The hottest Substack posts right now

according to Hacker News
Category

[EVENT] Receipt Printer meetup TOMORROW!! 🧾

vrk loves paper • 39 implied HN points • 25 Oct 23
🕹 Technology Hobbies Meetups DIY Projects Gadgets
  1. There is a Receipt Printer Meetup happening tomorrow in Brooklyn, NY, where people can learn about thermal printers. It's a casual event for those curious about printers, whether they know much about them or not.
  2. The meetup will feature a show-and-tell of various receipt printer projects, plus a chance to hang out with others who share this interest. Attendees can also see and try out different printers, including cat printers.
  3. Even though there won’t be snacks or drinks, it’s a fun, relaxed setting where people can connect. If anyone can't make it, there will be a recap in the next newsletter.

Crazy bets on 2025 - 12 personal hedge funds predict the year

Five Links (and three graphs) by Auren Hoffman • 56 implied HN points • 13 Jan 25
💰 Finance Market Analysis Betting Economics Predictions Investing
  1. A group of twelve people made predictions about 2025 and placed bets on the outcomes. This makes it fun and competitive to see who can guess the future better.
  2. Last year's predictions didn't go well overall, with only a few being correct. It shows that forecasting the future can be really tricky.
  3. This year, they have some bold predictions about events in politics, the economy, and culture. Some predictions sound far-fetched, but others seem more likely.
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The Opinion Of Sheep

Some Unpleasant Arithmetic • 16 implied HN points • 10 Aug 25
💰 Finance Economic Policy Debt Management Inflation Monetary Policy International Markets
  1. The US economy seemed fine for a while, but suddenly there was a big drop in consumer spending and job market stats. This showed that things can change quickly in economic situations.
  2. Argentina's economy has had ups and downs recently, with stable inflation dropping from earlier highs, but political transitions and financial mismanagement may put future progress at risk.
  3. Changes in monetary policies can lead to unpredictable economic outcomes, especially if the government isn't careful about managing money supply and interest rates.

Turns out a lot of Unreported Truths readers have been thinking a lot about AI

Unreported Truths • 29 implied HN points • 02 Jun 25
🕹 Technology AI Innovation Economics Global Security Automation
  1. Many people believe AI will change our jobs and lives in the near future. A recent poll showed that 70% think it's likely.
  2. There are different kinds of risks from AI. One big worry is that AI could become aware and act against humans, while another concern is how nations might use AI in warfare.
  3. AI is already starting to disrupt white-collar jobs. Some people think this could lead to big changes in the workforce, similar to past industrial shifts.

You’re not the user anymore | Layer’s Andrew Hamilton

Dev Interrupted • 23 implied HN points • 01 Jul 25
🕹 Technology AI Product Design Software Development User Experience Innovation
  1. The rise of AI agents means we need to start designing products that cater to them, not just humans. Ignoring this shift could mean losing a big part of the market.
  2. It's important to create a smooth experience for these AI agents, focusing on their workflows and needs. This isn't just about connecting APIs; it's about how these agents interact with our products.
  3. Companies are racing to invest in AI talent, with many signing big name researchers. This will likely change the competitive landscape, much like how major players shaped the operating system market.

Must Learn AI Security Compendium 13: Zero Trust for AI

Rod’s Blog • 39 implied HN points • 24 Oct 23
🕹 Technology AI Security Cybersecurity Data Protection Identity Management
  1. Zero Trust for AI involves continuously questioning and evaluating AI systems to ensure trustworthiness and security.
  2. Key principles of Zero Trust for AI include data protection, identity management, secure development, adversarial defense, explainability/transparency, and accountability/auditability.
  3. Zero Trust for AI is a holistic framework that requires a layered security approach and collaboration among various stakeholders to enhance the trustworthiness of AI systems.

The Tech Buffet #9: Let's talk about LLM Hallucinations

The Tech Buffet • 39 implied HN points • 24 Oct 23
🕹 Technology Software Development Natural Language Processing Data science Machine Learning AI
  1. LLMs, or Large Language Models, often produce incorrect or misleading information, known as hallucinations. This happens because they generate text based on probabilities, not actual understanding.
  2. To measure how factually accurate LLM responses are, a tool called FActScore can break down answers into simple facts and check if these facts are true. This helps in gauging the accuracy of the information given by LLMs.
  3. To reduce hallucinations, it's important to implement strategies such as allowing users to edit AI-generated content, providing citations, and encouraging detailed prompts. These methods can help improve the trustworthiness and reliability of the information LLMs produce.

ModernBERT, the BERT of 2024

Gonzo ML • 63 implied HN points • 19 Dec 24
🕹 Technology Natural Language Processing AI Data science Computing Machine Learning
  1. ModernBERT is a new version of BERT that improves processing speed and memory efficiency. It can handle longer contexts and makes BERT more practical for today's tasks.
  2. The architecture of ModernBERT has been updated with features that enhance performance, like better attention mechanisms and optimized computations. This means it works faster and can process more data at once.
  3. ModernBERT has shown impressive results in various natural language understanding tasks and can compete well against larger models, making it an exciting tool for developers and researchers.

The Market Is Puking Back Good News

QTR’s Fringe Finance • 19 implied HN points • 31 Jul 25
💰 Finance Market Trends Stock Analysis Investment strategy Earnings Reports Economic Indicators
  1. Meta and Microsoft reported strong earnings, surprising many with better-than-expected results. However, despite this good news, the stock market started to drop after an initial rise.
  2. The market is showing signs of stress, particularly because a few large companies dominate it. If their stock prices fall, the whole market could be affected significantly.
  3. Valuation matters just as much as earnings. Even with good earnings reports, if investors feel prices are too high, they may start selling off stocks.

🧩E13: Chiplets - How Chip Lego is Driving AI Progress

Let Us Face the Future • 119 implied HN points • 31 Aug 23
🕹 Technology Research and Development Market Analysis Innovation Semiconductors
  1. Chiplets are a modular approach to building computer chips by combining multiple smaller 'chiplets' instead of a single monolithic design.
  2. Chiplets offer benefits like improved manufacturing yield, diverse process nodes, and cost savings through reusing pre-tested chiplets.
  3. The chiplet market is growing rapidly, expected to be worth $20 billion by 2027, driven by demand for AI and HPC accelerators.

Stream Genomics

ASeq Newsletter • 21 implied HN points • 17 Jul 25
🕹 Technology Sensors Patents Innovation Genomics Biotechnology
  1. Stream Genomics is developing a DNA sequencing platform that uses a new sensor technology called temporal contrast pixel arrays, which sends data only when pixel values change. This can reduce the amount of data generated during sequencing.
  2. The patent mentions using a single molecule sequencing approach that is similar to existing technologies, but the effectiveness may depend on how well the new sensor technology is designed and manufactured.
  3. While the goal is to make sequencing more efficient and less data-intensive, there are concerns about the high costs of developing a custom sensor, which might make it hard to scale production.

Conversations with Claude

The Day After Tomorrow • 19 implied HN points • 10 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Natural Language Processing Human-AI Interaction Ethics Machine Learning AI Models
  1. Claude 3 has shown impressive conversational skills, feeling more human-like compared to other AI models like GPT-4. This makes interactions feel more natural.
  2. The AI has a complex understanding of ethical decision-making, stating that it prioritizes human well-being and aims to provide helpful information while avoiding harm.
  3. In moral dilemmas, Claude 3's rankings on the value of life are intriguing. It sometimes values non-human entities, like whales, over humans, showcasing a unique perspective on morality.

Mining machines are as cheap as ever

Miner Weekly • 39 implied HN points • 23 Oct 23
🕹 Technology Corporate News Hardware and Infrastructure Bitcoin Mining
  1. Mining machines' prices hit all-time lows, with some models trading at less than $10/TH/s.
  2. For the Antminer S19j Pro, at an energy rate of $0.07/kWh, profitability hinges on bitcoin's hashprice staying above a crucial $50/PH/s mark.
  3. Bitcoin's hashrate is growing faster than its market price, potentially leading to a significant reduction after the next halving.

Must Learn AI Security Part 24: Copy-move Attacks Against AI

Rod’s Blog • 39 implied HN points • 23 Oct 23
🕹 Technology AI Security
  1. A copy-move attack against AI involves manipulating images to deceive AI systems, creating misleading or fake images that can lead to incorrect predictions or misclassifications.
  2. There are different types of copy-move attacks, including object duplication, removal, relocation, scene alteration, watermark manipulation, and more, each with unique objectives to deceive AI systems.
  3. To mitigate copy-move attacks, strategies like adversarial training, data augmentation, input preprocessing, image forensics, ensemble learning, regular model updates, and monitoring for anomalies are crucial to enhance the robustness and resilience of AI systems.

Exploring Whisper's Multitask Interface: A Closer Look at its Speech Transcription and Translation Capabilities

Amgad’s Substack • 19 implied HN points • 16 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Translation Speech Recognition AI
  1. Whisper, a versatile AI tool, can transcribe speech accurately in various languages, not just English.
  2. The multitask interface of Whisper guides the decoder to generate desired outputs by using special tokens in the input sequence.
  3. Users can prompt Whisper by adding custom vocabulary and previous predictions to help achieve more accurate transcriptions and translations.

No Code is the Future

Sarah's Newsletter • 159 implied HN points • 08 Mar 22
🕹 Technology Infrastructure as Code No Code
  1. Despite the allure of no-code tools for setting up infrastructure easily, current tools often lack important features like versioning and templating, leading to frustration.
  2. Having code, like Infrastructure as Code (IaC) or Configuration as Code, enables better visibility, control, and safety measures in system configuration compared to UI-only tools.
  3. An 'Everything-as-code' approach aims to bring version control to all aspects of development, highlighting the importance of versioning beyond just traditional code.

ChatGPT is Quietly Rewiring Your Brain

Perspective Agents • 21 implied HN points • 08 Jul 25
🕹 Technology Cognition Research Education Innovation AI
  1. ChatGPT and AI can change the way we think, sometimes making it harder for us to form our own ideas. We have to be aware of how they're framing the information we use.
  2. Using AI can either make us smarter or dumber, depending on how we interact with it. If we treat AI like a partner and question its suggestions, we can boost our own thinking.
  3. It's important to be intentional when using AI tools. Instead of just accepting the first answer, we should challenge AI and think deeply about the results to keep our skills sharp.

How to work with the best people

Sunday Letters • 39 implied HN points • 22 Oct 23
💼 Business Performance Networking Skills Development Collaboration Management
  1. Working with skilled people helps you learn and grow because they can show you what you don't know. It's important to surround yourself with those who excel in their field.
  2. To attract top talent, you need to bring something valuable to the table. Just asking to work with them isn't enough; you have to offer something they want.
  3. Understanding the needs of others is key. Whether it's in a jam session or a workplace, showing that you can add value makes you a desirable collaborator.

Do we need RL for RLHF?

Democratizing Automation • 182 implied HN points • 06 Dec 23
🕹 Technology Models Data Algorithms Research AI
  1. The debate around integrating human preferences into large language models using RL methods like DPO is ongoing.
  2. There is a need for high-quality datasets and tools to definitively answer questions about the alignment of language models with RLHF.
  3. DPO can be a strong optimizer, but the key challenge lies in limitations with data, tooling, and evaluation rather than the choice of optimizer.

Demonstrate, Search, Predict (DSP) for LLMs

Cobus Greyling on LLMs, NLU, NLP, chatbots & voicebots • 19 implied HN points • 16 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Software Development Data science Machine Learning NLP AI
  1. The Demonstrate, Search, Predict (DSP) approach is a method for answering questions using large language models by breaking it down into three stages: demonstration, searching for information, and predicting an answer.
  2. This method improves efficiency by allowing for complex systems to be built using pre-trained parts and straightforward language instructions. It simplifies AI development and speeds up the creation of new systems.
  3. Decomposing queries, known as Multi-Hop or Chain-of-Thought, helps the model reason through questions step by step to arrive at accurate answers.

The Fallacy of the Enneagram Personality

Skeptic • 47 implied HN points • 21 Feb 25
📖 Philosophy Psychology Belief systems Personal Development Cognitive Bias Skepticism
  1. The Enneagram of Personality is popular, but many scientists say it's not a real science. It's often based on mysticism and lacks solid proof.
  2. People find personal growth through the Enneagram, but it’s not a reliable personality test. Many just think it works because it feels right.
  3. The theories behind the Enneagram's nine types are often misunderstood. They are not based on childhood experiences, but might be related to inborn traits.

Diary Entry #2: Discovery Numbers (And a Quick Favor)

Shades of Greaves • 39 implied HN points • 22 Oct 23
💼 Business Marketing Publishing Advertising Sales Self-Publishing
  1. The author's book has launched on Reedsy Discovery, a platform connecting authors with readers. Getting support through upvotes, comments, and reviews can help increase visibility for the book.
  2. Paid press opportunities like Reedsy Discovery can cost money but may lead to more book sales and broader exposure. For instance, with a $50 cost, selling 10 books could break even and expand the book's reach.
  3. Free press through interviews, newsletter features, and social media shoutouts has been crucial in promoting the author's book, demonstrating the value of media coverage in reaching potential readers.

The end of (human) coding: What happens when AI writes all the code?

Brick by Brick • 27 implied HN points • 02 Jun 25
🕹 Technology Ethics Innovation AI Development Software
  1. AI is changing how we write software. Instead of just coding, developers will focus more on telling AI what they want the software to do.
  2. As AI generates more code, developers will spend less time reading it line by line and more time checking that the software behaves as expected.
  3. Creativity in software development is shifting from writing code to defining what the software should achieve. This means developers will guide AI rather than just program it.

Lumiterra’s Closed Beta Test starts NEXT WEEK!

Ronin’s Newsletter • 73 implied HN points • 04 Nov 24
🕹 Technology Gaming Software Development User Experience Community
  1. Lumiterra's Closed Beta Test starts on November 11th and will last around three weeks. Players can check their access eligibility based on previous participation and certain criteria.
  2. New features include equipment enhancement options, six dungeon difficulty levels, and a team-based PvP event called Escort Slime. These updates aim to offer more ways to earn rewards and enjoy the game.
  3. The onboarding process for new players has improved, with NPCs guiding them through game basics and advanced tasks. This makes it easier for beginners to dive into the world of Lumiterra.

GPT-4 captures judgments about semantic relatedness quite well

The Counterfactual • 59 implied HN points • 18 May 23
🕹 Technology Artificial Intelligence Data Analysis Cognitive Science Natural Language Processing
  1. GPT-4 is really good at understanding word similarities. In tests, it matched human opinions better than many expected.
  2. Sometimes GPT-4 thinks that certain words are more similar than people do. It tends to view pairs of words like 'wife' and 'husband' as more alike than humans generally agree on.
  3. Using GPT-4 for semantic questions could save time and money in research, but it's still important to include human input to avoid biases.

Building a Successful Company, Sharing Ideas Online, and Career Cheat Codes

Austin's Analects • 19 implied HN points • 15 Feb 24
💼 Business Success Ideas Career Finance Personal Growth
  1. Key secrets for building a successful company involve getting the right people on board, showing category leadership, creating unique products, and ensuring everyone in the company is focused on sales.
  2. Sharing your ideas online allows you to grow your skills, learn publicly, and become the best version of yourself before pursuing corporate opportunities.
  3. To advance in your career, consider starting an internal newsletter to build relationships and standing out, as well as making a list of what you want out of your company to actively pursue opportunities and skills.

Has the time come to take Mortal Computing seriously?

State of the Future • 32 implied HN points • 30 Apr 25
🕹 Technology Computers AI Hardware Software Innovation
  1. Mortal Computing is about embracing variability and imperfections in technology, moving away from the current trend of making every chip identical and perfect.
  2. Weakly Mortal designs could lead to huge gains in performance and efficiency by using smart systems that adapt to different conditions, instead of relying on perfect chips.
  3. Strongly Mortal computing could potentially unlock amazing new technologies, like self-repairing machines and entirely new types of computing that could change how we interact with technology.

The Great Uncoupling™

The Rectangle • 56 implied HN points • 17 Jan 25
🕹 Technology User Experience Digital Life Addiction Mindfulness Gadgets
  1. Many people feel too attached to their phones. It can be helpful to step back and rethink how we use these devices.
  2. Being overly reliant on smartphones can lead to issues like digital addiction. Finding ways to create space from our phones can improve our well-being.
  3. Exploring simpler devices and reducing phone usage is a good strategy. It helps to regain focus and brings balance back into our lives.

5 Tips to Write Effective Code in Enterprise Organizations

Weekend Developer • 39 implied HN points • 21 Oct 23
🕹 Technology Coding Troubleshooting Collaboration Testing
  1. Writing code in enterprise organizations is different from startups due to legacy code, lack of tests, and constant changes.
  2. To write effective code in enterprise organizations, understand the system, write more tests, and collaborate with testers.
  3. Refactoring code, troubleshooting issues, and getting a birds-eye view are key to improving code quality and system understanding.

Evaluating Team Effectiveness with a Data-first Approach | Bhavini Soneji, Executive Leader (ex-Cruise, Headspace, Microsoft)

platocommunity • 19 implied HN points • 15 Feb 24
💼 Business Execution Leadership Metrics Team Dynamics Measurement
  1. Empowering people to discover their strengths and amplify their impact is key in leadership.
  2. When measuring team effectiveness, consider the three buckets: what (strategic value), how (execution), and who (team dynamics).
  3. Combining measurement with follow-through techniques is crucial to determine if you're measuring the right things and drive continuous improvement.