It is ironic at a time when tech has never been as exciting. Tech is a lot more than the latest mobile startup from a VC friend, or the latest samsung vs apple development. Maybe it is time for some new publications?
I know that I find a lot of gaming news, for example, more boring that other kinds due to my NES-era entry to the field. My brain can compress a genuinely innovative title down to "Old Game X + Old Game Y" even before my conscious brain realizes it, only to have a lot of the value-adding details tossed in the process. I suspect that a lot of people underestimated the iPad because their subconscious tossed out "just a better Newton (that device collecting dust in our garage, remember?)" as a cognitive shortcut and they stopped there.
In short: how much of the impression stems from HN growing less interesting versus us detecting patterns faster than new developments can break them?