Hacker News Reader

yesfitzon iPhone Duo

iPhone Duo is more like iPad Pocket. Touch ID + Apple Pencil Support coming later this year. It looks physically uncomfortable to hold.

I was really hoping they were going to slap an Apple Watch screen on the back of an iPhone Air and fold that in half.

I'll be waiting for an iPhone Duo Mini, I guess.

yesfitzon The iPhone Duo is Apple's first foldable

iPhone Duo is more like iPad Pocket. Touch ID + Apple Pencil Support coming later this year. It looks physically uncomfortable to hold.

I was really hoping they were going to slap an Apple Watch screen on the back of an iPhone Air and fold that in half.

I'll be waiting for an iPhone Duo Mini, I guess.

yesfitzon Nathan Fielder's Elizabeth Holmes Doc Met with Shock and Awe at Secret Screening

That's a news report. Here's a link to the teaser trailer published by A24: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGJSRFWALTI

yesfitzon Florida revokes permits for license plate readers on state highways

DeFlock already tracks ALPRs in private businesses' parking lots. https://maps.deflock.org/

yesfitzon The Remote Work Challenge: Lessons from 5 Cities

Do you have any thoughts about how to minimize the negative impact of such a massive shift?

I've been thinking that Federal limits on nominal appreciation of real estate could gently decrease real prices via inflation. And if that limit fluctuated like the Federal Reserve rate, it wouldn't completely crash real estate as an investment vehicle, meaning retirements needn't be completely decimated.

But that kind of intervention is just pie in the sky at least for the next few years.

yesfitzon Ocean heat records broken as hottest July temperature recorded

I was able to find sources for your methane production figures, but can you provide them for the CO2?

To your point about increasing CO2 from farming plants: 40-66% of corn and 58%-77% of soy grown in the US is currently fed to animals, and we dedicate 5,000% more acres to growing feed crops than to vegetables[1]. Since between 3 and 10 calories of plants fed to an animal yields 1 calorie of animal product (depending on animal)[2], there would be room to either plant less, plant different, and/or use less emissive practices.

1: https://insideanimalag.org/feed-crop-takeaways/

2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_conversion_ratio#Conversi...

yesfitzon We audited 1,751 "relationship milestones" our RAG extractor wrote 62% were junk

I've read this twice and have some questions:

1. What's the context/goal of flagging relationship milestones?

2. What does a normal relationship milestone look like?

3. Who's the intended audience of this case study? (The prior 2 questions may be moot because I don't have the right background information.)

yesfitzon As a musician, I prefer illegal downloading over Spotify (2011)

The post's actual title is "Giving it Away: How Free Music Makes More Than Sense" and is far more interesting than the part about preferring illegal downloading. The author, Derek Webb, gave (gives?) away albums in exchange for your ZIP Code and email address because the chance of getting you out to a live show was worth more than what he made on a digital sale or stream.

But for context, the full quote about preferring illegal downloading is: "I’ll go even further to say that I actually prefer illegal downloading over Spotify because when you get music illegally it’s at least implicit in the transaction that what you’re doing is potentially harmful to the artist. But with Spotify, your conscience is clear because you’re either enduring ads or paying to use the service and access the music."

yesfitzon 42% of adults rely on their parents for financial support

I went to the source[1] referenced by the article and found the exact question. It took about 90 seconds.

"How financially independent you currently feel from your parents (meaning you could support yourself without them if needed)"

1: https://news.northwesternmutual.com/planning-and-progress-st...

yesfitzon How did Atari apply side art to Arcade Cabinets?

After 30+ years of decals and wraps being the way to decorate arcade and pinball cabinets, Spooky Pinball reintroduced direct-printing, known as "butter cabs"[1]. Although this time via large inkjet-type printers.

Just like the screenprinted Atari cabinets, it's worth seeing the Spooky butter cabs in-person. While decals have come a long way in fidelity and application, there's a feeling of satisfaction when the image is part of the object, rather than on the object.

1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTbtn-tasXM

yesfitzon US House lawmakers release draft bill to prohibit state AI rules

Probably the Commerce Clause.

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

yesfitzon Good Careers at Bad Companies

Thanks for fixing the site, OP.

The post is fantastically helpful for keeping perspective and navigating orgs regardless of whether or not they’re a “bad company”. Because there’s parts of every company that are dysfunctional.

yesfitzon Corporations can vote in some Delaware elections, judge says

Why?

yesfitzon What we lost when we stopped letting kids leave the front yard

"Anti-social" has multiple definitions.

The other poster was using it to mean the opposite of pro-social, i.e. behavior that is bad for society (like roughhousing in a shared space meant for shopping). This definition is frequently used in the UK and Ireland thanks to Anti-social Behavior Orders.

You are using it to mean being averse to socializing.

yesfitzon Peter Thiel Is Building a Parallel Justice System – Powered by AI

From TFA:

"Financial details are vague, but the company has said the process will cost around $2,000 — far less than the retainer of a crisis communications expert."

yesfitzon 40% of lost calories globally are from beef, needing 33 cal of feed per 1 cal

Not a minority in terms of beef.[1] Only Brazil produces more.

But if you have any sources about cattle finishing practices in other countries, I’m keen to read them.

1: https://www.cattlerange.com/articles/2026/04/global-beef-pro...

yesfitzon 40% of lost calories globally are from beef, needing 33 cal of feed per 1 cal

Got a source for "last month of life"?

Penn State University Extension says "...approximately 95% of the cattle in the United States continue to be finished, or fattened, on grain for the last 160 to 180 days of life (~25 to 30% of their life), on average."[1]

Oklahoma State University Extension also cites a study that compares "growth and carcass attributes of calves finished for 98 to 105 days in a grass system or a legume system"[2]

That puts us between 3 to 6 times longer than you stated, and gives us the context for how much of the average cattle's life that is. (USDA Prime, Choice, and Standard are all 30 to 42 months. Select is under 30 months.[3])

1: https://extension.psu.edu/grass-fed-beef-production 2: https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/finishing-beef-cat... 3: https://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards/slaughter-cattle-g...

yesfitzon The Cognitive Dark Forest

It's specifically referencing the central idea of the book mentioned in the first sentence of the paragraph.

> Did you get to read the Liu Cixin’s second 3-body-problem novel? - The Dark Forest. Well some of you did …

The author of this post then provides a good summary of the idea in the next few sentences, but remember there is an entire book around this premise (and a first book that sets it up and a third book explores it even more).

yesfitzon Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

How much did your beef end up costing?

yesfitzon Don't post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans.

It's a matter of taste, but your original writing is way better. Your writing has your voice. Like dropping the "I am" from your first sentence, using parentheticals, couching your point in understatement (e.g "sometimes" meaning often instead of just saying "often").

The AI comment might be clear, but it sounds like a press release, not a person, and there's nothing to engage with.

yesfitzon Global warming has accelerated significantly

Reduce consumption of farmed animal products to zero.

yesfitzon BBC says 'irreversible' trends mean it will not survive without major overhaul

The BBC's Annual Plan for 2025/2026[1] is an interesting read.

They spend a lot of money (billions) on making and delivering content, but that's still not much compared to other large for-profit media companies[2].

The TV License has been the model since World War II[3], and the entire mass media landscape has completely changed since then.

The proposals to replace the TV License with ads or subscriptions are enshittification. The BBC is not a for-profit media company and should not be treated like one. It is a soft-power organization (cynically: propaganda arm) for the British government. There isn't anything inherently wrong with spreading your government's/culture's messages, especially when it's as obvious as the BBC, but it should not be expected to make money. How much is it worth that Britain stays relevant throughout the Anglosphere and beyond? Or that British points of view are available everywhere with a shortwave radio or VPN?

So fund it like it's defense spending. Maybe if the next leader of a foreign country has a fondness for Del Boy or Red Dwarf, negotiations will go a little more smoothly.

As an American, I think I'd prefer having an official propaganda arm like the BBC instead of whatever quiet public-private partnerships (cynically: backroom deals) we have instead. I'd hate it, but it'd be good to have something concrete to direct my criticism at, instead of constantly wondering if NPR is really presenting unbiased facts or the movie about our Navy jet fighters being the best, most freedom-loving planes flown by handsome rascals is just a good time.

1: https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/documents/bbc-annual-plan-...

2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21st_Century_Fox#

3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_licensing_in_the_Un...

yesfitzon The Death of Spotify: Why Streaming Is Minutes Away from Being Obsolete

https://www.qobuz.com/

It has about as many tracks as iTunes[1]

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_digital_music_st...

yesfitzon Layoffs at Block

With light CRM, Staffing, and Banking tools, it seems like Square's strategy is to be best-of-suite for small businesses rather than best-of-breed.

I've never seen Toast outside of bars/restaurants (although they are ubiquitous in that segment). Every other service or retail shop has been Square, especially farmers markets and craft fairs.

yesfitzon The US Had a Big Battery Boom Last Year

Not to understate the terrible conditions of "Artisanal" mines, but the Cobalt Institute says "Due to market surplus, ASM [Artisinal and Small Mine] production has reached a record low, with ASM accounting for an estimated 2% of total cobalt supply from the DRC in 2024."[1]

Which conflicts with the NPR article, "In his new book, Cobalt Red, Kara writes that much of the DRC's cobalt is being extracted by so-called 'artisanal' miners..."[2]

Unfortunately, nowhere in the NPR article does it give a hard number to compare like the Cobalt Institute, but as of 2024, JP Morgan analysis said "ASMs... contribute up to 30% of the DRC’s cobalt supply..."[3]

So, what can we do?

Mining and battery production don't require pseudo-slavery, so maybe the best answer is to work towards improved conditions in ASMs in the DRC, develop battery reuse/recycling, and searching for alternative sources of the conflict minerals so that the industy can vote with their wallet.

Unless you have another solution?

1: https://www.cobaltinstitute.org/responsible-sustainable-coba...

2: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/02/01/1152893...

3: https://web.archive.org/web/20240704040321/https://am.jpmorg...

yesfitzon The End of the Office

Vendor management is a risk that every business deals with to some capacity. What keeps Microsoft from charging more for Windows licenses? Linux, MacOS, even Chromebooks. A business who puts all their eggs in one vendor's basket without any exit strategy will either have to pay up, sell, or fold, but that kind of behavior from a vendor will have their other customers looking for a door.

Launching competitors? Maybe so, but this too has existing analogs pre-AI[1]. The fact that many start-ups today are created with the explicit goal of being acquired rather than growing organically or existing in perpetuity tells me that the only thing that may change is the cost of Sherlocking a startup will come down below the cost to acquire. But if the cost of creating a start-up and using a lawyer-bot to protect its intellectual property also come down, then the math isn't settled.

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_(software)#Sherlocked...

yesfitzon Ireland rolls out basic income scheme for artists

Previous discussions:

3 months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45590900

4 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29977176

People have seemed critical of the presentation, scope, and goal of this program. (e.g. It's not "universal" basic income, the number of recipients is limited to 2,000, and why are artists being subsidized instead of essential workers?)

Now it seems that we'll get some real world answer to those questions/concerns.

yesfitzon AirPods Pro 4 Could Feature Cameras to 'See Around You'

This was a solved problem in the 1st and 2nd generation of AirPods with tap controls[1]. I'm still surprised that they removed that feature in favor of pressure, although now that I'm reflecting more on it, I wonder if it's part of Apple using their manufacturing and engineering as a moat[2]. i.e. Tap controls are relatively easy, so once wireless earbuds became commodities, they had to figure out some way to differentiate themselves.

That said, as someone who does pottery (messy hands), wears gloves/hats (stuff in the way), and has relatively poor fine motor control, I guess I welcome any solution that doesn't mean getting clay or cold air in my hair/ear.

The battery consumption and latency of the IR cameras will be interesting though. Too sensitive, and you'll eat up your battery. Not sensitive enough, and UX suffers.

1: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102628 2: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45186975

yesfitzon We tracked 605 Show HN posts for 63 days

1. Not sure what holds up anymore?

2. What do you mean 5 years later? The article was posted today and the data was collected between December 2025 and February 2026.

yesfitzon We tracked 605 Show HN posts for 63 days

Beyond the headline, the author provides information for people interested in increasing the longevity of their "Show HN" post.

Sections 4-6 have actionable insights:

* Part 4: The 1% — Who Survived and Why

* Part 5: When to Post

* Part 6: What This Means for Builders

But I agree, the headline doesn't convey that those insights are within the article.