The hottest Substack posts right now

according to Hacker News
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Breaking into ML as a New Grad

Kndrej’s Substack • 3 HN points • 14 Aug 24
🕹 Technology AI Job Market Machine Learning Software Engineering Data science
  1. Breaking into machine learning (ML) requires not just basic knowledge but also a deep understanding of the math and engineering behind models. Completing online courses is only a starting point.
  2. Internships and real project experience are crucial for landing a job in ML. It's important to have skills that stand out, like publications or open-source contributions.
  3. Interview preparation is key; practicing coding challenges and understanding ML concepts is necessary to succeed. Networking and applying quickly to job postings can improve your chances.

How To Define A Task

trydeepwork • 2 implied HN points • 01 Feb 26
💼 Business Time management Leadership Strategy Operations Project management Productivity
  1. Treat tasks as units of noticeable progress, not just blocks of time, so you can clearly see what changed when it’s done.
  2. Very long or vague tasks break feedback loops: completion gets fuzzy, progress is hard to describe, scope creeps, and motivation drops.
  3. For big or exploratory work, break it into short probes with clear next-step outcomes you can complete in a few hours and sequence those probes to keep momentum and learning.

The Problem of Cooperation Costs

Economic Forces • 6 implied HN points • 01 Jan 26
💼 Business Law Criminal Justice Public Policy Institutions Regulation Development Economics
  1. High cooperation costs — the costs of communicating, coordinating, and committing — can stop profitable sequential investments because early actors fear later expropriation, creating development traps.
  2. Because bargaining and coordination are costly, policymakers often use rules like zoning or quantity limits instead of taxes to prevent expropriation and avoid expensive negotiations.
  3. Institutions like imprisonment, juries, and bans on leasing prison labor raise the cost of corrupt cooperation among officials, which reduces incentives to extort, over-enforce, or unfairly extract resources via the justice system.

Conscious, Connected, Effective: How to Build Great Leadership Teams

The Leadership Lab • 98 implied HN points • 15 Jan 23
💼 Business Team Building Leadership Communication Effectiveness
  1. Great leadership teams are conscious, being present and non-reactive, avoiding drama and blame.
  2. Connected teams communicate openly, collaborate effectively, and know each other deeply, preventing disorder and misunderstandings.
  3. Effective teams set clear goals aligned with company needs, achieve them, and work sustainably towards success.
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Let's Network! A Pryor Thoughts Update

Pryor Questions • 634 implied HN points • 01 Mar 23
💼 Business Writing Networking Content curation Community Promotion
  1. Starting out as a writer online brings excitement, uncertainty, and potential for popularity.
  2. Continuing as a writer online may lead to challenges like competition, questionable advice, and realization about successful writers.
  3. Ways to combat challenges include guest posting, recommending others, and utilizing features on platforms like Substack and Medium.

Apple Calls for National Repair Law

Fight to Repair • 78 implied HN points • 27 Oct 23
🕹 Technology Legislation Tech Policy Consumer Tech Sustainability E-Waste
  1. Apple is pushing for a national right-to-repair law in the US after California's legislation, aiming to balance repairability with product integrity, usability, and safety.
  2. Apple's announcement reveals a strategic shift to shape the national law and potentially exclude certain aspects by emphasizing safety and privacy concerns.
  3. The tech industry is exploring creating Memorandums of Understanding to navigate right-to-repair laws, aiming to standardize repair practices and influence legislation.

Rethinking Software Pricing in the Era of AI

Condensing the Cloud • 78 implied HN points • 27 Oct 23
🕹 Technology AI Subscription Model AI adoption Cloud Computing
  1. Software pricing models have evolved over the years, from on-prem software to cloud-native software to AI-powered software.
  2. AI is leading to outcome-based solutions in software pricing, where customers pay based on delivered results.
  3. Outcome-based pricing aligns customers and vendors, emphasizing value delivery and flexible scaling.

🌽🌽Kernel for the Holidays🌽🌽

Reboot • 8 implied HN points • 10 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Algorithms AI Web Accessibility Digital Media Publishing Research
  1. There’s a one-week holiday flash sale: Kernel issues 3, 4, and 5 are 33% off, and you should order by December 13 to guarantee holiday delivery.
  2. All of Kernel 5 has been unlocked online, featuring pieces on web accessibility, the Gale–Shapley algorithm, poetry, and experimental fiction.
  3. The microdoses section highlights new projects and tools, including the launch of Diffuse AI for reporting on AI diffusion, a new resonant computing microsite, and Papertrail for tracking academic papers.

5 Cybersecurity Predictions for 2024

Frankly Speaking • 305 implied HN points • 29 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Artificial Intelligence Cybersecurity Data Analysis
  1. Security companies are shifting focus to platforms, leading to acquisitions and consolidations to improve operational efficiency.
  2. Cybersecurity is moving towards more building and software engineering, away from solely relying on buying tools to solve problems.
  3. The adoption of reasonable metrics is becoming crucial for cybersecurity, allowing for better justification of funding and overall security enhancement.

Wazawaka & Co.

Natto Thoughts • 39 implied HN points • 15 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Ransomware Cybercrime Hackers
  1. A new report by Prodaft sheds light on the intricate world of Russian cybercrime communities, revealing relationships among prominent hackers including Mikhail Matveev.
  2. Matveev, also known as Wazawaka, plays a significant role in leading a cybercriminal team orchestrating ransomware attacks, showcasing the dynamic and unethical practices within the ransomware ecosystem.
  3. Prodaft's report unveils Matveev's connections to other cybercriminal groups, such as Babuk and EvilCorp, underscoring the complex relationships and betrayals within the Russian cyber underground.

The Black Spatula Project: Day Five

Am I Stronger Yet? • 125 implied HN points • 24 Dec 24
🕹 Technology Science AI Data Community Research
  1. A new community project is using AI to find errors in scientific papers. It's already made great progress in just a few days.
  2. Identifying and fixing errors in scientific research could help improve the quality of published papers. There are discussions on how best to implement this technology.
  3. The project faces challenges, like figuring out who will use the error-checking tool and how to manage costs associated with scanning many papers.

Apple's Hypocrisy on Part Pairing

Fight to Repair • 39 implied HN points • 15 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Consumer Rights Legislation Repairs Environmental
  1. Apple supported a right-to-repair law in California but opposed a similar bill in Oregon due to concerns on part pairing, despite citing safety and privacy reasons for their stance.
  2. Part pairing allows companies like Apple to control repair processes, maximize profits, and hinder the use of cheaper third-party components, impacting consumer choice and costs.
  3. Oregon legislators passed the proposed right-to-repair legislation despite Apple's opposition, indicating a shift towards giving residents a robust right to repair and recognition of Apple's contradictory stance.

#20 - Nick Bostrom | Life and Meaning in an AI Utopia

Win-Win • 19 implied HN points • 04 May 24
📖 Philosophy Ethics AI Ethics Consciousness Existentialism
  1. In a world with superintelligence, we need to think about how we find purpose and meaning. This could be a challenge since many problems would be solved.
  2. Different types of utopias can exist, but they might approach ideas like competition and technology limits in unique ways.
  3. Bostrom talks about ideas like the Vulnerable World Hypothesis, which warns about potential risks in a highly technological society. We need to be careful and think ahead.

Coinmint’s Mining Pivot Backfires with $14M Verdict

Miner Weekly • 39 implied HN points • 15 Feb 24
💼 Business Mining Corporate Investment Legal Bitcoin
  1. Coinmint faced a $14 million verdict due to failures in a deal with chipmaker Katena, highlighting the risks in the bitcoin mining industry.
  2. The arbitration ruling detailed how Coinmint's plans to build up proprietary mining hardware backfired, leading to legal disputes and financial liabilities.
  3. The saga between Coinmint and Katena serves as a cautionary tale for aspiring bitcoin miners about the importance of meeting contractual obligations to avoid costly consequences.

Discover What Is Code Smell and How to Overcome It?

Weekend Developer • 19 implied HN points • 04 May 24
🕹 Technology Code Refactoring Programming Software Design Code Reviews
  1. Code smells indicate potential problems with code design, readability, and bugs. They serve as warning signs to refactor before issues compound.
  2. Common signs of code smells include excessive code comments, frequent bugs in certain areas, code duplication, divergent changes, and shotgun surgery.
  3. Tools like static code analysis, IDE plugins, code visualization tools, code review tools, and code metrics tracking help in identifying and addressing code smells in a codebase.

Virtual Power Plants and software

Software and the energy transition • 20 HN points • 29 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Energy Innovation Standardization Infrastructure Software
  1. Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) use distributed energy resources like solar panels and batteries to reduce the need for traditional fossil fuel power plants during peak demand times.
  2. DERs can help reduce the strain on the electricity grid by offering demand reduction services and energy generation through remote, efficient control.
  3. Standardization and virtualization innovation are key for the future of VPPs, making communication between DERs and platforms easier and allowing for virtual upgrades to power grids.

Clouded Judgement 12.26.25 - Exuberance Returning

Clouded Judgement • 7 implied HN points • 26 Dec 25
💰 Finance Valuation Fundraising M&A SaaS Metrics Public Markets Venture Capital
  1. A broad wave of exuberance looks likely in 2026 as improving macro conditions and AI-driven IPOs and M&A restore liquidity, driving faster fundraising and rising valuations across stages.
  2. AI is moving from experiment to scale, with more application companies showing measurable revenue growth and real ROI across verticals rather than just infrastructure wins.
  3. The comeback will feel frothy and sometimes irrational, but those periods also create rare long-term investment opportunities, so investors need to separate short-term momentum from structurally important businesses.

“And I’d choose you; in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds": On the naturalistic possibility of soulmates

Philosophy bear • 135 implied HN points • 05 Dec 24
📖 Philosophy Ethics Metaphysics Epistemology Existentialism Romanticism
  1. There's a concept of 'soulmates' that can exist even for people who don't believe in spirits or destiny. It's about recognizing deep connections between similar personalities.
  2. People can be organized into 'ethotypes' based on their core personality traits, and these groupings can help identify potential soulmates.
  3. Falling in love might actually change a person's ethotype, allowing them to connect more deeply with another person, potentially turning them into a soulmate.

The Capitalist and the Engineer

Rethinking Software • 149 implied HN points • 28 Oct 24
💼 Business Economics Management Human Resources Corporate culture Entrepreneurship
  1. The conversation shows a clash of values between a business-minded person and an engineer. They discuss their different approaches to life and careers, highlighting how they see work and success.
  2. They touch on the impact of privilege and family background on opportunities. Jan feels frustrated by Stan's wealthy upbringing and its effect on their perspectives.
  3. At the end, there's potential for growth as Stan reaches out to Jan years later, suggesting that people can evolve and learn from their past interactions.

GTM Foundation: How SaaS Founders grow from €0 to €1M ARR (Part 2)

Startup Business Tips 🚀 • 51 implied HN points • 15 Jun 25
💼 Business Startup Marketing Sales Finance Strategy
  1. Building a Go-To-Market (GTM) foundation is essential for growing a SaaS company from zero to one million in annual recurring revenue (ARR). This involves understanding your target market and developing proper strategies.
  2. GTM collaterals, like an effective homepage and sales deck, are vital tools for converting visitors into customers. They help communicate your value and guide potential buyers through their decision-making process.
  3. Choosing the right channels to reach your customers is crucial. Focus on a few primary channels first and gradually explore secondary options as you gain traction.

Choosing the right UX metrics - Part 2

UX Psychology • 158 implied HN points • 03 Oct 22
🕹 Technology UX Design User Experience Product Management Metrics Data Analysis
  1. Identifying clear goals is crucial in choosing the right UX metrics, involving team and stakeholders can help define meaningful and actionable metrics.
  2. Mapping goals to signals helps track progress towards goals; gathering user feedback and reviews can be essential signals to measure UX success.
  3. Refining signals into specific metrics is the final step, where data scientists can assist in ensuring metrics are measured accurately; focus on key metrics and avoid adding unnecessary data.

Finding the right attention span : A constant battle

Uneasy’s Substack • 19 implied HN points • 03 May 24
🕹 Technology Procrastination Mental health Productivity Social media
  1. It's tough to focus in today's world filled with distractions. We often choose short-term pleasures over long-term goals.
  2. Setting up routines and limiting phone use can really help improve focus and productivity. Trying to get things done without your phone can be a game changer.
  3. Boredom isn't bad; it's actually important for growth. Embracing boredom can lead to greater achievements down the line.

Why Technologies Become Geopolitical

The Digital Anthropologist • 19 implied HN points • 03 May 24
🕹 Technology Geopolitics Weapons Digital Technologies Artificial Intelligence
  1. Technologies become geopolitical when they offer economic or military advantages over other nations.
  2. Stories and values play a significant role in shaping how technologies become geopolitical.
  3. Digital technologies like AI and communication tools are shaping the geopolitical landscape due to their influence on information warfare and storytelling.

Edition #2: Agent Security Standards + Identity/Authorization + Secure Agent Engineering + SecureVibes Update

Boring AppSec • 7 implied HN points • 17 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Authorization Identity Cybersecurity Artificial Intelligence Standards Software Engineering
  1. AI agent systems need new standards to measure and manage risk because traditional vulnerability scoring and IAM are built for deterministic, human-scoped sessions. Risk models must account for agent autonomy and enforce task-scoped, intent-aware access.
  2. Building secure agents means defending against prompt injection and goal-manipulation, providing explicit contextual inputs, sandboxed error handling, and continuous evals and tracing to tame probabilistic behavior.
  3. Product security should favour practical, incremental fixes and context-aware prioritization, using AI to propose patches but validating downstream impacts and tribal knowledge. Strengthening agent-to-agent protocols and supply-chain controls is essential to prevent abuse and preserve trust.

Becoming a beginner again

Tribal Knowledge • 19 implied HN points • 03 May 24
🕹 Technology Tools Languages Innovation Programming Learning
  1. Embrace the mindset of a beginner to approach problems with fresh eyes and dive into learning without overthinking.
  2. Experiment with new tools, languages, and technologies to keep yourself engaged and continuously learning in your field.
  3. Maintain curiosity and openness to new experiences in order to stay motivated and discover innovative solutions in your work.

The value of grunge work

Wednesday Wisdom • 113 implied HN points • 15 Jan 25
🕹 Technology Tech Debt Software Development Agile Methodology Work Culture Engineering Practices
  1. Tech debt happens when we make bad decisions in software development. It can pile up, making fixing problems a big task for teams.
  2. Doing hands-on work, or 'grunge work,' helps deepen understanding of the tech systems. It’s crucial for maintaining and improving technology.
  3. To tackle tech debt effectively, it should be part of official job expectations. This way, everyone contributes and helps keep things running smoothly.

New survey finds workplace culture is top ask of our jobs

Make Work Better • 98 implied HN points • 10 Feb 25
💼 Business Workplace culture Employee Wellbeing Diversity Work-life balance
  1. Workplace culture is the most important factor for employees when choosing jobs. Most workers want to feel valued and included.
  2. Wellbeing is now a major concern at work, with many people saying it drives success. Work-life balance is seen as a big challenge.
  3. A lot of workers care about how they are treated at work and believe diverse leadership is important for the future.

Data Design For Fine-Tuning LLM Long Context Windows

Cobus Greyling on LLMs, NLU, NLP, chatbots & voicebots • 19 implied HN points • 03 May 24
🕹 Technology Software Development Natural Language AI Machine Learning Data science
  1. Fine-tuning large language models (LLMs) can help them better understand and use long pieces of text. This means they can make sense of information not just at the start and end but also in the middle.
  2. The 'lost-in-the-middle' problem happens because LLMs often overlook important details in the middle of texts. Training them with more focused examples can help address this issue.
  3. The IN2 training approach emphasizes that crucial information can be found anywhere in long texts. It uses specially created question-answer pairs to teach models to pay attention to all parts of the context.

What 10 well-known investors are thinking about in 2023.

Jon’s Newsletter • 199 implied HN points • 08 Jan 23
💰 Finance Economic Trends Billionaires Stock Market Investing Market Analysis
  1. Many famous investors are worried about the current economy. They believe inflation is a big concern and that central banks may need to keep raising interest rates, which could hurt the stock market.
  2. Some investors, like Cathie Wood, are still optimistic about growth stocks and technology. They think these areas will see big growth in the future despite recent struggles.
  3. Warren Buffett advises regular investors to stay calm during market changes. He believes investing in an S&P 500 ETF is a smart move for long-term growth.

How AI Infused PCs are Transforming the Computing Industry and Business

Rod’s Blog • 39 implied HN points • 14 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Hardware Software AI Business
  1. AI infused PCs have artificial intelligence capabilities built into the hardware to enhance performance and user experience.
  2. AI infused PCs are driving demand for advanced hardware, software, and infrastructure in the computing industry.
  3. In businesses, AI infused PCs streamline operations, reduce costs, increase efficiency, and provide valuable insights for improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.