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mmarian

1,469 karma · joined July 28, 2019

Latest projects:

* AI Copilot for LibreOffice Writer: https://librethinker.com/

* A personal blog about tech and startups: https://developerwithacat.com

* Hacker News alerts for comments and replies: https://hackernewsalerts.com/

I open source my failed projects at: https://github.com/mihailthebuilder

I'm on LinkedIn for anything: https://linkedin.com/in/mihailmarian . Make sure you add a message before you send a connection invite.

submissionscomments
mmarian··on Floci: Locally emulating any cloud service
> you want a high fidelity test of a specific cloud dependency

Reached the same conclusion. Plus it's a fair amount of effort to set them up and maintain.

mmarian··on OpenBB winding down and open-sourced
Editorialised, I know. But much clearer what it's about vs original title "OpenBB belongs to everyone".
mmarian··on Shein's $100B Dream Unravelled
https://archive.is/6UdWR
mmarian··on LibreOffice Conference 2026 Schedule
Side note - I'll be giving a talk about my AI extension on Thu @ 3 pm!
mmarian··on LinkedIn Feed Blocker
My suspicion is that it's by design, to fight scrapers and extensions like this one.
mmarian··on LinkedIn Feed Blocker
Most people genuinely want that, even if they say they don't. It's the only reason I can think of why low-value posts get so many likes.
mmarian··on LinkedIn Feed Blocker
Built one 6 years ago that I gave up on https://github.com/mihailthebuilder/simplyfeed. The problem was that so many posts were filtered out that the feed would just show up empty.
mmarian··on "Please just use plain English, I don't understand what you're saying."
Good to know it's not just me! I also found it's way too verbose. So much so that I added an entry in my Claude.md telling it to be concise.
mmarian··on Politician reads AI prompt during assembly
IQ levels are same as before, it's just easier to spot differences.
mmarian··on Gibraltar land grab stirs age-old dispute with Spain
https://archive.is/d9yCg
mmarian··on List of Projects by Independent Developers in China
Not mine. Translated title of repo.
mmarian··on How to Start a Ruby Meetup
That's crazy. A dev meetup in Northampton UK has backlog for 10 months of talks. Although it is generalist.
mmarian··on AI content is everywhere on social media, especially LinkedIn
I find it ok once you heavily filter the content. But you need to put in a lot of effort.
mmarian··on Nigel Farage's unusual by-election opponent: Count Binface
the most serious candidate in the election
mmarian··on Nigel Farage's unusual by-election opponent: Count Binface
https://archive.is/D3fxi
mmarian··on Building relationships with customers through support didn't turn out as hoped
Same here. I feel it's what every software owner thinks, but no one is willing to admit because of the backlash.
mmarian··on Everyone loves apprenticeships. So why can't Britain create more of them?
https://archive.is/HpNnB
mmarian··on New AI tutor achieves 0.71-1.30 SD effect size in Dartmouth course [pdf]
Various concepts when I joined new teams in domains I've never worked in before. And system design. So very practical, and where stakes were high.
mmarian··on New AI tutor achieves 0.71-1.30 SD effect size in Dartmouth course [pdf]
Conflicted about this study. On one hand, LLMs have been incredible for my personal learnings of new concepts.

On the other, I'm sceptical of that it'll have "strong benefits" at scale; I'd be more in favor if the wording was "some"/"moderate". I reckon self-selection plays a huge part, as mentioned in the "Limitations" section of the paper.

I'd also caution against attaching the tool to grading. That means students have to put more effort into the course, which increases the chances that they will use LLMs to save time rather than make the investment.

mmarian··on Bending Spoons built a $23B tech empire from struggling brands
https://archive.is/YdMYW
mmarian··on RefCam Bayer Leverkusen vs. FC Bayern [video]
> In the 2025/26 DFB-Pokal semi-finals, Bayer 04 Leverkusen hosted FC Bayern Munich at home. The match was officiated by a team of referees led by Felix Zwayer. During the game, he wore a camera on his headset—the so-called RefCam!

Sharing it as I didn't know about this RefCam. I don't watch football but found it quite interesting.

mmarian··on I can build anything, but only the void sees it
Try YC's co-founder matching platform. Start broad, then apply filters.
mmarian··on Factories are just rooms
Agree job-wise somewhat. With the caveat that you're discounting that you're good at IT, which is why you find it easier; your classmates wouldn't.

On entrepreneurship - the low execution cost and huge capital inflows in software startups actually makes it very hard to succeed in that space because it leads to intense competition. The success stories are the tip of the iceberg.

This makes hardware startups relatively easier to build, believe it or not.

mmarian··on After $18B IPO, Bending Spoons founder says success comes from minimizing luck
Full statement behind title is interesting. I actually agree with the founders - it's easier to make good money acquiring a proven business and improving its financials, than it is starting something and trying to prove to customers it'll work.

You need have the capital from the get go though.

mmarian··on Ask HN: Procrastination with AI?
Used to in the past. Now use it as an opportunity to look out the window, or write something in my diary. Significantly improved my mental health.
mmarian··on Ask HN: How to Delete the HN Account?
If you said ~/. I would've thought you want to poison the LLM fountain
mmarian··on Anthropic moves to close loopholes that allow Chinese access to Claude
Claude censored from performing certain tasks due to US embargoes. Capitalism with Chinese characteristics.
mmarian··on Anthropic moves to close loopholes that allow Chinese access to Claude
https://archive.is/Or1VM
mmarian··on Ask HN: What's SOTA for AI Voice Narration
I found NotebookLM podcast voices better than ElevenReader's, so maybe check out Google's services? Just tried OpenAI's voice in ChatGPT, sounds more natural than 11labs as well.
mmarian··on Ask HN: How do you handle QA at a startup with no QA team? Genuinely curious
Even the customer does QA.
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