HNHacker News
TopNewBestAskShowJobs

volleygman180

248 karma · joined May 17, 2022

submissionscomments
volleygman180··on OpenAI’s head of ethics leaves less than a year after joining
Theorizing the obvious? Wouldn’t that simply be that she job-hopped to a better job?

It’s easy to theorize ad infinitum otherwise

volleygman180··on Anthropic Faces Potentially "Business-Ending" Copyright Lawsuit
How many members of the class have abstained from using the LLMs provided by the major AI companies, raise your hands...

That's what I thought. Members of the class should be disqualified from joining based on this criteria alone

volleygman180··on Claude Code weekly rate limits
Agreed. The internet would be livid if Apple Music or Hulu limited how many hours you were allowed to stream per week. Especially the users who pay for the top-tier packages that include 4K (or lossless for music), extra channel add-ons, etc.
volleygman180··on Fine dining restaurants researching guests to make their dinner unforgettable
I haven't seen The Menu, but try watching The Bear instead. They demonstrate this level-of-service & mentality and it's much more sincere than you think.
volleygman180··on WeatherStar 4000+: Weather Channel Simulator
I was impressed as soon as it loaded and immediately said, "Yea but what about the music?". Then I noticed the sound toggle button.

Absolute perfection!

volleygman180··on A study reveals that deciduous trees' roots remain active in winter
When controlling invasive plants like honeysuckle using glyphosate, one of the more responsible approaches is to wait until all of the trees have lost their leaves in the fall and entered dormancy. The idea being that because the honeysuckle still has its leaves, you can safely use glyphosate on it with minimal to no impact on the rest of the ecosystem. I've always had my doubts (particularly due to studies on mycelium being exposed to glyphosate), but this is one of best practices that conservation departments recommend.

With this new study, it opens the possibility that trees may still have root absorption during the winter season. I feel like it is further evidence of how glyphosate likely always impacts the ecosystem and has no truly safe usage

volleygman180··on Anthropic: "Applicants should not use AI assistants"
It'd be more analogous if it were a brewery telling interviewees not to drink during the interview
volleygman180··on Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]
So can we finally expect to see first-party Switch 1 games get discounts?
volleygman180··on Famous AI Artist Says He's Losing Millions from People Stealing His Work
It's fun to ponder how modern society will evolve if this same mindset is applied to other domains that generative AI is eventually used for, specifically sciences. If AI (art) works cannot be copyrighted, there's hope that the same would apply to the other domains and prohibiting AI-generated works from being patented. Imagine AI finding 50 new ways of making insulin that don't violate the existing patents...

One can dream, right?! This could cripple monopolies and bring more power back to small businesses and individuals, as the capitalistic playing-field is leveled.

volleygman180··on Legalizing sports gambling was a mistake
> So what can be done now? I don't think OSB is going to be redeclared illegal. I don't think that would be a good idea either.

I disagree - I think it would be a great idea. While some may argue that gambling is a zero-sum game (which isn't exactly great, in and of itself), it's really a net loss. While some people may win a bit of money, I'd argue that the degree to which their lives are improved is much less than the degree that some others' lives are destroyed. Gambling, ultimately, being a negative sum.

> Millions of people have started sports betting. If it becomes illegal, it won't make them stop

I disagree with this too. It's substantially easier for any random person to simply tap a few buttons on their phone to place a bet than to find and arrange opportunities with others to bet on sports or visit a brick & mortar betting site. The level of effort of placing a phone bet is so small (and with 24/7 access), you'd have a very hard time arguing that making OSB illegal would only marginally impact the amount of sports gambling taking place.

Bottom line: gambling is an addictive activity for all people and some more so than others. Limiting access to it will have a positive impact on pretty much everyone who does't own or work at a gambling company.

volleygman180··on OpenAI to Become For-Profit Company
Earth
volleygman180··on Stop trying to avoid distractions, just get better ones instead
I couldn't disagree more, at least in the examples that the author gives.

Everything in moderation. Screens (and for children), particularly.

The author's perspective comes off as someone who's trying to justify their questionable choices to themself.

volleygman180··on I've built my first successful side project, and I hate it
Yes, yes, and yes. I feel this
volleygman180··on AltStore PAL receives Epic Games MegaGrant, will no longer require subscription
Sounds like it's a game of CTF and we know who's winning :(
volleygman180··on Google and Meta struck secret ads deal to target teenagers
Are commercials during saturday morning cartoons not ads targeted at children?

When I was growing up at least, it was all for candy, toys, and sugary cereal, and often had kids or cartoon characters featured in the commercial.

volleygman180··on After 10 years, Yelp gave my app 4 days
And I'd put Apple App Store Review team (specifically, the appeals/rejection team) at the top of this list
volleygman180··on Apple unveils 'Passwords' manager app at WWDC 2024
> you need to accept a model where there's ongoing pay for that work

Before they switched to subscriptions, it still worked like that: 1Password 4, 1Password 5, 1Password 6 - I paid money each time a new version came out. Sometimes I paid the same day of the release and upgraded immediately. Other times, I may have waited a little bit longer and continued with the version that I had.

Nobody's asking for a free lunch.

volleygman180··on Kino: Pro Video Camera
I mean that initially the 15% commission was only for subscription sales. Then more recently, Apple added the small business program which gave 15% commission for any sales (not only subscriptions), at least for smaller companies
volleygman180··on Kino: Pro Video Camera
Subscription fatigue is very real today, but to your point, as a business you can't provide eternal updates (work) for free.

In the old days, you'd buy a new version of Mac or Windows or any software that you run on it (Office, Parallels, etc.) when you wanted the new features each year.

I think Apple's App Store has a lot to do with why everything is now subscription-based. They used to offer developers a smaller Apple-commission (15%) for subscription sales instead of the typical 30% for in-app purchase sales and paid-apps.

This was great for businesses, but in my opinion, only service businesses should be subscriptions - this transition would help reduce subscription fatigue. Normal software should mostly go back to just issuing new versions each year (or whatever frequency), so that consumers re-frame the purchase cycle to something that feels more reasonable again.

In order for this to occur, however, Apple may need to adjust the App Store algorithms. If you were to launch a new app (ex. "Kino v6"), you'd start all over again from day 1 with 0 app ratings and reviews, and not rank well on any keywords nor in the top apps charts.

Some apps simply rename their app with each new version, but that introduces similar complexities, especially for users who already paid & downloaded the previous "version". So in a big way, the App Store de-incentivizes any kind of transition away from a subscription-based business model.

The "new versions" business model vs. subscription may be similar cost to consumer (it wouldn't support monthly users), but it would allow consumers to only update when their ready and could continue using an old app version (especially on older devices) as long as they'd like. If a customer really likes the software, they'd likely buy the new version to access new features & device support before too long anyhow

volleygman180··on OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show
I thought it sounded like SJ when I watched the demo live https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40345775&p=6#40346221
volleygman180··on Developers does not care about poisoning attacks in LLM code assistants
Seems like an interesting evolution of supply-chain attacks, since this is a bit more indirect. At least when a common open-source library gets poisoned, the code transparency makes it easier for someone to notice the issue and push put a patch.
volleygman180··on GPT-4o
I was surprised that the voice is a ripoff of the AI voice in that movie (Scarlett Johansson) too
volleygman180··on Justice Department to file antitrust suit against Live Nation
Everything you're describing is our current reality already. The only difference I'm noticing is that Platinum Pricing doesn't exist.

In that case, that is a better future for consumers, because right now, Platinum Pricing is where we really get screwed.

volleygman180··on Dark Star at 50: How a micro-budget student film changed sci-fi forever
The only thing that'd make this even better is if after hearing 11.5 hours of Dark Star, it gracefully transitioned into El Paso!
volleygman180··on United Arab Emirates is using cloud seeding tech to make it rain
It's been happening in the US for quite awhile too.

For example, Colorado regularly performs cloud seeding and other weather modification techniques - https://cwcb.colorado.gov/focus-areas/supply/weather-modific...

volleygman180··on Rivers Cuomo is an active developer on GitHub
It's fascinating to see how a prominent musician uses coding and custom software in their daily and professional life
volleygman180··on The Psychology of Apple Packaging
The sleeve isn't packaging though. You don't throw it away after opening it - it's a part of the product. Same as CDs or cassettes.
volleygman180··on US developers can offer non-app store purchasing, Apple still collect commission
Apple's justification seems counterintuitive, given that the commission only applies to app sales or in-app purchases. Since free apps don't pay anything, what is the commission for if not for "services as a payment provider"?
volleygman180··on 50 Algorithms Every Programmer Should Know (Second Edition)
Understanding time & space complexity is tablestakes for many software engineer roles. It sounds naive to think that self-taught ppl would lack that knowledge
volleygman180··on The Omnichord will be re-produced to commemorate our 70th anniversary
Kinda old news. I’m pretty sure we’re still waiting to hear about a new projected release date since the delay was announced
Page 1 of 2Next →