Hacker News: snide

New comment by snide in "Finding My Own Voice"

snide — Sun, 22 Mar 2026 18:35:28 +0000

I find this essay from Roger Ebert pretty wild in context of the times. I always think about it whenever I listen to the latest advances in AI voice technology.

Finding My Own Voice

snide — Sun, 22 Mar 2026 18:32:17 +0000

Article URL: https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/finding-my-own-voice

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47480586

Points: 3

# Comments: 1

New comment by snide in "Claude Tips for 3D Work"

snide — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 12:08:25 +0000

Hey, I'm the OP. I originally started with FreeCAD. There's not much to "hook up" to Claude. It can natively write for FreeCAD. You don't need to use the FreeCAD editor and can point to an external, local file with an import. At that point there's not much more than pointing your LLM to that file. You'll need to tell the FreeCAD desktop app to update on changes.

Eventually I moved to JSCAD for the application mentioned in my blog post because I realized I wanted a more complex UI (which meant a web app) than what FreeCAD provided natively. If you're looking for something simple with some var statements though, FreeCAD might be enough.

In my experience, the MCP isn't really needed. Claude at least already can write the code pretty well. The problems are more with getting it to understand the output, which the blog post covers.

Claude Tips for 3D Work

snide — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 14:53:10 +0000

Article URL: https://www.davesnider.com/posts/claude-3d

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47365299

Points: 200

# Comments: 43

New comment by snide in "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (March 2026)"

snide — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 01:44:53 +0000

I'm building two things, both game related.

Over the last year I've been hacking on Table Slayer [0] a web tool for projecting DnD maps on purpose built TV-in-table setups. Right now I'm working on making hardware that supports large format touch displays.

Since I also play boardgames, this past month I threw together Counter Slayer [1], which helps you generate STLs for box game inserts.

Both projects are open source and available on GitHub. I've had fun building software for hobbies that are mostly tactile.

[0]: https://tableslayer.com

[1]: https://counterslayer.com

New comment by snide in "Bose has released API docs and opened the API for its EoL SoundTouch speakers"

snide — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 17:32:35 +0000

I have 2012 Sonos hardware. You can still get the original Sonos S1 controller, which works with old stuff. It's pretty annoying that all the new stuff is S2 (and that app is better supported), but it's not as hard as you're describing it. You can get it off Google Play and just use it.

The quality of the software, and the fact that it isn't really updated, is another thing, but the actual software availability is there.

New comment by snide in "How did TVs get so cheap?"

snide — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 14:36:32 +0000

Yep. That's what IR frames do, and that's exactly the problem. What I've built actually works really well, it's just hard to justify that pricing.

New comment by snide in "How did TVs get so cheap?"

snide — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 14:09:37 +0000

There are so many kiosks out there though. It's more that I think because it's a commercial audience, the pricing hasn't reached down too much.

All that said, it's still odd there's not at least one boutique option for hobbyists.

New comment by snide in "How did TVs get so cheap?"

snide — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 13:44:50 +0000

One place where "TVs" still remain fairly expensive is in large format touch screens. Outside of using IR frames, getting a large (40 inch) touch capacitive display still requires quite a lot of legwork. I've been trying to find them for my DnD map system Table Slayer [0] and I had to contact factories in China directly. It's still many hundreds of dollars per device even for raw hardware.

[0]: https://tableslayer.com

I'm a Linux

snide — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 14:38:34 +0000

Article URL: https://www.davesnider.com/posts/im-a-linux

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45846854

Points: 3

# Comments: 2

New comment by snide in "The MP3.com Rescue Barge Barge"

snide — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 02:06:54 +0000

Fun anecdote time.

I worked on (and very briefly ran) MP3.com after the CNET acquisition of the domain (CNET only bought the domain, which I think was for $1 million). It had nothing to do with the original site mentioned here (good on them for archiving it).

The initial idea of the CNET version of the site was that in 2004 we assumed you would need a directory of which music was on which service. At the time there were quite a few (itunes, recently legal Napster, Rhapsody, eMusic...etc) and the thought was that the labels would sign deals separately on each, splitting where legal MP3s could be bought. Rhapsody was the only one where you paid a monthly fee for access, the rest were pay per song or album. The directory was similar to something like justwatch.com now, and it was really hard to build the data catalog from the early Internet spiderweb of music content from these services. Believe it or not, we got most of the data from FTP drops from each service. The site also would review all the different MP3 players of the time (there were a lot of them!).

The iPod and iTunes devoured the industry to a degree that no one needed such a directory. Everyone was happy to pay 99 cents per song, or get it illegally. Rhapsody, which was way ahead of its time, was too niche, and pre iPhone, no one could "stream" on anything buy a computer.

Everyone of course hated our new site. It didn't carry the spirit or the catalog of the indie bands from the original version (we didn't own any of the rights to keep the content), and all of those artists were rightfully very angry about losing a pay stream (which again, was a nod to what was coming later with YouTube partners). It got so bad that we had to remove the message boards completely because it was pure vitriol. We later added independent artist uploads, but by 2005 it was too late and the site mostly made money converting "eyeballs" (search any artist + mp3) into money through ads.

Despite all this, I had a lot of fun working on it, and as a young 24 year old who just moved to San Francisco it was a great way to learn about online communities and how they could turn on a dime. Other, later sites of mine took the lessons learned from MP3.com and became successful, but I'll always have a soft spot for MP3.com.

Here's a screenshot from the site in 2004! https://www.davesnider.com/file/d979a4b48bb

Show HN: I built a virtual tabletop for in person RPG games

snide — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 12:15:44 +0000

Hey all. I've spent the bulk of 2025 fiddling with Table Slayer, a virtual table top specific to in person play with a television. Although there are plenty of options for playing games like Dungeons and Dragons online, there wasn't much tailored to running a game with friends at a table.

The source is open[0], and my stack is currently SQLite, Sveltekit, and Fly. I use Cloudflare for my media, and workers that handle the Partykit real-time syncing (which additionally uses YJS for conflict resolution and syncing).

I have a few dozen paying users at this point, but mostly this is a labor of love that scratches a specific itch I've had myself. Right now I'm working on touch screen controls to support some large-format touchscreens I'm trying to source.

[0]: https://github.com/Siege-Perilous/tableslayer

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45654878

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by snide in "Modern Linux tools"

snide — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 11:47:19 +0000

Small note that a lot of these tool makers allow sponsorship on GitHub. I use bat / fd almost every day. Happy to support https://github.com/sponsors/sharkdp#sponsors

New comment by snide in "Economics of sportsbooks and why they ban the best bettors"

snide — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 02:28:27 +0000

I read a really interesting post in The NY Times (having trouble finding it) that really broke down how crazy sports betting has gotten in the last couple years. The gist is that states love betting, because they can tax them at high rates with little pushback from citizens who are marketed that the money goes to schools. The sportsbooks have to eat the new tax, and change the odds so that they can make a profit. This forces more losers in the state, and causes possible indirect costs from people losing so much. It’s an ugly cycle where no one wins.

New comment by snide in "Ask HN: What are you working on? (September 2025)"

snide — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 12:12:03 +0000

I'm building Table Slayer[0]. It provides tooling to display battlemaps on TV-based tabletops for games like Dungeons and Dragons. The source is open[1] and it's built with Svelte, Partykit, Turso and Three JS.

I'm currently building a prototype hardware component (essentially a large format touch screen) that people can purchase alongside.

[0]: https://tableslayer.com

[1]: https://github.com/Siege-Perilous/tableslayer

New comment by snide in "iPhone dumbphone"

snide — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 19:30:10 +0000

For those that are looking for something more advanced in the Android space a friend of mine built https://limitphone.com/ to handle something like this. It requires a reset, but comes with a lot more options.

New comment by snide in "Better Auth, by a self-taught Ethiopian dev, raises $5M from Peak XV, YC"

snide — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 12:05:51 +0000

This is why I love Lucia. They took the "teach a man to fish" route when they converted to a docs only approach. Now I've got my own auth system and understand a lot more about security.

Trump Media Raises Money to Buy $2.5B in Bitcoin

snide — Tue, 27 May 2025 17:05:14 +0000

Article URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/27/business/trump-media-bitcoin.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44108765

Points: 6

# Comments: 0

New comment by snide in "One hundred and one rules of effective living"

snide — Tue, 13 May 2025 13:29:32 +0000

I've always like Ben Franklin's 13 virtues. It's a short list.

TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.

INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

MODERATION. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.

TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.

HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

New comment by snide in "Zod v4 Beta"

snide — Sat, 12 Apr 2025 23:08:03 +0000

This is a little disingenuous. As far as I know, v3 isn't going anywhere. There's what... weeks until May 2025, which would be four years?

4 years in JavaScript land is actually pretty long. Zod has a pretty good maintenance record. I don't see how a statement like yours can be made without snark. Calling it a "throw-away" library is pretty brash.

This looks like a good update that sticks to the formula.