Hacker News: takinola

New comment by takinola in "Show HN: Turn your Google accounts into a free, load-balanced LLM API gateway"

takinola — Thu, 28 May 2026 03:10:55 +0000

PSA: Don't use Google accounts that you care about when experimenting. If Google takes a dim view of whatever it is you are doing, they shut down all your access (Gmail, Calendar, etc) and not just the service you are playing around with.

New comment by takinola in "SpaceX S-1"

takinola — Thu, 21 May 2026 01:53:12 +0000

Can someone ELI5 Starlink revenue sources? At the core, it's an ISP (but served from space). What does Starlink have that differentiates from any other ISP? Is it because the TAM is global? That may be true at the margin, but I am sure most eligible subscribers would prefer a land-based system (eg no one in SF is cancelling their Xfinity to use Starlink) so how much is really left for them?

New comment by takinola in "Rich Guy Quote Journalism"

takinola — Fri, 15 May 2026 22:13:53 +0000

The charitable explanation of this is that "rich guys" opinions often end up shaping reality for lots of people. If what "rich guy" thinks today becomes law, policy or corporate strategy tomorrow, then it is worth giving people a heads up for what is coming. So it is less "rich guy quote" and more "influential guy quote".

That said, I don't necessarily believe this is why quotes like this gets reported. I think it's more the same reason people ask celebrities about topics that are far from their area of expertise - these are widely recognizable people and so stories involving them drive views and clicks.

New comment by takinola in "Maladaptive Frugality"

takinola — Fri, 01 May 2026 06:07:55 +0000

In the winter, I keep the thermostat at frigid temperatures when I am home alone and jack it up to warm just before any one else gets home. My thinking is that it is wasteful to warm up the entire house when it's just me since I can put on a sweater but I don't want to subject others to my, shall we say, quirks.

I keep meaning to calculate how much I am actually saving by freezing my butt off. My guess is it'll work out to something like $0.75 a day or something equally trivial.

New comment by takinola in "Ask HN: Does the World need more software?"

takinola — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 17:06:33 +0000

There is likely 2-orders of magnitude demand for more software than currently exists. Speaking for myself, I have so many different apps I would like to have but would not be commercially viable to build because the problem it solves is very specific to my circumstance. The ROI now makes sense now that I can spin up Claude Code and build apps for these use cases in an a couple of hours so I have a suite of apps that are really just for me.

New comment by takinola in "Philips to drop Google TV for European-based Titan OS"

takinola — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 22:20:32 +0000

Honestly, I don't mind the ads as much. The interface is just so slow. You press a button and the TV does nothing. Then you press again but now the TV registers both clicks! Now you have to reverse the second click. Repeat over and over again. Ugh!

New comment by takinola in "Philips to drop Google TV for European-based Titan OS"

takinola — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 20:40:13 +0000

When I bought a Sony TV, I was excited that it ran on Google TV because I thought Google would do software better than Sony could. Oh, how I was wrong. I have been so frustrated by the experience that I just got Apple TVs just so I could avoid having to navigate the molasses-slow interface chock-full of ads.

New comment by takinola in "OpenClaw is a security nightmare dressed up as a daydream"

takinola — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 18:34:56 +0000

This is a really tempting approach but I think it is the wrong one. The issue is one of trajectory. OpenClaw has the attention of thousands of hackers and there is a huge incentive to contribute to make it better. That will compound very quickly and will become much better than whatever private solution you create.

New comment by takinola in "OpenClaw is a security nightmare dressed up as a daydream"

takinola — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 18:30:51 +0000

Booking a flight is the type of thing you think you want to dedicate your full attention to. Largely, the issue is one of trust that whatever is making the bookings will take into account the nuances of your schedule and preferences. Here's the typical flow for how my (human) assistant books my flights. I tell them I want to go to $LOCATION from $START to $END. They have my calendar, my travel preferences (airlines, hotels, etc) and the company travel policy. A couple hours later, they slack me a couple of options. If there is one I like, I tell them to book it. If not, I tell them why none of the options work. The process repeats until I see something I like or we run out of options and I have to choose the least bad option. There is nothing about this process that needs a human. It's all done on Slack and for all I know the person at the other end is actually an AI (they're not, but for arguments sake, they could be).

New comment by takinola in "Ask HN: Got cancer, a new job,new boss in less than a year What do I do now?"

takinola — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 17:40:42 +0000

The prospect of dying has an interesting way of focusing your mind on what's important. It is a terrible gift you have been given. It sucks to have to balance quotidian concerns at the same time as existential ones so give yourself grace for being in a position that requires you to handle all these things at once. My suggestion is to prioritize your health and getting better. Ten years from now, you may barely remember this job (or the new manager, tech, etc) but that only works if you pull through. It sounds like you are financially stable so use that fact to your advantage to make decisions that work best for you and your family.

Find a good support system. People that love you are going to be the most important thing for the next couple of months. Let them help you. Lean on them. It is fine to be weak. This is the time to let them give (time, money, encouragement, prayers, comfort, etc) to you.

Good luck! I wish you the best.

New comment by takinola in "Ask HN: How did you get your drive back?"

takinola — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:47:12 +0000

A couple of suggestions:

1. Do some introspection to learn what you actually want (vs what the society around you tells you to want). Free yourself of judgement of your true ambitions and accept what you care about.

2. Follow your curiosity. Do things that interest you, not because there is any end goal or destination but just for the sheer love of it.

3. Help someone else. Focusing on yourself (which we all do) tends to depress. Focusing on other people tends to uplift. Every time you interact with someone else, ask yourself how you can make their day better and take at least one action (could be as simple as a smile, a thoughtful compliment, a gift, whatever)

New comment by takinola in "[dead]"

takinola — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 21:54:59 +0000

Writing down what you are feeling and thinking is really effective in reducing your anxiety. It does not need to be fancy or well written, just get it out of your head and unto a page.

Also helpful is developing a practice of observing yourself. Just make a mental note of what is going on. Something like "I am feeling sad", "My chest feels very tight", etc. The key here is to create some distance between yourself and these emotions.

My last recommendation is to develop acceptance. Most things lose their scariness once you accept them. Once you are fine with whatever scenario is causing you stress, it loses its sting. This can be hard to do but is extremely effective in quieting your mind.

The Easiest Person to Fool

takinola — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 17:49:58 +0000

Article URL: https://toluakinola.substack.com/p/the-easiest-person-to-fool

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46992262

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

New comment by takinola in "Fela Kuti First African to Get Grammys Lifetime Achievement Award"

takinola — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 23:56:21 +0000

I think the point of the song is inevitability (in the context of African liberation). The idea being that Africa is indispensable to the world and will eventually overcome.

New comment by takinola in "The WiFi only works when it's raining (2024)"

takinola — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 18:59:06 +0000

I feel like a really good writer could turn these crazy debugging incidents into a Columbo-style story series.

New comment by takinola in "It is now 85 seconds to midnight"

takinola — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 21:36:32 +0000

I am always mystified by the level of attention applied to the Doomsday Clock. The organization behind it seems to be staffed by serious (TM) people so there is probably some amount of analysis behind their proclamations but to what end? What is the difference between 85 seconds to midnight or 100 seconds or one hour? All sound pretty scary to me so I can't quite differentiate if I should be more scared (by how much? to what end??). This really seems like the power of storytelling (the clock metaphor is really striking) over any real substance.

New comment by takinola in "Netflix Wants Movies to Restate the Plot Three or Four Times in the Dialogue"

takinola — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 21:45:01 +0000

I am of two minds here. I can understand how the filmmakers can feel insulted by this demand but I am also one of those viewers that watches movies with one eye on my phone so spoon feeding the audience benefits people like me. I only pay full attention to one or two shows (usually those that I watch with my spouse) and every other show can only get my divided attention. My product manager sense says that you should give people what they want even if my artistic sense is indignant.

New comment by takinola in "Opus 4.5 is not the normal AI agent experience that I have had thus far"

takinola — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 04:19:22 +0000

I guess the best analogy I can think of is the transition from writing assembly language and the introduction of compilers. Now, (almost) no one knows, or cares, what comes out of the compiler. We just assume it is optimized and that it represents the source code faithfully. Seems like code might go that way too and people will focus on the right prompts and can simply assume the code will be correct.

New comment by takinola in "Calling All Hackers: How money works (2024)"

takinola — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 04:10:41 +0000

Which jurisdictions tax unrealized capital gains? Asking for a friend so I can avoid passing through.

New comment by takinola in "Ask HN: How do you use 5–10 minute gaps productively?"

takinola — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 00:12:09 +0000

Every morning I make a list of tasks I want to accomplish during the day. Whenever, I get a little in-between time, I look for something on my to-do list that could fit and knock it off.