Hacker News: julianpye

New comment by julianpye in "The Brand Age"

julianpye — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 19:47:01 +0000

Actually in many cases it is for social KPI storytelling. I know some wealthy people and at gatherings they love to tell 5-10min long stories of exclusive processes that they followed to gain something exclusive while dropping names and numbers. The processes are easy to understand for the entire social circle (i.e. not technical or business achievements which they can't easily disclose).

New comment by julianpye in "Is AI making work more intense?"

julianpye — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 19:07:51 +0000

The researchers identified three main dynamics at play. First, the ability to use AI to fill gaps in existing knowledge led workers to take on more and broader responsibilities, such as managers writing code to tackle problems they would previously have outsourced. Second, the ease of starting and finishing new tasks led workers to fit new bits of work into gaps between meetings or larger pieces of work that would once have been breaks or opportunities to chat to a colleague. And third, the ability to hand off tasks to AI agents led to a surge of multitasking, with workers setting a handful of pieces of work in motion and moving back and forth between them as they progressed.

Is AI making work more intense?

julianpye — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 19:07:51 +0000

Article URL: https://www.ft.com/content/9c6a1daf-3c36-4035-bf74-1bedbc3e960d

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47077735

Points: 3

# Comments: 1

New comment by julianpye in "Terrence Malick's Disciples"

julianpye — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 22:07:18 +0000

Malick is also unique in that while I love his work, I understand anyone who can't get into them and finds them dull or pretentious. It's as if some people are tuned to his frequency and others just receive white noise. When you're tuned to it, it's a timeless meditative, spiritual experience. Our wedding bands carry the words of the Tree of Life's 'Mrs. O'Brien': 'Unless you love, your life will flash by'. I hope he can finish 'The Way of the Wind' in times for Cannes this year.

New comment by julianpye in "For artificial intelligence to thrive, it must explain itself (2018)"

julianpye — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 23:54:24 +0000

For me this is a seminal article, which almost eight years later still raises eloquently the most critical barriers to practical adoption. I read it again after reading the formal verification thread.

For artificial intelligence to thrive, it must explain itself (2018)

julianpye — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 23:54:24 +0000

Article URL: https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2018/02/17/for-artificial-intelligence-to-thrive-it-must-explain-itself

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46296417

Points: 2

# Comments: 1

New comment by julianpye in "The Large Gender Gap in Who Uses AI"

julianpye — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 10:42:30 +0000

A recent study finds that AI usage tilts heavily toward men. Part of the reason: Women worried they might be penalized for using AI.

The Large Gender Gap in Who Uses AI

julianpye — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 10:42:30 +0000

Article URL: https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-gender-gap-b3b0d89c

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45137115

Points: 1

# Comments: 1

New comment by julianpye in "I tried every todo app and ended up with a .txt file"

julianpye — Mon, 11 Aug 2025 15:41:38 +0000

I swear by Mindmapping Applications (e.g. Xmind, Mindmanager) - one file every month (extractable with a python library for LLM evaluation).

One top-level branch is a prioritized Inbox with a Pending branch at the top (Item half-completed, but awaits external action, e.g. an order has to arrive).

One top-level branch with Done, which is a folder with a branch for each week, then day, where I dump completed items into

One top-level branch for ongoing subscriptions with alerts

Collapsed top-level branches for Hobbies and Family Ideas and things-to-do

With xmind, you can easily tag the task progress of each item.

Took me 8 years, including a really beautiful Android ToDo Concept which I build and ended up abandoning :D

New comment by julianpye in "Google AI Ultra"

julianpye — Tue, 20 May 2025 21:40:01 +0000

Okay, but you're in a S/W team in a corp, where everyone's main task is to code. A coding agent has clear benefits here.

This is not the usecase of AI Ultra.

New comment by julianpye in "Google AI Ultra"

julianpye — Tue, 20 May 2025 20:56:38 +0000

Why do people keep on saying that corporations will pay these price-tags? Most corporations really keep a very tight lid on their software license costs. A $250 license will be only provided for individuals with very high justification barriers and the resulting envy effects will be a horror for HR. I think it will be rather individuals who will be paying out of their pocket and boosting their internal results. And outside of those areas in California where apples cost $5 in the supermarket I don't see many individuals capable of paying these rates.

New comment by julianpye in "Veo 3 and Imagen 4, and a new tool for filmmaking called Flow"

julianpye — Tue, 20 May 2025 19:48:40 +0000

An indie film with poor production values, even bad acting can grip you, make you laugh and make you cry. The consistency of quality is key - even if it is poor. The directing is the red thread throughout the scenes. Anything with different quality levels interrupts your flow and breaks your experience. The problem with AI video content at this stage is that the clips are very good 'in themselves', just as LLM results are, but putting them together to let you engage beyond an individual clip will not be possible for a long time. It will work where the red thread is in the audio (e.g. a title sequence) and you put some clips together to support the thread. But Hollywood has nothing to fear at this stage. In addition, remember that visual artists are control freaks of the purest kind. Film is still used because of the grain, not despite it. 24p prevails.

New comment by julianpye in "The Magic Hours: The Films and Hidden Life of Terrence Malick"

julianpye — Sat, 17 May 2025 10:06:22 +0000

That’s totally valid. I think the film either resonates deeply or not at all, and both responses are completely legitimate. I can absolutely see how it could feel pretentious drivel to some. I assume for me it directly evokes emotions of my childhood (catholic upbringing by a loving mother). I also really appreciate you being happy for me. That's true empathy.

New comment by julianpye in "The Magic Hours: The Films and Hidden Life of Terrence Malick"

julianpye — Fri, 16 May 2025 23:12:02 +0000

I watched Tree of Life in the cinema. I was spellbound. It spoke directly to me, no mental processing of a story, I was tuned to this film. I didn't feel its time. As the film ended a girl behind me said to her friends 'this was the biggest piece of shit I have ever seen'. I understood her and it was a perfectly fine opinion. She didn't 'get it', but it didn't have to do with taste or intelligence or anything like this. She was just not able to receive it - as if it was a signal sent she could not process.

Our wedding rings have these words from the film engraved: 'unless you love, your life will flash by'. We married late - our kids were already almost at school. The love in the words is about the love of your family, just like in the film.

And why the Thin Red Line is perfect - just view the "Swing Scene" as a work of religious art: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s40YpEsVkxk The inner monologue of Ben Chaplin's private Bell about what the role of love is when you encounter war, asking 'Who lit this flame in us' is a visual prayer.

(And yes, this is Miranda Otto, aka Eowyn)

New comment by julianpye in "Ask HN: Do US tech firms realize the backlash growing in Europe?"

julianpye — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:42:04 +0000

It's unfortunate that the thread was flagged, I did not want to give the impression of trying to 'start a flamewar'.

I am a real transatlanticist - I was on the green card path (5 yrs with H1Bs), but returned to Europe for family reasons.

I don't want this split - I want to know, if people see it as an issue and I want to know the possible consequences and workarounds and how we can work together.

New comment by julianpye in "Ask HN: Do US tech firms realize the backlash growing in Europe?"

julianpye — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:10:43 +0000

It's totally different. There was negative public sentiment, but the diplomatic relations still were stable and good. Germany wanted to be convinced, but could not be. Tony Blair went with Bush.

This time it is diplomats that are raising the flags. It actually has not yet arrived in the public sphere as drastically as it has in the policy side.

New comment by julianpye in "Ask HN: Do US tech firms realize the backlash growing in Europe?"

julianpye — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:04:55 +0000

That's what they said about the German economy and Russian Gas

New comment by julianpye in "Ask HN: Do US tech firms realize the backlash growing in Europe?"

julianpye — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 15:02:41 +0000

The FT Editorial Board: "America has turned" - https://www.ft.com/content/1511aa42-a9ad-4952-99c8-98bea07d0...

Max Hastings: The trauma of Trump: can we still do business with his America? - https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/the-trau...

FT: US tech will pay a price for Donald Trump’s approval - https://www.ft.com/content/2347e5d3-cbc2-4128-a108-bb89558e3...

FT: How Washington plans to defend the dollar - this is about Crypto - https://www.ft.com/content/bfafb8f7-bd1c-48bb-85f4-8ba25475c...

FT: Donald Trump considers tarriffs to counter Big Tech service taxes: - https://www.ft.com/content/558b5a20-c25e-483d-8fdc-bbfd2923a...

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Ask HN: Do US tech firms realize the backlash growing in Europe?

julianpye — Sat, 22 Feb 2025 14:24:21 +0000

I know people in the US are focused on DOGE, but over here in Europe, the impression is that the US completely destroyed its soft power this week. The expectation is that especially US tech will be weaponized, so people are switching search engines, studying dollar alternatives. If you think I am exaggerating, read the FT, Times, etc... Are people talking about this - do they take it seriously or believe there is no alternative to US tech? What does it mean for US startups, California and global tech?

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43139172

Points: 251

# Comments: 296

New comment by julianpye in "Lessons in creating family photos that people want to keep (2018)"

julianpye — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 02:27:47 +0000

There are two categories of family photos:

1) Photos you look at when the subjects are still alive

2) Photos that you remember people by and cherish people for

    1 = are all the typical family group pics, lots of posing

    2 = the photos where the subjects may not even know that they are being photographed, while doing the things they are cherished for by others. Sometimes they might not even like the presented actvities, but everyone else around them appreciates it .

   - Photos of people repairing their family's gadgets
   - Photos of people doing mundane tasks, ironing their clothes, cooking dinner for everyone, being exhausted, reading to others...

    - This is what prevails while people are still alive who remember you. What you will be remembered by. Mostly what you did for other people and how people observed you.

Take photos of your parents and loved relatives during daily life and their tasks. You will be far more moved and inspired by these pics, than by typical family group photos.