Hacker News Reader

dam_jackalopeson FTC is investigating OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI companies over product risks

Mr. Musk is going to be busy for the next few months hammering out our new defense technology doctrine. So many issues, so few billionaires.

dam_jackalopeson Nissan's third generation e-POWER powertrain

laughs in Central Idahoan

In all seriousness, you're correct in re: to probably 90%+ of the population. There are definitely still areas where an EV can be challenging as your only vehicle, but those are places with pretty specific circumstances. They're deeply rural, they demand a lot more miles driven per user per year than most areas, there's more practical applications that EVs just aren't good enough at yet and there's a weird cultural resistance to EVs in a lot of those places. Even that's changing, though. It's just slower. Honestly, it's developing a lot faster even in these holdouts than I thought it would.

dam_jackalopeson Ask HN: What are you reading?

So, so good. Changed the way I read comics and I've been a lifelong fan of the medium.

dam_jackalopeson DraftKings is using AI to behaviorally target chronic gamblers

I'm not sure legalized betting makes fraud itself that much easier, but I'd agree that the incentives could now be larger in the US if tied in with legal betting. Those markets dwarf the illegal markets that drove a lot of famous instances of fraud prior to legalization. More fans are probably suspicious of calls now but, I mean, sports fans don't generally need much of a push to find a reason for suspicion of officials.

dam_jackalopeson DraftKings is using AI to behaviorally target chronic gamblers

I suspect most of the fraud by volume is going to be committed in the lower leagues in most nations just do to more access to individuals and less scrutiny.

dam_jackalopeson MongoDB CEO resigns to join Meta

Agree with most of this but they do deserve credit for the lift off that the UFC saw after the Ultimate Fighter. That was a legit cultural phenomenon for certain demos at the time. Without that, things could have have gone very, very differently.

dam_jackalopeson Oracle on the hook to pay data centre investors even if site has no electricity

lol. Thanks for this. GOOSE VALUE!

dam_jackalopeson New Jersey fines data center $1.1M after drone pics expose 62 gas generators

"Backlash was immediate, however, when Vineland’s mayor and council proposed giving DataOne a $6.2 million loan."

These poor data center operators do really need a hand up after all. Incredible. Of all of the things your municipality could use its development funds on, this would not make my shortlist.

dam_jackalopeson Oracle Cites 'Force Majeure' to Shield Itself on Controversial Data Center

I've had this same experience with Oracle shops. I've been in data roles for most of the last 20 years and it'd still give me pause to take work on an Oracle platform if only because they're doing their own thing so often.

dam_jackalopeson LinkedIn wins court order blocking mass scraping of user data

You'd have to ask them. They asked why people would use LinkedIn. "I have to have a LinkedIn profile in order to complete this application on Indeed" is a reason.

dam_jackalopeson LinkedIn wins court order blocking mass scraping of user data

Maybe not for the HN crowd, but it's a requirement for applying to a lot of places if you're just an average person and/ or not in tech. I only started getting interviews after I finally put a picture on my profile. It sucks, but its used by a LOT of employers if only to try to verify you're an actual person.

dam_jackalopeson Owners mourn spoiled food after firmware update bricks Samsung smart fridges

Cars are also one of those things that can be an emotional purchase and people do weird things. I spent way more than I needed to in order to get the car I wanted and I wanted it because it's a cool vehicle that, when I squint, still fits my needs. It wasn't smart financially but I'm extremely happy I did it. My wife could not care less about a vehicle outside of it being ergonomic and not having a payment. We'll be looking at depreciation curves and the like during that exercise.

dam_jackalopeson MUNI Heritage Weekend in San Francisco

Depends on what value you place on the vehicles I suppose.

dam_jackalopeson What Capital Never Told You About Rent

No, but the article doesn't really do that either.

dam_jackalopeson In Montana, a revolt against corporate money could reshape political spending

I haven't worked on campaigns for a LONG time but I don't think the basic answer has changed much. It's media and labor.

Presidential and statewide elections are a little different, but in most races the average voter isn't putting a lot of thought into an individual candidate. The bulk of that money isn't being spent to convince a voter to vote for an individual, it's convincing them to vote at all in full knowledge that most will break for one team or the other. It's part of why so much of the messaging is based at the lowest common denominator - it's more effective to spend money telling people that the "GOP hates women!" or "Dems want boys on your daughter's volleyball team!" in order to get the emotional response that will encourage action. Once you identify one of your "team", you basically spend money harassing them to vote until they do.

The groups that tend to spend more money win for the same reason that a product that is advertised more heavily, all other things being relatively equal, will outperform the product that advertises less.

dam_jackalopeson A warning about 'model welfare'

Who involved in the Citizens United case was at risk of imprisonment?

dam_jackalopeson Oracle’s 6am layoff emails hit staff amid new wave of cuts

Absolutely. They've just put themselves in a pretty poor situation to do even that. Whoops.

dam_jackalopeson I spent $220 on Google app ads and 60% of the installs were robots

Eh, I think you're correct in most cases but they work relatively well for our property leasing office. There's a convergence of factors at work there though; small number of high priced products being offered to a relatively small number of people in a certain geo location.

dam_jackalopeson Houthis 'take control' of key island in global shipping route

They're making big noises about taking Sana’a in their current offensive and there's been heavier fighting than in recent months. Other than that, it's hard to tell. Personally, it seems like the Yemeni gov't forces have quite a hill to climb.

The mainstream media has made it sound like the fall of Mocha was at least somewhat surprising, but I don't think that's accurate. It was pretty clear the Houthis would reach the port as late as last week.

dam_jackalopeson Houthis 'take control' of key island in global shipping route

The USA can use that money that way. It's not though. Spending isn't decreasing and any savings in tax has easily been overwhelmed by the increased costs facing consumers, especially in the last two years.

dam_jackalopeson Silicon Valley Is Transforming the Military-Industrial Complex

We'll still have plenty of utter failures. I was shocked hearing about the IVAS program when it was announced, it was such an obvious loser. I guess it's better to have burned 2billion rather than the full amount but whoever green lit that nonsense should spend the rest of their career peeling potatoes.

dam_jackalopeson How I advertise malicious software on Google Ads

Sometimes you don't get a choice, which is even more frustrating.

We got an admittedly very good deal to switch cell carriers. Part of that deal was receiving a debit card with my phone's trade in value loaded. That card turned out to be digital. I put it on my phone without thinking too much of it. However, given my lack of experience with Apple Pay, I didn't realize that I now didn't have access to my own card number. When I try to use the debit card, I am asked for a PIN that I've never been given an option to set up. When I call the card provider, the automated system demands a card number. Which I don't have.

Granted, it was my ignorance as a user that is responsible for some of this but it's pretty clear that the lack of access and support is intentional.

dam_jackalopeson Top Pentagon Official Contracted Personal Lawyer to Handle Minerals Deal

That may be, but the consequences for not taking these bad actors to task would have worse and longer lasting consequences. The portion of society that will fracture the most loudly has already attempted to storm the seat of government after a national election. We've seen what they're capable of and I'm much less afraid of that than permanently mafiatizing basically every level of the Federal government.

dam_jackalopeson You Know Who Hates AI? Insurance Claims Adjusters

The most obvious example were the 10 States which refused to accept increased Federal funding for Medicaid that was made available with the passage of the ACA, which seems largely ideologically driven.

Otherwise the situation is more complex than the original comment suggests, and I can only speak to one state (Idaho), but I don't think the scenario is uncommon in other GOP controlled states and isn't limited to Medicaid.

Idaho has cut taxes in the state for five consecutive years, largely (IMO) on an ideological basis. This had the result, desired by many in a deeply conservative legislature, of creating budget deficits. Even the GOP is normally wary of espousing cuts directly to the state's contribution to Medicaid, but the deficit gives them cover to reduce funding and introduce barriers to service like caps on authorized services and new work requirements. Even when revenues were higher than expected for FY 2026, the governor's office had to act to actually retain those unexpected revenues as it was pretty clear that the Legislature was going to look to claw them back and continue drive down State spending. It's worth noting that health services, including Medicaid funding, represent about a third of the State's budget and their largest portion of the budget.

This whole process has been playing out in public education funding in the State for years as well. Coincidentally, charter school enrollment has increased by roughly 35% over the same 2021 - 2026 period.

Attacking a policy, program or institution financially and then pointing to the deficiencies of those same programs to further fuel funding and efficacy reductions is a pretty well established tactic in US politics as I'm sure it is elsewhere.

dam_jackalopeson U.S. sanctions against the A/I Collective

Uh, sure? There tend to still be arms in the hands of groups who are disarming during a disarmament process. You really got me there...

dam_jackalopeson When Russia Colonised California

We'd visit Ft. Ross as a kid. Not much to look at from the pictures, but it certainly didn't feel that way in person when I was young. It was my first time seeing actual bayonets and it left quite an impression. Beautiful area as well.

dam_jackalopeson American Airlines mechanic Azriel “Al” Blackman has died

We worked on a proof of concept using HoloLens for an engine teardown team at a trucking OEM. Ran into issues around network, security, the Hololens itself and a general disinterest from the teardown team but there's a lot of room to run in this space. It was a fun, if frustrating, project.

dam_jackalopeson U.S. sanctions against the A/I Collective

The PKK is in the process of disarming. If this decision is based on the PKK specifically, the timing seems strange.