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Hashcards: A plain-text spaced repetition system
Announcing my latest open-source project.
Top posts
Every blog post that took off on Hacker News, ranked by the votes of its best submission. 4,109 posts.
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The Mac app flea market
Have you ever searched for “AI chat” in the Mac App Store? I have. It’s like strolling through one of those counterfeit, replica markets where all the goods…
753
I deleted my social media accounts
Retrogames revised.
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Uncomfortable Questions About Android Developer Verification
Google announced a program that is proving to be unpopular among Android app development experts. I have questions.
755
How Google Maps allocates survival across London's restaurants
I wanted a dinner recommendation and got a research agenda instead. Using 13000+ restaurants, I rebuild its ratings with machine learning and map how algorithmic visibility actually distributes power.
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Iconography of the PuTTY tools
In March 2025 I received an email asking about PuTTY’s “logo” – the icon used by the Windows executable. The sender wanted to know where it had come from, and how it had evolved over time.
758
Exit Tax: Leave Germany before your business gets big
Learn what triggers Germany’s exit tax for business owners, how it’s calculated, and why growing a profitable company can make leaving Germany costly.
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Generative AI coding tools and agents do not work for me
People keep asking me If I use Generative AI tools for coding and what I think of them, so this is my effort to put my thoughts in writing, so that I can send people here instead of having to repeat…
760
Using eSIMs with devices that only have a physical SIM slot via a 9eSIM SIM car
Do you have a phone, tablet, or laptop (or, well, any device…) which will only take a physical SIM, but with which you’d like to use eSIMs?
761
Using FreeBSD to make self-hosting fun again
Feeling like a kid in a candy store, once more
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Addiction Markets
Corporate gambling is economic coercion, a way to shift tax burdens away from the wealthy to the poor. It's been here since the 1970s, and now it's corrupting sports and young men. Abolish it.
763
The Moat of Low Status
It hurts, but less than you think
764
Ubiquiti launches UniFi OS Server for self-hosting
Ubiquiti just released UniFi OS Server in Early Access, allowing you to self-host the complete UniFi network stack on your own hardware. Initially, it will support UniFi Network and Innerspace. Besides UniFi Network and InnerSpace,
765
A Love Letter to People Who Believe in People
Tina on the transformative power of enthusiasm When I was eight, I made a big, hand-drawn poster that said, “Do you want to join my fan club?” and put it up in the small Swiss town where I grew up.…
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How big a solar battery do I need to store all my home's electricity?
I have a modest set of solar panels on an entirely ordinary house in suburban London. On average they generate about 3,800kWh per year. We also use about 3,800kWh of electricity each year. Obviously, we can't use all the power produced over summer and we need to buy power in winter. So here's my question: How big a…
767
Web Browsers have stopped blocking pop-ups
If you were an Internet user for a few years on either side of the turn of the millennium, you will remember pop-up advertisements.
768
Perl's decline was cultural
There's been a flurry of discussion on Hacker News and other tech forums about what killed Perl. I wrote a lot of Perl in the mid 90s and subsequently worked on some of the most trafficked sites on the web in mod_perl in the early 2000s, so I have some thoughts. My take: it was mostly baked into the culture. Perl grew…
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I wrote a book called “Crap Towns”. It seemed funny at the time
In 2003, I wrote a book called Crap Towns. It seemed funny at the time. But plenty of people say it would not be possible to publish it today. Is that a problem?
770
A Fast 64-Bit Date Algorithm (30–40% faster by counting dates backwards)
Counting years backwards unlocks faster speed. The first date algorithm to use only 4 multiplications, instead of 7+
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FediMeteo: A €4 FreeBSD VPS Became a Global Weather Service
How a simple idea turned into an international weather service on the Fediverse.
772
UK House of Lords attempting to ban use of VPNs by anyone under 16
This is deranged, each nation’s boomers and reactionaries attempting to outdo the others: “Action to prohibit the provision of VPN services to children in the United Kingdom” … th…
773
The ideal candidate will be punched in the stomach
The description suggests that this is some kind of extended metaphor about work. It appears to be written in that _Choose Your Own Adventure_ style second-person voice, yet there are no choices to be found within. Against your better judgment, you follow the link.
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Pyrefly vs. Ty: Comparing Python's two new Rust-based type checkers
A deep dive into Meta's pyrefly and Astral's ty - two new Rust-based Python type checkers that both promise faster performance and better type inference.
776
Finding a 27-year-old easter egg in the Power Mac G3 ROM
I was recently poking around inside the original Power Macintosh G3’s ROM and accidentally discovered an easter egg that nobody has documented until now.
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The untold impact of cancellation
Warning: towards the end of this post are references to suicide, which may be distressing to some readers. Discretion is advised.
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When flat rate movers won't answer your calls
Back in 2023 I went through an inter-state move with Flat Rate Movers, LTD. , a.k.a. Flat Rate Moving, US DOT 488466, MC 254356. They bungled the job, damaged my stuff and my house, and then refused to talk to me or their own insurance company. I placed dozens of calls, wrote letters, emails, nothing worked. I finally…
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Advanced Python Features
A collection of advanced Python features that I've found interesting, underrated, or unique - as someone who's seen a lot of Python code.
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My experience with Claude Code after two weeks of adventures
Hatching... Cursor Shenanigans Cursor, my beloved, started rate limiting shenanigans a few days back. For a good 2 weeks after June 16, 2025, we had almo...