<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: switchbak</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=switchbak</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Wed, 29 Jul 2026 18:05:54 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=switchbak" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by switchbak in "Should you wash your solar panels?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Absolutely - in some cases you'll see the major sins addressed, and there's a small mountain of lesser issues waiting to be uncovered.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2026 23:20:01 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49076905</link><dc:creator>switchbak</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49076905</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49076905</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by switchbak in "Should you wash your solar panels?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Maybe it's just me, but someone deciding to physically sand things without my consent would get a stern eye from me. Unless it's well into the "no brainer" kind of decision. (eg: the railing didn't have a finish on it, etc).</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2026 23:18:21 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49076886</link><dc:creator>switchbak</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49076886</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49076886</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by switchbak in "Professor's invisible prompt trap catches 32/35 students cheating with AI"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I’ve just had the displeasure of interviewing a batch of candidates over zoom. ALL of them were cheating with AI in realtime.<p>If you have so little scruples, I can imagine you wouldn’t think twice about doing that with an assignment.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2026 21:19:15 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49075660</link><dc:creator>switchbak</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49075660</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49075660</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by switchbak in "What is happening to jobs? Separating AI hype from reality"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>"The issue would be that LLMs seem to not improve senior devs productivity" - that's the opposite of what they said. And the opposite of my experience.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2026 05:10:13 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49065395</link><dc:creator>switchbak</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49065395</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49065395</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by switchbak in "US citizen charged after GrapheneOS phone wipes during airport search"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>"Rules for thee but not for me" - isn't that beyond obvious now? The folks running things simply do not play by the rules you or I do (assuming you do).</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2026 02:20:05 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49064510</link><dc:creator>switchbak</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49064510</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49064510</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by switchbak in "Did They Ghost You?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>That is true. Then again if you can’t even provide a reference you’re unable to jump a very low bar.<p>We’re inundated with fake applicants. References are more than mandatory now. But not enough, the whole system is broken.<p>Also you come off like a reactionary ahole.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 26 Jul 2026 00:02:30 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49053140</link><dc:creator>switchbak</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49053140</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49053140</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by switchbak in "Show HN: Echo – Fable-level results at 1/3 the cost using open-weight models"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Enough to make it a non-started at the organizations that pay their bills. Everyone else isn't big enough to matter.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2026 21:06:40 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49028055</link><dc:creator>switchbak</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49028055</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49028055</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by switchbak in "Does creatine make you smarter?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>They're not saying "one point" about the conclusion, they're saying that their statement isn't nearly confident enough, and that they would prefer that they say with strong confidence that there is unequivocally NO positive effect on cognition.<p>It is a hell of a thing for a random person on an internet forum to be so unilateral, without providing some kind of strong evidence (aside from statements about "the industry", which is kind of beside the point). I would also suggest if you want to be so unequivocal, that the burden of proof is especially high for you.<p>This "point" isn't actually all that rational - it's knee jerk skepticism. It's a fine default for yourself, but it's not something you get to force on others because they admit there's room for the potential of benefit.<p>Again: You're perfectly fine to hold that opinion yourself, but when you start trying to force that on others - you now have an especially high bar to reach, and yes - being a lead researcher in the field is exactly what I'm looking for when someone says "X has been proven to not have a benefit for Y".<p>"Trust me, I'm a scientitian" - Not sure the point of that juvenile wordplay, but Ok: we do have these things called scientists, some are good, some are terrible. You still need to back up your statements - that's the key part, this isn't a blind appeal to authority. And it's a hell of a lot better than "Trust me, I'm a nerd with very strong beliefs about a topic I know very little about".</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2026 18:50:54 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49026356</link><dc:creator>switchbak</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49026356</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49026356</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by switchbak in "Does creatine make you smarter?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I have normal hair, and probably less hair loss than is average for someone my age. I don't use products on it. Aside from this issue, it's been clear sailing the whole time.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2026 16:02:14 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49023831</link><dc:creator>switchbak</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49023831</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49023831</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by switchbak in "Does creatine make you smarter?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>What I'm getting from all this is that we have an armchair expert explaining details about something they're not an expert in, and we have you reviewing the way they present this information, saying their very weak hedge wasn't strongly negative enough. Based on priors about the industry.<p>Basically, HN doing HN things - having a good deep think about topics outside their realm of expertise, then debating the minutiae. I'd just rather trust someone who has spent their career researching this stuff, thanks (unless that's what you do - in which case please tell us more).</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2026 16:37:35 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49009545</link><dc:creator>switchbak</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49009545</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49009545</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by switchbak in "Does creatine make you smarter?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>It was certainly the case that gym bros thought you had to cycle it. But you're right that this was never necessary.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2026 16:30:51 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49009425</link><dc:creator>switchbak</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49009425</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49009425</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by switchbak in "Does creatine make you smarter?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>"poses no danger to your hair" I keep hearing folks say this, and even in this thread there's someone who's experienced that and had it stop when they eliminated creatine. I too have experienced exactly that with exactly the stopping of issues once I stopped taking creatine.<p>Perhaps you can say "danger to your hair is rare", but there's very clearly (to me at least) an effect there, and the way it gets hand-waved away is strange to me.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2026 16:29:35 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49009402</link><dc:creator>switchbak</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49009402</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49009402</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by switchbak in "China’s open-weights AI strategy is winning"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Human ingenuity thrives on constraints.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 20 Jul 2026 18:56:18 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48983276</link><dc:creator>switchbak</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48983276</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48983276</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by switchbak in "AWS: Inaccurate Estimated Billing Data – $1.7 billion"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>If I worked at a place like that, I'd sure as hell work my butt of to get a job somewhere else.<p>Or in my case, actively ignore any and all recruiting from that sesspool.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 17 Jul 2026 18:56:44 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48950975</link><dc:creator>switchbak</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48950975</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48950975</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by switchbak in "The state of open source AI"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>"that can grammar correct" ... Did you do that on purpose?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 17 Jul 2026 17:50:48 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48950175</link><dc:creator>switchbak</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48950175</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48950175</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by switchbak in "The state of open source AI"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>For the near future it seems that the new models will consume whatever improved hardware capacity we have. Competing with that is challenging, but I also think there will be strong economic incentives towards cheaper but adequate models on other providers.<p>I don't think we'll see home users being able to match even the low end clouds for a long time.<p>Longer term I think we'll see these uses of AI cluster into a few groups:<p>- maximal code / reasoning quality, at high prices (Fable)<p>- typical code / agents (sub-Opus, Terra)<p>- cheap but decent enough quality (think Deepseek / GLM / Luna)<p>- so cheap I don't care about utilization (Deepseek, and friends)<p>And also more niche ones:<p>- ultra fast with high quality answers (typically sub-SOTA). Cerebras / dedicated silicon type approaches, expensive.<p>- ultra fast with mostly-adequate answers, and an openness to retries, moving up to better models<p>I think the open models will dominate (not with individuals, but low cost providers) all except the top 1-2 of those categories, and there will be a continuous erosion on the big player's moats. The top categories are also where all the money is, but I'm not sure it can justify those investments long-term. I also think they will have to squeeze more money out of them to justify the investments, which will also drive people down the list.<p>Edit: clarifications.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 17 Jul 2026 17:32:46 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48949991</link><dc:creator>switchbak</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48949991</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48949991</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by switchbak in "DEA to Temporarily Schedule 7-Oh and Related Substances to Protect Public Safety"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Supposedly it’s an urban (rural) legend going around for a long time. Good story, even if it’s not true.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 16 Jul 2026 02:49:37 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48929830</link><dc:creator>switchbak</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48929830</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48929830</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by switchbak in "DEA to Temporarily Schedule 7-Oh and Related Substances to Protect Public Safety"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The prison sentence for being caught doing legal things is surprisingly short.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 16 Jul 2026 02:48:04 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48929827</link><dc:creator>switchbak</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48929827</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48929827</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by switchbak in "Prioritize mental health, and why communication is so important"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>It is when folks like you come around and vomit this kind of thing.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2026 20:19:15 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48926523</link><dc:creator>switchbak</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48926523</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48926523</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by switchbak in "Prioritize mental health, and why communication is so important"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>"while others have their own battles, they are very rarely similar to this" - meh, I don't think that's true. Being human is hard, and in some circumstances can be very fucking hard. If you've had a challenging time in your youth, that makes it exponentially harder.<p>That's most people. They just keep it inside, assuming everyone else is doing better than they are.<p>The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2026 20:18:10 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48926516</link><dc:creator>switchbak</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48926516</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48926516</guid></item></channel></rss>