HNHacker News
TopNewBestAskShowJobs

michaelje

160 karma · joined July 4, 2021

Currently in Montreal.
submissionscomments
michaelje··on Hister: A private search engine for the pages you visit and the files you keep
I built something similar at the start of the year, using tailscale for auth (multi user on my tailnet/home network) and for access wherever I was, whether at home or on the road (all compute/storage was on my Mac mini.) Worked a treat.
michaelje··on My car’s OTA update broke Android Auto
Once upon a time, physically shipping faulty software had real costs borne by the organization - production, redistribution and transportation of a physical disc.

Today there’s no disc, no recall - that cost to shipping broken software is gone. We the users pay the price.

michaelje··on Overseas fakers using AI videos to push a narrative of UK decline, BBC finds
The CBC recently reported on videos pretending to be from Canadians promoting similar anti-Canada messaging. They used AI generated copies of real Canadians and hired voice actors. They use this divisive content to drive views and ad revenue: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/alberta-separatist-youtube-ch...
michaelje··on French government agency confirms breach as hacker offers to sell data
The overreach on access and then storage will be a meaningful issue we will have to reckon with more and more. Companies are acquired, companies die. What happens to your data in 5, 15, 50 years? It doesn’t just disappear.

From a few months back: https://mjeggleton.com/blog/your-data-never-dies

michaelje··on Anonymous request-token comparisons from Opus 4.6 and Opus 4.7
Open models keep closing the eval gap for many tasks, and local inference continues to be increasingly viable. What's missing isn't technical capability, but productized convenience that makes the API path feel like the only realistic option.

Frontier labs are incentivized to keep it that way, and they're investing billions to make AI = API the default. But that's a business model, not a technical inevitability.

michaelje··on The beginning of scarcity in AI
Absolutely. Pricing exposure is the quiet story under all the waves of AI hype. Build for convenience → subsidise for dependence → meter for margin is a well-worn playbook, and AI-dependent companies are about to find out what phase three feels like.

Hyperscalers are spending a fortune so we think AI = API, but renting intelligence is a business model, not a technical inevitability.

Shameless link to my post on this: https://mjeggleton.com/blog/AIs-mainframe-moment

michaelje··on Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (December 2025)
https://sorso.app/

A fresh PWA to log / improve your coffee brewing process. We use it to see what we are all drinking, find new coffees, explore new cafes, and understand what we like / don’t like.

It’s primarily used by our group of friends, so if you see a rough edge somewhere please reach out!

michaelje··on Why conventional wisdom on health care is wrong (a primer) (2020)
Every other country appears to have the “bread” at a reasonable price. Ironically, it’s the US which has the same bread for 100x the cost.
michaelje··on U.S. is said to open criminal inquiry into Boeing
Not sure medicine is the best example given the same profit seeking culture is driving decisions where care takes a back seat
michaelje··on 100 Years of Rent Control in Sweden
>> critics argue that it reduces the supply of rental apartments and creates housing shortages

I don’t follow the logic. It doesn’t destroy the property or take it out of supply, it just means someone might not purchase it specifically to rent it out. Which in turn means less demand buying houses overall, which means more opportunities for people to buy (if they want?)

michaelje··on 2013 Airbus A380 for sale in Rolling Hills Estates, California
I assume the people in the market for an a380 already know what it looks like
michaelje··on Canada's population is booming – access to family doctors hasn't kept pace
More consumers to consume
michaelje··on You do need a technical co-founder [video]
Or a technical audience is not the market
michaelje··on Canada has fewer entrepreneurs today than it did 20 years ago
Wrt who is happy to exploit TFWs: is it Canadians, or the Canadian government at the request of Canadian big business?

Who stands to gain? Without TFWs the minimum wage (or the amount actually paid for workers) would have to rise - supply and demand.

michaelje··on Canada has fewer entrepreneurs today than it did 20 years ago
Or maybe the issue is regulatory capture of government, not government itself?

‘Government intervention’ isn’t the same as a government who works to support the needs of citizens.

michaelje··on iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus
Agree - I’ve been using a set of Eve (from memory) power plugs that are thread enabled - my understanding is it doesn’t connect directly to the internet (ie you don’t connect it to your wifi) but you connect to a border hub (ie an Apple TV, or maybe now an iPhone 15.)

So I guess if you trust apple, you can sorta trust these devices as their access to the outside world would be through an apple device.

michaelje··on Wall Street scooped up a third of Texas single family homes sold last year (2022)
It doesn’t have to be a good or bad investment. It can be something you pay for and use, and it provides actual utility. We could make owner occupiers first class citizens in our own society, having housing as primarily for housing people, with investment purposes secondary.
michaelje··on Wall Street scooped up a third of Texas single family homes sold last year (2022)
Increasing mortgage rates is a poor mechanism for countering inflation. It only directly impacts a minority of the economy and private companies (banks) earn the profit.
michaelje··on Banks as collateral damage in a class war
Why should controlling inflation be used to transfer wealth from individuals to a for-profit third party (banks)?

Also, it doesn’t target the entire population fairly - surely there is a better way?

I found this a thought provoking starting place: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/abc-news-daily/id13495...

michaelje··on Maybe treating housing as an investment was a mistake
This was a thoughtful read - but found the conclusion avoided the biggest challenge of all - that housing is not *just* a financial decision - but rather, people require housing to live their lives.
michaelje··on Maybe treating housing as an investment was a mistake
This was a thoughtful read - but found the conclusion avoided the biggest challenge of all - that housing is not just a financial decision - but rather, people require housing to live their lives.
michaelje··on Introducing ChatGPT and Whisper APIs
I can’t wait to hire Stephen Colbert to write prompts then
michaelje··on Ask HN: Comment here about whatever you're passionate about at the moment
I just got back from the Banff Film Festival, where I saw Fire of Love[1]. It’s the story of French scientists Maurice and Katia Krafft, who become fully devoted to each other and the study of Volcanos for the rest of their lives.

Created using hours of their archival footage, it’s a story driven by a singular shared passion, amazingly found by two people born only 20km apart.

[1] https://youtube.com/watch?v=kz95Xjd3l00

michaelje··on Valve Employee Handbook (2012) [pdf]
This needs a solid [2012] in front of it
michaelje··on Analysis of Apple Watch running data
I’ve just completed a 6 month self comparison of the Whoop v4 and Watch S6 for cycling. I found for long endurance efforts they were surprisingly accurate to each other - but during intervals of intense exertion (eg a KOM/hill climb) often the Whoop would read my HR as ~40-60BPM lower while the watch would reflect an expected reading (160-180bpm). Sometimes after 1-2 mins the whoop would “catch up” but it would leave a giant drop in HR graphing for that interval.

This also lowered the avg HR for the workout on the whoop, as you noted. Happy to share an example comparison graph if you’re interested, just reach out.

For what it’s worth, I ended up cancelling the Whoop this month after trying twice to engage with their data team.

michaelje··on Microsoft Clipchamp
Founded in Brisbane. Acquired by MS about a year ago.
michaelje··on Slack’s free plan change is causing an exodus
Very..

Salesforce bought Slack in 2021.

michaelje··on The Uber leak exposes the global war on workers
How can we do better to see, stop, or price-in externalities that impact people, communities, the world?

This is a widespread issue across many essential areas of human life - like housing (Airbnb), or the environment (pollution).

michaelje··on New MacBook Air with M2
Please don’t get less than 16.

I have now had two (work and personal) - my work m1 air was specced with 8GB, and had major memory pressure and issues with an external monitor. My personal 14” MBP has 16GB - same workload, same monitor, never skipped a beat.

Ended up sending the air back and swapping for one of the old dev ex MBP (intel based).

michaelje··on Show HN: I am building a free version of Strava
No - it has to be more casual.

I don’t want to force people to join a/my/some club. I want to let my followers and friends see I plan to do a 80km ride Saturday morning and let them simply tag along. It could easily be integrated into the feed or as a separate section.

I’d argue social activity is one of the biggest opportunities for Strava to lock themselves in as the hub of all movement activity - but it requires supporting how people like to naturally organize in a local community.

Page 1 of 2Next →