The hottest Substack posts right now

according to Hacker News
Category

✅ Navigating AI: Opportunities, risks, and barriers for professional communicators

Wadds Inc. newsletter • 19 implied HN points • 10 Jun 24
🕹 Technology Media Strategy Artificial Intelligence Corporate Communications Public Relations Digital Advertising
  1. Professional communicators should focus on building relationships rather than just dealing with the media. If they stick to only media perspectives, they might not survive in the future.
  2. There isn't a straightforward way for organizations to widely adopt AI beyond basic tools. Solutions like Google Gemini and Microsoft CoPilot could be the key to moving forward.
  3. The issues around using media for training AI need to be sorted out. In the meantime, companies should set up clear rules and provide proper training for their workers.

Notes on code, text, and war. Week 1: Believing in text

zverok on lucid code • 86 implied HN points • 11 Jun 25
🕹 Technology Human-computer interaction Artificial Intelligence Programming Languages Software Development Information Theory
  1. Writing code is similar to writing texts. Both require careful planning, editing, and clarity.
  2. Understanding experiences is important in both writing and programming. They help us convey ideas and emotions.
  3. In times of crisis, like war, we learn to find normalcy and continue living, despite the challenges. It shapes how we communicate and write.

Putting AI To Work

Cobus Greyling on LLMs, NLU, NLP, chatbots & voicebots • 39 implied HN points • 11 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Data AI Automation Software Interfaces
  1. AI tools can help businesses automate tasks and improve efficiency without needing coding skills. This makes it easier for companies to integrate AI into their workflows.
  2. It's important to have a single platform that can manage different AI models together. This way, organizations can create more effective applications by combining the strengths of various models.
  3. Moving AI projects from ideas to reality requires careful planning and testing. Organizations need to ensure models are well-trained before using them in real-world applications.

Brazil Bailed on Twitter, and So Did I: The Vibes Are Off

What the Blurb • 2 HN points • 05 Sep 24
🕹 Technology Tech Trends Social media Internet culture Digital Platforms User Experience
  1. Brazil's Supreme Court banning Twitter led to a big drop in users there, and many are trying out other platforms like Bluesky.
  2. Bluesky is gaining popularity because it has cool features that users find fun and engaging, unlike some other social media apps.
  3. The writer feels stuck between using both Threads and Bluesky, realizing social media is becoming more divided and siloed.
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Groundly's Ground-Rent Grift

Progress and Poverty • 538 implied HN points • 31 Jan 24
💼 Business Real Estate Innovation Policy Economy Finance
  1. Georgists scrutinize speculative investing in land, seeing land rent as unearned income.
  2. Groundly's offer of buying just-the-house and renting the land may seem affordable upfront but comes with hidden costs and responsibilities.
  3. Traditional lenders like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may have challenges financing Groundly-type leasebacks, raising concerns about the viability of the business model.

A reading list of older articles to get you started

Technology Made Simple • 199 implied HN points • 04 Jan 23
🕹 Technology Leadership Techniques Math Finance Machine Learning
  1. The newsletter offers curated reading lists of older articles to help readers get started in understanding important concepts in Math and Computer Science, as well as tips for becoming a next-level tech professional.
  2. Technique Tuesdays focus on tricks and techniques to solve challenging problems, such as improving code comments and creating good documentation.
  3. Finance Fridays delve into the tech industry's financial aspects, covering topics like tech business models, personal finance tips, and how news from the tech industry affects your finances.

Infographics: The Fed's Standing Repo Facility In Action

Concoda • 216 implied HN points • 25 Nov 24
💰 Finance Banking Economics Markets Monetary Policy Investing
  1. The Federal Reserve has a special tool called a repo facility to manage money supply in the economy. It helps banks borrow money quickly when they need it.
  2. This repo facility can provide short-term loans to banks, which helps keep the financial system stable. It's like a safety net during times of financial stress.
  3. Understanding how this facility works is important for grasping the bigger picture of economic stability and the Fed's role in it. It helps us see how money flows in the economy.

Daily bit(e) of C++ | Domain specific errors using std::error_code

Daily bit(e) of C++ • 78 implied HN points • 15 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Programming Error Handling
  1. To represent domain-specific error codes in C++, use std::error_code customization mechanism.
  2. The custom implementation involves an enum for error codes, an error category for text descriptions, and a mapping from enum type to category type.
  3. This customization allows for a more specialized and descriptive handling of errors in C++ programming.

The Deposit Myth

Altered States of Monetary Consciousness • 481 implied HN points • 08 Mar 24
💼 Business Banking Economics Finance Education
  1. When it comes to 'bank deposits', the traditional verb-noun pairing can be misleading. The term 'deposit' typically implies something being put in, but with banks, it refers to something issued out by the bank like digital casino chips.
  2. Comparing banks to casinos can help understand the concept better. When you 'deposit' cash in a bank, it becomes their asset, and you receive digital chips as a liability. This is opposite to the usual understanding that a deposit is something put in the bank.
  3. The language around 'bank deposits' can create misunderstandings, especially in economics. An update in how we define and understand 'bank deposits' can help clear up these misconceptions and align with the actual operations involved.

The case for narrow utilitarianism

inexactscience • 99 implied HN points • 08 Dec 23
📖 Philosophy Decision-making Critical Thinking Moral Philosophy Utilitarianism Ethics
  1. Utilitarianism is about making choices that increase overall well-being and treats everyone equally. It's a way of thinking that encourages using data and math to improve lives.
  2. While utilitarianism sounds good, taking it too far can lead to poor decisions and people justifying bad behavior. It's important to recognize our own biases and limits.
  3. Narrow utilitarianism suggests we apply these ideas only in clear situations where we understand the problems well. It's better to stay focused and cautious rather than trying to force comparisons between very different choices.

Tech Debt vs Quality

Fish Food for Thought • 14 implied HN points • 10 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Software Engineering System Architecture DevOps Quality Assurance Product Management Engineering Leadership
  1. Tech debt and bugs are different: bugs are immediate errors to fix, while tech debt is the future cost of taking shortcuts and can be intentional or accidental, so decide and plan when to incur it.
  2. Make debt visible and economic: track where it slows work, measure the "interest" it charges in developer time or incidents, and prioritize paying down high-interest items rather than treating all debt equally.
  3. Leadership and culture matter: embed maintenance into planning, keep slack for cleanup, use retrospectives and metrics to shorten recovery time, and design continuous improvement cycles so velocity and quality compound over time.

Custom KiCad Silk Screen

atomic14 • 173 implied HN points • 27 Jan 25
🕹 Technology DIY Projects Electronics Design tools PCB Design Software Development
  1. You can easily add custom designs to the silk screen of your PCB in KiCad. It’s a simple process to import images, opening up creative possibilities for your designs.
  2. Remember that KiCad only supports black and white for silk screen designs, so any colors or shades will need to be converted. This can affect how your graphics look when you import them.
  3. To get the best results, it's helpful to turn off anti-aliasing in your graphics software. This way, what you see is what you get in KiCad, making it easier to control the final look.

Yields Can Remain High and Quick Market Opportunity Maths

DeFi Education • 999 implied HN points • 09 Sep 21
🔮 Crypto Technology Investing DeFi Blockchain Finance
  1. DeFi yields can stay high longer than expected because they have lower costs compared to traditional banks. This means more profit can be made from loans and savings.
  2. Many high yields in DeFi come from risky projects that can be scams or unsustainable. It's important to be cautious and aware of the risks involved.
  3. The DeFi market has a massive growth potential. Comparing it to traditional finance, it's estimated that DeFi could be worth significantly more because of its unique advantages.

The Bear Cave #162

The Bear Cave • 956 implied HN points • 26 Mar 23
💰 Finance Tweets Resignations Activist Reports
  1. New activist reports were published on various companies, highlighting inflated metrics and concerns about criminal activity.
  2. Notable executive resignations were disclosed in the past week, including CEOs and CFOs from several companies.
  3. The newsletter also featured tweets of the week, discussing topics like company legal risks and market observations.

Deploy! Intelligence too cheap to meter @ $0.0001 per million tokens.

Let Us Face the Future • 59 implied HN points • 29 Oct 24
🕹 Technology AI Semiconductors Model Deployment Edge Computing
  1. Making AI technology cheaper is key to its widespread use. If it costs only $0.0001 per million tokens, it can be integrated into many everyday devices.
  2. We need to focus on three main challenges: reducing semiconductor costs, optimizing power for devices, and creating smaller, efficient models that can run locally.
  3. To handle power constraints, especially for portable devices, we need new chips and better power management. This will help make AI more accessible and functional in our daily lives.

Choosing a Product Analytics Tool

Sarah's Newsletter • 299 implied HN points • 27 Sep 22
🕹 Technology Analytics Vendors Tools
  1. Product analytics is crucial to understand how users engage with your product through front-end tracking data like what pages they view and buttons they click.
  2. Event tracking data helps in analyzing funnels, identifying drop-offs, and creating customized user experiences, such as re-engagement campaigns.
  3. When choosing a product analytics tool, consider features like tracking implementation, native integrations, analysis capabilities, and pricing based on your team's skillset, budget, and main purpose for utilizing event tracking data.

Links: February 2024 edition

Blog System/5 • 496 implied HN points • 29 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Operating Systems Programming Web Browsers Tools Software
  1. The post summarizes interesting articles, videos, and projects from February 2024 with added commentary to urge readers to explore the content.
  2. There are discussions on topics like old hardware databases, software development reflections, and the challenges of modern software bloat.
  3. The author explores topics like breaking memory limitations in DOS, DJGPP running GNU programs on DOS, and the creation of a library in Rust for implementing memory vulnerabilities.

There are Complex-Number One-Norm Square-Root of Probability Amplitudes of 0.006 in Which Sam Bankman-Fried Is Happy

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 676 implied HN points • 05 Oct 23
💰 Finance Probability Investing Trading Psychology Risk management
  1. Amplitudes in quantum-mechanical superposition relate to philosophy-of-probability vs. psychology.
  2. Understanding the Kelly Criterion for betting based on win-loss odds and maximizing returns.
  3. Traders use the Kelly Criterion for survival, making positive-value bets, and psychological factors.

Using neuro-imaging and language models to decode thoughts

The Counterfactual • 139 implied HN points • 31 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Neuroscience Machine Learning Language processing Cognitive Science
  1. Researchers are using brain scans, like fMRI, along with language models to decode what people are thinking about or listening to. This could help understand brain activity better.
  2. The technology could support people who can't speak, like stroke patients, by interpreting their thoughts into language. However, it's not perfect and needs more development.
  3. There are concerns about privacy, as this technology might one day read thoughts against a person’s will. But for now, people can consciously resist the decoding to some extent.

Podcast guest appearance

Minimal Modeling • 202 implied HN points • 23 Dec 24
🕹 Technology Database Design Programming Data Management Software Development
  1. The podcast discussed database design and Minimal Modeling for almost two hours. It shared valuable insights on how to create better database structures.
  2. The speaker is open to appearing on other podcasts and is willing to talk about topics like data documentation and software development processes.
  3. There's a recent podcast episode available, but it is in Russian, limiting its audience. If you need help with databases, the speaker is approachable.

Self-Awareness: One Key to Cybersecurity and Asset Protection

Rod’s Blog • 59 implied HN points • 22 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Cybersecurity Skills Development Self-awareness
  1. Self-awareness is vital for cybersecurity and asset protection as it helps recognize and avoid cyber threats, follow best practices, report incidents, and communicate effectively.
  2. Developing self-awareness is a skill that can be improved over time with practice and intention through assessments, feedback, reflection, goal-setting, mindfulness, and seeking new challenges.
  3. Enhancing self-awareness not only strengthens protection against cyber risks but also fosters personal and professional growth, benefiting oneself and others.

Results from poll #1

The Counterfactual • 79 implied HN points • 12 Jan 24
🕹 Technology AI Polls Language Models Research Cognitive Science
  1. A new paid option allows subscribers to vote on topics for future articles. This way, readers can influence the content being created.
  2. This month's poll showed that readers chose a study on using language models to measure text readability. This will be the focus of upcoming research and articles.
  3. In addition to the readability study, there will be future posts about the history of AI, learning over different timescales, and a survey to learn more about the audience's interests.

Autonomy vs Decentralization

Lex_Node's Official CryptoLaw Newsletter • 78 implied HN points • 14 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Cryptocurrency Decentralization Autonomy Blockchain
  1. Autonomy is about being resistant to external powers in the sense of self-sovereignty and independence.
  2. Decentralization involves distributing intrinsic power across multiple actors to prevent unfair exercise and ensure availability.
  3. Decentralization can enhance autonomy by making a system more robust against external influences, thus facilitating user independence.

Deploying simple Streamlit apps

Mostly Python • 524 implied HN points • 06 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Deployment GitHub Open Source
  1. You can deploy Streamlit apps to Streamlit's Community Cloud hosting service with a straightforward process.
  2. Make sure to be aware of the privacy concerns when granting Streamlit permissions for GitHub repositories.
  3. Streamlit sets a web hook on the repository, so any changes pushed to the repository's main branch will automatically update the deployed project.

Legacy Shmegacy

David Spinks' Newsletter • 7 implied HN points • 15 Jan 26
📖 Philosophy Personal Growth Existentialism Ethics Mindfulness Identity Values
  1. You can’t control how you’ll be remembered, and the stories people tell are simplified, biased versions of a complex life.
  2. Chasing a memorable legacy twists motives and makes actions about appearance instead of genuinely helping others.
  3. True meaning and legacy come from present-moment micro actions—small loving or unloving choices that quietly ripple outward.

Finite Minds

Fake Noûs • 188 implied HN points • 04 Jan 25
📖 Philosophy Logic Ethics Metaphysics Epistemology Philosophy of Mind
  1. Infinitism in beliefs means you could have an endless chain of reasons for thinking something is true. However, since our minds are limited, it's hard to have a true infinite number of reasons.
  2. Beliefs must be based on more than just potential ideas or past thoughts; they need to be actively supported by real experiences or evidence to count as justified.
  3. Even when considering complex ideas like math or colors, our ability to truly grasp or hold onto those beliefs is still bound by our finite understanding and memory.

The Golden Age of Ronin Starts NOW!

Ronin’s Newsletter • 159 implied HN points • 12 Feb 25
🔮 Crypto Decentralization Blockchain NFTs Gaming Web3
  1. Ronin is now fully open for anyone to build smart contracts on its mainnet. This marks a significant moment in the development of Web3 gaming.
  2. There are many new games and decentralized apps (dApps) available on Ronin, with more being added all the time. This is a great opportunity to explore and engage with these experiences.
  3. Ronin is offering over $10 million in grants for builders. This encourages developers and creators to join the ecosystem and contribute to its growth.

A History of Nukes in Space

Nathan’s Substack • 59 implied HN points • 21 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Satellites Nuclear Space
  1. The history of nukes in space involves testing and speculation about potential nuclear threats, with past incidents including nuclear tests and the use of nuclear reactors in space.
  2. Treaties banning nuclear weapons in space exist, but enforcement is challenging as seen with Russia's violations of international treaties.
  3. Nuclear weapons and reactors in space can have significant impacts, from high-altitude EMP events disrupting electronics to the potential dangers of detonating a nuclear weapon in orbit.

#38: Insurance isn't bought anymore. It's granted!

OSS.fund Newsletter • 18 implied HN points • 28 Nov 25
💼 Business AI Corporate Governance Risk management Insurance Technology
  1. Insurance is becoming harder to get because many companies have outdated systems that are too risky. This makes it tough for businesses to secure adequate coverage.
  2. Insurers are also backing away from covering AI-related risks due to the uncertainty and complexity involved. This leaves companies feeling exposed when using AI.
  3. To navigate these challenges, businesses need to focus on strong governance practices. This includes having clear policies and safeguards in place to protect against potential liabilities.

The prize for saying no is small

Sunday Letters • 199 implied HN points • 04 Jun 23
📖 Philosophy Life lessons Personal Growth Cynicism Optimism Mindset
  1. Being negative and cautious often leads to missed opportunities. It's better to focus on finding solutions rather than just criticizing.
  2. Feeling optimistic and excited about new ideas can be uncomfortable but is a key part of learning and growing.
  3. Choosing to think 'what if' has a lot more potential for rewards than simply saying 'why not' and being constantly cautious.

Cybersecurity Workforce Woes

Resilient Cyber • 1 HN point • 16 Sep 24
🕹 Technology Cybersecurity Workforce Education Employment
  1. The cybersecurity job market is confusing, with many positions unfilled while experienced professionals struggle to find jobs. This suggests a mismatch between job demands and qualifications.
  2. Budget cuts are affecting cybersecurity staffing and resources, causing many companies to hire only to replace existing employees rather than expand. This reflects a general slowdown in budget growth for security initiatives.
  3. There are challenges for new entrants trying to break into cybersecurity jobs due to high experience requirements and a lack of practical opportunities. Many educated candidates still find it hard to secure roles, leading to frustration.

GroupBy #30: Uber- How LedgerStore Supports Trillions of Indexes, Composable Data Systems: Lessons from Apache Calcite Success

VuTrinh. • 39 implied HN points • 09 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Data Engineering Machine Learning Cloud Computing Software Development Data Analysis
  1. LedgerStore at Uber can handle trillions of indexes, making it a powerful tool for managing large-scale data efficiently.
  2. Apache Calcite helps build flexible data systems with strong query optimization features, which are vital for many data applications.
  3. Spotify's data platform plays a critical role in their operations, guiding how to build effective data systems in organizations.

Entrepreneurial Grift

Points And Figures • 506 implied HN points • 19 Feb 24
💼 Business Entrepreneurship Startup Ecosystem Tech Government
  1. Entrepreneurial grift involves people leveraging connections to obtain government funding through questionable means.
  2. Successful tech ecosystems like Silicon Valley thrive due to early risk-loving capital and mentorship, not government intervention.
  3. Building a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem requires genuine risk-taking, execution, and tangible results, not just social connections and titles.

Company State of -inlang- Opral 2023

Opral (lix & inlang) • 59 implied HN points • 21 Feb 24
💼 Business Globalization Team Building Product Development Startups Market Expansion
  1. The company, known as Inlang, is changing its name to Opral to better reflect its two main products, Inlang and Lix. This will make it clearer what the company does.
  2. Inlang has built a strong core team and has created a minimal product ecosystem that users enjoy. They received positive feedback about how they facilitate teamwork across different departments.
  3. The relationship between Inlang and Lix is crucial for their growth, as Lix serves as the backend for Inlang's services. This connection is important for future development and helping other companies.

Console #193 -- An Interview with Alain of Planify - Task manager for GNU/Linux

Console • 531 implied HN points • 21 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Development Programming Open Source Linux
  1. Planify is a task manager designed for GNU/Linux, inspired by popular task managers like Things 3 and Todoist.
  2. Planify's developer, Alain, started the project as a way to create a task manager with a nice design and good functionality for Linux users.
  3. Planify is free to download and is maintained through donations, with a focus on design, detail, and user-friendly elements.

Eventual Business Consistency

Software Design: Tidy First? • 134 HN points • 04 Aug 23
🕹 Technology Database Programming Data Management Business Systems
  1. The goal is to achieve eventual business consistency by closely matching what's in the system with real-world events.
  2. Different data storage methods like storing dated data or double-dated data come with trade-offs in complexity and accuracy.
  3. Bi-temporal systems use two dates to track when data changes occurred in reality and when they were recorded in the system for better business operations.