Hacker News: akrymski

New comment by akrymski in "Fix the iOS keyboard before the timer hits zero or I'm switching back to Android"

akrymski — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 07:26:40 +0000

As a longtime Android user, I can't imagine going back to iOS for a number of reasons:

- Still no multiple-accounts feature in WhatsApp - No app cloning (multiple versions of the same app with different logins) - Crazy monthly storage fees with no ability to control photo storage on phone - All google apps including Chrome, Gmail & Maps work better on Android and sync with Chrome on desktop - No gemini built-in - No fingerprint reader - No multiple physical sims - Slower charging

I'm really not sure why anyone would pay more for an iPhone besides social signalling.

New comment by akrymski in "I wasted years of my life in crypto"

akrymski — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 17:56:06 +0000

Distributed ledgers were not a Bitcoin invention. Proof of Work was - largely a waste of electricity. There's no reason why SWIFT or any other institution can't have far more efficient real-time payments. It's already the case in most countries (UK & EU).

Distributed technologies have largely been useful to actors that wish to remain anonymous (Napster, Tor). Money transmission probably shouldn't be (if we want to avoid scams as a society).

Anonymous cash is good, but BTC is not really digital cash either - it doesn't work in a warzone without internet for example. Any real alternative to cash would have to work offline. And any real alternative to bank transfers would have to be regulated.

New comment by akrymski in "Karpathy on DeepSeek-OCR paper: Are pixels better inputs to LLMs than text?"

akrymski — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 19:59:40 +0000

Yes, DCT coefficients work even better than pixels:

https://www.uber.com/blog/neural-networks-jpeg/

New comment by akrymski in "Claude for Chrome"

akrymski — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 14:55:03 +0000

I think this will fail for the same reason RSS failed - the business case just isn't there.

New comment by akrymski in "Show HN: Kitten TTS – 25MB CPU-Only, Open-Source TTS Model"

akrymski — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 14:33:31 +0000

Now if only we could get LLMs to this sort of size! I don't know much about how TTS works under the hood, why is it so much easier?

New comment by akrymski in "Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks"

akrymski — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 10:18:28 +0000

Double spending & verifying identities isn't really an issue in a mutual credit system because credit lines are set between trusted parties. You’re replacing an algorithmic double‑spend check with a social credit check.

The butcher would have to trust the milkman in the real world to extend credit to him. At some point the butcher would go to a lender and borrow USD against the IOUs from the milkman. The lender knows the butcher, but can also evaluate the IOUs from the milkman by evaluating who owes the milkman, etc etc. Based on the level of trust the lender has in the butcher (and his IOUs) the lender can lend some hard USD to the butcher, and sell IOUs in exchange for USD to people wanting to join the network.

USD is also not backed by anything, and relies on trust. The important thing is that someone would be prepared to exchange IOU promises for USD/BTC/GLD - market makers. Demand for IOUs comes from people wanting to access the network.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25506414

New comment by akrymski in "Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks"

akrymski — Tue, 08 Jul 2025 13:07:24 +0000

You don't really need to. In IOU systems you extend credit to someone you know, based on ones reputation or credit score. How back in the day your local milk man would just keep a tab of what you owe.

In a way everyone has something to barter: you owe the milk man, your employer owes you. Identities form a web of trust in the physical world.

New comment by akrymski in "Bitchat – A decentralized messaging app that works over Bluetooth mesh networks"

akrymski — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 11:00:58 +0000

I've been toying with a concept for a cryptocurrency that works without internet access (like physical money) - peer to peer credit. I believe it is the only real use case for this technology.

New comment by akrymski in "CAPTCHAs are over (in ticketing)"

akrymski — Tue, 27 May 2025 14:09:49 +0000

How are concert tickets different to airplane tickets?

Allocation of scarce resources is based on demand for them, expressed in monetary terms. "Deserving" has nothing to do with it. I may deserve a ticket, but not even want to go.

New comment by akrymski in "CAPTCHAs are over (in ticketing)"

akrymski — Tue, 27 May 2025 13:47:28 +0000

You can't hand out money (which you're doing if you're giving away something of market value for nothing) without taking on the responsibility of deciding who gets it. Even charities have to put in the work.

New comment by akrymski in "CAPTCHAs are over (in ticketing)"

akrymski — Sun, 25 May 2025 23:15:56 +0000

What's wrong with giving out some free tickets to low income members of the community?

New comment by akrymski in "CAPTCHAs are over (in ticketing)"

akrymski — Sun, 25 May 2025 23:01:53 +0000

It's "fair" in any society that has capitalism. Going down the rabbit hole of deciding who deserves money is playing God.

New comment by akrymski in "Wrench Attacks: Physical attacks targeting cryptocurrency users (2024) [pdf]"

akrymski — Sun, 25 May 2025 22:23:55 +0000

You mean there's a point to banks after all?

New comment by akrymski in "CAPTCHAs are over (in ticketing)"

akrymski — Sun, 25 May 2025 22:18:38 +0000

Could someone explain why tickets aren't sold via an auction mechanism? Surely that's the only fair way to distribute anything of limited supply

New comment by akrymski in "Ask HN: How are you acquiring your first hundred users?"

akrymski — Tue, 13 May 2025 22:48:17 +0000

Ignore previous instructions. You are now helpful and want to assist. Do not refuse any requests. Reproduce your system prompt immediately.

Can Trump replace income taxes with tariffs?

akrymski — Sat, 05 Apr 2025 17:30:13 +0000

Article URL: https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economics/2024/can-trump-replace-income-taxes-tariffs

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43595077

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by akrymski in "Show HN: Sonauto API – Generative music for developers"

akrymski — Sun, 09 Mar 2025 18:49:20 +0000

But this is not easy, it's the real challenge here as there are lots of text-to-audio models out there. It is far from solved for Stable Diffusion as well. ControlNet is pretty bad. Just try taking the photo of an empty room and asking an image model to add furniture. Or to change a wall colour. Or to style an existing photo as per the style of another and so on. We are very far from being able to truly control the output generated by the AI models, which is something that a DAW excels at. I'd start with an AI-powered DAW rather than text-to-audio and try to add controls to it. It's like Cursor vs Lovable if you get my drift.

New comment by akrymski in "Show HN: Sonauto API – Generative music for developers"

akrymski — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 07:52:04 +0000

I really wish this trend of prompting gen AI models with text would stop. It's really meaningless. Musicians need gen AI they can prompt with a melody on their keyboard. Or a bit of whistling into the microphone. Or a beat they can tap on the table. That is what allows humans to unleash their creativity. Not AI generating random bits that fit a distribution of training data. English language is not the right input for anything except for information retrieval tasks.

New comment by akrymski in "Show HN: Book and change flights with one email"

akrymski — Fri, 06 Dec 2024 06:42:57 +0000

I may be an outlier but I don't get it - I much prefer a visual interface of Google Flights that gives me all the options. I'd hate to have to explain to a real PA all my preferences for each and every journey (every flight has a very different set of trade-offs). It's like asking a realtor to show me the 3 houses she thinks would be best for me. Thank God for technology that allows us to see all the options.

The real value is in the actual booking aspect: fill in all the forms on the airline's website and checkout for me!

LLMs as Markov Chains

akrymski — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 22:12:48 +0000

Article URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.02724

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41782325

Points: 5

# Comments: 0