<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>Hacker News: drillsteps5</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=drillsteps5</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Tue, 02 Jun 2026 18:24:34 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=drillsteps5" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by drillsteps5 in "Fidonet: Technology, Use, Tools, and History (1993)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Even if you were a "point" (an endpoint assigned to the node) you still had to set up the software and (in the mid-to-late 90s at least) set up a modem to call your node to upload/download. And sometimes you had to set up repeated dialing until you got through because the node could be busy (some nodes doubled as BBSs), or connection could be bad and it'd had to retry etc. Wasn't an easy task, so it served as a sort of a filter so that most people on there were geeks.<p>Later on of course some nodes started distributing over the Internet so setting up a node became much easier (and I think there was a way for the node to allow multiple users read/write without even setting up a node/point at all).</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 02 Jun 2026 15:37:52 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48371658</link><dc:creator>drillsteps5</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48371658</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48371658</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by drillsteps5 in "Jensen Huang Just Told Every CEO Hiding Behind AI Layoffs to Shut Up"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Direct quote:<p>>We have covered this math before. The $725 billion that Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta are spending on AI infrastructure in 2026 has to come from somewhere. For many companies, the somewhere is headcount. Not because AI replaced the work. Because the budget line got moved to a different row on a spreadsheet.<p>So "headcount" (because that's what we call people) is being cut because of crazy spending on genAI infrastructure (part of which btw goes to Mr Hwang's company). Or, if you're not a hyperscaler, crazy spending on tools/tokens. But no, you should NOT tie reductions in "headcount" to genAI. That's "irresponsible" and "lazy".<p>Did I get that right?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 27 May 2026 13:42:55 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48294251</link><dc:creator>drillsteps5</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48294251</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48294251</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by drillsteps5 in "Cloudflare to cut about 20% workforce"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I've lived through both 2000 and 2008. They do happen. And typically not when everybody says there will be a recession, but when almost everybody finally agrees there won't be one.<p>Not that us plebs can do anything about it anyway... :(</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 08 May 2026 15:21:57 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48064446</link><dc:creator>drillsteps5</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48064446</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48064446</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by drillsteps5 in "Cloudflare to cut about 20% workforce"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>"Enshitification" is not a new concept. A business should always be willing to make their product cheaper, even at the cost of quality, until the customers start turning away. Of course you need to be able to catch that moment early enough so that you don't lose too much market share to competition. But that will give you increased profits. The same with increasing prices.<p>On a side note, I'm curious as to how "600% increase in AI usage" is measured. Are their agentic workflows' bills skyrocketed 600% in the last 3 months? That would be in line with what other people using agents are seeing (costs are way higher than they expect/used to be). In that case, that would mean that LLM/agents are no longer necessarily cheaper than human labor, no?<p>Labor market data this week came out stronger than expected, even as large layoffs in IT continue to happen and IT job market continues to be very slow.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 08 May 2026 15:13:34 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48064343</link><dc:creator>drillsteps5</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48064343</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48064343</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by drillsteps5 in "Canvas online again as ShinyHunters threatens to leak schools’ data"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Canvas is back up as of Friday US morning for me (HS student's parent). My kid got a few panicked emails yesterday from the teachers but it looks like Instructure got it resolved quickly.<p>Canvas does provide a lot of value (all courses, teachers', students', and parents' contact information, all learning plans, schedules, room numbers, all grades, a lot of tests and assignments themselves, all upcoming assignments and deadlines, a lot of other coursework is in there, as are the final grades) but it shows that with external SaaS you might be one attack away from not only losing all that convenience but also in a world of hurt 'cause you lost all the data and now have to figure out how to proceed without the data and the system.<p>US high schools are in the middle of the finals, and seniors are getting ready for college (the transcripts to be finalized and sent out in a few weeks) so that was a scary timing.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 08 May 2026 14:06:50 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48063404</link><dc:creator>drillsteps5</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48063404</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48063404</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by drillsteps5 in "Canonical/Ubuntu have been under DDoS"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Another wave today (5/2/2026), launchpadcontent.net is down...</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 02 May 2026 20:28:51 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47990160</link><dc:creator>drillsteps5</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47990160</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47990160</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by drillsteps5 in "AI Self-preferencing in Algorithmic Hiring: Empirical Evidence and Insights"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I wasn't saying that this is the optimal solution (it clearly is not). I was saying that it makes perfect sense for both sides - HR has their work automated and candidates have better chance to be noticed - and therefore became a common practice in many places.<p>The well has been already poisoned, to survive you have to get in on the action.<p>Don't want to play this game? Make connections, set up the network, and use it to get/stay employed.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 02 May 2026 18:24:38 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47988975</link><dc:creator>drillsteps5</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47988975</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47988975</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by drillsteps5 in "AI Self-preferencing in Algorithmic Hiring: Empirical Evidence and Insights"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Before the resume ends up in the hiring manager's inbox it needs to be picked by the recruiter from literally hundreds of others. The recruiter uses HR software to determine the match (usually the percentage), and then picks top 5% or top 20 or whatever highest ranked resumes.<p>Guess what's doing the ranking.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 02 May 2026 16:41:49 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47987945</link><dc:creator>drillsteps5</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47987945</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47987945</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by drillsteps5 in "LLMs consistently pick resumes they generate over ones by humans or other models"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>That's what people on both side have been doing for at least couple years already.<p>Recruiters scan resumes for the best match with LLMs, candidates use the same LLMs (there's only like 3 of them) to tweak their resume for better match. I don't know what research you need to see why that makes sense.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 02 May 2026 16:34:53 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47987861</link><dc:creator>drillsteps5</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47987861</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47987861</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by drillsteps5 in "US labor force participation continues to slide"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Even if you define Gen X birth years starting at 1965 (and not 1961 as some do), their oldest are already 61. So anybody between 55 and 61 is a Gen X, not a boomer. And for the 55+ group employment participation rate has been decreasing. Which does not mean that "boomers are retiring", it's Gen X's turn now.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 08 Apr 2026 02:08:36 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47684027</link><dc:creator>drillsteps5</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47684027</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47684027</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by drillsteps5 in "US labor force participation continues to slide"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> t the same time, we're still seeing 55+ leave the labor force rapidly (~4M Boomers continue to retire per year, ~330k/month)<p>Youngest Gen X are 46, oldest are 65. Can we stop with this "retiring boomers" thing?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2026 22:14:38 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47682041</link><dc:creator>drillsteps5</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47682041</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47682041</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by drillsteps5 in "US labor force participation continues to slide"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Ufff.<p>>Those readings were the strongest since February 2020 (63.3%), signaling that more people were re-entering the workforce and helping to ease labor shortages in the wake of the pandemic.
Labor shortages. In the wake of the pandemic. That ended 4 years ago. Ssuuure.<p>>For workers 55 and older, demographic factors are key, with more individuals retiring, particularly since the pandemic.
Got it. "Retiring": giving up on finding a job because nobody hires 50+ yo (either in the trades or white collar)<p>>These findings reinforce a clear post pandemic trend: young men remain the most likely to be on the sidelines of the labor force. This underscores the need for policymakers and businesses alike to develop strategies to draw more of them back into the labor market—efforts that could help ease workforce shortages by expanding the overall supply of labor.<p>"Nobody wants to work"<p>>As labor force participation among young people declines, fewer teenagers are gaining access to those formative early work experiences, and the essential skills that come with them, which have lasting implications for both individual career trajectories and the broader economy.<p>Have 2 teenage sons, at 14, 15, and 16 (last 2 summers) they were looking for a summer job (US, suburbs), retail, fast food... Anything, really. I made them apply to as many places around us as possible. Nothing.<p>>It also aligns with widespread anecdotal reports that finding employment today is more difficult than it was a year or two ago.<p>"anecdotal"
Who wrote this stuff???</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2026 22:12:45 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47682024</link><dc:creator>drillsteps5</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47682024</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47682024</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by drillsteps5 in "Oracle slashes 30k jobs"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Oracle has also owned JD Edwards since early 2000s which is in many large legacy companies (I think a lot of them are still in mainframes).</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 20:41:22 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47606277</link><dc:creator>drillsteps5</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47606277</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47606277</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by drillsteps5 in "Oracle slashes 30k jobs"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Oracle the company has not been about Oracle the DB server for 20+ years.<p>Oracle the company specializes in acquiring software, integrating it in their ecosystem, selling the installations, and living off the recurring licensing fees (NetSuite is one example).</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 16:46:49 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47590102</link><dc:creator>drillsteps5</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47590102</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47590102</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by drillsteps5 in "People inside Microsoft are fighting to drop mandatory Microsoft Account"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>They might drop it for end consumers but I doubt it.<p>It's such a small niche right now they do not even care if they're in their cloud. Enterprise users are the absolute majority of their user base revenue-wise.<p>However dropping the requirement might force them to change some things. Like in Azure-related stuff such as OneDrive where you have to design/build/test it behave differently if the user is not constantly logged into the Azure account. This means that they might decide to continue to force the Azure account and if they lose more of the end consumers so be it.<p>Unless they decide to separate Home and higher versions of Windows even more and drop the requirement for the home version users. But it might be more trouble than it's worth.<p>Enterprise is where the money is.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2026 19:12:33 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47546975</link><dc:creator>drillsteps5</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47546975</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47546975</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by drillsteps5 in "Hold on to Your Hardware"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I very much would like to know how much of this presumably ordered (and backordered) hardware (RAM/SSD/.../wafers) is going to end up being released back to the market when the dust settles. I haven't seen any estimations but in order to put all this hardware to work the hyperscalers need to be building data centers at ludicrous speed. That should be appearing in construction data, jobs data, and many other places. Are we actually seeing any of that? Or is it all just based on the back-of-the-napkin math by Mr Altman and Co and they put all the money they got towards the future projects?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2026 16:45:49 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47545091</link><dc:creator>drillsteps5</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47545091</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47545091</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by drillsteps5 in "The bridge to wealth is being pulled up with AI"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I actually printed this one out to give it a thorough read, something I haven't done in a while :) I'll probably comment on the author's blog later.<p>My first reaction is that it's a bit of oversimplification, LLMs have been on the scene for what like 4 years now? I doubt the effects will be visible when you look at the data.<p>But on the topic of inequality as a result of changes how value add is distributed between business owners and the labor - there's a very relevant book by Thomas Pickety called "Capital in the 21st century" (I believe he used the title of a similar work by another economist in 18th century on the same topic). He collected as much data as he could on income and wealth of individuals and groups for Western nations (some going back to like 17th century) and did some analysis.<p>In a nutshell, the share of profits going towards the business owners (simplifying, inherited capital) in the West had been increasing in the 18th and the 19th century, likely due to Industrial Revolution. Which in the US culminated in extreme inequality personified in Robber Barons (Carnegie, Rockefeller and Co). It was followed by economic and financial collapse, mass unemployment, and arguably, 2 world wars. It also resulted in creating various mechanisms designed to prevent these things in the future, such as anti-trust regulations.<p>After WWII (especially in the US) the distribution of value add between the ownership/capital and the labor changed so that the labor started getting larger and larger share, to the point that the economists declared that the capitalism solved the issue of inequality. That trend reversed around 1970s/1980s, which coincided with the invention of complex electronic computing and communication devices (and therefore inventions of the new business models). From that point on the share of profits going towards the business owners started increasing again, and that speed has been actually accelerating since the 2000s.<p>imho at this point US is basically where we were in the end of 19th/early 20th century. The individuals' names are different, the issues (extreme monopolization/concentration of capital) are the same. LLMs and other GenAI stuff are simply part of that trend.<p>Hopefully people at the power learned something from what happened 100+ years ago. But I kinda sorta doubt it.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2026 16:17:15 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47504982</link><dc:creator>drillsteps5</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47504982</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47504982</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by drillsteps5 in "Lenovo’s new ThinkPads score 10/10 for repairability"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Some people strongly prefer to have an external battery that can be swapped (as in pull a tab, remove the battery, and plug in another, which is fully charged). Older Thinkpads (T480 and earlier) had a second, smaller, battery inside that would keep the laptop running while the main (external) battery is being replaced.<p>I've been using various Thinkpads for 10+ years and have yet to use this feature. But hey, to each his own :)</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 16:32:41 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47249958</link><dc:creator>drillsteps5</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47249958</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47249958</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by drillsteps5 in "Lenovo’s new ThinkPads score 10/10 for repairability"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>T480 has 2 RAM slots and can support 64Gb (32+32). The reason it's "unofficial" is that when they designed it (and wrote PSREF) the 32Gb RAM wasn't a thing.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 16:23:56 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47249803</link><dc:creator>drillsteps5</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47249803</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47249803</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by drillsteps5 in "Lenovo’s new ThinkPads score 10/10 for repairability"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I did a board swap on one of the older Thinkpads. Not that difficult, and the older boards are pretty cheap...</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 16:19:44 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47249729</link><dc:creator>drillsteps5</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47249729</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47249729</guid></item></channel></rss>