The hottest Substack posts right now

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Alibaba QwQ Really Impresses at GPT-o1 Levels

TheSequence • 105 implied HN points • 01 Dec 24
🕹 Technology AI Models Machine Learning Data science Generative AI Open Source
  1. Alibaba's new AI model called QwQ is doing really well in reasoning tasks, even better than some existing models like GPT-o1. This shows that it's becoming a strong competitor in the AI field.
  2. QwQ is designed to think carefully and explain its reasoning step by step, making it easier for people to understand how it reaches its conclusions. This transparency is a big deal in AI development.
  3. The rise of models like QwQ indicates a shift towards focusing on reasoning abilities, rather than just making models bigger. This could lead to smarter AI that can learn and solve problems more effectively.

Addressing the challenges of partially distributed engineering teams

It Depends / Nimble Autonomy • 19 implied HN points • 07 Apr 24
💼 Business Team Dynamics Management Communication Leadership Remote work
  1. Partially distributed teams face communication issues because some team members are in the office while others are remote. This can lead to misunderstandings and feelings of isolation for those not present.
  2. Visibility is important in a team; if members are not seen often, their work may be overlooked during reviews and recognition. It's crucial for managers to be aware of everyone's contributions, regardless of where they work.
  3. Creating clear expectations around availability and encouraging informal conversations can help build better relationships within the team. Taking time to connect as people makes working together easier.

Under the microscope: Sky Target (Saturn)

Rings of Saturn • 29 implied HN points • 30 Jul 25
🕹 Technology Innovation Gaming Hardware Development Software
  1. In the game Sky Target, you can pilot a super jet fighter called the XF/A-49, known as the 'White Sword'. This plane has advanced technology that makes it better than any other fighter.
  2. You can play as the White Sword by completing a ranking mode or using a specific cheat code to unlock it right away.
  3. Unlocking hidden features in games can be tricky, and it's fun to share and discover cheat codes that help players access them faster.

Using fake deadlines without driving your engineers crazy

Leading Developers • 98 implied HN points • 10 Dec 24
💼 Business Management Leadership Workplace Engineering Productivity
  1. Setting deadlines helps teams focus and improve productivity. When there’s a finish line, people are more likely to get things done quickly.
  2. Involve your team in setting deadlines to avoid frustration. If they help decide what's realistic, they'll feel more committed to meeting the goal.
  3. It's okay to be flexible with deadlines. Sometimes things change, and what's important is clear communication with the team about any adjustments.
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Think Like a Detection Engineer, Pt. 1: Logging

Detection at Scale • 199 implied HN points • 18 Jul 22
🕹 Technology Monitoring Infrastructure Security Data Management
  1. Detection Engineers build systems to validate security controls and detect suspicious behaviors with code to protect organizations.
  2. Security data comes from different layers like infrastructure, hosts, networks, applications, and databases, each providing unique context for monitoring.
  3. When collecting logs for security monitoring, consider tradeoffs like the value of data for detection, latency to get data into SIEM, and cost of obtaining and retaining data.

The Top Reasons High-Performing Teams Leverage User Stories

PeopleStorming • 59 implied HN points • 26 Oct 23
💼 Business Validation Communication Prioritization Visualization
  1. User stories are concise descriptions of value from the perspective of the person who desires that value, helping to keep focus on end user needs and goals.
  2. Leveraging user stories can lead to improved communication and collaboration within teams, customer-centricity, and easier prioritization of workloads.
  3. An effective user story typically consists of three parts: the role, the output, and the benefit, enabling teams to articulate the purpose of their work and prioritize effectively.

The Future of Investing 101

Investing 101 • 87 implied HN points • 04 Jan 25
💼 Business Market Trends Entrepreneurship Business Models Venture Capital Investing
  1. Writing helps clarify thoughts and ideas. It's surprising how much understanding comes from putting words on the page.
  2. Conversations with others can spark valuable insights. Talking about ideas can lead to new perspectives that writing alone might miss.
  3. Improving writing involves more than just writing. It includes reading, watching content, and engaging in dialogue to enhance learning and thinking.

CROSSPOST/HOISTED: Larry Summers from 2022 on the "Polycrisis"

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 84 implied HN points • 16 Jan 25
💰 Finance Global Economy Monetary Policy Fiscal policy Inflation Financial Stability
  1. The global economy is facing a 'polycrisis,' which means there are many problems at once, like inflation, energy issues, and conflicts affecting different regions.
  2. Inflation is a big concern, and controlling it might require tough decisions like raising interest rates, which could lead to higher unemployment but is seen as necessary for stability.
  3. The situation in the UK shows how quickly financial stability can turn into chaos from bad policy, highlighting the importance of credibility and wise fiscal management.

My road map for the next year, 2024 edition | #41

The Pole • 39 implied HN points • 05 Jan 24
💼 Business Career development Investing Freelancing Content creation Entrepreneurship
  1. The main goal is to make $100k/year by working minimally and focusing on enjoyable activities.
  2. Identify roadblocks, brainstorm solutions, create a plan, set up a conducive environment, and execute towards the goal.
  3. Consider paths like becoming a YouTuber, thumbnail designer, scriptwriter, flipping websites, creating a content site, or writing a newsletter to achieve the financial and personal goals.

America's Productivity Boom

Apricitas Economics • 105 implied HN points • 25 Nov 24
💼 Business Investments Economics Labor Market Employment Productivity
  1. America's productivity is growing really fast, much more than other countries. This means people are making more while working the same hours, which helps everyone earn better wages and live better lives.
  2. Most of this productivity growth is coming from the service sector, like tech and healthcare, rather than manufacturing. Many jobs have changed to become much more efficient, especially since the pandemic made businesses rethink how they work.
  3. However, this growth could slow down because of rising unemployment and less hiring. If businesses don't keep investing in better tools and technologies, the gains we've seen might start to vanish.

Sign Here on the Dotted Line

Resilient Cyber • 119 implied HN points • 01 May 23
🕹 Technology Software Development Cybersecurity Federal Policy Risk management
  1. The Federal government is focusing on secure software development, requiring software suppliers to prove they follow certain security practices. This means companies must show they are making software safely before selling it to federal agencies.
  2. Software developers must also consider how they use open-source software, as they need to show they manage risks associated with those components. This makes them responsible for any issues that might arise from using other people's code.
  3. Additionally, there is a process where companies can report if they can't meet all the secure practices. This allows them to explain any gaps in compliance and outline their plans to fix them later.

Are LLMs less sophisticated versions of human brains?

ailogblog • 39 implied HN points • 05 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Machine Learning AI Language Models
  1. Language is only meaningful in a social context. Large Language Models (LLMs) do not understand context, so they do not reason or think in ways similar to humans.
  2. Human brains are embodied, while LLMs are not. This difference is crucial because it affects how language and information processing occur.
  3. The complexity of the human brain far surpasses that of LLMs in terms of size and dimensionality, making direct comparison between the two a category error.

Introducing Steelhead

Steelhead • 39 implied HN points • 05 Jan 24
💼 Business Entrepreneurship Investing Company Building Startups
  1. The name 'Steelhead' for the substack comes from its connection to the challenging, yet rewarding nature of startup building and investing, similar to the difficulty of catching a Steelhead fish.
  2. Erik Zahnlecker's newsletter will focus on topics related to company building and investing, drawing from his personal experiences and industry trends.
  3. Starting a business or investing is tough and often comes with a low success rate, but the potential rewards can be significant for those who persevere through the challenges.

The New Hereditarian Man

From the New World • 237 implied HN points • 19 Feb 24
📖 Philosophy Eugenics Rule of Law Social theory Egalitarianism Human nature
  1. The New Soviet Man concept was imaginary, as evident from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
  2. Egalitarian sentiment persists despite evidence of biological differences, leading to challenges in discussing individual disparities.
  3. Institutions like rule of law and free markets can serve as solutions to counteract egalitarian pathologies and promote rational behavior.

Building a Working Recommendation Engine from Scratch

Building a Recommendation Engine • 3 HN points • 04 Aug 24
🕹 Technology Programming Algorithms Machine Learning Data Management APIs
  1. A recommendation engine can work without complex machine learning. Instead, it can be built using straightforward connections between content to suggest things users might like.
  2. Using an API from a platform like Are.na allows easy access to user content and helps find connections between different channels, making recommendations more relevant.
  3. It's important to filter out content that users already know or follow to give them fresh and exciting recommendations. Regular updates to the recommendations can also help keep things interesting.

Complete Visual Guide to Sony MiniDisc Blank Media (1992-2004)

Obsolete Sony’s Newsletter • 2 HN points • 18 Aug 24
🕹 Technology Audio Gadgets Media Innovation Design
  1. Sony's MiniDisc format started in 1992, offering basic models with different recording times, such as 60 and 74 minutes. This was the beginning of their journey into the MiniDisc market.
  2. Over the years, Sony introduced various colorful and uniquely designed MiniDiscs. Each new series often featured innovative designs and enhancements to attract users and improve functionality.
  3. By 2004, the Hi-MD format emerged with enhanced features and greater storage capacity. However, it struggled to compete with newer technologies and was discontinued a few years later.

Four Essential Skills to Improve Your Python Data Visualization Workflow

Data at Depth • 19 implied HN points • 06 Apr 24
🕹 Technology Data Visualization Python AI Programming Coding
  1. Understanding Python data visualization libraries like Matplotlib, Seaborn, and Plotly can help you create different types of visualizations.
  2. Learning data cleaning and preprocessing techniques with Pandas is crucial to ensure accurate and meaningful visualizations.
  3. Mastering Modular Prompting with tools like ChatGPT can speed up coding tasks by generating code snippets based on specific instructions.

The Number One Reason Why You Have Been Underperforming.

Day One • 698 implied HN points • 29 Jun 20
💼 Business Entrepreneurship Online presence Self-help Branding Mentorship
  1. You don't need permission from anyone to build a career on the Internet; make up your mind to learn and your teacher will appear.
  2. On social media, personal branding is important and you can follow people for education, information, and entertainment.
  3. Building a personal brand online requires locating mentors, applying their teachings, and consistently showing up to share your value without waiting for permission.

Screenshot roundup and 🤖 AI positioning in ads

Mehdeeka • 5 implied HN points • 16 Dec 25
💼 Business Strategy Marketing Advertising Product Branding UX
  1. Small UX and copy choices — like using navigation to show value propositions or a blunt “what is X” line — make websites much clearer and reduce user confusion.
  2. Short, creative activations (limited digital giveaways, playful Gen Z copy, or logo-as-art) are scroll-stopping and build goodwill, though they often rely on strong existing brand recognition.
  3. Be careful with AI messaging: only call out AI when you can clearly explain what it does for users, because vague AI claims spark short-term interest but then invite skeptical questions.

Crypto Rises, Agents Drop, Factories Hum

Alex's Personal Blog • 32 implied HN points • 18 Jul 25
🔮 Crypto Defense Tech Regulation Investing Technology Industry Trends Market Analysis
  1. Recent crypto regulations are moving forward in Congress, leading to rising values for digital assets. This makes it a good time for investors to take advantage of managed ETFs and explore crypto.
  2. There's a strong comeback for hardware startups, especially those in defense technology. Companies are focusing on building and manufacturing essential tech closer to home in response to global supply chain concerns.
  3. OpenAI has released a new tool called ChatGPT Agent that can handle complex tasks on your computer. This advancement suggests that AI is quickly evolving and could significantly impact white-collar jobs.

Can Japan Afford To Cut Consumption Tax If It Rolls Back Corporate Tax Cuts?

Japan Economy Watch • 219 implied HN points • 17 Jun 22
💰 Finance Revenue Corporate Taxes
  1. Japan has lost a significant amount of tax revenue due to cuts in corporate taxes, impacting the budget deficit.
  2. Rolling back corporate tax cuts to mid-1990s rates could offset losses and allow for a reduction in consumption tax without affecting overall revenue.
  3. The rise in corporate profits in Japan was primarily due to wage austerity and reduced interest payments, negatively impacting consumer demand.

"I don't want to do our cheat way of getting 12 objectives by bundling everything under three things"

Ruben Ugarte's Growth Needle™ • 4 HN points • 23 Jul 24
💼 Business Strategy Management Leadership Team Dynamics Productivity
  1. It's really hard to focus on just three priorities because teams often want to tackle too many things at once. Picking fewer goals helps you actually get more done.
  2. Organizations keep adding new projects and ideas without removing old ones, which creates overload. It's important to occasionally remove tasks or projects to avoid burnout.
  3. Having too many ideas can slow down progress, so it’s essential to have a way to filter them. Voting or aligning them with key priorities helps decide which ideas to pursue.

The Economics of Vice and Virtue

David Friedman’s Substack • 287 implied HN points • 26 Nov 23
📖 Philosophy Virtue Behavior Economics Society Ethics
  1. Having an aggressive personality can work as a commitment strategy, but can lead to potential risks in encounters.
  2. Being honest and showing virtue is beneficial in voluntary interactions, leading to higher payoffs for individuals.
  3. In a market society where most associations are voluntary, virtues have higher payoffs and vices have lower payoffs, resulting in overall nicer behavior.

How I use Gen AI as a Data Engineer

The Orchestra Data Leadership Newsletter • 19 implied HN points • 05 Apr 24
🕹 Technology AI Feature Engineering Data Pipelines Data Engineering
  1. Generative AI can help Data Engineers summarize vast quantities of structured and unstructured data, expanding the breadth and depth of data available.
  2. Feature engineering using Generative AI involves ingesting unstructured data like call notes, making API calls, and transforming the data for analysis in existing pipelines.
  3. Utilizing Generative AI for webscraping can help teams extract information efficiently from the internet, enabling monitoring of new data sources and optimizing business processes.

8 Pitfalls To Avoid When Interpreting Machine Learning Models

Mindful Modeler • 159 implied HN points • 18 Oct 22
🕹 Technology Uncertainty Machine Learning
  1. Different interpretation methods have different goals, so define your interpretation goal first and then choose the appropriate method.
  2. Ensure your model generalizes well by using proper out-of-sample evaluation like cross-validation.
  3. Consider using simpler models for better interpretability and always analyze and correct for dependencies and uncertainties in your interpretation.

Dimension Hopper Part 1

General Robots • 395 HN points • 12 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Art ML Generative AI Gaming
  1. The project involves creating a 2D platformer where players design levels and AI generates visual representations.
  2. The journey to achieve this project involved experimenting with different techniques and models, such as adjusting depth images and adding more detail to improve visual outcomes.
  3. Using the right control images, supporting structures, and techniques like adding adjustable roughness, greatly improved the quality of the generated images.

Robot Nags

David Friedman’s Substack • 242 implied HN points • 10 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Artificial Intelligence User Experience Automation Privacy Smartwatches
  1. Technology like smart watches and apps can provide constant reminders or notifications, sometimes without the option to stop them.
  2. Encouraging reading habits through rewards or forced reading can have unintended consequences, such as making reading seem like a chore to children.
  3. Various instances of 'robot nags' exist in everyday technology, aimed at influencing behavior or decision-making, sometimes intrusively.

Uber is getting back into the self-driving game

Alex's Personal Blog • 32 implied HN points • 17 Jul 25
🕹 Technology Investments Startups AI Economy
  1. Uber is re-entering the self-driving market by partnering with Lucid and Nuro to launch a new robotaxi service. They plan to invest heavily and deploy thousands of vehicles in major US cities.
  2. AI investment is on the rise in Europe, with funding for AI-native startups increasing significantly, indicating growing interest and development in the field.
  3. There's a proposal to allow regular people to invest in private equity through their 401ks, which could open up new investment opportunities, but comes with risks due to the complexity of private investments.

Evals are all we need

Dubverse Black • 58 implied HN points • 26 Oct 23
🕹 Technology AI Voice Cloning Deep Learning
  1. Evaluations are crucial for advancing voice cloning technology
  2. Open-source community is making strides in developing Large Language Models
  3. Mean Opinion Score (MOS) and proposed evals like Speaker Similarity and Intelligibility are important for evaluating voice cloning technology

What is Hard Tech?

Nathan’s Substack • 39 implied HN points • 03 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Cybersecurity Hardware Software Deep Tech Manufacturing
  1. Hardware companies are seeing a resurgence in interest due to their sticky products with deep moats against competition.
  2. Investors and founders in hard tech should understand that there is market risk along with technical risk.
  3. Hard tech companies face longer go-to-market cycles but enjoy stickier product market fit, with the ability to focus on growing margins through economies of scale.

Every Tech Leader Needs a Coach in Their Pocket

The Hagakure • 30 implied HN points • 18 Jul 25
🕹 Technology Personal Growth Leadership Productivity Coaching AI
  1. Tech leaders can benefit from having an AI-powered coach to help them stay focused and adaptable. This kind of coach can meet you where you are and guide you in reaching your goals.
  2. Mental and physical health play a big role in how effectively leaders can manage challenges. Being in shape can enhance focus and decision-making.
  3. SwitchUp is designed to help people clarify their goals and make progress without feeling overwhelmed. The aim is to support personal growth in a human-centered way.