Hacker News: subpixel

New comment by subpixel in "The largest electric aircraft just flew [video]"

subpixel — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 22:08:41 +0000

I'm not sure I get the 'appreciating asset' point he makes in the video. How will the plane perform better in 10 years?

Cool stuff regardless!

New comment by subpixel in "Stripe said to abandon $50B pursuit of PayPal"

subpixel — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 11:12:04 +0000

In 1995 I could give anyone in Germany my PostBank konto number and they could “wire” me money by calling the bank.

In 2026 I pay contractors working on my US house by logging into my bank and instructing it to mail a paper check.

The only exception is Venmo which everyone expects will be enshittified.

New comment by subpixel in "Being ambitious and being a dad"

subpixel — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 23:00:54 +0000

I’m far less ambitious, but not less driven. It’s just that what I’m driving for is to maximize time doing things I and my family enjoy. In fact it’s a lens through which I analyze jobs and career opportunities.

New comment by subpixel in "Beware Management Consultants"

subpixel — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 22:49:52 +0000

You have to think of it like the nutritional supplements industry. They make mountains of money because people have certain misgivings or insecurities or unrealistic goals (or all of these things) with regard to their health. Would life go on just fine without the entire supplements industry? Sure. But that wouldn’t do anything to assuage the health concerns that people perceive themselves to have.

The same is true of the consulting industry. Because companies _also_ have certain misgivings or insecurities or unrealistic goals with regard to their health.

New comment by subpixel in "IBM Simon (1994): the original smartphone, explained in its own ad [video]"

subpixel — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:13:10 +0000

On a date, I once showed a woman I wanted to impress my Palm Pilot. Not only was she utterly unimpressed, she went on to marry an A-list Hollywood celebrity.

New comment by subpixel in "How we used to get jobs: A newspaper classifieds story"

subpixel — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 19:07:53 +0000

Not only jobs, but NYC apartments - although in the Voice not the Times.

New comment by subpixel in "Atomarine: Nuclear Data Centers at Sea"

subpixel — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 22:09:01 +0000

I think you left off figuring out how to connect a floating data center to the internet without making that aspect as expensive as powering the thing in the first place.

New comment by subpixel in "Bring back crappy forums"

subpixel — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 13:35:55 +0000

The forums I keep an eye on have been bought by aggregators who redesign them for maximum ad-suck.

It’s a shame bc very old threads contain massively valuable information and conversation on topics I care about.

One of the best forums moved to a Google Group long ago and that’s maybe the best bad outcome.

New comment by subpixel in "Ask HN: Who is quitting? (July 2026)"

subpixel — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 13:30:21 +0000

I’ve applied for several jobs outside of tech or only tech-adjacent. I’m not happy to give up significant income and benefits, but you don’t get everything you want.

What AI-first means for companies who are not actually AI companies is elevating staff with the right degree of _partiinost_ around AI and using vendor AI products to show how many Jira issues have been closed in pursuit of the latest exciting and important new transformation.

New comment by subpixel in "On cigarettes"

subpixel — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:46:23 +0000

Dangerous, addictive drugs played a role in me meeting my wife. Do I wish the same for my children? No.

New comment by subpixel in "Europe's resistance to AC is driving it insane"

subpixel — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:43:42 +0000

I can relate to a certain type of reluctance, in that I live in a part of the US that has never needed air conditioning. I don't look forward to the hassle and expense of installing a heat pump. I don't look forward to the cost of running one. And I won't like resigning to the fact that the summers I've experienced my whole life, as did my ancestors, are over forever.

Of course when it's regularly in the upper 80sF / 30C I will give in. I just empathize.

New comment by subpixel in "Show HN: Are You in the Weights?"

subpixel — Fri, 19 Jun 2026 10:29:58 +0000

The two matches for my name are hallucinated athletes. For now.

New comment by subpixel in "Israeli firm BlackCore suspected of meddling in New York and Scotland votes"

subpixel — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 16:14:34 +0000

It’s the opposite of obscure - it’s commonplace. It’s a skull and crossbones. It’s not a swastika. It’s a nothing burger.

New comment by subpixel in "Israeli firm BlackCore suspected of meddling in New York and Scotland votes"

subpixel — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 16:06:55 +0000

He didn’t have a nazi tattoo, full stop.

New comment by subpixel in "The tanks in Cushing, Oklahoma, are hitting bottom"

subpixel — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 16:38:05 +0000

Gosh he's not behaving as if he wants to make a deal.

New comment by subpixel in "The worst job interview I ever had"

subpixel — Wed, 27 May 2026 17:23:43 +0000

My worst interview was decades ago where the building was a walk-up and the office was on the 8th or 9th floor, something absurd. It was winter, I had layers of warm clothing on, and I walked into the interview a sweaty disaster and when my sweat became drippingly apparent panic kicked in and made it even worse. At the end of the ordeal I had to walk down the steps which also sucked.

New comment by subpixel in "Friendster Relaunch"

subpixel — Mon, 11 May 2026 18:15:37 +0000

I'm sure you've heard a few. Thank you though!

New comment by subpixel in "Rotten Dot Com"

subpixel — Sun, 10 May 2026 11:21:44 +0000

I feel differently. Like the author of this article, I attended an expensive, quasi-prestigious prep school in the American South _and_ went to Columbia. Kids in both milieus were competing with each other to be the weird ones.

It’s also worth noting that tbe author has spent a chunk of her career in advertising, using what she knows (first hand!) about how young brains are seduced by the verboten to sell trend forecasting to companies who want to mine that ore.

As a parent I consider it a specific challenge to help my daughter discern between behavior that looks or seems cool and behavior that is actually worth emulating.

New comment by subpixel in "Joby kicks off NYC electric air taxi demos with historic JFK flight"

subpixel — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 13:55:06 +0000

This is like a person-sized Roomba. Even if it might work, within certain strict constraints, it's essentially unnecessary.

New comment by subpixel in "Friendster Relaunch"

subpixel — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 22:08:32 +0000

I went home from a bar in 2003 knowing only the first name of a wonderful girl I chatted with that night, and thanks to Friendster I was able to locate her in a city of over 8MM people and find a way to contact her. We are married with a family now.