Hacker News: robterrell

New comment by robterrell in "I’m leaving OpenAI to build telepathy"

robterrell — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 18:53:03 +0000

For some reason your comment reminded me of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky-uzsw0kqw

New comment by robterrell in "Judge approves $1.5B Anthropic settlement for pirated books used to train Claude"

robterrell — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 20:31:52 +0000

Not true. Individual authors could sign up for the settlement. One of my books was in there under my name.

New comment by robterrell in "Making Graphics Like it's 1993"

robterrell — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 15:23:52 +0000

This is so great. Another fun trick we used in the 90s was palette animation -- by swapping the palette you can create incredibly cool effects at a low runtime cost.

New comment by robterrell in "MacBook Neo is so popular that Apple doubled production"

robterrell — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 21:55:08 +0000

JAMF is popular. I've heard of Kandji too.

New comment by robterrell in "I’m writing again"

robterrell — Sat, 23 May 2026 00:29:22 +0000

Recently I've been thinking about the nerds/hippie dichotomy from that book. Really missing the anti-authoritarian streak that was so formative in the early computer industry.

New comment by robterrell in "US v. Heppner (S.D.N.Y. 2026) no attorney-client privilege for AI chats [pdf]"

robterrell — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:31:44 +0000

But that communication is clearly intended to be confidential. Also isn't having one attorney on a multi-party communication marked confidential sufficient to create privilege?

New comment by robterrell in "Roger Ebert Reviews "The Shawshank Redemption" (1999)"

robterrell — Sun, 08 Feb 2026 18:29:43 +0000

There's a pattern of movies flopping in theaters only to become top 10 on Netflix. It's very similar in many ways.

The difference is there was backend participation for VHS/DVD rentals... whereas Netflix is paying a one-time flat rate to acquire your flopped movie.

New comment by robterrell in "Byte Shop 50th Year Birthday Party"

robterrell — Sat, 06 Dec 2025 17:56:17 +0000

Fifty years ago this week, The Byte Shop opened its doors, becoming one of the epicenters of the personal computing earthquake that reshaped our world. A secret rebel base for a generation of hackers, engineers and tinkerers who would go on to build many of the technologies you now take for granted, it’s most famous today as the launchpad for the Apple-1.

Paul Terrell's Byte Shop was a nondescript El Camino Real storefront filled with early 8-bit computers, racks of electronics components, soldering irons and supplies, and some of the strangest and most wonderful people. This was a hangout for members of the Homebrew Computer Club. I know Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Lee Felsenstein, Chris Espinosa, and Andy Hertfeld were regulars. In the photo linked at the URL above, that's infamous phone phreaker John Draper (Captain Crunch) sitting in the window. There’s probably many others from here on HN.

This Sunday we’re throwing a party to celebrate the occasion, at the DoubleTree Hotel at the San Jose Airport, from 12–6. The afternoon will include:

* Meet-and-Greet Reception featuring demonstrations and displays of early personal computers by their original designers, plus autographed copies of period advertising.

* Books, products, and memorabilia, including computer books and hardware available for purchase.

* Silent auction of collector memorabilia signed by the designers, running throughout the afternoon.

* Stage presentation and Q&A, narrated by Lee Felsenstein of Homebrew Computer Club fame, with participation from the "Apple-1 Garage Gang” and other dignitaries, both in person and virtually.

* Tribute honoring the pioneers who helped shape the birth of personal computing and are no longer with us.

Byte Shop 50th Year Birthday Party

robterrell — Sat, 06 Dec 2025 17:56:17 +0000

Article URL: https://byteshop50thyearbirthdayp.rsvpify.com

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46175213

Points: 3

# Comments: 1

New comment by robterrell in "Lee Felsenstein"

robterrell — Sat, 22 Nov 2025 20:07:58 +0000

I know it's been days but since you asked he made a link:

https://byteshop50thyearbirthdayp.rsvpify.com

New comment by robterrell in "An Interview with Unity CEO Matthew Bromberg About Turnarounds"

robterrell — Sat, 22 Nov 2025 16:15:44 +0000

Zynga was acquired by Take2 in 2022 and is very much alive today.

IMHO the "predatory business" period of Zynga (e.g. the Tiny Tower vs Dream Heights) was prior to the arrival of team who executed the turnaround discussed in the interview.

New comment by robterrell in "Gemini 3"

robterrell — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 16:14:39 +0000

At this point I'm surprised they haven't been training on thousands of professionally-created SVGs of pelicans on bicycles.

New comment by robterrell in "Lee Felsenstein"

robterrell — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 15:00:35 +0000

Yep! Paul is my uncle. My parents had a franchise Byte Shop in Greensboro, NC when I was a kid.

New comment by robterrell in "Lee Felsenstein"

robterrell — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 14:35:52 +0000

Lee will be speaking next month in San Jose at an event for the 50th anniversary of the Byte Shop computer store. Incredible opportunity to hear from the man himself. For computer designers of the 8-bit era, I’d say he ranks next to Woz in terms of importance: the Sol-80, Osborne, Homebrew Computer Club, member of the Berkeley free speech movement. Curious to hear his thoughts on the industry today.

New comment by robterrell in "Lee Felsenstein"

robterrell — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 14:25:42 +0000

Please, this was my first thought too.

New comment by robterrell in "Hosting a website on a disposable vape"

robterrell — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 15:38:01 +0000

holy crap, what a rabbit hole you sent me down.

New comment by robterrell in "996"

robterrell — Sat, 06 Sep 2025 15:10:05 +0000

If you're smart enough to get hired for one of these roles, and you're willing to work 996, be just a little bit smarter and found your own startup and take all the upside.

New comment by robterrell in "Mac Clones History: A Tale of Poor Margins and Bad Timing"

robterrell — Sat, 06 Sep 2025 15:05:45 +0000

I have one in the basement! The bar was called the "ISOpoint" bar. It was a great use of the tiny space. Also innovative was the IR keyboard. You could disconnect and move it pretty far from the main unit.

New comment by robterrell in "Mac Clones History: A Tale of Poor Margins and Bad Timing"

robterrell — Sat, 06 Sep 2025 01:40:36 +0000

ModBook is mentioned in the article. But Outbound (another deconstructed Mac) is not.

New comment by robterrell in "Anthropic agrees to pay $1.5B to settle lawsuit with book authors"

robterrell — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 22:03:02 +0000

As a published author who had works in the training data, can I take my settlement payout in the form of Claude Code API credits?

TBH I'm just going to plow all that money back into Anthropic... might was well cut out the middleman.