Hacker News
1Nobel Peace Prize 2025: María Corina Machado
- The Nobel Peace Prize 2025 was awarded to Maria Corina Machado for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.
Venezuelan opposition and democratic resistance
Commenters praised María Corina Machado's coordination of vote monitoring during Venezuela's 2024 election, collecting evidence of fraud despite government threats. Her peaceful resistance to Maduro's dictatorship was seen as an impressive achievement worthy of recognition.Nobel Peace Prize credibility and past controversies
Discussion centered on whether the Nobel Peace Prize has lost meaning due to controversial past recipients like Obama, Kissinger, and Aung San Suu Kyi. Many argued the prize became politicized rather than merit-based.Resource curse and authoritarian regimes
Analysis of how oil-dependent economies like Venezuela enable dictatorships since rulers don't need population support for GDP generation. Commenters discussed parallels with Cuba's model and concerns about AGI potentially creating similar dynamics.
2Show HN: I invented a new generative model and got accepted to ICLR
- The author invented Discrete Distribution Networks (DDN), a novel generative model accepted to ICLR2025. Unlike mainstream models, DDN generates multiple outputs simultaneously to approximate target distributions, featuring zero-shot conditional generation and tree-structured latent representation.
Open review process
Discussion about ICLR's policy of making all paper reviews public regardless of acceptance, with commenters appreciating the transparency and ability to point out reviewer misunderstandings in rejections.Technical architecture and implementation
Debate about DDN's efficiency, with clarification that it uses 1x1 convolutions only in output layers while 3x3 convolutions provide computational power, and discussion of sampling vs routing mechanisms.Research quality and scaling potential
Comments on the impressive single-author work, preliminary results not yet reaching state-of-the-art, and potential applications in object detection, audio models, and edge computing scenarios.
3Ryanair flight landed at Manchester airport with six minutes of fuel left
- A Ryanair flight from Pisa to Scotland was forced to divert to Manchester after three failed landing attempts due to 100mph winds during Storm Amy, landing with just 220kg of fuel remaining - enough for only 5-6 minutes of flying. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch has opened an investigation into the serious incident.
Fuel reserve regulations and safety margins
Aviation experts explain that landing with only 6 minutes of fuel violates safety protocols requiring 30-45 minute reserves. The incident represents cutting into emergency margins that should never be planned for use, raising questions about fuel management decisions and regulatory compliance.Investigation necessity and safety culture
Debate over whether investigation is warranted since the flight landed safely. Aviation professionals emphasize that near-misses must be investigated to prevent future incidents, following the "Swiss cheese model" where safety depends on multiple redundant layers rather than luck.Decision-making during emergency diversions
Discussion of the flight's path from failed attempts at Prestwick to Edinburgh, then Manchester. Questions arise about when crews should have diverted earlier and whether choosing Edinburgh over Manchester initially was appropriate given weather conditions and fuel constraints.
4Show HN: I built a web framework in C
- Lavandula is a lightweight C web framework for building modern web applications quickly. It features routing, HTTP endpoints, middleware, minimal dependencies, CLI scaffolding, testing framework, logging, and SQLite integration. Installation involves cloning the repository and running an install script.
Pointer difficulty in learning C
Debate over whether pointers are actually difficult to understand, with some saying they're easy while others explain the challenges. Many suggest teaching assembly first helps, and issues arise from confusing syntax (* vs &) and complex pointer-to-pointer structures.Code quality and praise
Multiple commenters praise the clean, readable C code and modern approach, calling it a great learning example. However, some critique lack of error checking and warn against AI-generated code in production systems.Security and production concerns
Discussion about dangers of writing HTTP parsers from scratch in C, with warnings about vulnerabilities. Suggestions to use battle-tested libraries like libmicrohttpd instead, and emphasis that this shouldn't be used in production.
5Examples are the best documentation
- Most developers need simple examples when searching documentation, but 95% of the time official docs don't provide them. Technical documentation typically targets experts deeply familiar with the ecosystem, requiring significant mental energy to understand. A basic example showing function usage is often more helpful than lengthy explanations of parameters and concepts.
Examples vs reference documentation
Heated debate over whether documentation should prioritize examples or comprehensive API references. Some argue examples are insufficient for power users who need complete parameter lists and behavior specs, while others contend examples provide crucial context and reduce friction for learning new tools.Need for both types of documentation
Strong consensus that good documentation requires both examples AND reference material. Examples help beginners understand usage patterns quickly, while detailed specs enable advanced users to solve complex problems. The Diátaxis framework is cited as providing structure for different documentation types.Unix man pages lacking examples
Discussion of how traditional Unix man pages are written as exhaustive references for experts but lack practical examples for newcomers. Tools like tldr and cheat.sh were created specifically to address this gap by providing example-focused alternatives.
6Show HN: I've built a tiny hand-held keyboard
Confusion about device purpose
Multiple users were confused whether this is a keyboard for typing text or making music, due to terminology like "chords" and "arpeggios" and a musical note icon. Clarification provided that it's for text input, with these terms borrowed from music to describe key combinations.Request for demonstration video
Several commenters repeatedly requested a video showing the device in action, wanting to see typing speed, hand movements, and how the chord system works in practice to better understand its functionality.Alternative input methods and ergonomics
Discussion about innovation in input devices, comparing to existing solutions like Azeron keyboards, ergonomic keyboards, and AR glasses for coding while lying down, questioning why we still use 1874 typewriter layouts.
7Figure 03, our 3rd generation humanoid robot
- Figure has introduced Figure 03, their third-generation humanoid robot designed for homes and commercial use. Key improvements include enhanced AI capabilities through their Helix system, better safety features with soft materials, wireless charging, improved audio systems, and redesigned hands with tactile sensors. The robot was built for mass manufacturing at their new BotQ facility, which can produce 12,000 units annually.
Cherry-picked demonstrations and reliability concerns
Users heavily criticized Figure's videos as marketing demos with extremely narrow success paths. Many noted high failure rates, lack of real-world testing, and absence of uncut footage showing actual capabilities. Comparisons made to tech demos vs. production-ready systems.Privacy and data collection concerns
Significant worry about robots uploading "terabytes of data" from homes, with comparisons to Ring camera violations and Roomba privacy breaches. Users want local processing and serious privacy guarantees before adoption.Economic viability and market readiness
Discussion focused on unit economics being poor at $20-40k price points, questioning whether household robots make financial sense compared to human labor or specialized automation solutions.
8Igalia, Servo, and the Sovereign Tech Fund
- Igalia received funding from the Sovereign Tech Fund to advance the Servo web engine, a Rust-based browser project. The investment will support three key areas: implementing accessibility features for screen readers, completing the WebView API for app embedding, and improving project maintenance including issue triage and community support.
German digital sovereignty initiatives
Discussion of Germany's Sovereign Tech Agency funding open source projects like Servo, with €545,400 over 2025-2026. Users noted the agency moved to a new digital ministry and debated whether the €17M total budget is sufficient compared to US tech giants' resources.European tech independence challenges
Users discussed Europe's continued dependence on iOS/Android app stores and Microsoft despite sovereignty efforts. Concerns raised about EU digital identity wallet implementations defaulting to mobile platforms, with mixed views on regulatory impact.Servo's development strategy and potential
Discussion of Servo's focus on WebView components before full browser implementation, accessibility features, and comparisons to Ladybird. Users expressed interest in Tauri integration and replacing embedded Chromium in applications.
9Two things LLM coding agents are still bad at
- The author explains why coding with LLMs feels awkward, citing two main issues: LLMs don't copy-paste code like humans do, instead rewriting everything from memory, and they make assumptions rather than asking clarifying questions when uncertain. This makes them feel like overconfident interns rather than replacements for human developers.
LLM source citation and hallucination problems
Users report LLMs citing their own comments as authoritative sources, creating circular references. LLMs frequently hallucinate details like URLs while appearing confident, making fact-checking essential even for simple tasks.Copy-paste limitations in AI coding
LLMs regenerate code from memory instead of true copy-paste, introducing subtle errors like hallucinated URLs or changed constants. This fundamental limitation makes refactoring risky and requires careful diff review.Context and prompt engineering challenges
AI agents struggle with large codebases, missing existing helper functions and design patterns. Success requires extensive context provision and specific prompting techniques, making supervision necessary for complex tasks.
10Why Self-Host?
- The author argues for self-hosting personal services to gain privacy, sovereignty, and control over personal data. They explain how tech companies collect sensitive information from calendars, contacts, and location data, then provide specific recommendations for self-hosting solutions including calendar servers, email, smart home systems, RSS aggregators, and location tracking to reduce dependence on big tech companies.
Practical self-hosting setup vs cloud complexity
Discussion centers on how most small software businesses can self-host with simple VPS setups using reverse proxies like Caddy/Nginx, databases, and basic security measures, rather than expensive cloud vendors. Users debate the trade-offs between simplicity and security concerns.Self-hosting challenges and security concerns
Users express anxiety about managing OS security, staying updated with CVEs, and proper firewall configuration. Some share experiences of running exposed servers successfully, while others prefer managed solutions to reduce security surface area.Evolution from simple installation to complex setup
Discussion about how self-hosting has become more complex compared to simple installations like LimeWire. Users debate whether modern Docker/SSH requirements are barriers to adoption and suggest solutions like better package management.