Hacker News: z02d

New comment by z02d in "From zero to a RAG system: successes and failures"

z02d — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:15:57 +0000

Maybe a bit off-topic: For my PhD, I wanted to leverage LLMs and AI to speed up the literature review process*. Due to time constraints, this never really lifted off for me. At the time I checked (about 6 months ago), several tools were already available (NotebookLM, Anara, Connected Papers, ZotAI, Litmaps, Consensus, Research Rabbit) supporting Literature Review. They have all pros and cons (and different scopes), but my biggest requirement would be to do this on my Zotero bibliographic collection (available offline as PDF/ePub).

ZotAI can use LMStudio (for embeddings and LLM models), but at that time, ZotAI was super slow and buggy.

Instead of going through the valley of sorrows (as threatofrain shared in the blog post - thanks for that), is there a more or less out-of-the-box solution (paid or free) for the demand (RAG for local literature review support)?

*If I am honest, it was rather a procrastination exercise, but this is for sure relatable for readers of HN :-D

New comment by z02d in "Laptops with Stickers"

z02d — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 10:39:05 +0000

I can only show my laptop without stickers:

https://i.ibb.co/TDmXWBpc/Whats-App-Image-2025-11-12-at-11-3...

New comment by z02d in "'A hostile state': Why some travellers are avoiding the US"

z02d — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 09:24:39 +0000

My girlfriend wanted to visit the US once in her life, but we decided to cancel the plans due to the current uncertainty. A German tattoo artist was detained because she had her work equipment with her. What will happen when I bring my phone and laptop as an IT guy?

New comment by z02d in "Everyone knows your location: tracking myself down through in-app ads"

z02d — Sun, 02 Feb 2025 20:46:04 +0000

There was a nice talk on the recent Chaos Communication Congress (from Chaos Computer Club):

https://media.ccc.de/v/38c3-databroker-files-wie-uns-apps-un...

(English audio available)

New comment by z02d in "I've acquired a new superpower"

z02d — Sat, 11 Jan 2025 07:48:44 +0000

I recently learned about this from one of my favourite German podcasts: https://freakshow.fm/fs286-zurueck-zur-vision (Starting at 2:50h)

New comment by z02d in "Telegram is asking German users when to share information with law enforcement"

z02d — Tue, 30 Aug 2022 11:45:53 +0000

Yes, see the German article: Gouvernment and Developer conflict about free speech, cyber bullying,, ... .

https://www.golem.de/news/an-die-polizei-telegram-bittet-nut...

New comment by z02d in "My parents collect cans for a living"

z02d — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 15:09:53 +0000

Glass bottles are 8 cents, if they are re-use. Re-use glass bottles with a clip closure are 15 cent (and there are still some other kind of bottles with 15 cent). If they are only single use, they are 25 cents (e.g. beer from Lidl).

New comment by z02d in "Please don't pay to use a pay toilet"

z02d — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 22:15:34 +0000

In my area of Germany, we have some places where public toilets are not available as desired. Instead of build new ones, which are expensive, the local responsible persons found a nice solution. They pay bars to let their toilets used. Bars and restaurants, who join this initiative get a sticker on the front door. So you don't have to sneak inside to use the restrooms.

New comment by z02d in "Cheap HDMI capture for Linux"

z02d — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 13:26:54 +0000

Off-Topic but somehow related: I was thinking about to use my iDevices as generic HDMI-Displays.

The afaik best app for doing this is Duet Display [1], if you want to use Mac/Win. But I want to use it for a Raspberry Pi for example. Duet display streams the display information to the own application via ethernet over lightning port.

HDMI itself is also some network protocol (dangerous superficial knowledge). Theoretically it should be possible to build a small device, which translates hdmi video/audio to the same kind of network via lightning port as duet and display?

What do you think? Do you see any pitfalls there, which I don't see?

[1] http://www.duetdisplay.com/

New comment by z02d in "Million Dollar iOS9 Bug Bounty"

z02d — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 17:54:06 +0000

MMD :D

New comment by z02d in "Chaos Computer Club congratulates Netzpolitik.org"

z02d — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 14:56:41 +0000

Someone ran an automatic pentesting tool and dumped the sql database of generalbundesanwalt.de .

http://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=htt...

New comment by z02d in "“Thank You” in Hindi and English Mean Very Different Things"

z02d — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 11:25:21 +0000

I asked some friends from Indian (Jaipur, Pune, Delhi) and they do not confirm this.

New comment by z02d in "The borderless SIM is finally here"

z02d — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 11:07:49 +0000

Also interesting: http://www.politico.eu/article/data-telecoms-europe-divide/

http://www.transatel-datasim.com

New comment by z02d in "My brain on electricity: A 130-day tDCS experiment"

z02d — Sun, 12 Apr 2015 21:16:35 +0000

Google Cache: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:PbUmEMZ...

New comment by z02d in "I completely messed up a freelance project,seeking options to end this"

z02d — Sun, 12 Apr 2015 20:59:01 +0000

First, you have to get the pressure from yourself. You need an imaginary stop-button in your brain go get away from all BS going on outside. Otherwise you are not able to think clear about your options.

Second, talk to a lawyer. I don't know where you are coming from, what kind of legal entity you are in (with your company? personal?). Worst case, you messed up and your company files bankruptcy. Depending on your country you are free of debts after few years, if you are even personal liable.

Third, start new company and make sure you learned from this.

Chin up!

New comment by z02d in "2015 Chromebook Pixel"

z02d — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 20:03:24 +0000

$999 8 GB RAM, 32 GB SSD

$1,299 16 GB RAM, 64GB SSD

New comment by z02d in "Nexus 6"

z02d — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 16:26:10 +0000

This is the real new selfie phone ;-)

Must be a typo (also in the German Translation)

New comment by z02d in "Nexus 6"

z02d — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 16:20:52 +0000

http://www.google.com/nexus/9/

New comment by z02d in "Hackers steal Western Michigan University professor's paycheck"

z02d — Sun, 02 Feb 2014 14:58:36 +0000

Off topic: A professor just earns $1,581 per month?

New comment by z02d in "Ask HN: What is the best drone for hackers?"

z02d — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 21:49:51 +0000

Just had a DJI Phantom under the christmas tree :-) Glad to read this here