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The West forgot how to make things, now it’s forgetting how to code
The defense industry lost the ability to make weapons when crisis hit. The same pattern is eroding software engineering skills. The timelines are identical.
Topics /
Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 8,147 posts.
92
I Miss Microsoft Encarta
Microsoft Encarta came out in 1993 and was one of the first CD-ROMs I had. It ...
93
Be Kind
Being kind is fundamentally about taking responsibility for your impact on the people around you. It requires you be mindful of their feelings and considerate of the way your presence affects them.
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Everyone knows all the apps on your phone
Until a few years ago, any app you installed on an Android device could see all other apps on your phone without your permission.
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Windows needs a change in priorities
A developer's critique of Windows 11 product priorities, weighing UX consistency and developer trust against ad placement and shell rewrites.
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Kidnapped by Deutsche Bahn
A Christmas Eve journey. Deutsche Bahn. 35 kilometers.
97
Chrome breaks the Web
Chrome team breaks existing web to make Chrome perform better
98
How a comment on Hacker News led to 4½ new Unicode characters
On 22 June 2016, Unicode version 9.0 was published . As part of that, 4 new symbols were introduced – and another one was re-purposed.
99
I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams
Many ads in Apple News served by Taboola are clearly scams.
100
How each pillar of the First Amendment is under attack
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” -U.S. Constitution, First Amendment.
101
Anthropic’s paper smells like bullshit
offensive security & software engineering
102
DuckDuckGo is good enough for regular use
Google recently launched a desktop redesign. The favicon and URL breadcrumbs were turned into a header for organic search results. Ads had the same design, but were identified using the string "Ad" instead of the favicon. This design wasn't new. Google's mobile web search has served this design since May 2019. But…
103
The 'papers, please' era of the internet will decimate your privacy
Americans, be warned: Age verification is identity verification.
104
Glassdoor not so anonymous
A judge has ruled in favour of releasing anonymous user details posted on Glassdoor to billion-dollar NZ toy company, Zuru
105
The day Windows died
As a longtime user of Windows, it was my first choice when preparing the first computer for my son. But that didn't work out as expected.
106
Social media is a cause, not a correlate, of mental illness in teen girls
Journalists should stop saying that the evidence is just correlational
107
Upwork asking me for a $12.5k refund as the client was using someone else’s card
51,000 business enthusiasts get my weekly digests. It could connect you with an investor or poke your business mindset (1.4M+ views.)
108
Hunting Down My Son's Killer
To find it, a team of scientists at Duke University used whole-exome sequencing (a protein-focused variant of whole-genome sequencing) on me, my wife and my son.
109
Time to Take a Stand
It is time for tech companies to start speaking up about some of the actions taken by President Trump’s administration. There are many actions from his first week that are objectionable. In...
110
Congress votes to make open government data the default in the United States
On December 21, 2018, the United States House of Representatives voted to enact H.R. 4174, the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2017, in a historic win for open government in the …
111
Facebook, You Needy Sonofabitch
I'm Brad Frost, an independent creator, web designer & developer, teacher, speaker, writer, musician, and artist based in Pittsburgh, PA.
112
Universal Basic Income is Capitalism 2.0
A Universal Basic Income (UBI) would improve everyone’s lives, increase our free time, empower workers, and ensure everyone has food and a roof over their head. These are noble goals, but obviously there’s a downside or it would already be implemented, right?
113
ChatControl: EU wants to scan all private messages, even in encrypted apps
The EU is pushing legislation that would scan all our private messages, even in encrypted apps.
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Forget Google, time to end the Visa-MasterCard duopoly
In the last few years, you’ve likely seen a fair few comments about monopolies in the tech industry, and suggestions for breaking them up…
116
Owed a billion dollars in Nvidia stock
A first-person account of a 1993 NVIDIA stock option grant, a decades-later discovery of a vesting discrepancy, and how the statute of limitations settled it.
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Amazon disallows pointing out paid reviews
I recently bought a webcam from Amazon (late to the party, I know), and when it came it was fine but not amazing. When I went through the packaging I saw a little card saying “send us a scree…
120
Victory Lap for Ask Patents
There are a lot of people complaining about lousy software patents these days. I say, stop complaining, and start killing them. It took me about fifteen minutes to stop a crappy Microsoft patent fr…