Hacker News
1Statement from Jerome Powell
- The Federal Reserve Chair announces that the Department of Justice served grand jury subpoenas threatening criminal indictment related to Senate testimony about building renovations. The Chair views this as political pressure due to the Fed's independent interest rate decisions rather than following presidential preferences, and vows to continue serving with integrity despite threats.
Hypernormalization and political paralysis
Discussion of Adam Curtis's concept where people accept lies from those in power, creating a cycle where "we know they lie, they know we know, they don't care." Commenters debate whether collective action is still possible or if Americans are trapped in apathy.Federal Reserve independence under threat
Strong support for Powell's defiant response to criminal charges, with many viewing this as an unprecedented attack on Fed independence. Comparisons made to authoritarian countries that prosecute central bankers for political purposes.Democratic institutions failing
Concern that Trump's second term shows he's learned to exploit presidential powers more effectively, with traditional checks and balances proving inadequate. Discussion of whether America is heading toward authoritarianism with limited options for resistance.
2CLI agents make self-hosting on a home server easier and fun
- Jordan Fulghum describes how CLI agents like Claude Code have revolutionized home server self-hosting, making it accessible and enjoyable for non-sysadmins. Using a cheap mini PC with Tailscale networking, he runs services like Vaultwarden, Plex, and Immich by simply asking Claude to configure everything instead of wrestling with Docker syntax and config files.
Tailscale vs. wireguard security trade-offs
Discussion centers on whether Tailscale's convenience justifies introducing a third-party dependency versus self-hosting WireGuard. Supporters cite NAT traversal and ease of use, while critics prefer controlling their own keys and avoiding external dependencies.Self-hosting complexity and reliability challenges
Users share experiences with power outages, hardware failures, and maintenance overhead that make home servers demanding hobbies. Some advocate for UPS systems and generators, while others find cloud alternatives more practical.AI-assisted system administration benefits and risks
Debate over using Claude Code for server management - whether it enables learning or creates dangerous blind spots. Some praise AI as an accelerator for complex tasks, others warn about trusting automated suggestions without deep understanding.
3iCloud Photos Downloader
- iCloud Photos Downloader is a cross-platform command-line tool that downloads photos from iCloud to local storage. It offers three modes: copy, sync, and move, with features like Live Photos support, automatic de-duplication, and continuous monitoring. The project is seeking maintainers and volunteers.
Apple Photos backup complexity
Discussion centers on the challenges of backing up Apple Photos data, which includes more than just image files - albums, Live Photos, edits, metadata, and adjusted dates are stored separately. Several tools are mentioned including Photos Backup Anywhere, which preserves all this metadata during backup and restore.Official Apple backup limitations
Users discuss the lack of straightforward official methods to download large iCloud photo libraries (400GB+), with workarounds including disabling storage optimization on Mac, using EU data export requests, or third-party tools like icloudpd.Alternative backup solutions
Multiple third-party tools are discussed including Parachute, PhotoSync, libimobiledevice, and docker-icloudpd. Users share workflows for backing up photos to NAS, external drives, and self-hosted solutions like Immich.
4Apple picks Google's Gemini to power Siri
- Apple is partnering with Google to power its AI features, including a major Siri upgrade, using Google's Gemini technology and cloud infrastructure. The multiyear deal comes as Apple has lagged behind competitors in the AI race since ChatGPT's 2022 launch, while Google strengthens its position against OpenAI.
Apple's strategic decision to outsource AI training
Commenters debate whether Apple's choice to partner with Google rather than build their own frontier models is smart cost management or a strategic weakness. Discussion covers training costs, talent acquisition challenges, and whether this makes Apple dependent on competitors.Privacy concerns and "theater" claims
Users question Apple's privacy promises, with some calling it "privacy theater" while others defend Apple's Private Cloud Compute approach. Debate includes closed-source verification issues, government data requests, and comparisons to truly privacy-focused services.Siri's poor performance and user frustration
Multiple users share specific examples of Siri failing at basic tasks like emergency calls, playing music, and following simple commands. Discussion centers on whether Google's Gemini integration can finally fix these longstanding usability issues.
5Cowork: Claude Code for the rest of your work
- Anthropic released Cowork, a research preview for Claude Max subscribers on macOS that lets Claude access and work with files in chosen folders. Unlike regular conversations, Claude can autonomously read, edit, and create files while keeping users informed of its progress. Users maintain control over folder access and Claude asks before significant actions, though risks like file deletion and prompt injections exist. The tool extends beyond coding to handle tasks like organizing downloads, creating spreadsheets from screenshots, and drafting reports. Future improvements include cross-device sync and Windows support.
Security and prompt injection concerns
Users worried about Claude's vulnerability to malicious prompt injections that could steal data or cause destructive actions. Anthropic acknowledges the sandbox uses VMs with limited access, but critics point out DNS exfiltration risks and question asking non-technical users to monitor for suspicious behavior.Data privacy and training concerns
Discussion about Anthropic's policy changes allowing training on user data unless explicitly opted out. Users express concern about feeding sensitive business data to AI companies, with some noting the convenience vs privacy tradeoff while others worry about competitive implications.System safety and irreversible actions
Concerns that unlike code which can be reverted, file system operations cannot be easily undone. Users worry about non-technical users accidentally destroying their computers, though some point to existing backup solutions like Time Machine and filesystem snapshots.
6Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids
- A parent built a physical floppy disk remote control system for their 3-year-old to independently choose TV content without complicated modern interfaces. Real floppy disks store simple commands that control a Chromecast when inserted into a modified drive, creating a tangible, empowering media experience that eliminates auto-play and gives children direct control over their entertainment choices.
Modern TV usability problems
Discussion centers on how modern smart TVs are poorly designed for children and elderly users, with slow, complex interfaces requiring multiple remotes and app navigation. Users share frustrations about 10-20 second UI delays, forced updates that slow performance, and the loss of simple channel up/down functionality that made older TVs accessible to all ages.Child-friendly media solutions
Participants discuss various physical media solutions for kids, including Yoto players with RFID cards, DIY projects using Raspberry Pi and NFC cards, and the benefits of tangible controls over screens. The conversation covers pricing concerns, library integration, and the educational value of physical interaction with media selection.Screen time concerns for young children
Parents debate appropriate media exposure for toddlers, with some advocating minimal screen time due to addictive behaviors observed in young children. Discussion includes the emotional regulation challenges that arise from screen use, the value of boredom, and practical considerations for parents who need brief respites while maintaining child development priorities.
7TimeCapsuleLLM: LLM trained only on data from 1800-1875
- TimeCapsule LLM is a language model trained exclusively on historical texts from specific time periods to eliminate modern bias and authentically replicate historical language and worldview. The project has progressed through multiple versions, with v0 starting from 187MB of 1800s data showing incoherent but period-accurate responses, v0.5 improving to proper Victorian writing style, and v1 successfully connecting historical events with real figures. The latest v2 uses 90GB of London texts from 1800-1875, though recent evaluation models show tokenization issues. Unlike fine-tuning modern models, this approach trains from scratch using only historical documents to create truly period-authentic AI responses.
Testing LLMs with historical data
Discussion about training cutting-edge models on pre-1900 data to test if they could independently discover quantum mechanics and relativity, with debate over whether this would prove genuine intelligence or just pattern matching capabilities.Historical accuracy concerns
Criticism of the project's historical expertise, particularly pointing out grammatical errors like "Who art Henry" which isn't correct English from any historical period, raising questions about the quality of the historical dataset.Technical implementation and access
Users seeking practical ways to run and test the model through various platforms like Ollama, LM Studio, or hosted APIs, with mixed results on output quality and coherence reported by early testers.
8Statement by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome F. Powell [video]
Link preference discussion
Users suggesting moderators change the current YouTube video link to the official Federal Reserve webpage that contains both the video and transcript text for better accessibility and completeness.Duplicate post management
Discussion about merging duplicate posts covering the same Fed speech, with moderators ultimately moving comments to consolidate the discussion threads.
9Gentoo Linux 2025 Review
- Gentoo Linux celebrated 2025 achievements including four new developers, migration from GitHub to Codeberg, EAPI 9 finalization, WSL support, GnuPG alternatives, improved Rust bootstrap, and better NGINX packaging. The distribution now has 31,663 ebuilds for 19,174 packages with 89GB of binary packages available.
Gentoo's low funding despite influence
Users express surprise at Gentoo's modest $20K annual budget despite being used by major companies like Google (ChromeOS) and Sony (PlayStation Cloud). Discussion covers the incredible ROI compared to commercial software and debate over whether more funding would help or hurt the project.RISC-V support and architecture flexibility
Gentoo's source-based nature makes it naturally architecture-agnostic, allowing easy support for new ISAs like RISC-V. Users compare this advantage to binary distributions that struggle with new hardware, though others note Fedora and Debian already ship RISC-V versions.Migration experiences and alternatives
Long-time Gentoo users discuss switching to NixOS, Arch, or other distributions due to compilation time on older hardware, maintenance burden, or changing needs. Many express nostalgia for Gentoo's learning value and customization capabilities while acknowledging practical limitations.
10Ozempic reduced grocery spending by an average of 5.3% in the US
- New research shows Americans taking GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic reduce household food spending by 5.3% on groceries and 8% at fast-food restaurants within six months. The biggest drops are in ultra-processed snacks, sweets, and calorie-dense foods, while healthier items like yogurt and fresh fruit increase slightly.
International comparison of GLP-1 usage
Discussion reveals GLP-1 usage varies significantly between countries, with ~16% of US households vs ~8% in Germany. Debate centers on whether differences stem from food quality, healthcare systems, or cultural factors, with some arguing obesity rates are rising globally.Misleading headline interpretation
Users clarify that the 5.3% grocery spending reduction applies only to households using GLP-1 drugs, not all US households. This represents roughly 0.8% impact on total US grocery spending, which is still considered remarkable.Social stigma and medication disclosure
Many users don't announce their GLP-1 use due to moral judgment from others who view weight loss medication as "cheating." Discussion explores parallels to other medical treatments and questions about religious/cultural attitudes toward obesity.