All Topics

Comments compare top performers in AI/tech (e.g., LeCun, Meta hires) to legendary soccer players like Messi and Maradona, debating if the greatest individuals succeed in any team or context.

This cluster features comments filled with Star Wars quotes, character allusions, and jokes, such as 'These aren't the droids you're looking for' and references to Jedi, Sith, Yoda, and the Force.

The cluster focuses on discussions about Stripe's business success, profitability, valuation, and popularity on Hacker News, featuring a mix of admiration, skepticism, and questions about its hype and performance.

The cluster discusses eye tracking features in VR/AR headsets like Oculus and Rift, debating their presence, precision for foveated rendering and input, privacy concerns, and comparisons to head tracking or other technologies.

HN users discuss seeking mentors for startups and tech development, recommend platforms like Mentorcloud, Mentii, and YC Startup School, and offer personal mentoring services.

This cluster features recommendations for books, courses, and tutorials on learning cryptography, including titles like 'Applied Cryptography' by Bruce Schneier, 'Cryptography Engineering', and Coursera's Crypto I course.

Commenters identify the featured video as an advertisement, marketing demo, or product placement, frequently sharing links to similar commercials, parodies, and sci-fi style ads for comparison.

Personal stories, successes, regrets, and advice about dropping out of high school or college, especially for pursuing tech careers, with debates on survivorship bias and hiring challenges.

Discussions center on software development contracting models, including agencies marking up contractor rates to clients, complaints about middlemen taking large cuts, and strategies for freelancers to charge flat rates or act as their own agencies.

The cluster discusses JavaScript's prototype-based inheritance model, emphasizing that ES6 classes are syntactic sugar over prototypes, and debates whether developers should embrace prototypal patterns or push for class-based OOP like in Java or C#.

Comments focus on how humans have selectively bred dogs for traits like docility, appearance, behavior, and intelligence, contrasting them with wolves and debating effects on health, ethics, and natural selection.

Users repeatedly inquire about, debate, and provide data on a company's profit margins, distinguishing gross vs. net margins and comparing to retailers like Walmart, Kroger, and tech giants like Google and Apple.

Comments primarily debate whether a discussed system or approach equates to event sourcing, its trade-offs, practical viability, and relations to CQRS and event-driven architectures.

Discussions center on accusations of p-hacking in a scientific study, highlighting issues like multiple testing, false positives, and post-hoc hypothesis testing, often referencing XKCD comics and other explanatory resources.

This cluster focuses on inconsistencies in clothing sizes across brands, high return rates due to poor fits in online shopping, and proposed solutions like personalized measurement services, AI fitting tools, made-to-measure clothing, and standardized sizing.

This cluster centers on the heavy regulations in Formula 1 racing that limit speed and innovation for safety, entertainment, and competitive balance, forcing teams to engineer clever solutions within strict constraints like engine size, aerodynamics, and banned technologies.

Users share and inquire about personal experiences trying a specific health or productivity method, focusing on duration of use, improvements in well-being and productivity, side effects, and whether benefits persist over time.

Discussions revolve around home laboratories, academic and professional lab environments, personal experiences working in labs, and debates on what constitutes a real lab versus simpler setups.

Comments debate whether the economy, capitalism, or specific situations like immigration and resource allocation are zero-sum games or positive-sum systems that create value.

Discussions focus on pre-refrigeration methods like salting, fermenting, curing, and drying meat and other foods used by ancestors, including surprising historical eating habits and survival practices.

Discussions focus on poor cybersecurity practices in sectors like healthcare, utilities, finance, and industrial operations, including unnecessary internet exposure of critical systems, lack of network isolation, and vulnerabilities from outdated IT setups.

Comments primarily debate the precise meaning of 'rent-seeking,' with users correcting misuses, providing economic definitions, and linking to sources like Wikipedia to argue whether a specific behavior qualifies.

The cluster discusses Imperial Japan's war crimes and atrocities during WWII, including the Nanking Massacre, Unit 731, and invasions in Asia, often contrasting Japan's historical denial with Germany's acknowledgment and referencing the atomic bombings.

Discussions debate WebAssembly's sandboxing capabilities, security model compared to JavaScript and native code, and potential for exploits or safe untrusted code execution.

Discussions center on the value of studying philosophy, recommendations for beginners including reading Plato, taking courses, or using resources like the Stanford Encyclopedia, and debates on its relevance compared to fields like programming or modern sciences.

The cluster discusses the conflict between Matt Mullenweg/Automattic and WP Engine, focusing on allegations of insufficient contributions to WordPress core, trademark misuse, branding confusion, and competitive hosting practices.

Discussions center on techniques for computing depth maps and 3D information using standard cameras, including monocular methods, stereo vision, motion parallax, and photogrammetry, often compared to dedicated depth sensors like LiDAR or RealSense.

Comments discuss preventing STDs like HIV and HPV through condoms, abstinence analogies, vaccines, and critiques of unprotected or promiscuous sex.

The cluster focuses on debates about Tether (USDT)'s backing by real USD reserves, its ability to maintain the 1:1 peg through redemptions, and the potential market impacts on Bitcoin and crypto if USDT depegs or collapses.

Debate on the safety, health impacts, and metabolic effects of artificial sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose, and erythritol, including insulin spikes, weight gain, and comparisons to sugar.

The cluster focuses on criticisms of Microsoft's confusing, unoriginal, and historically bad product naming practices, with users sharing sarcastic examples and historical references.

The cluster focuses on debates about using Curve25519 and Ed25519 elliptic curves over RSA and NIST curves due to security concerns like NSA backdoors, implementation pitfalls, and djb's endorsements.

Comments discuss challenges with auto-incrementing IDs in databases, particularly scalability and uniqueness in distributed systems, and alternatives like UUIDs, Snowflake IDs, ULIDs, and pooled increments.

The cluster focuses on discussions about whether a product or medical device requires FDA approval, its regulatory status, and implications for marketing and use as a treatment.

The cluster debates whether key government roles like ministers, cabinet secretaries, and bureaucrats are elected by the public or appointed by elected politicians, often referencing US Senate confirmations and political appointees.

Commenters repeatedly cite official sources like Statista showing Facebook's billions of monthly and daily active users to counter anecdotal claims that the platform is declining or irrelevant based on personal experience.

Discussions center on the pros and cons of Spring Boot and Spring framework in Java development, including debates on its complexity, bloat, ease of use, modernity, and comparisons to alternatives like Quarkus, Dropwizard, or lighter frameworks.

Comments discuss how large corporations lobby for or benefit from regulations that impose high compliance costs on smaller competitors, entrenching their market dominance through regulatory capture.

Cluster focuses on debates about precision issues in floating-point arithmetic versus using rationals, fractions, or fixed-point for exact results in division and other operations, with references to languages like Python.

The cluster focuses on debates about Uber and ride-sharing drivers' actual pay rates, including per-ride vs. hourly wages, expenses like fuel and maintenance, downtime between trips, and comparisons to minimum wage or other jobs.

This cluster centers on debates comparing the performance of Linux and Windows on the same hardware, including benchmarks like Phoronix, specific workloads, firmware issues, and efficiency differences.

This cluster discusses using VR for remote work meetings and social interactions, comparing it favorably to Zoom/Teams for better presence, spatial audio, and reduced fatigue, while addressing accessibility and tech limitations.

Comments focus on the concept of 'disruption' in tech and business, often sarcastically questioning its meaning, applicability to specific industries, or whether certain companies are truly disruptive or ripe for it.

The cluster centers on repeated invocations of the idiom 'privatize the profits and socialize the losses' to criticize economic systems where private entities reap gains while the public bears risks and costs. Discussions often reference bailouts, subsidies, or public-private partnerships exemplifying this dynamic.

This cluster centers on recommendations and discussions of Inkscape as a free, open-source vector graphics editor, often compared to Adobe Illustrator and suggested as an alternative for SVG and vector design tasks.

Discussions center on potential leaks in a high-pressure submersible hull, risks of implosion or water ingress, pressure management like venting, and related failure modes.

Users express surprise and enthusiasm about anime fandom on Hacker News, recommend specific shows like Gurren Lagann and Spirited Away, and discuss genres, quality, and cultural impact.

Comments debate whether companies should provide high-end laptops, monitors, and peripherals to developers and employees for productivity, criticizing cheap hardware policies and IT stinginess while arguing the cost is minimal compared to salaries.

This cluster consists of developers posting their profiles, skills in C#, .NET, ASP.NET, JavaScript frameworks, SQL, and cloud services like Azure, along with resume links, seeking remote or onsite work opportunities; it also includes related job postings for similar full-stack roles.

The cluster focuses on techniques for injecting or modifying code in running processes and binaries using LD_PRELOAD, ptrace, dynamic linker hacks, and similar methods, with discussions on bypassing protections and attacker countermeasures.

The cluster focuses on discussions about the distinctions between shame and guilt, their roles as motivators or demotivators in moral judgments, personal experiences, and social behaviors, often in response to controversial opinions or actions.

The cluster centers on debates about the superiority, limitations, and philosophical differences between analog and digital computing, including precision, noise, scalability, and why digital dominates despite analog's ties to physical reality.

The cluster focuses on discussions about high CPU, memory, and power consumption in web browsers like Chrome compared to Safari and Firefox, and their impact on battery life for laptops, phones, and tablets.

The cluster discusses controversies around Monsanto's patents on genetically modified seeds, including lawsuits against farmers for cross-pollination contamination or saving seeds for replanting, and debates on the ethics and legality of such IP practices in agriculture.

Users debate the merits of Apple's MagSafe magnetic charging connector versus USB-C on MacBooks, with many advocating for its return to prevent port wear and cable yanks, while others prefer USB-C universality or cite MagSafe drawbacks.

Discussions center on the status of Mozilla's Servo project as a Rust-based browser engine, its role as a research testbed rather than a Gecko replacement for Firefox, and the integration of its components like Stylo and WebRender into Firefox.

Users recommend and compare 3D printers like Prusa, Bambu Labs, Ender 3, and Ultimaker, discussing reliability, ease of use, price, print quality, and open-source aspects.

This cluster centers on the challenges of time zone differences in remote and distributed teams, including difficulties with scheduling meetings, synchronous communication, and productivity across large gaps like 12+ hours.

Comments criticize constructing SQL queries via string concatenation or interpolation with user input due to SQL injection risks, strongly advocating for prepared statements and parameterized queries as the safe alternative.

The cluster discusses tensions between long-time residents of declining small towns, rural areas, or Rust Belt communities and newcomers like digital nomads or outsiders, who are criticized for destroying local communities, economies, and ways of life while seeking authentic experiences. Key debates include community preservation, economic failure, housing conflicts, redevelopment, and attachment to place despite hardship.

Discussions explain anomalies or low activity in Hacker News metrics, upvotes, or posts as resulting from public holidays, weekends, national observances, and vacation periods across countries.

This cluster revolves around discussions of procedural generation techniques for creating terrains, maps, cities, and worlds in video games, including algorithms like noise maps, examples from games such as Dwarf Fortress and Caves of Qud, and resources for implementation.

The cluster centers on discussions speculating about the budget and expenses involved in creating a high-quality promotional or demo video, with users citing various figures from thousands to millions and comparing to movies or other projects.

The cluster discusses the composition of ancient, traditional, and pre-modern human diets (e.g., Inuit, hunter-gatherer, Okinawan, potato-based), comparing them to modern diets in terms of meat vs. plant intake, nutritional quality, and health outcomes like longevity.

Commenters compare the article's subject, likely a politician or leader, to various prime ministers especially from the UK like Boris Johnson and Theresa May, as well as others from Hungary, Australia, and elsewhere, noting similarities in behavior or qualifications.

This cluster focuses on users highly recommending devdocs.io as a fast, clean, ad-free, and offline-capable alternative to documentation sites like MDN. Discussions highlight its superior search, extensive coverage, and open-source nature for developer reference needs.

Discussions center on the board game Go, including how to play, online resources, local communities, and the superhuman strength of AI systems like AlphaGo, KataGo, and Leela Zero compared to human professionals.

Discussions center on a word-guessing puzzle game where players input guesses, receive feedback, and share strategies, attempt counts, and critiques of whether it's skill-based or mere luck and brute-force guessing.

The cluster discusses the massive revenue and dominance of mobile gaming, its predatory monetization models like microtransactions and whale spending, and debates over its quality, legitimacy as 'real' gaming compared to PC/console titles, and distinction from casual diversions.

Discussions revolve around the definition, relevance, and usage of 'woke', 'wokeness', or 'wokeism' in relation to an article or situation, with many comments questioning its applicability or pejorative connotations.

Comments discuss Xi Jinping's consolidation of power, authoritarian style, comparisons to Mao, potential overthrow, and impact on China's stability and policies.

Commenters debate the authenticity and effectiveness of a showcased glasses-free 3D display or video, questioning if it delivers true stereoscopic depth and comparing it to failed 3D TVs and headache-inducing movies that require glasses.

This cluster focuses on debates around microservices architecture, highlighting pitfalls like database sharing, distributed monoliths, inter-service dependencies, code sharing issues, and deployment complexities, alongside best practices for independence and scaling.

Discussions debate whether specific issues or conditions are exclusive to third world countries or also occur in first world nations like the US, often challenging stereotypes and definitions of 'third world'.

Comments discuss Kotlin's cross-platform features, including Kotlin Native, Kotlin/JS, and its ability to target JVM, iOS, Android, web, and more, positioning it as a versatile alternative beyond just Android or JVM development.

Comments primarily suggest or discuss zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs, zk-SNARKs) as a solution for privacy-preserving verification without revealing sensitive information, including links to explanations and questions about their practicality.

The cluster focuses on discussions about function pointers in C and C++, including their syntax, utility, limitations, alternatives like templates and vtables, and comparisons to other languages or mechanisms.

Discussions center on why major hardware vendors like Nvidia, Broadcom, Intel, and server makers resist open standards, software compatibility, or low-end support to prioritize high-margin enterprise sales, proprietary ecosystems, and support contracts. Commenters critique these business strategies as anti-competitive and harmful to consumers and open source.

Users discuss and request screen sharing capabilities in a collaboration or video conferencing tool, frequently comparing it to services like Zoom, Teams, Webex, and inquiring if the feature is supported or planned.

Discussions center on clarifying distinctions between daily active users (DAU), monthly active users (MAU), total accounts, and registrations, often questioning reported user numbers for tech platforms.

Discussions focus on the linguistic overlaps between Dutch and English, including Dutch accents in English, humorous pronunciations, and cultural references to Dutch speech patterns.

The cluster revolves around discussions of electronic music subgenres, history, cultural perceptions, and debates contrasting mainstream EDM with underground scenes like techno, house, trance, dubstep, and experimental electronica.

Cluster centers on debates accusing Curtis Yarvin (Mencius Moldbug) and related figures like neoreactionaries of racism, eugenics, and far-right views, often in the context of their content appearing on Hacker News.

Cluster focuses on discussions about Write-Ahead Logging (WAL) in databases like PostgreSQL and MySQL, its benefits for write performance, durability, sequential writes, checkpoints, and comparisons to append-only or log-structured storage.

Discussions focus on bounds checking for array accesses in C, C++, and Rust, debating compile-time vs. runtime checks, compiler optimizations that eliminate them, and performance trade-offs.

Users recommend and share experiences with Lenovo ThinkPad laptops, particularly T and X series models, for their excellent Linux compatibility, durability, and reliability.

The cluster discusses how excessively bright headlights on cars, bikes, and other vehicles blind drivers at night, impairing night vision and obscuring pedestrians or hazards, leading to safety concerns.

The cluster centers on users inquiring about, confirming, or discussing the availability, duration, and requirements (e.g., credit card) of free trials for various software products and services.

Comments debate distinctions between countries and continents, correct US/Europe-centric assumptions, and discuss geographical definitions like Eurasia, America, and global scale.

Discussions center on the crucial contributions of US government and military funding (e.g., DARPA, defense spending) to developing foundational technologies like the internet, GPS, computers, and semiconductors, which private companies later commercialized and profited from.

The cluster focuses on discussions about the scoping differences between function-scoped 'var' and block-scoped 'let'/'const' in JavaScript, including debates on the benefits of block scoping, reasons to avoid 'var', and examples of scoping issues in loops and blocks.

Comments primarily recommend 3Blue1Brown's animated videos and similar visual explainers like Vihart for intuitive understanding of mathematical concepts discussed in HN threads.

Discussions center on the history, development, secrecy, and motivations of the Manhattan Project for building the atomic bomb, often referencing Slate Star Codex essays, Nazi threats, and ethical concerns.

The cluster centers on regenerative braking in electric vehicles and hybrids, highlighting how it reduces brake wear, recaptures energy for better range, and differs from traditional friction braking.

Discussions center on chaos theory, explaining why deterministic systems like double pendulums or weather are unpredictable due to sensitive dependence on initial conditions. Commenters reference Wikipedia, videos, and examples to argue against perfect predictability in complex systems.

Users repeatedly complain about the excessive length of videos shared in Hacker News posts, requesting TL;DR summaries, timestamps, or text alternatives instead of watching hours-long content.

The cluster centers on discussions about comment syntax in programming languages, including preferences for line vs. block comments, proposals for machine-interpretable or semantic comments, and debates on whether comments should remain purely human-readable.

Debate on proper use of stdout for data output versus stderr for errors, logs, and info in Unix CLI tools, covering piping, buffering, TTY detection, and best practices.

Discussions center on Joe Rogan's podcast, including debates about his credibility, guest choices, popularity, and role in spreading information or misinformation on topics like COVID and politics.

Discussions focus on the high costs, folding mechanisms, and launch constraints of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and Hubble, arguing that SpaceX's Starship would enable larger, cheaper, and more serviceable space telescopes without such compromises.