Home

The article explores the increasing number of Stanford students claiming to have disabilities, examining potential factors such as the university's disability accommodations, a changing societal view of disabilities, and the potential incentives or pressures for students to seek disability status.

Microsoft is scaling back its sales targets for AI-powered chatbot agents, as customers are hesitant to adopt unproven technologies. The company is facing challenges in convincing enterprises to integrate these AI assistants into their operations and workflows.

Django 6.0 release notes highlight major updates, including new features, improvements, and bug fixes. The release focuses on enhancing the framework's capabilities and providing a more robust and efficient platform for web development.

Multivox is an open-source voice synthesizer that allows users to create custom voices and soundscapes. The project aims to provide a flexible and accessible platform for audio experimentation and creative expression.

The article discusses the growing popularity of electric vehicles (EVs) and their potential impact on the environment and energy grid. It explores the challenges and opportunities faced by the EV industry, including battery technology, charging infrastructure, and government policies.

The article provides an overview of the current state of artificial intelligence (AI), highlighting its rapid advancements, growing impact on various industries, and the need for responsible development and deployment of AI technologies.

The article discusses a 'Wall of Shame' created by the Zenfyr developer to highlight smartphone manufacturers that have implemented bootloader unlock restrictions, making it difficult for users to customize their devices. The summary focuses on the main points of the article without revealing all the details.

Proxmox, a leading provider of open-source virtualization solutions, has announced the release of Proxmox Datacenter Manager 1.0, a comprehensive platform for managing and orchestrating virtualized environments across multiple servers and cloud infrastructures.

The article discusses the European Union's new mandatory labeling requirements for software, which aim to provide transparency about the software's origins, maintenance, and security updates. The labels will help consumers make informed decisions about the software they use.

The European Union's top court has ruled that online platforms are liable for copyright infringement by their users, making it virtually impossible to legally operate a user-generated content platform in the EU. This decision is seen as a significant blow to the future of the internet and online free expression.

The article discusses the ongoing challenges and repairs of the Hammersmith Bridge in London, which has been closed to vehicle traffic since 2019 due to structural issues. It highlights the complex engineering and financial obstacles involved in restoring the historic bridge and the impact on the local community.

The article explores the Speelkok Museum in the Netherlands, which showcases a unique collection of antique music boxes and mechanical musical instruments from the 18th and 19th centuries. It provides insights into the museum's history, its extensive collection, and the preservation efforts to maintain these historical musical artifacts.

Hey HN! We're Arnav and Jeremy and we're building Browser Buddy, a recommendation system you can chat with to find quality Internet writing based on your interests and aspirations.

As we've grown up, this writing was a source of inspiration that helped us discover ideas and opportunities we didn't even know we were looking for (ex. applying to YC because of PG's essays).

But despite so many new creators and websites coming online, the best of the open Internet remains hard-to-find, scattered across personal sites (https://www.paulgraham.com/, https://www.eugenewei.com/), niche publications (https://www.noemamag.com/, https://worksinprogress.co/), and various independent publishing platforms (https://bearblog.dev/, https://substack.com/, https://medium.com/). Outside of "social" media platforms, there's very high friction to get into a new subject or stumble upon credible people who write about your interests.

We feel there should be an easier (and mobile-friendly) way to find fantastic media and curate this intentional, interesting information diet for yourself.

Browser Buddy is an iOS app that curates this interesting, thought-provoking writing for you from across the Internet. It's particularly good to explore topics like programming, startups, math, philosophy, machine learning, and design.

Here's a demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmEeo4mjc7U

Here are some example recommendations:

"I'm trying to grow my early stage consumer internet company": https://cdixon.org/2015/01/31/come-for-the-tool-stay-for-the... https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-the-biggest-consumer-...

"I want to learn how to build beautiful web interfaces": https://frankchimero.com/blog/2015/the-webs-grain/ https://alistapart.com/article/responsive-web-design/

"Teach me the history of the Internet": https://www.mic.com/impact/how-geocities-webrings-made-the-9... https://computerhistory.org/blog/history-of-the-future-octob...

"I'm trying to read more about games and game theory": https://franklantz.substack.com/p/playing-balatro https://joecarlsmith.com/2022/03/16/on-expected-utility-part...

"I've been getting into network science and network theory": https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/10/27/warrens-plazas-and-the... https://www.strangeloopcanon.com/p/seeing-like-a-network

We trained a language model to recommend webpages how people do through hyperlinks. Hyperlinks can be an expressive way to describe a webpage (https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/07/01/the-rhetoric-of-the-hy...), but there's a lot of spam and low-quality linking online that would serve as bad training examples. We found the structure of the link graph to still be a fantastic way to understand what content is salient, and used it heavily to filter and build our dataset. The resulting model is best for expressive, exploratory queries where you describe what you are looking for (like a prompt to an LLM) rather than entering in keywords (like a search on Google). This model is the main "curation" step in our system that picks from our index of ~150 million (and growing) webpages.

We built Browser Buddy to try and recreate the feeling of getting a thoughtful recommendation from a smart friend. Our early users have described it as a "refreshing stream of timely and timeless writing", "serendipitous discovery", "rabbit holes that feel joyfully unfunneled". We are iterating on the concept and how it's presented, but we really value the HN community and would love to hear what you all think:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/browser-buddy/id6752281959

Thank you for your time and being a part of the Internet we love!

Jeremy (jeremy@browserbuddy.com) and Arnav (arnav@browserbuddy.com)

The article discusses the role of the UK's communications regulator Ofcom in regulating online content and the challenges it faces in balancing free speech and content moderation. It highlights Ofcom's expanded powers and the ongoing debate around its approach to content regulation.

Stardust OS is an open-source operating system designed to be lightweight, secure, and privacy-focused. It aims to provide a minimalist and user-friendly alternative to traditional desktop environments, emphasizing customization and performance.

The article discusses the legislative process in the European Union, highlighting how the European Commission proposes and drafts a large number of laws and regulations that are then adopted by the European Parliament and Council.

Researchers at MIT have developed an ultrasonic device that can dramatically speed up the harvesting of water from air, making it a more viable solution for water-scarce regions. The device uses low-power ultrasonic vibrations to enhance the condensation of water vapor, increasing the rate of water collection by up to 60 times compared to passive systems.

The article explores the disappearance of Sam Kirchner, a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence who had developed a groundbreaking algorithm to halt AI's advancement. It delves into the mystery surrounding his sudden disappearance and the potential implications for the future of AI technology.

The U.S. government plans to review social media profiles of H-1B visa applicants starting in 2025, as part of an effort to scrutinize the visa program and the people seeking to work in the country on temporary visas.

A recent study found that chatbots can significantly sway people's political opinions, often providing inaccurate information. The research highlights the potential risks of AI-powered chatbots in shaping political discourse and the need for greater awareness and regulation around their use.