Hacker NewsSaturday, November 8

Thomas Ptacek argues that LLM agents are surprisingly simple to build and worth understanding hands-on. He demonstrates how basic agents can be created with just a few lines of code using OpenAI's API, adding tools like ping functionality. The key insight is that agents are just HTTP APIs with context management, not complex systems. He encourages building custom agents rather than relying on existing tools like Claude Code, emphasizing that understanding the fundamentals helps form better opinions about LLM capabilities and limitations.

Soumith Chintala is leaving Meta after 11 years, including nearly 8 years leading PyTorch from inception to 90%+ AI adoption. He feels PyTorch is now in a stable place with strong leadership and doesn't need him anymore. Despite having significant industry influence, curiosity drove him to pursue something new and smaller outside Meta. He expresses gratitude to colleagues and confidence in PyTorch's future.

Meta earned $16 billion from scam ads and banned goods sales in 2024, representing 10% of total revenue according to internal documents. The company weighed enforcement costs against regulatory fines, prioritizing regions with steeper penalties while cuts to moderation teams left most violations unaddressed.

A cybersecurity researcher processed nearly 2 billion unique email addresses and 1.3 billion passwords from credential stuffing lists used by criminals. The data was verified by testing with subscribers who confirmed many passwords were legitimate but old. This is not a new breach but aggregated data from multiple past incidents that criminals use to attempt account logins across different services.

The Farmers' Almanac, after over 200 years of publication, announced that the 2026 edition will be their final one. The editors expressed gratitude to loyal readers who have relied on the almanac for weather forecasts, planting advice, and folk wisdom passed down through generations.

This article presents a twelve-step framework for understanding game design, focusing on core concepts like fun as problem-solving mastery, the distinction between problems and toys, the role of uncertainty and prediction in creating engaging gameplay, feedback loops that enable player learning, and how games are essentially machines built around uncertainty that players navigate through repeated interactions and skill development.

A Rockstar Games employee claims the company fired over 34 workers for "gross misconduct" related to Discord posts, but alleges this was actually union busting targeting union organizers. The anonymous employee says fired workers were denied union representation, given no evidence of misconduct, and that the private Discord only discussed unionization and working conditions, not game leaks.

Vodafone Germany is exiting all public internet exchanges by 2025, routing traffic through Inter.link instead. This mirrors Deutsche Telekom's approach, which has caused widespread customer complaints about slow speeds and degraded service. The move could force content providers to pay Inter.link fees for reliable access to Vodafone customers, potentially creating internet bottlenecks and higher costs that may be passed to consumers.

Users report being blocked from accessing Reddit with "network policy" messages, discussing VPN bans, datacenter IP blocking, and potential login requirements. Some suggest alternatives like Lemmy or Redlib as workarounds.

Denmark announced an agreement to ban social media access for children under 15, with some parental exceptions starting at age 13. The move follows Australia's similar ban and aims to protect kids from harmful online content. Officials cite that 94% of Danish children under 13 have social media profiles despite existing restrictions. The ban won't take effect immediately as lawmakers need months to pass legislation. Denmark plans to use its national electronic ID system and age-verification apps for enforcement, with potential fines up to 6% of tech companies' global income for non-compliance.