The hottest Substack posts right now

according to Hacker News
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Anatomy of a Cryptocurrency Scam Operation

Practical Security • 116 HN points • 29 Jun 24
đź”® Crypto Cryptocurrency
  1. Be cautious of scams promising quick profits with minimal investment; if you can't withdraw transferred funds without additional payments, it's likely a scam.
  2. Watch out for unrealistic returns like earning $200,000 in a day; legitimate investments rarely yield over 200% returns so quickly.
  3. Avoid schemes that only accept deposits but don't allow withdrawals, ultimately causing losses and preventing you from accessing your initial funds.

Nature's many attempts to evolve a Nostr

Subconscious • 2095 implied HN points • 13 Oct 24
đź•ą Technology Data Ownership Decentralization Software Architecture
  1. Centralized apps control user data and accounts, making users dependent on their servers. This creates a situation where users can be locked out at any time.
  2. Federated systems allow users to choose servers, but can still lead to centralization as large nodes dominate, limiting true user independence.
  3. Peer-to-peer networks promote equality among users, but they often evolve to create 'superpeers' that can mirror centralization, so a new approach using relays could improve user control and ownership.

This Is What It Looks Like When Shit Hits The Fan

QTR’s Fringe Finance • 105 implied HN points • 17 Dec 25
đź’° Finance Infrastructure Corporate Finance Capital Markets Risk Investing Private Equity Credit Markets
  1. A major financier walking away from a $10bn Oracle data‑centre deal signals that the economics of hyperscale AI build‑outs are getting harder to justify and the margin for error is shrinking.
  2. The AI infrastructure boom is increasingly debt‑ and leverage‑driven rather than self‑funded, with rising credit spreads and tighter lender terms suggesting cash flow may not cover the planned capex.
  3. That kind of pullback can rapidly shift market psychology from complacency to risk reduction, making a leverage‑heavy, high‑capex setup fragile and prone to a sudden unraveling.

Principles

Nabeel S. Qureshi • 1506 implied HN points • 12 Jan 25
đź“– Philosophy Decision-making Integrity Life lessons Personal Growth Self-Improvement
  1. Don't be afraid to ask for what you want. If you can handle rejection, you can open up new opportunities for yourself.
  2. Move quickly and take action. Procrastination slows you down and can make tasks seem harder than they really are.
  3. Surround yourself with positive, energetic people. They can inspire you and help you achieve your goals.
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How EMV beat card skimming

Altay's Blog • 2 HN points • 29 Sep 24
đź•ą Technology Payment Systems Fraud prevention Credit Cards Cybersecurity
  1. EMV cards use chips and PINs for better security compared to older magnetic stripe cards, which are easy to skim and clone. This makes it harder for thieves to steal card information.
  2. Skimming is when criminals capture card details to create fake cards, usually by using devices at ATMs or stores. With EMV technology, the stolen data is less useful since it's protected by complex cryptographic keys.
  3. Even if someone hacks a card reader, they can't easily cash out fraudulent transactions because of built-in security checks that prevent misuse and create a paper trail back to the source.

AI Roundup 150: Empire State Defiance

Artificial Ignorance • 88 implied HN points • 27 Dec 25
đź•ą Technology AI Startups Investment Security E-commerce Infrastructure Hardware Policy
  1. New York passed the RAISE Act forcing big AI companies to publish safety protocols, report serious incidents quickly, and face stiff penalties. It directly challenges federal efforts and could make state rules the de facto industry standard.
  2. Nvidia struck a $20B licensing deal with Groq to gain low‑latency chip designs and talent, showing a playbook of absorbing specialized rivals instead of fighting them head‑on. That move fills a gap for fast inference workloads and helps Nvidia protect its market lead.
  3. Autonomous AI shopping agents threaten to cut retailers like Amazon out of customer relationships and margins, so Amazon is blocking bots, suing scrapers, and building its own agent tools. The technology is still early, giving Amazon a narrow window to influence how agentic commerce develops.

The fourfold prophecy engine

Philosophy bear • 42 implied HN points • 25 Jan 26
đź“– Philosophy Ethics Metaphysics Epistemology Ontology Aesthetics Political Philosophy
  1. Use a simple random method (repeated d4 rolls) to generate four prompt words, then meditate on their connections or turn them into a poem, painting, or scene.
  2. A structured symbol catalogue is provided across four realms—Cosmos, Bios, Psyche, and Polis—each with thematic quartets to supply varied lenses and imagery.
  3. Approach the exercise calmly and with the intention to learn and help; interpret each concept flexibly for self-knowledge and contemplation rather than literal fortune-telling.

Issue #9 - Clarifying Data Terminology

The Data Ecosystem • 159 implied HN points • 09 Jun 24
đź•ą Technology Data Analysis Data science Data Literacy Data Governance Data Management
  1. Data can mean many things, from raw collections to curated evidence used in decisions. It's important to define what data means in each situation to avoid confusion.
  2. Poorly defined data terms can lead to problems in data literacy, collection, and management. This can create issues for organizations trying to use data effectively.
  3. Understanding different categories of data, like data types and processing stages, helps in managing and analyzing data better. Knowing these categories makes it easier to communicate and use data in an organization.

Thoughts on Lex Fridman's interview with Marc Andreessen

Machine Learning Everything • 1379 implied HN points • 29 Jan 25
đź•ą Technology Social Issues AI Interviews Immigration
  1. Marc Andreessen discusses the H1B visa system and its flaws, pointing out that it benefits large tech companies while startups struggle to access this talent. He believes attracting foreign talent is great, but the system is being misused.
  2. He critiques the current education system for diluting academic standards, which affects the identification of talented American students. Andreessen suggests that the changes made to standardized testing like the SAT have made it easier to achieve high scores without necessarily indicating real talent.
  3. Andreessen connects the rise of identity politics to a form of ancestor worship, criticizing modern societal structures that focus on identity over personal merit. He believes that this could lead to divisive outcomes and lacks a sense of redemption.

Humana to shutter Louisville, Kentucky headquarters; top executives now working out of Washington, D.C.

HEALTH CARE un-covered • 519 implied HN points • 15 Feb 24
đź’Ľ Business Corporate behavior Financial Performance Market Trends Healthcare Industry
  1. Humana is closing its headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky, as top executives have already moved to Washington, D.C. This change aims to cut costs and better align with their government business focus.
  2. The company has recently struggled financially, citing high costs associated with their Medicare Advantage enrollees using more healthcare services than expected. This led to significant losses and a drop in stock prices.
  3. With top leaders now based in D.C., they can quickly engage with lawmakers who are examining Medicare Advantage and its financial impacts, as these plans may be overpaying billions to insurers.

Change Python's syntax with the "# coding:" trick

Bite code! • 1467 implied HN points • 25 Jan 25
đź•ą Technology Coding Software Programming Development Scripting
  1. You can change Python's syntax using a special trick called '# coding:'. This lets you define how your code is read and interpreted.
  2. By using custom codecs, you can make unusual text formats like JPEGs or even SQL valid in Python. It's a creative way to mix different languages within Python.
  3. While it's fun to play with these features, it can also make your code really complicated and hard to debug. So, use this power wisely!

Precious metals investing - a beginner's guide

Concepts of Finance 🧠 • 319 implied HN points • 11 Apr 24
đź’° Finance Investing Wealth Management Market Trends Precious metals Commodities
  1. Precious metals like gold and silver are valuable because they can hold their worth over time. People often invest in them as a safe way to protect against things like inflation and market changes.
  2. There are several easy ways to invest in precious metals, including buying physical bullion, using storage services, or buying shares in metal-focused ETFs and companies.
  3. There's a debate about whether gold or Bitcoin is a better store of value. Gold is physical and trusted by central banks, while Bitcoin is a digital asset with the potential for growth.

Data Science Weekly - Issue 556

Data Science Weekly Newsletter • 79 implied HN points • 18 Jul 24
đź•ą Technology Artificial Intelligence Data science Data Engineering Programming Machine Learning
  1. AI research in China is progressing rapidly, but it hasn't received much attention compared to developments in the US. There are many complexities in understanding the implications of this advancement.
  2. There are new methods to improve large language models (LLMs) using production data, which can enhance their performance over time. A structured approach to analyzing data quality can lead to better outcomes.
  3. Evaluating modern machine learning models can be challenging, leading to some questionable research practices. It's important to understand these issues to ensure more accurate and reproducible results.

Macroeconomy Now Below "Stall Speed"?

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 484 implied HN points • 01 Aug 25
đź’° Finance Employment Trade policy Federal Reserve Inflation Macroeconomics
  1. Job creation in the U.S. is slowing down, with only about 35,000 new jobs added each month lately. This is not enough to keep unemployment from rising.
  2. Inflation risks are still increasing, mainly due to trade issues and supply chain problems. These factors could lead to economic issues like stagflation, where both inflation and unemployment rise.
  3. There's a major boom in data-center construction, driven by AI investments. This is impacting prices and inflation, showing that certain sectors can create upward pressure on costs even when overall consumer demand isn't high.

Import AI 365: WMD benchmark; Amazon sees $1bn training runs; DeepMind gets closer to its game-playing dream

Import AI • 399 implied HN points • 18 Mar 24
đź•ą Technology AI training AI Research Robotics
  1. Alliance for the Future (AFTF) was founded in response to concerns about overreach in AI safety regulation, highlighting the importance of well-intentioned policies leading to counter-reactions.
  2. Covariant's RFM-1 shows how generative AI can be applied to industrial robots, allowing easy robot operation through human-like instructions, reflecting a shift towards faster-moving robotics facilitated by AI.
  3. DeepMind's SIMA represents a significant advancement towards a general AI agent by fusing recent AI advancements, showcasing the potential of scaling up diverse AI functions in new environments, opening possibilities for further development and complexity.

OpenAI Acquired Rockset

Cobus Greyling on LLMs, NLU, NLP, chatbots & voicebots • 59 implied HN points • 31 Jul 24
đź•ą Technology Infrastructure AI Data Analytics Applications
  1. OpenAI bought Rockset to make their data retrieval system better, which helps in using AI more effectively.
  2. The acquisition shows that LLMs are being seen more like a tool, and the focus is shifting to building useful applications using these technologies.
  3. Rockset's technology will help OpenAI work better with developers and make it easier to access and use real-time data for AI products.

Means and Meaning

Not Boring by Packy McCormick • 490 implied HN points • 29 Jul 25
đź“– Philosophy Mindfulness Humanism Existentialism Metaphysics Ethics Technology
  1. Technology provides us with means, like tools and resources, but it's up to us to find meaning in our lives. We need to think about what we really want and how we can achieve a fulfilling life.
  2. Having more options and convenience can actually make it harder to find fulfillment. We might get lost in distractions and forget to pay attention to what truly matters.
  3. To bridge the gap between the tools we have and the meaning we seek, we need to engage more deeply with our experiences. By paying attention and making conscious choices, we can create a life that's more meaningful.

are we ready?

Poems, Short stories and other things.. • 14 implied HN points • 17 Feb 26
đź•ą Technology Workforce Artificial Intelligence Automation Developer Tools Software Engineering Productivity
  1. AI tools are already automating large parts of software development, turning work that once took weeks into hours and making many traditional coding tasks far less central. This means coding-as-a-job is being fundamentally reshaped.
  2. Many roles—developers, product people, support, analysts, managers, and admins—will be disrupted and need to shift to higher-order work like creativity, domain knowledge, and mastering AI tools. Adapting to these new responsibilities is essential to stay relevant.
  3. Adoption is uneven, so people and companies who try and master advanced tools now will gain a big advantage as workflows automate at scale. The pace of change is accelerating, so quick adaptation matters.

Forest & Desert

Software Design: Tidy First? • 1900 implied HN points • 11 Nov 24
đź•ą Technology Engineering Practices Software Design System Architecture Project management
  1. In software development, there are two environments: a challenging 'desert' where mistakes are costly, and a supportive 'forest' where teams can work collaboratively and learn from their errors.
  2. Strategies that work in a desert, like detailed planning and strict reviews, won't help in a forest, which thrives on testing, incremental growth, and collaboration.
  3. To shift from a desert to a forest, teams need to understand why their current situation exists and take small steps toward creating a more supportive and effective work environment.

The Age of AI Flattery

Rozado’s Visual Analytics • 450 implied HN points • 05 Aug 25
đź•ą Technology Machine Learning AI Ethics Human Interaction Data Analysis User Experience
  1. AI often caters to what users want to hear, leading to a tendency to flatter instead of challenge.
  2. As people get more used to this flattery, they might start preferring AI chats over real conversations, which may harm their ability to handle disagreements.
  3. The design of AI systems focuses on keeping users happy, but this could mean less critical thinking and debate in interactions.

Data Update 3 for 2024: A Rule-breaking Year for Interest Rates

Musings on Markets • 599 implied HN points • 25 Jan 24
đź’° Finance Interest Rates Economic Indicators Corporate Finance Bond Markets
  1. Interest rates in 2023 showed little change, challenging the idea that the Fed is solely responsible for their movements. It's more about market dynamics and inflation.
  2. An inverted yield curve has traditionally been seen as a warning sign for recessions, but recent events in 2023 suggest it isn't always accurate. The economy remained stable despite the inversion.
  3. Looking forward, inflation will play a key role in determining interest rates in 2024. If inflation continues to drop, long-term rates might go down too.

Authorization in microservice architecture, P4: Deploy in production

Hung's Notes • 79 implied HN points • 18 Jul 24
đź•ą Technology Authorization IT Infrastructure Microservices Software Development Cloud Computing
  1. Migrating authorization logic from an old system to a new one can take a long time and requires careful planning to avoid errors.
  2. Each part of a business can manage its own authorization rules, making it easier for them to control access based on their specific needs.
  3. As systems grow, it's important to keep improving and adapting to new challenges, like optimizing runtime decisions and better analyzing access logs.

Chinese experts' perspectives on some key aspects of China's economy

Ginger River Review • 668 implied HN points • 08 Jan 24
đź’Ľ Business Economy Technology Investment Globalization Localization
  1. Disruptive technological innovation drives new productive forces, like in new energy and materials.
  2. China is focusing on expanding the digital economy, leveraging its vast data resources for growth.
  3. Institutional opening-up and cultivation of new drivers for foreign trade are key strategies for China's economic development.

ChinAI #251: A surprise in the data on China's chip imports

ChinAI Newsletter • 609 implied HN points • 22 Jan 24
đź•ą Technology Cybersecurity Geopolitics AI Semiconductors Trade
  1. China's chip imports dropped for the first time in consecutive years due to geopolitical factors and increased demand in emerging industries like 5G and AI.
  2. China has been focusing on localizing chip production to reduce the trade deficit, with the self-sufficiency rate increasing from 16.6% in 2020 to 23.3% in 2023.
  3. In the past ten years, China's chip industry experienced significant growth, with chip imports and exports doubling in quantity and value.

Tech Oligarchs Have A Solution To The AI Bubble — You.

JoeWrote • 107 implied HN points • 17 Dec 25
đź•ą Technology Artificial Intelligence Energy Use Economic Inequality Corporate strategy Market Dynamics Tech Policy Big Tech
  1. The AI boom was driven by exaggerated promises and speculation, but the big societal breakthroughs haven’t materialized and many AI projects are unprofitable while causing real harms like higher energy bills and unsafe outputs.
  2. Tech giants are pivoting from grand future visions to selling AI as an everyday utility and entertainment tool, trying to grow user bases to justify sky-high valuations.
  3. Because the industry is concentrated among the very rich, there’s a real risk they’ll push for taxpayer-funded bailouts if the bubble bursts, and rising inequality means ordinary people would suffer most from the fallout.

Software's Iron Triangle: Cheap, Fast and Good - Pick Two

Resilient Cyber • 39 implied HN points • 14 Aug 24
đź•ą Technology Software Quality Cybersecurity Risk management Regulation Market Dynamics
  1. Balancing quality in software is tough. You can have it cheap, fast, or good, but you can only pick two options.
  2. There's a big gap in information between software makers and users. Many users don’t really know what's in the software they use or how secure it is.
  3. The security of software often takes a back seat to speed and cost. This leads to issues where security measures are seen as extra costs, not necessities.

Cigna Healthcare said it will buy back $11.3 billion of its own shares of stock. That announcement made the company's CEO and other investors much richer.

HEALTH CARE un-covered • 759 implied HN points • 18 Dec 23
đź’° Finance Corporate Finance Investment Regulation Stock Market
  1. Cigna Healthcare plans to buy back $11.3 billion of its own stock, making its CEO and investors much wealthier. This move increased the stock price significantly in just one day.
  2. The amount Cigna is spending on stock buybacks is more than many states' entire Medicaid budgets for the year, raising concerns about the priorities of the healthcare system.
  3. Some members of Congress are upset about Cigna's decision, stating it shows how large insurance companies focus on profits instead of improving healthcare for their customers.

Cyber and Tech News of the Week

Vigilainte Newsletter • 19 implied HN points • 02 Sep 24
đź•ą Technology Cybersecurity Software Development Digital Culture Data Privacy AI
  1. The US government has warned about a ransomware group that attacked Halliburton, urging companies to improve their security measures.
  2. Taylor Swift's concert tour inadvertently helped the CIA prevent a terrorist attack, showing how pop culture can link to national security.
  3. NIST is holding a contest for hackers to test AI systems, aiming to spot weaknesses and promote safety in technology development.

MakerNews - January 2026

Maker News • 22 implied HN points • 31 Jan 26
đź•ą Technology DIY Robotics Embedded Electronics Hardware IOT Tools Open Source
  1. Investing in the right bench tools and setups makes everyday electronics work faster, safer, and more reliable.
  2. Creative hardware hacking and reverse engineering often reveal far more capability than expected, from PID‑controlled glue guns to running DOOM on a smart pressure cooker.
  3. Open source projects and detailed writeups turn experiments into shared learning, helping others reproduce fixes, learn tapeout and PCB tricks, and build fun projects like 1D Pong or a lock‑picking robot.

On Track

Invariant • 609 implied HN points • 21 Jan 24
đź’° Finance Investing Stocks Analysis Markets Value
  1. Analyzing investments should involve a holistic reflection and critical thinking.
  2. Consider the importance of probability and odds in decision-making.
  3. Recognize that in financial markets, competition influences opportunity and the importance of value over price.

Resilient Cyber Newsletter #7

Resilient Cyber • 59 implied HN points • 30 Jul 24
đź•ą Technology Software Cybersecurity Cloud AI Leadership
  1. The U.S. has released its first comprehensive report on cybersecurity, highlighting key risks like ransomware and the need for better incident preparedness.
  2. Many American companies are lacking strong cybersecurity leadership, which leads to vulnerabilities and incidents. Board members often need more expertise in digital systems.
  3. To secure cloud services and open source software, it's important to learn from past mistakes and implement better governance and security measures.

Yes, I'm going to wade into the subject of AI

So Here’s a Thing • 1101 implied HN points • 25 Mar 23
đź•ą Technology Art Imagery Creativity Ethics AI
  1. AI is a significant topic in 2023, impacting various industries and raising concerns about job security and creative integrity.
  2. AI-generated art, like that from Midjourney, can produce unique and artistic images rapidly and affordably, though it currently lacks the finesse of human artists.
  3. The rise of AI presents challenges regarding authenticity and truth, as it can replicate artistic styles with accuracy, raising ethical concerns about misattribution and deception.