The hottest Substack posts right now

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Security is Not an AI Problem

Security Is • 159 implied HN points • 02 May 24
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Cybersecurity Data science Digital Tools
  1. AI doesn't really fix security problems well. Many times, the technology just doesn't work in the tough, unpredictable environments that security deals with.
  2. The best results in security often come from simple, clear procedures, not from complex machine learning models. Basic rules can solve most problems effectively.
  3. Generative AI can help with minor tasks but isn't a magic solution for security. It might even confuse people about important issues, rather than clarify them.

The Sequence Radar #775: Last Week in AI: Tokens, Throughput, and Trillions

TheSequence • 63 implied HN points • 21 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Cloud Services Enterprise AI Model Deployment Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning AI Research Compute Infrastructure
  1. Massive funding and infrastructure bets are setting the rules: the companies that can industrialize models into cheap, reliable global services will win more than those with just the fanciest research demos.
  2. Engineering focus has shifted to throughput, latency, and long-context agentic capabilities, with new models and hardware optimized to move lots of tokens through multi-step workflows at predictable cost.
  3. Generative outputs and developer workflows are becoming iterative and productized — image editing in chat and tightened data/observability loops make AI a usable creative IDE, while enterprise platforms race to own the data plane and production tooling.

New Algorithms, Not New Particles

Bzogramming • 45 implied HN points • 31 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Biotechnology Computing Algorithms Artificial Intelligence Materials Physics Energy
  1. Most practical technology is built from atoms, electrons, and photons, so discovering new high-energy particles isn’t what drives usable engineering; progress comes from better math, materials, and system design.
  2. Condensed-matter and materials science (like semiconductors and superconductors) are where real, applicable breakthroughs live, because emergent behaviors of many atoms produce useful properties we can actually engineer.
  3. The next big advances will come from new algorithms, mathematical tools, and using physical and biological systems as computational substrates (aided by ML), not from finding exotic particles; building bigger, smarter systems from known primitives is the path forward.
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World’s Smallest USB-C Li-Ion Charger?!

atomic14 • 346 implied HN points • 16 Jul 25
🕹 Technology DIY Projects Product Reviews Innovation Electronics Gadgets
  1. The new USB-C Li-Ion charger is incredibly small, measuring just 10mm by 6mm. It's perfect for anyone needing a compact charging solution.
  2. This charger uses standard components like the LP4054 chip, allowing it to efficiently charge batteries at about 600mA, although it can get quite warm during use.
  3. Recreating the charger's board design is straightforward, making it accessible for hobbyists and those interested in electronics to try their hand at building one.

The Over-Engineering Trap

Tech Ramblings • 39 implied HN points • 28 Jul 24
🕹 Technology Cost management Product Design Engineering Practices Software Development Systems Architecture
  1. Simplicity and maintainability are more important than performance and complexity in software design. Focus on creating code that's easy for others to understand and work with.
  2. Avoid over-complicated platforms like microservices, especially if your application doesn't need them. Start with basic tools and scale only when necessary.
  3. Your goal as a software engineer should be to deliver a product that customers can use easily. Keeping things simple helps with maintenance and helps new team members get up to speed faster.

💥 Tech Talks Weekly #25

Tech Talks Weekly • 59 implied HN points • 01 Aug 24
🕹 Technology Conferences Web Development Programming Languages AI Software Development
  1. Tech Talks Weekly shares fresh talks from over 100 conferences every week. It's a great way to stay updated without sifting through a lot of content.
  2. This edition highlights talks from major events like ReactConf and JCON Europe. The featured talks include exciting topics like new features in React and domain-driven design.
  3. Readers are encouraged to fill out a form to help improve content and to spread the word about the newsletter. It's all about building a community around tech discussions!

I am cancelled

A Lawyer Writes • 687 implied HN points • 24 Jul 23
💼 Business Regulation Professionalism Legal system
  1. The author received a notice about being removed from a database, not being struck off as a solicitor.
  2. The message contained unusual demands, like a fee and restrictions on future restoration.
  3. The situation highlights issues faced by retired professionals in the legal field.

Amazon, Dr. Gupta, Lilly and Other Thoughts

Martin’s Newsletter • 687 implied HN points • 10 May 23
💼 Business Finance Healthcare Technology Journalism Media
  1. Amazon has had negative free cash flow but is worth $1T, proving traditional valuation models may not apply.
  2. Dr. Gupta's AI healthcare system has received positive feedback with interest for nationwide deployment, highlighting the need for innovative healthcare solutions.
  3. Lilly's Mounjaro product showed impressive sales potential, indicating a shift in the pharmaceutical industry.

Portfolio Optimisation, Luck & Regret, François Rochon, & Running Money for the Long Term

Investment Talk • 687 implied HN points • 05 Mar 23
💰 Finance Portfolio Management Sponsorship Investment
  1. Investment Talk newsletter curates interesting content for over 19,200 investors every two weeks.
  2. AlphaSense offers a 14-day free trial of expert interviews and qualitative insights for analysts and portfolio managers.
  3. Paid subscribers can access exclusive posts and support the Investment Talk newsletter.

We're Finding Out What Humans are Bad At

Am I Stronger Yet? • 799 implied HN points • 18 Feb 25
🕹 Technology Computing AI Engineering Innovation Robotics
  1. Humans are not great at some tasks, especially ones like multiplication or certain physical jobs where machines excel. Evolution didn't prepare us for everything, so machines often outperform us in those areas.
  2. In tasks like chess, humans can still compete because strategy and judgment play a big role, even though computers are getting better. The game requires thinking skills that humans are good at, though computers can calculate much faster.
  3. AI is advancing quickly and becoming better at tasks we once thought were uniquely human, but there are still challenges. Some complex problems might always be easier for humans due to our unique brain abilities.

Under the microscope: Tarzan Untamed (GameCube, PlayStation 2)

Rings of Saturn • 58 implied HN points • 20 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Video Games Game Development Emulation Reverse Engineering
  1. Entering certain profile names unlocks hidden features: 'UBIPATCH' (PS2) or 'MDSTRUE' (GameCube) reveals a developer-faces minigame, and 'FRAMERATE' turns on an on-screen performance display.
  2. There are platform-specific cheats: on GameCube 'MDSGODS' lets you start any level and unlock all collectibles and cinematics, while on PS2 pressing L1+L2+R1+R2 then entering directional sequences grants unlimited spears or 99 lives.
  3. Reverse engineering shows these cheats are implemented as plain strings and input checks in memory, which explains why some codes are unusable on GameCube or left unused because a needed button input never updates.

The Ultimate Game Dev's Guide to Working with Content Creators

A16Z GAMES • 199 implied HN points • 09 Apr 24
💼 Business Relationship building Industry Trends Marketing Content creation Gaming
  1. One of the biggest challenges for game developers is working with content creators to market their games effectively. It's important to find creators that resonate with your game and engage with them early on.
  2. Each content creator is unique, so it's crucial to tailor your approach to match their audience and content style. Understand their goals and create experiences that align with them.
  3. Building long-term relationships with content creators requires kindness, respect, and genuine engagement. Treat them well, consider their needs, and value the relationship beyond short-term marketing gains.

With World-Class Regulations and Influential Developers, Hong Kong Emerges as Bitcoin Hub

Bitcoin Magazine Pro • 412 implied HN points • 08 Jan 24
🔮 Crypto Bitcoin Blockchain Developers Regulations ETFs
  1. Hong Kong is becoming a major hub for the digital asset industry in Asia.
  2. The Hong Kong government is actively supporting and legalizing digital assets to attract talent and business opportunities.
  3. Developers in Hong Kong, like those at UniSat, are making significant advancements and influencing the Bitcoin industry.

UX Roundup: AI Judgment | Heuristic Evaluation | Consistent Brand Assets | New Music Model

Jakob Nielsen on UX • 21 implied HN points • 02 Feb 26
🕹 Technology User Experience Generative AI Artificial Intelligence Interaction Design
  1. AI judgment improves as models get bigger and are given more "think time," suggesting judgment skills scale with compute and could soon outperform humans in some tasks.
  2. AI is rapidly getting better at heuristic usability evaluation; one tool increased covered guidelines from 39 to 154 in eight months, implying a fast doubling pace and potential to automate many e-commerce heuristic checks within a year.
  3. Generative AI can produce consistent, on‑brand visual assets by rewriting prompts, using reference images, and verifying outputs, and new music models are improving too, though creators still prefer tools with stronger editing control and more stable vocals.

Innovation Job Market Papers 2025 (2/2)

New Things Under the Sun • 48 implied HN points • 24 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Innovation R&D Intellectual Property Industrial Policy Labor markets Geography Regulation Finance
  1. Innovation is highly geographically concentrated, and place-based policies like targeted R&D or industrial subsidies can raise growth, though the best approach depends on how technology interacts with local productivity and spillovers.
  2. The pace and pattern of technology diffusion hinge on human-capital and market frictions: worker mobility, training incentives, non-competes, and venture-capital funding shape how fast and widely new technologies spread.
  3. Institutions and regulations — including patent rules, exclusivity periods, financial development, and adaptive regulatory sandboxes — strongly shape firms’ incentives to innovate and the trade-off between protecting inventors and promoting broader technology diffusion.

No Pats On the Back

Points And Figures • 772 implied HN points • 27 Feb 25
💼 Business Venture Capital Investment Strategies Economic Development Entrepreneurship
  1. Chicago lacks the investment and willingness to take risks that cities like Silicon Valley and New York have. This makes it hard for startups to get support.
  2. Entrepreneurial ecosystems thrive when they focus on merit and tolerance for failure. Chicago is seen as outdated in these aspects.
  3. The culture in Chicago often emphasizes who you are instead of what you can achieve, which can hinder innovation and growth.

Crisis in Shanghai

The Dollar Endgame • 339 implied HN points • 05 Feb 24
💰 Finance Stock Markets Real Estate Market volatility
  1. Chinese stock markets are collapsing, showing signs of a potential fraud that's causing panic among investors.
  2. The real estate crisis in China is exacerbating the financial turmoil, leading to massive declines in stock market indexes like the Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Component.
  3. Efforts by Chinese regulators to stabilize the markets, such as injecting funds and clamping down on illegal practices, have so far been ineffective in curbing the crisis.

High hopes

Klement on Investing • 4 implied HN points • 26 Feb 26
💼 Business Employment Tech Adoption Corporate strategy Surveys Artificial Intelligence Productivity
  1. Most companies now use AI—about two-thirds—but actual use is light (roughly 1.5 hours per week for many) and adoption is rising rapidly.
  2. Measured productivity gains so far are tiny (around 0.3% over the last three years), yet firms expect much larger gains soon (about 1.4% over the next three years), revealing a big gap between past results and future hopes.
  3. Employers and employees disagree on jobs: employees often expect AI to create jobs, while employers report little past impact but anticipate modest job cuts ahead, especially in the US and UK.

More Efficiency, More Demand

Fish Food for Thought • 47 implied HN points • 31 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Artificial Intelligence Software Engineering Data science Product Development Automation Labor markets
  1. When tools make tasks cheaper and easier, we usually do more of those tasks, not less; efficiency expands demand and creates new uses.
  2. Automation tends to shift work, not eliminate it — machines handle repetitive parts while people take on harder, higher-value tasks like interpretation, edge cases, and oversight.
  3. AI will grow opportunities for engineers and data scientists by increasing the amount of software and systems to build, maintain, secure, and govern, shifting work toward architecture, judgment, and integration rather than rote coding.

Introducing a new way to publish from the Substack app

Substack • 1669 implied HN points • 25 Jul 24
🕹 Technology Mobile Software Publishing Apps Digital Tools
  1. The Substack app now has a new mobile editor that lets you write and publish posts directly from your phone. This makes it easier to reach your audience anytime and anywhere.
  2. You can create simple text and image posts, which is perfect for quick updates or sharing casual moments. The app saves your drafts automatically too.
  3. Currently, there are still some limitations, like not being able to edit published posts in the app. More features, like video posts and scheduling, are planned for the future.

Import AI 359: $1 billion gov supercomputer; Apple’s good synthetic data technique; and a thousand-year old data library

Import AI • 339 implied HN points • 05 Feb 24
🕹 Technology AI Research Data Storage Language Models Supercomputers
  1. Google uses LLM-powered bug fixing that is more efficient than human fixes, highlighting the impact of AI integration in speeding up processes.
  2. Yoshua Bengio suggests governments invest in supercomputers for AI development to stay ahead in monitoring tech giants, emphasizing the importance of AI investment in the public sector.
  3. Microsoft's Project Silica showcases a long-term storage solution using glass for archiving data, which is a unique and durable alternative to traditional methods.
  4. Apple's WRAP technique creates synthetic data effectively by rephrasing web articles, enhancing model performance and showcasing the value of incorporating synthetic data in training.

China’s Hundred Lens War

ChinaTalk • 459 implied HN points • 28 May 25
🕹 Technology Augmented reality Product Innovation AI Technology Virtual reality Market Trends
  1. China's AR market is thriving with many small companies leading the way instead of just a few big giants. This competition is creating a diverse range of products and ideas.
  2. The use of AR glasses could become very useful in everyday life, like real-time translation or enhancing gaming experiences. There's potential for AR to change how we interact and work.
  3. China's AR industry is continuously innovating with new technology and partnerships, which might lead to more successful products in the future compared to what we've seen from larger companies.

All your Python project in one file with shiv

Bite code! • 978 implied HN points • 02 Jan 25
🕹 Technology Tools Software Programming Development
  1. Shiv allows you to bundle your Python project into a single executable zip file, which includes all your code and its dependencies. This makes it easy to run your program on any compatible server without needing to install anything else.
  2. Creating a zipapp with shiv involves a few steps, including setting up a virtual environment and running specific commands to package your project. It’s important to understand the process to avoid common pitfalls.
  3. Using shiv can simplify deployment, especially for web services or applications with many dependencies. However, it does require Python to be installed on the target machine and might not work well with certain compiled extensions.

Want to Build Your Client Base? Get Started with These 3 Things First

VERY GOOD PRODUCTIZED GUIDES • 79 implied HN points • 22 Jun 24
💼 Business Business strategy Entrepreneurship Marketing Client Relations Self-Improvement
  1. Start with identifying a problem that needs solving. Focus on what others need instead of just your own ideas.
  2. Choose the right clients who align with your values and needs. This helps you work better and smarter with a specific group.
  3. Give before you ask for anything. Start by offering something for free to build trust and show what you can do.

Moats: How to Build a Scalable Business Competitors Can't Copy

Nail It and Scale It • 59 implied HN points • 08 Jul 24
💼 Business Management Strategy Marketing Entrepreneurship Economics
  1. A business moat is a special advantage that helps a company stand out and protect itself from competitors. Just like a moat around a castle keeps invaders out, a strong business moat helps companies earn big profits over time.
  2. There are different types of moats, like network effects where the value increases as more people use a service, and cost advantages that make switching harder for customers. Companies like Uber and Walmart have used these techniques smartly.
  3. Building a solid brand and having strong cultural values can also create powerful moats. For example, Patagonia builds loyalty by promoting environmentalism, making it harder for customers to switch to other brands.

Robots don't take your job. Bosses do

Altered States of Monetary Consciousness • 821 implied HN points • 04 Feb 25
💼 Business Corporate strategy Workplace dynamics Technological Change Labor Economics
  1. Jobs are created not by robots but by the need for workers to operate businesses. Companies like Amazon rely heavily on their workers to exist.
  2. When companies automate or replace jobs with machines, it's really about the bosses choosing to spend money on technology instead of their employees. This often means fewer jobs.
  3. Economic growth doesn't necessarily mean better lives for workers. As technology advances, the pressure to keep up increases, leaving employees stressed and wanting.

Should I buy a company after visiting Victoria, BC?

Olshansky's Newsletter • 45 implied HN points • 31 Dec 25
💼 Business Operations Startups Entrepreneurship Acquisitions Capital Strategy
  1. Buy an existing, revenue-generating business instead of building from scratch to create steady cash flow and buy time and freedom to pursue bigger missions.
  2. Make plans without expectations and show up; building relationships and staying open to serendipity often creates better opportunities than rigid goals.
  3. Prioritize independence and real value creation over constant fundraising, and then fix operational inefficiencies — cut waste, move costly cloud workloads to cheaper infrastructure, automate with AI, and keep teams lean to extract reliable cash flow.

Good Docs Describe, Bad Docs Prescribe

Rethinking Software • 299 implied HN points • 25 Jul 25
🕹 Technology Development Coding Software Agile Documentation
  1. Good documentation should describe the current state of the software, not what it might be in the future. This keeps it relevant and useful.
  2. Documents like ADRs and RFCs can become roadblocks if they're written too early. They can hold teams back instead of helping them move forward.
  3. The best documentation comes from the code itself, such as generated docs or inline comments. This helps ensure that the documentation matches the actual software.