Hacker News: coffeecoders

New comment by coffeecoders in "My server is a phone now"

coffeecoders — Sun, 09 Aug 2026 01:17:55 +0000

It only makes sense if we are measuring raw capability per dollar. Once you factor in noise, physical size, idle power, battery etc, I think the calculation changes.

For a home sever that's mostly idle, it is almost like commuting in a pickup truck.

New comment by coffeecoders in "LinkedIn Feed Blocker"

coffeecoders — Sat, 08 Aug 2026 18:28:25 +0000

Just add this to uBlock origin:

``` linkedin.com##main#workspace section:has(div[componentkey*="container-update-list_mainFeed-lazy"]) ```

New comment by coffeecoders in "We need tech news sources which exclude AI"

coffeecoders — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 01:20:58 +0000

I think the problem is concentration. AI now absorbs almost all of the oxygen from every category. A story about new chips becomes an AI story. Cloud pricing becomes an AI story. Even personal projects get pulled into the same orbit.

New comment by coffeecoders in "I used Claude Code to get a second opinion on my MRI"

coffeecoders — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 01:13:44 +0000

I need this but for dentists.

New comment by coffeecoders in "F3"

coffeecoders — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 17:50:42 +0000

If I am archiving PBs of data for 10+ years, I don't want to rely on a WASM interpreter being available and performant in the future just to read a file. I want a dead-simple, heavily documented byte specification like Parquet.

Additionally, putting the decoding logic inside an WASM binary introduces an active execution layer into what should be a cold storage.

New comment by coffeecoders in "Loupe – A iOS app that raises awareness about what native apps can see"

coffeecoders — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 20:12:16 +0000

It's a selection bias issue. The categories you have listed are essentially web services wrapped in an app shell. Of course they need the internet. Consider these examples:

- Photo/Video editors - Snapsheed, Lightroom, Video trimmers etc.

- Document readers & scanners - PDF viewers, e-readers, OCR scanners

- Note taking - Obsidian

- File/Password managers - Authenticators etc.

- Single player games - Chess, puzzles etc.

- Audio/Video players - VLC players

We've just become conditioned to accept that every app needs to phone home for tracking and ad-delivery.

New comment by coffeecoders in "Loupe – A iOS app that raises awareness about what native apps can see"

coffeecoders — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 05:01:30 +0000

This is excellent. Seeing this makes me appreciate how much visual awareness tools like this are needed.

I built something similar, for the web. https://neberej.github.io/exposedbydefault/

Github: https://github.com/neberej/exposedbydefault

New comment by coffeecoders in "AI is code – and can't be prompted into being smarter"

coffeecoders — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 22:40:44 +0000

We (software engineers) get better outcomes from the same algorithms by improving data flow, constraints, instrumentation etc. (Better) prompting, retrieval, context engineering etc seem like the LLM equivalents.

The model weights haven't changed but the system is making more use of the capabilities already present in the model.

New comment by coffeecoders in "Ask HN: What are you working on? (June 2026)"

coffeecoders — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 21:00:50 +0000

I've been spending my time away from screens, on woodworking, mostly small projects like plant pot holders.

One thing I've learned is how hard it is to get things perfectly aligned.

New comment by coffeecoders in "Show HN: Kage – Shadow any website to a single binary for offline viewing"

coffeecoders — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 20:53:06 +0000

I've accumulated a bunch of old website archives over the years. The funny thing is the ugly HTML dumps have been more useful than the "perfect" archive.

It's one of the reasons I've become a bigger fan of RSS over time. A feed from 10-ish years ago is often more usable today than a carefully preserved (application) website.

New comment by coffeecoders in "Ask HN: What is your (AI) dev tech stack / workflow?"

coffeecoders — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 17:05:10 +0000

I've shifted to a "slow code" approach with AI, treating it more like a design partner than a code generator.

I mostly do TDD with TypeScript. I write the test, write the code myself (sometimes with the help of LLM), and then hand it to the LLM. Instead of asking it to write things for me, I use it to find edge cases, check if it's leak-proof, and verify efficiency.

For architecture questions, I debate with it for a while. I almost never ask for code without conversing 4-5 times first to push back on its assumptions. It's the best rubber-ducking partner I've had.

Personal plug: I wrote more about why/how I use AI to write slow, better code on my blog: https://nabraj.com/blog/ai-write-slow-better-code

New comment by coffeecoders in "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (June 2026)"

coffeecoders — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 17:14:14 +0000

Me: Senior Full-Stack Engineer with 10+ years of experience building high-traffic web applications and scalable backend systems. I've worked exclusively with US-based companies.

My blog: nabraj(dot)com

Looking for: Senior full-stack, backend, or platform engineering roles.

Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada. Open to remote US opportunities.

Tech: TypeScript/JavaScript, Python, React, Next.js, Node.js, GraphQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Kafka, RabbitMQ.

Email: ntemail@protonmail.com

New comment by coffeecoders in "Gemini 3.5 Flash"

coffeecoders — Tue, 19 May 2026 23:43:58 +0000

That pelican looks like it lost 100k on NFTs and now runs a paid stock-trading group.

New comment by coffeecoders in "Tell HN: I'm 60 years old. Claude Code has re-ignited a passion"

coffeecoders — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 03:35:53 +0000

This is the reason. I have just been vibe-coding my way for a few months now, got almost all the tools (except Browser and Mail) that I use daily, designed by me (with the help of LLM).

New comment by coffeecoders in "Tell HN: YC companies scrape GitHub activity, send spam emails to users"

coffeecoders — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 18:11:57 +0000

For me, its those Who's hiring or Who wants to get hired posts. I used a throwaway email once and got emails about SEO and AI projects.

I don’t engage. I mark as spam, block the sender/domain, and move on.

New comment by coffeecoders in "Windows 11 Notepad to support Markdown"

coffeecoders — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 22:06:41 +0000

I built a tiny Notepad clone in ~5 minutes using an LLM: open/save, plain text, no surprises.

Lately I've been doing the same for other small utilities. Roughly half the little tools I use are ones I generated and kept because they’re predictable and easy to audit.

The point isn't replacing built-ins; it's reducing dependence on shifting defaults. I want to care less about what the software/os vendor changes this time.

New comment by coffeecoders in "Is Show HN dead? No, but it's drowning"

coffeecoders — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 21:22:00 +0000

Slightly related, I have been writing all my local tools with the help of AIs.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47006108

New comment by coffeecoders in "Meta to retire messenger desktop app and messenger.com in April 2026"

coffeecoders — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 21:19:49 +0000

Why not install just the Messenger app? I never install Facebook app, but I keep Messenger app to chat with my college peeps.

New comment by coffeecoders in "Ooh.directory: a place to find good blogs that interest you"

coffeecoders — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 16:08:34 +0000

I am a fan of https://blogs.hn/. It is mostly HN-like content, but I visit it daily. I wish there was a "new" view though.

New comment by coffeecoders in "When Software Drifts, Build Your Own"

coffeecoders — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 20:26:13 +0000

Agree on that. HN is a good example of resisting that pull. It hasn’t optimized for engagement loops.

Credit to @dang and the moderation team for keeping it that way.