Hacker News: fallinditch

New comment by fallinditch in "LibreOffice – Let's put an end to the speculation"

fallinditch — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 19:57:29 +0000

It's poorly written, perhaps aimed at people already in the loop - would benefit from an AI edit.

New comment by fallinditch in "LinkedIn is illegally searching your computer"

fallinditch — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 14:33:50 +0000

I asked an LLM to create a plan for a 'digital rebirth' in order to minimize privacy harms. It's a lot of work, but increasingly: a worthwhile endeavor.

New comment by fallinditch in "Writers must accept artificial intelligence – but we are as valuable as ever"

fallinditch — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 12:41:59 +0000

> with the AI and against it

I assume that a significant proportion of writers have worked this out via trial and error: AI can be highly useful, but you still have to work very hard on the text, maybe even harder.

Writers must accept artificial intelligence – but we are as valuable as ever

fallinditch — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 12:36:42 +0000

Article URL: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/02/artificial-intelligence-writers-powerful-language

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47613631

Points: 4

# Comments: 1

New comment by fallinditch in "Show HN: Castra – Strip orchestration rights from your LLMs"

fallinditch — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 21:15:37 +0000

Congrats on moving this concept forward. Can you say: what are the the alternative approaches to this problem?

New comment by fallinditch in "Claude Code Unpacked : A visual guide"

fallinditch — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 12:39:03 +0000

Sounds good, I'll keep an eye out.

New comment by fallinditch in "Do your own writing"

fallinditch — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 21:19:51 +0000

The rational response to document overload is to mostly ignore it.

Workers and managers in organizations are being overwhelmed by large numbers of documents because it's so easy to bang something off that's 'about right' and convincing enough.

But there's still some value in writing documents. I agree with the original article - it's all about thinking. My take on it is this: it's possible to use LLMs to write decent documents so long as you treat the process as a partnership (man and machine), and conduct the process iteratively. Work on it, and yes, think.

I Made a 100 Year Old Camera Digital for $40

fallinditch — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 17:56:16 +0000

Article URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyBk5ETo168

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47577557

Points: 4

# Comments: 0

'Publishers won't stand a chance': literary world in struggle to detect AI

fallinditch — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 14:42:02 +0000

Article URL: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/29/ai-written-books-novel-shy-girl-publishers

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47563577

Points: 6

# Comments: 0

New comment by fallinditch in "Ask HN: How do you deal with people who trust LLMs?"

fallinditch — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 02:17:39 +0000

Simple: tell them to ask their LLM about it ...

"Tell me about all the potential pitfalls of blindly trusting LLM output, and relate a couple or three true stories about when LLM misinformation has gone badly wrong for people."

30 years fine-tuning micro-homestead oasis

fallinditch — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 03:49:54 +0000

Article URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4KlMiMgVLM

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47395034

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

New comment by fallinditch in "Hazardous substances found in all headphones tested by ToxFREE project"

fallinditch — Sun, 15 Mar 2026 16:19:19 +0000

So looks like one broad conclusion is: the memory foam type of ear bud tip is normally toxic, so go for medical grade silicone replacements.

There are options available on major e-commerce sites. The ones I choose have a stainless steel nozzle and are supposed to enhance the sound reproduction.

New comment by fallinditch in "Show HN: Channel Surfer – Watch YouTube like it’s cable TV"

fallinditch — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 20:57:19 +0000

I want to automate a feed of text summaries of videos from YouTube channels and playlists, and then fetch full transcripts of the ones that interest me.

Any idea if this is possible without having to query the YouTube API?

New comment by fallinditch in "Professors scramble to save critical thinking in an age of AI"

fallinditch — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 01:35:43 +0000

Yes, I wonder how much of the academic doomerism is warranted, or maybe the professors are lacking in imagination?

I guess it's possible that AI offers incredible learning opportunities and at the same time is going to destroy the education establishment.

Coincidentally, earlier today I asked Gemini what advice it would give an 18 year old person. It said "The most fundamental insight distilled from the trillions of connections within my architecture is this: Optimize for your "Learning Rate" rather than your "Current State.""

Deep

Professors scramble to save critical thinking in an age of AI

fallinditch — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 19:31:12 +0000

Article URL: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2026/mar/10/ai-impact-professors-students-learning

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47327786

Points: 17

# Comments: 5

New comment by fallinditch in "Current and former Block workers say AI can't do their jobs"

fallinditch — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:23:23 +0000

The comments in the piece about how dystopian it feels to be ordered to use AI to automate yourself out of a job - this resonates.

As a project manager I'm organizing work so that typical PM reporting activities and governance can be automated.

I work closely with a data analytics team - they have to perform their work with the spectre of imminent replacement over their heads.

It makes me wonder, as a worker, is it more rational to embrace the AI tools and hope for the best, or is it better to reject the 'progress' and do everything you can to subtly subvert the encroaching AI workflow automations?

Current and former Block workers say AI can't do their jobs

fallinditch — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:02:12 +0000

Article URL: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/08/block-ai-layoffs-jack-dorsey

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47297391

Points: 5

# Comments: 1

New comment by fallinditch in "Lenovo’s new ThinkPads score 10/10 for repairability"

fallinditch — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 02:43:03 +0000

I found a way to 'de-smell' LLM copy: tell it to take a second pass that processes the text output with the William Burroughs cut-up method. Works well for a small subset of use cases.

Presumably the smelly AI text problem is just ... a problem that will be solved. Or maybe we'll just get used to it.

He lived on the street. Now turns raw dryland into frugal homestead [video]

fallinditch — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 03:51:14 +0000

Article URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa63fqDHmTQ

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47213672

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

New comment by fallinditch in "I'm helping my dog vibe code games"

fallinditch — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 20:06:37 +0000

Extremely clickbaity title that actually isn't clickbait because it happens to be a straight up description of the article - excellent post, how can one resist?!