11101
The Long, Slow Decline of BitTorrent (2017)
BitTorrent used to dominate not just piracy, but the internet. Now, it’s barely noticed in traffic studies. What happened to the platform?
Top posts
Every blog post that took off on Hacker News, ranked by the votes of its best submission. 80,857 posts.
11102
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…
11103
Why Did Mozilla Remove XUL Add-Ons?
TL;DR: Firefox used to have a great extension mechanism based on the XUL and XPCOM. This mechanism served us well for a long time. However, it came at an ever-growing cost in terms of maintenance for both Firefox developers and add-on developers. On one side, this growing cost progressively killed any effort to make…
11104
Meta blocking news links in Canada
For months, supporters of Bill C-18, the Online News Act, assured the government that Meta and Google were bluffing when they warned that a bill based on mandated payments for links was unworkable and they would comply with it by removing links to news from their platforms. However, what has been readily apparent for…
11105
Is Perl 6 Being Renamed?
By now, many of you have seen the Perl 6 Github issue "Perl" in the name "Perl 6" is confusing and irritating . The issue suggested renaming Perl 6. While some may think that the name of the issue is trolling, or offensive, the actual issue was created by Elizabeth (Liz) Mattijsen, one of the core Perl 6 developers, a…
11106
11107
Advice for new software devs who've read all those other advice essays
From a person who really shouldn't be giving others advice.
11108
PureOS is convergent
Purism makes premium phones, laptops, mini PCs and servers running free software on PureOS. Purism products respect people's privacy and freedom while protecting their security.
11109
AWS services to avoid
Get ready for some personal and definitely opinionated opinions!
11110
macOS needs its grid back
Two decades ago I had a better Mac desktop experience than I have today. I only had a single low res (by todays standards) screen, yet I felt like Hugh Jackman in Swordfish - deftly navigating more than nine displays without thinking, muscle and spatial memory working seamlessly together. TLDR; I built an app to…
11111
11112
Lead-Free Solder Is Better for You
I spent the morning reading material Safety Data Sheets, because someone on the internet was wrong!
11113
The Church of Interruption
A conversation with a Wizard
11114
I Quit My Job to Live on Donations to Zig
I am fortunate to be one of those people who started tinkering with code in their teens, and then found themselves in the position where their hobby could not only pay rent, but afford a comfortable standard of living, even in New York City.
11115
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?
11116
Software estimation is hard – do it anyway
It’s well established that estimating software projects is hard. This is true, but you should learn how anyway.
11117
11118
11119
Khan Academy integrates GPT-4 as every student’s customized tutor
Khan Academy explores the potential for GPT-4 in a limited pilot program.
11120
Why ActivityPub is the future
We often tout things like “Mastodon is based on open web protocols” as one of its advantages. I want to elaborate why exactly that’s a good thing.
11121
IRS to ditch biometric requirement for online access
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said today it will be transitioning away from requiring biometric data from taxpayers who wish to access their records at the agency’s website. The reversal comes as privacy experts and lawmakers have been pushing the IRS and other federal agencies to find less intrusive methods for…
11122
Using FreeBSD to make self-hosting fun again
Feeling like a kid in a candy store, once more
11123
11124
Thirteen Years of Bad Game Code
Alone on a Friday night, in need of some inspiration, you decide to relive some of your past programming conquests. The old archive hard drive slowly spins up, and the source code of the glory days scrolls by... Oh no. This is not at all what you expected. Were things really this bad? Why did no one tell you? Why were…
11125
Python on the Edge: Fast, sandboxed, and powered by WebAssembly
With AI workloads on the rise, the demand for Python support on WebAssembly on the Edge has grown rapidly. However, bringing Python to WebAssembly isn'...
11126
How to replace estimations and guesses with a Monte Carlo simulation
Hot takes and cold truths on software, startups, and the lies we tell ourselves.
11127
Remove Google Search History Before New Privacy Policy Takes Effect
[UPDATE 2/22/2012] It is important to note that disabling Web History in your Google account will not prevent Google from gathering and storing this information and using it for internal purposes. More information at the end of this post. On March 1st, Google will implement its new, unified privacy policy, which will…
11128
Government grant-funded research should not be published in for-profit journals
OR: the long overdue forest fire
11129
35M Hot Dogs: Benchmarking Caddy vs. Nginx
Have you ever wondered about the performance delta between Caddy and Nginx? Wonder no more.
11130
Read less HN
< Random thoughts of John Murray