<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: quartz</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=quartz</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2026 00:05:53 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=quartz" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by quartz in "Pebble Index 01 – External memory for your brain"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>This specific use case is awesome-- I use an integrated AI notetaker in my self-built notes app for my thoughts and I wonder if I could connect the index to it?<p>More broadly: Invisible wearable microphones are coming for everyone and perfect memory will follow. I'm incredibly excited about this for myself and simultaneously terrified about everyone else having it.<p>It's coming fast enough that I'm beginning to assume in any decently sized crowd of tech folks /someone/ is recording everything.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 09 Dec 2025 15:56:55 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46206359</link><dc:creator>quartz</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46206359</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46206359</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by quartz in "Estimating the perceived 'claustrophobia' of New York City's streets (2024)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Agree with a lot of this methodology-- having lived in NYC with kids the #1 contributing factor to a feeling of claustrophobia for me is the size of the sidewalk and its buffering from the road.<p>Compared to even the suburbs where 1-2 people on a sidewalk can feel like you're dangerously close to having to step into an active roadway, sidewalks in NYC neighborhoods like the upper east side feel gigantic and are bordered by parked cars that provide a buffer to the roadway.<p>In 1811 the grid plan designated sidewalk widths to be 20ft for major cross-town roads vs. many suburban sidewalk widths at 4-5 feet.<p>I'm a big fan of this sidewalk width map: <a href="https://sidewalkwidths.nyc/" rel="nofollow">https://sidewalkwidths.nyc/</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 30 Oct 2025 14:52:03 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45760682</link><dc:creator>quartz</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45760682</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45760682</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by quartz in "Neil Armstrong's customs form for moon rocks (2016)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Since the astronauts were up there planting flags... I'd think it's less about the vessel in space and more about making it clear that the land visited isn't considered claimed as part of the US.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 23 Jul 2025 18:54:50 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44662682</link><dc:creator>quartz</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44662682</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44662682</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by quartz in "Personal Software Is Becoming a Trend"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I use watermelonDB for offline-first sync. It’s pretty wonderful.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 07 Feb 2025 18:48:03 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42976065</link><dc:creator>quartz</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42976065</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42976065</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by quartz in "Personal Software Is Becoming a Trend"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I wrote a notes app in react native just for myself a few years ago (out of frustration after changing notes apps every year or so) that does /exactly/ what I want and it has been the most used app on my phone for a few years now.<p>It's offline-first but syncs reliably, uses the exact interpretation and display of markdown I like, searches and sorts the way I like, integrates with AI only in the ways I want it to (specific search capabilities, summarizing), uses on-device dictation via whisper so speech-to-text works when I'm away from a data connection, tracks location... I could go on and on since I add a new feature every month or so from a note (inside the app!) where I keep track of little things I wish it had.<p>But most importantly nothing ever gets added to it that I don't want... ever. No one else ever updates the terms of service, the UI layout, the retention period, the formatting, the shortcuts... there isn't some subscription I have to keep track of, or "pro" modes, or popups telling me about new features I should check out.<p>And since I have access to the backing db I can do all kinds of fun stuff with the data-- I've been playing way more with local LLMs lately with it.<p>I think it's healthy to remember that not everything has to be a startup or a public github repo.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 07 Feb 2025 16:19:28 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42974389</link><dc:creator>quartz</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42974389</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42974389</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by quartz in "IMG_0001"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>This is the web2 internet I remember and love. People sharing their lives.<p>I watched a blurry video of a family at the zoo, a father tickling his toddler (who is having an absolute blast), a middle school play rehearsal, some guy's high school class presentation in south africa (I think?), a random indie country band at a bar, lots of terrible dancing... all joyful, no agendas.<p>There was a thread yesterday about Facebook's little red book and a lot of nostalgia from folks who were there at the time about the optimism across builders then. This was the kind of content that drove that feeling.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 04 Dec 2024 15:24:24 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42318346</link><dc:creator>quartz</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42318346</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42318346</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by quartz in "Meta outage"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Seems like it. Pretty messy too because it sometimes pushes you to reset your password which then doesn't work so there are going to be a LOT of reset email codes floating out there.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 05 Mar 2024 15:30:38 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39604638</link><dc:creator>quartz</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39604638</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39604638</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by quartz in "The Corvette that Windows zip folders bought"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>He clarifies that he had prior written agreement to work on shareware and this software specifically. You can do this at most established big tech still today (possibly tougher at startups).<p>And hey it worked out great for Microsoft— they got the software they wanted at a great price (1x used corvette * ~1.8 for taxes) with no negotiation, and they already employ the guy who wrote it so I imagine integrating it was even easier than they expected.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 04 Mar 2024 14:13:29 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39590719</link><dc:creator>quartz</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39590719</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39590719</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by quartz in "Early immunotherapy for Crohn’s disease significantly reduces complications"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The incident count for very early onset Crohns is rapidly increasing [1]-- I wonder if they'll start to make these drugs available for younger children since today it's more or less forbidden for them to be used on kids under 16.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2021.675186/full" rel="nofollow">https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10....</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 26 Feb 2024 14:21:23 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39511485</link><dc:creator>quartz</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39511485</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39511485</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by quartz in "Air Canada Has to Honor a Refund Policy Its Chatbot Made Up"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> "Air Canada argues it cannot be held liable for information provided by one of its agents, servants, or representatives—including a chatbot," Rivers wrote. "It does not explain why it believes that is the case" or "why the webpage titled 'Bereavement travel' was inherently more trustworthy than its chatbot."<p>This is very reasonable-- AI or not, companies can't expect consumers to know which parts of their digital experience are accurate and which aren't.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 21 Feb 2024 15:55:50 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39455363</link><dc:creator>quartz</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39455363</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39455363</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by quartz in "Surf the web like it's 1999"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Oh how that Soundblaster midi vibe takes me back.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 19 Jan 2024 18:06:34 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39058861</link><dc:creator>quartz</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39058861</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39058861</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by quartz in "Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Not sure if it's still the case but it used to be that if you changed your address to California you could cancel online since IIRC it's a law there.<p>I have this memory of having to do that to get rid of the wsj after I made the fatal mistake of forgetting to cancel after a trial.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 19 Jan 2024 18:04:11 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39058818</link><dc:creator>quartz</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39058818</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39058818</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by quartz in "Americans are spending billions on stuff they forget to cancel"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I recently had my credit card stolen which is a great forcing function to audit subscriptions because you have to dig them all up to update the associated payment methods.<p>After combing through my credit card bills to identify all the recurring charges my conclusion was less that I have too many subscriptions but that cost creep is out of control on them.<p>Ex: I stopped paying attention to my storage unit monthly bill because it was on autopay. Turns out now after 4 years I'm paying more than double the published rate. Called the storage facility and they said the only way around it is to rent a new unit at the new rate and move my things there to start the process all over again.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 19 Jan 2024 17:47:54 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39058549</link><dc:creator>quartz</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39058549</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39058549</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by quartz in "I'm a Supercommuter. Here's What It's Like"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Yeah I don't think they were doing it to save money. I think they just loved planes and also kind of hated driving & traffic, which from a place like Gilroy to the south bay tech campuses back then would have been absolutely brutal.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 18 Jan 2024 15:21:17 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39042775</link><dc:creator>quartz</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39042775</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39042775</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by quartz in "I'm a Supercommuter. Here's What It's Like"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I knew an eng manager who lived in a flight focused community (each house had parking for an airplane!) like this one [1] way outside of town. They'd fly in each morning for their commute.<p>I always thought that sounded like it would provide maximum flexibility since there are so many tiny airfields in the US you'd be hard pressed to work somewhere too far from one.<p>Seemed pretty incredible overall... at the time I remember looking it up and the cost working out to a bit cheaper than bay area housing all-in, but I didn't really know how to calculate the airplane costs accurately.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cameron-airpark-estates-california-neighborhood-designed-for-pilots-2021-2" rel="nofollow">https://www.businessinsider.com/cameron-airpark-estates-cali...</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 17 Jan 2024 20:44:32 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39033173</link><dc:creator>quartz</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39033173</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39033173</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by quartz in "I'm a Supercommuter. Here's What It's Like"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Isn't it the standard for basically the entire consulting industry? No consulting firm I've ever heard of is flying their people around (or feeding them) on their own dime when they're assigned to a project.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 17 Jan 2024 20:37:39 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39033105</link><dc:creator>quartz</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39033105</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39033105</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by quartz in "Ask HN: Why aren't there more hearing aid startups?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Hardware is tough. Medical hardware doubly (triply?) so. Also realtime audio processing in a power and space limited, heavily patented and proprietary industry isn't for the faint of heart.<p>That said with the recent changes allowing OTC hearing aids as of 2022 and companies like rewind.ai chasing always-on audio recording I imagine we'll see some interesting innovations in this space over the next few years.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 16 Jan 2024 03:03:34 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39008920</link><dc:creator>quartz</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39008920</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39008920</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by quartz in "Carta's 83b Oversight: A Tax Trap for Married Startup Employees (2023)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> Manually file your 83(b). Don't use Carta to do it. Instead, download the form from the IRS website, fill it out, and mail it to the IRS within the strict 30-day deadline. You'll need to get a signature from your spouse, too.<p>I could be wrong but last time I checked the IRS doesn't provide an official form for this. It <i>does</i> provide a sample election letter[1] but this sample does not include a space for a spouse to sign. You'd need to include an additional line for this yourself in the letter you draft if you wanted it.<p>Don't forget: if you do this yourself make sure to mail it certified mail with return receipt as physical evidence that it was delivered.<p>A few months after delivery you can also call any IRS service center and ask them to verify they have the letter on file (these days everything is scanned into the system so any IRS person can find it vs. having to call the center that received it).<p>[1] <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-12-29.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-12-29.pdf</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 12 Jan 2024 17:37:21 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38971199</link><dc:creator>quartz</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38971199</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38971199</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by quartz in "Trade-offs between Different CRDTs"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Very much appreciate your writing on the topic-- it gave me the practical context I was missing while trying to spin up with automerge and CRDTs in general.<p>I ended up using y.js in my personal react native notes app and it works wonderfully.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 09 Jan 2024 05:31:09 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38922715</link><dc:creator>quartz</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38922715</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38922715</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by quartz in "Trade-offs between Different CRDTs"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>If you're just getting started with CRDTs I'd also recommend Seph's "5000x faster CRDTs" post[1] and also his "I was wrong. CRDTs are the future" post[2] for some nice captures of the practical challenges and opportunities in the space.<p>[1] <a href="https://josephg.com/blog/crdts-go-brrr/" rel="nofollow">https://josephg.com/blog/crdts-go-brrr/</a><p>[2] <a href="https://josephg.com/blog/crdts-are-the-future/" rel="nofollow">https://josephg.com/blog/crdts-are-the-future/</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 08 Jan 2024 20:19:36 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38917534</link><dc:creator>quartz</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38917534</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38917534</guid></item></channel></rss>