be getting extended every time disney starts losing theirs...).
I was thinking that the controller probably takes care of interleaving data across platters, so at least small enough random I/Os would be able to use only one actuator.

I did some more reading and the PDF [1] says it shows up as two separate LUNs behind a single SAS port, but sharing the drive cache.

But what I initially didn't catch (and another comment here pointed out), is how come they claim to do over 500 MB/s of sequential scanning I/O. Small random IOPS I get, but for large sequential I/Os you still have the same amount of platters, with the same bit-density, rotating at the same speed... Or is even the sequential I/O throughput "bottleneck" mostly dominated by the tiny seeks + calibration to the next adjacent track and not the actual magnetic reading part?

I now really want to buy one for (some?) reason. Could get an used version from amazon for $150 but I'll try to hold back. It's also interesting that there are no new, unused versions available there (discontinued?)

[1] https://www.seagate.com/files/www-content/solutions/mach-2-m...