skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Maintenance is expensive in all time periods.
Do you remember Microsoft Word’s “Jerry Pournelle mode”? He convinced them to ship a feature that forced Word to render white text on a blue background, just like his favourite word processor, so that he would switch. I think the last version with this feature was Word 2003.
Here’s the simple reason why this is not the case:

If you provide the 6DoF trajectory (+ gripper joints), a lot of robotics (manipulation in particular) is basically solved. The problem is, we don’t have these good trajectories.

Sure, joint space is commonly used for learned policies, but cartesian space isn’t uncommon either.

IK is really just not a major focus on the learning side of robotics because it’s not the problem. The problem is we don’t know what to do even at the slightly higher level.
You've never bought anything you knew could be improved?
It's not about being pedantic, it's about building the right habits. Building a habit of using x++ instead of ++x is suboptimal.
I needed a machine just to sketch some UIs in figma. I was going to get a Chromebook but my wife insisted on the iPad.

I thought it could sure handle that use case, I quickly checked there was a figma app. I was expecting some quirks.

A day later I returned it. Turns out that figma app for iPad can only "view" designs, not create them!

I feel like there's a very narrow market for iPads. I'm surprised they still sell.
> For example, an inexperienced end user should not be able to freely reprogram the firmware on a robotics system used for surgery. A system like that is very intentionally shipped with guardrails that prevent the owner of the device from making dangerous modifications.

Comparing an iPad to a device that controls matters of life or death is almost as ridiculous as pretending these "guardrails" exist to serve the user.

The guardrails exist to prevent the user from exiting Apple's garden. It is there to protect a monopoly, not to protect the user.

Can we stop pretending it's anything else?
Exactly.

Folks downvoting my comment are effectively saying “no I think everything thing should do everything. It has a CPU that can run MacOS then it should! Open up the os, let me do whatever I want. Let me impose my thoughts on a private company. Rawr!”

When instead just don’t buy the iPad if that’s what you want. The MacBook Air is what you want. Or… adapt your computing to use the iPad as it was designed.

The spoon doesn’t bend you bend ;-)
I interview people every day who don't recognize glaring flaws despite the syntax highlighting and other linting in their favorite environment telling them something is definitely very wrong. Much like with LLMs, I'm firmly in the camp of (1) master working without it, (2) master working with it, (3) integrate it into your workflow in the way that suites you best.

If your team can't recognize bullshit without syntax highlighting, they're going to struggle even when it's turned on. Once they've mastered the underlying principles, syntax highlighting will make them much more effective.
Same. I absolutely hate using Chrome dev tools. It's because of the dev tools I still use Firefox.
> I think it's weakening junior engineers' reasoning and coding abilities as they become reliant on it without having lived for long, or at all, in the before times.

I have a feeling there will be a serious shortage of strong "old-school" seniors in a few years. If students and juniors are reliant on AI, and we recruit seniors from our juniors, who will companies turn to when AI gets stuck?
Face-api.js: JavaScript API for face detection and face recognition in browser
Won't sign up with Google or Microsoft, lol. Ever. And just a pro tip for getting other users that won't be bothered by that: after one types in the app idea it goes instantly to a sign up and feels weird. You should tease the user with some output to get them to want to sign up.
I really wonder if the call on USD as a reserve asset class is being over stated. I accept people hold USD. And I accept a lot of trade is denominated in USD. But the EU and China both made overt public declarations of moving away from reliance on the USD as a reserve asset.

De-dollarization is a thing.
I'm sure the support from MongoDB Atlas is the worst in the market. It's really messed up that they could flip a switch and kill your production, even after you specifically told them not to. PostgreSQL is a far better database than MongoDB.
MongoDB is like that clingy gf who wants to 'improve' you whether you like it or not.
> iPads are just unserious computing devices for real work

At the risk of invoking no true Scotsman, I think you need to define 'real' work.
you could give paying customers access to the code to run themselves (not open source)

if that works for you/your privacy-aware customer they can inspect the code/build it/ run their own version
Eventually humans ability to create new fresh data will be the justification for UBI. Fo shizzle
Love it.
I generally avoided excel when my previous role was a dev.
Now, leading a team - I find it more useful as it's a little universe to add various computations (counts, min, max) of various sorts of data that I want to keep track across projects & create charts etc, create rapid UIs (project timelines etc) and easily change them when required, invite collaborators, use that to replace slides to drive meeting discussions

It's quite versatile.
I had never considered this angle of using it to manage and sync with something external like Kubernetes here and love it.

I wish someone also solved the issue with excel around refactoring though - esp when cells are being used in formulas, if there was a "Find All References" or Cmd+SHIFT+F (global find) of elements used in formula (not their values) - it would step it up even more towards maintainability.

(I understand it buckles under huge datasets, but I believe that's really over-use of the tool)
From what I've heard I'm really happy that I never ventured too deep into the Arch forums.

The wiki however was (is?) absolutely fantastic. I used it as a general-purpose Linux wiki before I even switched to Arch, I distinctly remember the info on X Multi-Head being leagues above other resources I could find.
SQL absolutely. Lisp is not anywhere near top 5, though. https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2024/technology#most-popular...
> Marketing is just raising awareness for things you might enjoy.

If that were all it is, there wouldn't be much problem.

Marketing is also creating a demand where there wasn't one before and exploiting psychological weaknesses to prompt actions not necessarily in a person's best interest.
Slidedeck with Pylan examples (Python library for simulating recurring patterns) [pdf]
"sewer cleaning van"... This might be apt. The feds and their many tactics..... Flowers By Irene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_HSNMLfhFM
The new land cruisers are actually really weak compared to the old ones.

> the formerly beefcake Landcruiser went from a beastly guzzling v8 in 2021 to a weaker v6 in 2022-2023, and now, in 2024, a weak 2.4L supercharged 4-cyl sipper.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43031218
I feel like you could put posters through a sentiment analysis and maybe use that to write a browser plugin to annotate posters on hn.
The problem is that the people in power to remove the funding are the same people who are pushing for chat control and removal of encryption. Even if say the terms says that the funding is just a sponsorship, it would encourage few government folks to look out for more knowing the company would die if they stop funding.
Why dont they use the simple english to understand?
> Arguably, the algorithms could put one into a non-productive engagement loop never to escape. Personally, I don't think it's a big risk for educational/DIY topics because your brain gets saturated with "too much information" and hits a stopping point where you don't want to learn any more.

In my personal experience, "edutainment" can certainly be addictive, and more often than not, consuming it is "unproductive" because (1) consuming content aimlessly is intrinsically mostly passive, (2) passive consumption is ineffective for retaininig knowledge or building understanding, (3) content is often superficially interesting because of a spectacular and/or highly simplified presentation.

This is only a counterpoint to the idea that educational content is limited in its potential to be addictive/unproductive; there is still, obviously, a great positive potential to high-quality educational content.
Apple is marketing to everyone and not just the HN crowd. For many people their phone is their only computing device and for them an iPad is likely a big upgrade. When I have to proof photos or do a bunch of office type work, an iPad has become my goto device. When I'm programming, not so much. But I don't think that's a big secret to this crowd.
It's unfortunately vogue to mention DEI-efforts to cast bad light on something.
> These passive custodian investor companies just vote along with the board's recommendation

I know that's true, but I'm wondering - why? Why wouldn't they just withhold their vote and let the remaining (active) investors make decisions?
We don't need names, we need legislature, and we need to vote for people who will write it, as opposed to grifters who only seek to pad the pockets of billionaires.

These predators aren't scared of name and shame. Any publicity is good publicity (And if it actually gets bad, they'll sue the pants off you.). They are scared shitless of laws censuring their behavior. It's why they fight like mad to ensure that they aren't subject to them.
To paraphrase MKBHD, only buy devices for the features they have right now. Otherwise you will often be disappointed.
The Seward's Folly had an additional issue besides the fact that some of the locations were in DC and others were in Alaska:

The video of the signing in the White House shows Rutherford B. Hayes, not Andrew Johnson. Andrew Johnson was president in 1867, not Rutherford B. Hayes.

Your location estimate was off because you matched the 3-out-of-4 of videos showing Alaska / Russian Army / Tligits.

My time estimate was off because I matched the only video from the White House ...which was showing Rutherford B. Hayes in office.
> who risked civil liability and criminal prosecution to help expose a massive spying program that violated the rights of millions of Americans.

That's how corrupt the system is. You get punished for revealing crimes against everyone.

Who is going to erect statues for him and people like him?
I switched my personal laptop to a M1 Macbook Pro (from a Thinkpad running Linux, also after almost 10 years) in 2020, mostly because I had switched to an iPhone a few months prior and was using a Macbook for work.

It was certainly convenient most of the time - most features I wanted worked out of the box, and most dev tools could be managed by homebrew (at least well enough).

But annoyances slowly stacked up over time. Things like so much software being closed source (and often paid), or updates taking too long, or not being able to debug why something didn't work how I expected (eg, sometimes when plugging into my dock w/ monitors, it would decide to put all the windows on different screens than when I unplugged).

I finally broke down last year and bought a new Thinkpad and immediately installed Gentoo. While I've spent a lot more time configuring everything, at least it works exactly as I expect and I can easily debug when something goes wrong.
> A symmetric NAT is one where all requests from the same internal IP address and port, to a specific destination IP address and port, are mapped to the same external IP address and port.

My understanding is that it's not "required", but most of the CGNAT routers I've encountered do symmetric NAT, and they force-randomize the source port for each new connection, then keep it fixed for one external ip:port for some "session" duration, defeating traditional hole-punching.

When I've tried to build WebRTC P2P stuff I've experienced this making direct P2P WebRTC connections between CGNAT users nearly impossible, always requiring at least one node with a re-usable hole-punched public udp port or a relay server.
I don't recall agreeing to any oath like that when I applied for a US clearance. I just recall the NDA.

I may have pledged allegiance to the US flag when I was a kid, but that wasn't the same as taking an oath of elected office to uphold the constitution.
It's been a while, 8-10 years ago maybe? But quick look now tells me it's still one person effort. That's both awesome and unfortunate. I wish it got more traction back then to attract more active user/dev base.
Domain Driven Design and Python: David Seddon[video]
> As long as Firefox isn't kicking ass and being used by, say, 20% of web users, I argue that Mozilla shouldn't be doing anything else (...) I have a problem with Mozilla doing events right now

Consider it marketing, and think about if the market share would have been even lower if they didn't do outreach. Most people don't select a browser based on technical merits (heck, they don't even consciously choose). Saying they should spend every penny on developers is naive.
Wails – Build beautiful cross-platform applications using Go
Filmify – Web based video mockups tool
2025 Letter: The Future of Matte
Show HN: SpongeHome – ADHD-Friendly Task and Focus Tool with AI and Stress Games
Hey HN,

I built *SpongeHome*, a productivity and focus tool designed for ADHD and anxiety-prone users. Unlike traditional task managers, SpongeHome integrates *AI-powered task breakdown, stress relief mini-games, and a privacy-first design* to help users stay on track without feeling overwhelmed.

### What makes SpongeHome different?
- *Two unique stress-relief modes:*
1. *Shout Mode* – Yell to score points and beat imaginary enemies (uses offline voice recognition).
2. *Bubble Pop Mode* – Tap a sponge to release and burst bubbles, simulating a relaxing bath-time experience.

- *AI Task Management*
- Auto-breaks down tasks into *small, dopamine-friendly steps*
- Smart categorization to reduce decision fatigue
- Privacy-first: No cloud sync, fully local

### Why I built this
As someone struggling with focus and procrastination, I found that traditional to-do apps felt overwhelming. Many ADHD users need *low-friction, playful ways to start tasks* rather than complex workflows. SpongeHome is my attempt to make productivity fun, engaging, and stress-free.

Would love to hear feedback from the community – especially if you’ve struggled with focus, ADHD, or just want a fresh take on task management!
I echo on the "The Design of Everyday Things" making you perpetually dissatisfied.

Thanks for the second rec, I'll give it a go
All that and he has the name Oscar Toledo. I am pretty sure he’s going to be the subject of a Wes Anderson movie within five years.
AI should replace some work of civil servants, Starmer to announce
OT but related: I recently bumped into this great video demonstrating "Gaussian Splatting in UnrealEngine - Bahnhof "Aachen Schanz" mit XGRIDS L2 Pro".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVvNJX3WTgQ
Person who resembles 0.000001% of the internet userbase complains on hacker news.

More news at 7.
My most successful client (a company I have ownership in, now) has another slot besides marketing, design and code. That is our point person for filtering, testing and verifying user experience issues. Putting a single point person in charge of that onslaught of emails, who fully understands the software, and having them run a full time bug reporting/feature request channel, I think, is indispensible. They advocate on behalf of users but also know when the requests are silly or something is user error. They know whether an issue is mainly design or mainly code. Having them in place and engaging daily with users means we can filter out 90% of the noise in the signal. But it needs to be coupled with open-mindedness to customer feedback from the earliest iterations. Whatever requests or issues come through that person must be addressed. That person should understand what they can and cannot promise customers, what is crucial vs what is fluff, and how to prioritize those requests.

Her official role is "General Manager" but in fact she was promoted from a customer service role and the position was created for her because she was so good at spending extra time off-hours writing detailed, reproducible bug reports on behalf of customers who had experienced some issue. Reproducing and screenshotting the flow and the issues herself.

This person is a 10x force multiplier by virtue of being a power-user of the software who also interacts with customers and management daily, although she has no code or design experience.
> P.S. It would be great to have Windows support, but it seems like an impossible task due to how the operating system handles sockets and files internally. I tried, but nothing came of it. Perhaps it's still possible, though.

It will almost certainly work on Cygwin.

With the Cygnal project, you can ship a Cygwin program as a native app.
> we're seeing the death bellows of many large, entrenched bureaucracies right now with DOGE

That's one interpretation, sure. I hope you'll concede that another equally valid one is that we're hearing the deliberate shattering of the only institution in the country capable of standing up to the oligarchs.

So far the verifiable cuts made by DOGE are less than a tenth of a percent of the federal budget. However, a lot of has been cut so far has been very favourable to the ultra rich. The most obvious ones being cutting the IRS enforcement budget
and gutting the CFPB.

It's possible to argue that all of that is good policy, but the facts make it very to claim that all of the destruction being wrought is going to make a meaningful dent in the government's spending.
I admin 150 Windows machines, have set up Linux servers, TBH I am not religious about OS, though Android is my least favorite.

I recently got an iPad Air and a MacBook Air 15 to replace older devices (2018 & 2012). The MacBook is lighter and has better battery life than the iPad with Magic Keyboard, wasn't expecting that!

My biggest frustration with iOS is how it abstracts & hides away file system access. Especially for producing music across multiple apps I find it much easier on a Mac, same for any programming. Not to mention the dongle-mania for connecting peripherals! An iPad's just an overgrown phone at heart.

And...IME iOS doesn't have the same true realtime low latency performance as OSX. I have been able to flog Mac laptops, iMacs & desktops right up to the edge for audio/video production (Logic, iMovie, FinalCut, Ableton Live) and they'll absolutely keep up (within limits like reasonable audio buffer latency settings for complex projects). While iOS can definitely have audible glitches, especially with multiple apps open.

But I take the iPad out of the house much more. I think Apple could add touchscreens to laptops without destroying iPad sales, but I don't want them to iOS-ify OSX completely.
This is an OF (online forum) my bruv, you don't need to follow a style guide to post here
The author learned something. It takes balls to describe how dumb you were like that, but that modesty and openness is a great attitude to have for learning.
> One striking feature of mathematical culture that came up was the norm of alphabetical authorship. […] There are some exceptions, like Adleman insisting on being last in the RSA paper.

lol, took me a second to get the plausible reason for that
OP here - A good freelancer gets you a long way. What I found is that during the development process, people hit edge cases and have questions... doing a lot of the discovery and thinking yourself helps you answer those questions faster.

Alternatively, if you find a freelancer within your budget that can stick with you until the feature is out of the door is a great win.
Edison Motors is making it a thing.
Can you imagine what Google hcould have achieved had they not let “Astro Teller” burn it all up? If all the money that’s gone into X had instead gone to space tech could they have a 2nd place to Space X?
DNA research shows that 1/2 of everyone alive today descended from the Yamnaya
https://archive.ph/WeLdD
> just as ballet dancers rarely trip over their own feet walking down a pavement

What about about walking down a busy construction site? The most charitable and correct interpretation I can think of is "I'm a professional. Seatbelts and OSHA destroy my productivity."
You're not wrong. They've also got late hours while outback doesn't, but I realized that the food itself isn't really worth what they charge for it. There are circumstances when I might end up at a McDonald's but if I have the option to not eat their food I'll take it.
This article resonates with me. I have neighbours that have been renovating for the past 6 months (free-standing house) and the noise is unbearable, it causes physiological responses in my body and great anxiety.

Another neighbour has a gardener that spends half the day blowing leaves in his backyard every Saturday and it's making me hate living here. I like this house and neighbourhood, but the noise ruins it. I'm sick of people telling me I'm being facetious when I get upset about the noise.

I tried my shooting earmuffs, which do help a bit, but the annoying sounds come through. I finally resorted to noise-cancelling headphones, albeit cheap-ish ones from Sony and the past couple of days have been great. My focus has improved and I feel less exhausted. The headphones are the only thing I changed about my lifestyle.

I hope I can move out of the city in the future, the noise is really draining.
There are definitely undermining effects in commercialized services. Cooking is one of most approachable skills to try and notice first hand.
Benchmarking LLMs on Document Automation
Join the discussion about the various pet codes available in games! Whether you’ve unlocked a rare pet or found a hidden code, share your experiences and discoveries. Let’s compile a comprehensive list of pet codes and help each other enhance our gaming adventures!
> Some of the biggest EDA tools come from companies that use them for a reason (NX by Siemens, CATIA by Dassault, ...).

What do you mean? NX and CATIA are mechanical CAD systems, not EDA tools.
https://github.com/storax/kubedoom

Obligatory Doom mention
Their current market share is 3%. What do you think it will be once they add tab history tracking, and every other feature under the sun that you think their browser should have?
Show HN: Aries – a free and open development engine for fintech
Hey! My name is Reda, and I run a small company (aries.com) we’re working on a complete development engine for finance and capital markets. You no longer need to spend millions on market data, licensing, and infra to run a consumer fintech MVP.

Large banks and institutions can afford to pay past regulatory & infra barriers but in our time interviewing developers and entrepreneurs we found that not only does Fintech have one of the highest startup failure rates but most of those failures can boil down to regulation, data fees, and infra hurdles that fintech entrepreneurs need to jump over. We’re designed to do all of the leg work so that builders can focus on building and getting to market from day one.

The easiest parallel to draw is what Unreal or Unity did for the video game industry. Our goal is to make it so that consumer innovation in fintech has an uptick.

To show off the power of our engine product we built two products which we will open source soon. The first is Aries Infinite which is an infinite canvas product for trading and the second is a low latency mobile trading app for US capital markets.
And every time they try to get an alternate revenue stream, someone on HN will then shout "just focus on the browser!!". Mozilla can't please the crowd no matter what they do.
> They don't get old or outdated.

SSH is a windows builtin now, so they do get outdated. :/