Hacker News Reader

ben30on A couple of messages about changes to ianVisits

As a software engineer with a keen interest in photography, I've been using a method to allow others to benefit from my work, while also enjoying the spread of my photos in various public forums. I upload my pictures to Flickr and tag them with a Creative Commons license. This makes it easy for anyone to search and use these images without worrying about licensing fees; they just need to provide a link back to the original source.

This practice has brought me a lot of joy over the years. My photos have appeared on Wikipedia, in concert promotions, and even in a special Ibiza edition of Monopoly. The Monopoly team didn't have to, but they sent me two copies of the game as a thank-you, which was a lovely touch.

For those of you who are like-minded and have photos that could be of public interest, consider setting a Creative Commons license on platforms like Flickr. Doing so could ease the burden for small publishers like ianVisits, allowing them to use high-quality images without worrying about legal repercussions.

ben30on Antarctic sea-ice at 'mind-blowing' low alarms experts

It’s essential to consider the multifaceted effects of our environmental interventions. For instance, the commendable move in 2020 to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions in shipping lanes had an unintended side effect. The decreased emissions meant fewer sulfur dioxide-based clouds in the atmosphere, which previously reflected a significant amount of sunlight and contributed to rain cloud formation. While reducing emissions is a positive change, the absence of these ‘reflective clouds’ might be inadvertently amplifying the heat, especially when combined with the current El Niño. This could partially explain the accelerated ice melt in Antarctica we’re observing just three years after the regulation change. It serves as a reminder that the Earth’s climate system is intricately interconnected, and actions in one area can have cascading effects.

ben30on Antarctic sea-ice at 'mind-blowing' low alarms experts

ben30on Asking 60 LLMs a set of 20 questions

I like telling it to reply in the style of Hemingway

ben30on A New Beginning for LifeHacker

On personal note, I had set lifehacker to automatically go into reader mode on iOS safari probably due to some time in the past wanting to read the content but fed up by how bad the site layout had gotten.

ben30on Ask HN: What is a specific use of GPT-4 that you think is remarkable?

I cut and pasted my child’s school’s multi page complaints policy without reading it myself, then asked it to show me the stages I need to follow as a sequence diagram and it can up with this:

@startuml actor Parent participant "Class Teacher" as CT participant "Head of School" as H participant Clerk

== Level 1 ==

Parent -> CT: Informal Complaint CT -> H: Meeting Request H -> CT: Meeting Scheduled CT -> Parent: Meeting Scheduled Parent -> CT: Attend Meeting CT -> H: Meeting Summary H -> Clerk: Meeting Summary Received

== Level 2 ==

Parent -> Clerk: Formal Complaint Clerk -> H: Formal Complaint Received H -> Clerk: Response Preparation Clerk -> Parent: Formal Complaint Response Parent -> Clerk: Request for Level 2 Meeting Clerk -> H: Request for Level 2 Meeting Received H -> Parent: Level 2 Meeting Scheduled @enduml

ben30on Big Banks Agree to Historic $30B Deposit Injection in First Republic

In uk it wasn’t though. Taken from Wikipedia regarding uk bail out. As at October 2021, the UK Office for Budget Responsibility reported the cost of these interventions as £33 billion

ben30on Microsoft 365 Copilot – your copilot for work

The article does not provide a specific release date for Microsoft 365 Copilot, but it mentions that the company is testing it with a small group of customers to get feedback and improve their models as they scale. It also states that Microsoft plans to bring Copilot to all its productivity apps in the months ahead. However, pricing and licensing details have not been announced yet.

ben30on Update to the “Samsung space zoom moon shots are fake”

My Samsung tumble dryer proudly tells me every time I turn it on, “optimised by AI”. But it’s not smart enough to know it’s told me that a hundred times before.

ben30on Meta plans to cut thousands of jobs, after CEO predicted no more layoffs

I've been thinking a lot about Meta's investment in the metaverse, and while I'm intrigued by the possibilities, I can't help but see some potential problems.

The biggest issue I see is the need for an expensive VR headset to fully experience the metaverse. While many people are willing to invest in a new phone every few years, I'm not sure that the metaverse holds the same appeal.

Even though phones started out as a mediocre experience, the iPhone form factor made them indispensable. I don't see how the metaverse will follow a similar trajectory, especially since it requires such a significant investment.

In hindsight, I wonder if Meta should have focused more on their AI learning, as I imagine they're using AI heavily to moderate the world's chatter. While it's not the kind of AI that's getting all the buzz right now, I think it has huge potential, and could be the valuable asset for Meta going forward.

ben30on The "specialness spiral" leads us to not use some ordinary objects (2021)

The "endowment effect." It is the tendency for people to ascribe more value to things merely because they own them. This can make it difficult for people to part with their possessions, even if they are not using them or do not need them. The endowment effect has been observed in various contexts, from consumer behavior to negotiations and auctions.

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

ben30on Consultancies know less than they claim and cost more than they seem to

Large companies with middle managers often have a considerable budget but suffer from an internalised imposter syndrome that leaves them unsure about the challenges they face and the solutions they need.

I believe that senior sales representatives from consultancies have a keen sense to detect this professional anxiety and leverage it to sell their services and put the manager's mind at ease, regardless of the quality of the consultancy's services.

While it may seem that consultancies know less than they claim and cost more than they appear to, managers may still seek comfort in their reassurances and take legal action if things go wrong.

ben30on Google is still drip-feeding AI into Search, Maps, and Translate

The early days of Google were magical, with its ability to answer our questions instantly and without distractions. It's a shame that now, ads and SEO strategies have taken over and made the search process more cumbersome. It feels OpenAI's public chat bot has the potential to bring back that simple, distraction-free experience of finding information. However this simplicity feels in conflict with how Google as an advertising company makes it's money.

ben30on I want to lose every debate

Im reminded of the book “Getting to yes” by Roger Fisher.

“ In any negotiation, he wrote—even with terrorists—it was vital to separate the people from the problem; to focus on the underlying interests of both sides, rather than stake out unwavering positions; and to explore all possible options before making a decision.”

https://www.economist.com/obituary/2012/09/15/roger-fisher

ben30on Ask HN: Strategies for working with engineers that are too smart?

Spiders or bees. Both invertebrates. Bees work together, spiders do not.

Teams need Bees, not Spiders.

(Edit: spider not an insect, noted)

ben30on Epochalypse

I’ve noticed a more subtle bug, I worked for a company where the expire date for a lot of assets was 2038. The database supports later dates, but something upstream has the problem.

ben30on Ask HN: Can you recommend a book to learn basic electrical concepts/engineering?

"Electricity and Electronics" by Dale R. Patrick and Stephen W. Fardo

ben30on Mastodon gained 70k users after Musk’s Twitter takeover

Has anyone tried making a twitter clone by saying, hay sign up to us, port over your twitter handle by tweeting that your moving to us.

Give no option to make new handles on the twitter clone, you must be on twitter first.

ben30on Koch method to learn Morse

The book Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software, talks about morse in its first chapter.

The beauty of how morse encoding expands out from the binary dots and dashes in to letters and sentences is a lovely thing to read about. Think of it more as a tree graph allowing you to find your ideal letter, branching out from a root of common letters to less common as you fan out.

Brail is mentioned in the second chapter with a similar enlightening description.

ben30on Ask HN: What's Your Biggest Regret?

well, nothing is certain. My point was, starting is better than not starting and regretting that you are too late to start. Deciding what to start is the question.

ben30on Ask HN: What's Your Biggest Regret?

I’ve been a software engineer for many years, I stick at it because I enjoy it. Paying well is secondary. It requires a lot of focus, but the enjoyment of solving problems and being creative, is what drives me, not financial. That’s why I still do it. If you can find that enjoyment, don’t worry about not catching up, it will come.

I read the number of developer jobs doubles every 5 years. So with 5 years experience you’d be in the top 50%

ben30on An old Encyclopaedia Britannica is a work to cherish

My grandfather was born in 1906, I remember reading through a very old encyclopaedia that he had had when young. At the time I found it amusing that the map of the South Pole looked like a rough sketch lacking in any detail.

ben30on British pound hits record low against the dollar

‘Kwarteng's moves will tend to heat the economy up, interest rate rises will try to cool it down’

100% this, it’s utter madness. I had the same thought this morning, both acting in opposing directions.

ben30on Ask HN: Is there a Hacker News for writers?

I second that. I’m a member, full of insightful comments. I’ve joked in the past that it’s a social network for librarians. Check out the sub sites fan fare and ask for example.

ben30on Ask HN: Why aren't code diagram generating tools more common?

I’ve felt the same problem. IntelliJ markdown files have support for mermaid is and plant uml diagrams. You have to Google/tick a box to enable it though.

I find creation of a sequence diagram with class instances as columns and method names as arrows can help visualise things.

ben30on Should Freelancers Offer Free Trials?

Yes, was a bout to say same thing.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headli...

ben30on Tech bubbles are bursting all over the place

I've got this bookmarked: https://github.com/kuchin/awesome-cto

ben30on Kaketsugi – A technique for repairing holes or tears in fabric (2021) [video]

I'm glad I've learnt how to sew.

- Repaired a rucksack - sports kit - night clothes - ripped jeans - I've fixed my son's pricelessly irreplaceable red toy dog. (We joke (not joke), car, or toy dog, we save the dog)

Each time has been rewarding, and calming in the repetitive nature of the task.

I followed the instructions here:

https://www.instructables.com/Finishing-the-Case-With-a-Slip...

ben30on Ask HN: Where can I see many examples of real companies' software architecture?

http://highscalability.com/

Looks like it hasn’t been updated for a while though.

ben30on ReVanced

side note, on iOS, I uninstalled youtube app and use the site in safari with an ad blocker.