The hottest Substack posts of 12challenges

And their main takeaways
85 implied HN points β€’ 27 Feb 25
  1. There's a humorous ad concept that checks if you're wealthy before you can click it. It's meant to point out the silliness of clicking on ads for things we can't afford.
  2. The idea is that ads wasting money can harm everyone, so this ad aims to avoid that waste by making sure only those who can actually buy stuff see it.
  3. This initiative shows a creative approach to advertising and is part of a larger plan to create more satirical ads that poke fun at everyday marketing tactics.
171 implied HN points β€’ 24 Feb 25
  1. There's a lot of chatter around AI, and it can feel overwhelming with so many opinions coming from everywhere. Not everyone can be right, and sometimes it’s nice to take a step back.
  2. The writer is working on making their tech publication more engaging, including designing a cool interactive button that enhances the reader experience. Adding fun elements can make a project feel exciting.
  3. Getting back into the habit of writing and sharing can be challenging, but it's important to push through and not aim for perfection. Staying persistent is key to finding your audience.
171 implied HN points β€’ 19 Feb 25
  1. The publication '12 Challenges' has been rebranded to 'Directing Attention', aiming to create fun content about technology. It focuses on making tech exciting and offers a fresh perspective on the industry.
  2. The plan includes three types of content: playful tech analysis, satire, and interactive mini-sites. The writer plans to start by focusing on satire to quickly build an audience.
  3. A new website for 'Attention' is being created for maximum creative control, allowing for unique and interactive article presentations. This will help surprise and engage readers in new ways.
428 implied HN points β€’ 24 Jan 25
  1. There's a new publication called Attention that aims to make technology fun and poke fun at it too. It's about finding joy in tech rather than just being serious all the time.
  2. The focus will be on playful analysis of tech, satire about its issues, and creative interactive content. It's a space for fun ideas that don't usually get attention.
  3. The creator wants to invite others to join in on this journey. It's about building a community of people who enjoy tech and want to bring some light-heartedness to it.
171 implied HN points β€’ 28 Jan 25
  1. Attention will focus on making tech fun and poking fun at it through playful analysis and satire.
  2. The publication will feature interactive mini-sites that combine both tech analysis and humor.
  3. The author is inspired by diverse examples of creativity in tech and media, and welcomes suggestions for additional content.
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257 implied HN points β€’ 13 Jan 25
  1. A tool named Nudge helps you block online distractions like news feeds and comments. It's like an ad blocker but for things that distract you from what you want to focus on.
  2. Nudge is free, open source, and has a good user rating. It makes it easier for you to avoid scrolling through unnecessary content while browsing online.
  3. The creator wants feedback and suggestions to make Nudge even better. You're invited to try it out and share your thoughts with him.
514 implied HN points β€’ 19 Feb 24
  1. Social media feeds have evolved towards a TikTok model, focusing on varied content over personal connections.
  2. The design aspects like full-screen, infinite scroll, and autoplay play a significant role in the success of the social media feed model.
  3. Analyzing the evolution of social media through a typology can help understand past shifts and predict future trends, like the influence of AI.
544 HN points β€’ 30 Jan 24
  1. Anticipate the risk of receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Big Tech when working on adversarial software or research.
  2. Understand that receiving a cease-and-desist letter does not necessarily lead to legal action, but is often a tactic to intimidate and stop your actions.
  3. Realize that your options are limited when responding to a cease-and-desist letter, and consider pausing the service, complying selectively, or fighting back through public opinion.
514 implied HN points β€’ 26 Jan 24
  1. TikTok has a unique way of presenting content, making it hard to understand and addictive.
  2. Creating and scheduling content on TikTok can be challenging due to platform limitations and rules.
  3. Considering innovative strategies like collaborating with celebrities can bring attention to social media initiatives.
514 implied HN points β€’ 01 Dec 23
  1. Louis Barclay is embarking on 12 Challenges to make the internet better.
  2. The challenges will focus on addressing issues like powerful platforms and hate speech.
  3. The goal is to challenge himself to launch ideas and projects quickly, with the first challenge being to get King Charles to accept a gift for Christmas.
342 implied HN points β€’ 26 Feb 24
  1. Personal websites provide a way to express oneself independently from big platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
  2. AboutIdeasNow.com is a directory that helps users search across 7k+ personal sites to find interesting people directly.
  3. The platform combines content from '/about', '/now', and '/ideas' pages on personal sites to create a searchable place for connecting with fascinating individuals.
257 implied HN points β€’ 01 Mar 24
  1. The diagram shows how much social media has changed over the last 20 years, with a shift towards platforms like TikTok.
  2. The idea of using the diagram as a menu to choose preferred social media options is intriguing, revealing possible disparities in usage.
  3. The author seeks suggestions to improve the diagram's presentation and structure, anticipating future articles about social media platforms.
257 implied HN points β€’ 09 Feb 24
  1. Louis Barclay is working on getting Linknames into the hands of celebrities like Donald Glover to popularize the concept.
  2. Cole Nolte is taking on the TrojanTok Challenge to help people use TikTok less by experimenting with different strategies.
  3. TikTok does not provide data on the top videos each day, which is concerning given their influence on societal information consumption.
171 implied HN points β€’ 18 Mar 24
  1. An AI OS is an operating system that uses AI to manage hardware and software on a computer.
  2. Without an OS, devices like laptops, phones, and smartwatches cannot communicate between each other.
  3. AI OSes can range from weak to strong depending on the level of permissions given to AI for managing hardware and software.
257 implied HN points β€’ 18 Dec 23
  1. Linknames can help creators have more autonomy by providing a direct path to their audiences through a unique naming convention.
  2. Enshittification on big platforms like Facebook and Spotify highlights the importance of creators owning their own audience to avoid instability.
  3. Using linknames, which are names that double as website URLs, can potentially revolutionize how creators connect with their audience and navigate platform limitations.
171 implied HN points β€’ 09 Mar 24
  1. Our intentions can get diluted through different stages like Action and Input before resulting in something happening on a computer.
  2. The use of AI can boost intention by translating inputs into more aligned results and increasing confidence in actions.
  3. AI can help shrink the 'Crapgret Zone' where ads reside by improving intention alignment and reducing unintentional consumption of ads.
147 HN points β€’ 07 Mar 24
  1. AI could threaten the $1 trillion adtech industry by reducing the number of ads we see, impacting both demand and supply sides.
  2. The availability of advertising space (inventory), which is essentially our attention sold by Big Tech, underpins the adtech industry's massive revenue.
  3. AI operating systems and advancements could play a major role in reducing ad consumption, potentially affecting giant tech companies like Meta and Alphabet.
171 implied HN points β€’ 02 Feb 24
  1. Legal horror stories are popular among people, based on the success of a guide on dealing with cease-and-desist letters from Big Tech.
  2. Hacker News plays a significant role in tech information sharing and can amplify content to larger audiences.
  3. Understanding TikTok requires actively using the platform to grasp trends and the algorithm, which is essential for success.
147 HN points β€’ 20 Feb 24
  1. The idea of recreating the old Facebook with its familiar features like creating events, setting up groups, and a quality feed is intriguing.
  2. The shift towards the content graph and the attention-grabbing power of platforms like TikTok might be hindering the development of a new version of old Facebook.
  3. Antitrust regulations and the dominance of social media giants like Facebook may have deterred the emergence of competitors or new versions of popular social networks.
171 implied HN points β€’ 04 Jan 24
  1. The challenge was to introduce the concept of linknames as a way for creators to gain independence from Big Tech platforms.
  2. The attempt to give KingCharles.es to King Charles had mixed results, with no reply yet received.
  3. Discoveries were made about other unique names like will.i.am and [email protected], showing the potential for linknames to be widely adopted.
85 implied HN points β€’ 11 Mar 24
  1. Nudgeware is a concept of software empowering users to make better decisions without restricting choice.
  2. AI has the potential to enhance nudgeware by interpreting, aligning with, and acting as an agent for human intentions.
  3. Challenges to implementing AI-powered nudgeware include high development costs, limitations of existing software, and increased risks associated with AI control.
8 HN points β€’ 07 Feb 24
  1. There is no public resource showing the most viewed videos on TikTok.
  2. Accessing data on top TikTok videos could help understand societal impact.
  3. Regulatory moves may force platforms to provide data, but gaps remain.
5 HN points β€’ 14 Feb 24
  1. Linknames can reduce platform dependency by signposting websites outside of platforms, promoting direct relationships with audiences, and making names stand out.
  2. Using a linkname like Gil.ga for creative projects can innovate in naming, make a statement, and inspire a new generation of artists using this concept.
  3. Linknames open the door for multi-sensory and multi-platform experiences, such as albums with complementary websites or TV easter eggs that change the show's meaning.
3 HN points β€’ 14 Mar 24
  1. Imposing transparency on platforms like TikTok is crucial to understand the information users are exposed to.
  2. Legislations like the EU's DSA and the US's PATA aim to force platforms to reveal their top content for scrutiny.
  3. Access to real-time data on top content viewed on platforms like TikTok is essential for researchers and policymakers.
3 HN points β€’ 13 Feb 24
  1. Hunting down TikTok's top videos is challenging because the data is not easily accessible through conventional methods like Google search.
  2. Using TikTok's Research API is limited and not helpful in obtaining the top TikTok videos by view count.
  3. Scraping TikTok's platform or using social monitoring tools are options to consider, but these methods come with challenges like legal implications and high costs.
2 HN points β€’ 19 Dec 23
  1. The letter is offering King Charles a domain name as a Christmas gift to raise awareness of creators' reliance on big tech platforms.
  2. The concept of a linkname is introduced as a way for creators to have a name that also serves as a website.
  3. The importance of creators moving away from big tech platforms and communicating directly with their followers through tools like Substack is emphasized.
1 HN point β€’ 23 Feb 24
  1. We do not know the most viewed content on social media, despite billions of collective views on public videos.
  2. A paper found that a large percentage of views on YouTube came from a small percentage of videos, indicating a power law distribution.
  3. Strategically asking platforms to reveal their most viewed public content under specific laws is a way to unlock future data access requests and understand the influence algorithms have on information consumption.
1 HN point β€’ 16 Feb 24
  1. On social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter, there's a mix of valuable content (gold) and unwanted material (crap) due to addictive design.
  2. To keep users engaged, platforms use variable rewards and show both good and bad content, including ads.
  3. Despite the mix of content, such platforms have become addictive, making it challenging for users to leave because of the high value placed on the good content.
1 HN point β€’ 10 Jan 24
  1. Use interventions like transparency rings to help people change their social media habits on desktop browsers.
  2. Mobile users face limitations in using interventions due to app restrictions.
  3. Consider using a Trojan Horse strategy by posting reminders on social media platforms like TikTok to help users take breaks.