HNHacker News
TopNewBestAskShowJobs

nels

79 karma · joined November 8, 2017

submissionscomments
nels··on ReFrame – The EPaper Camera
Very cool! Any idea what the approximate battery life on this is?
nels··on Google's 200M-parameter time-series foundation model with 16k context
I think you meant to link this page: https://research.google/blog/a-decoder-only-foundation-model...
nels··on London–Calcutta bus service
Very impressive! I got curious and found this photo and brochure from the Indian Memory Project [1]

[1] https://xcancel.com/Indianmemory/status/1277521026813882368#...

nels··on From sci-fi to reality: Researchers realise quantum teleportation using tech
Seems like you're right! [1]

[1] https://studyfinds.org/physicists-pull-off-quantum-teleporta...

nels··on Useful patterns for building HTML tools
Really enjoyed this, interesting read as always! It reminded me of Google Labs’ recent GenTabs project [1], and also of a recent ACM paper on user-assembled LLM-mediated tools from web content [2]. Feels like similar concepts are emerging in multiple places, all centered around lightweight intent-driven tools rather than traditional apps, which I think makes a lot of sense. Curious how this will evolve!

[1] https://labs.google/disco

[2] https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3706598.3713285

nels··on Show HN: Gemini Pro 3 imagines the HN front page 10 years from now
It's interesting how number 5 on the list is the same as today's: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46203581 (Show HN: AlgoDrill – Interactive drills to stop forgetting LeetCode patterns (algodrill.io)).

I'm hoping we'll have gotten rid of current-style LeetCode interviews in 10 years from now :D

nels··on Colleges see significant drop in international students as fall semester begins
I agree that costs and administrative growth need to be cut, and that relying on international tuition is and should not a long-term fix. But international students are not the primary cause of rising costs or problems in universities as the original comment I responded to implied; tuition inflation, loan structures, and administrative expansion are.
nels··on Colleges see significant drop in international students as fall semester begins
International students at places like Stanford are not displacing Americans. Stanford is one of the top-ranked universities in the world, so the competition pool is global by definition. There is no evidence that equally qualified Americans are rejected in favor of international students. U.S. students remain the majority in both undergraduate and graduate programs.

The real barrier for many Americans is the cost of tuition, not competition with international students. That is where government and universities need to step up with better funding and support. Also, many international students stay in the U.S. after graduating, contributing to the economy and research. The problem is underfunding and poor policy decisions at the national level, not the presence of international students.

nels··on Colleges see significant drop in international students as fall semester begins
International students are not displacing Americans; they pay tuition, often at higher rates, and help sustain universities. The real problem is that higher education has been underfunded for years, and the current administration has only made things (much) worse by cutting funding further.

Universities and research are already struggling because of poor leadership and lack of investment, not because of international students. In the 2023-2024 academic year, international student numbers only comprised ~6% of the total U.S. enrollments.

nels··on Show HN: I created a PoC for live descriptions of the surroundings for the blind
Nice work! You may be interested in a paper that explored a similar concept and included some interesting ways of dealing with latency called WorldScribe: https://worldscribe.org.
nels··on Show HN: Peanut Butter Spinner
The main difference in peanut butter isn’t about being European or American actually—it’s about the recipe. Some brands add extra oil, like palm oil, to keep it from separating (Skippy (US) and Calvé (EU), for instance). Without it, peanut butter can separate, leaving oil on top.
nels··on The metaverse is already here – it's Minecraft
The concept of the metaverse also involves doing those activities (e.g., work, fitness, entertainment) inside the metaverse. For instance, the home workout videos that people watch on their TVs these days could someday be replaced by an immersive fitness experience on AR glasses.
nels··on Show HN: Shox: A customisable status bar for your terminal
Nice! This seems like a great status bar solution that is independent of which terminal you use.

For iTerm users, there's a built-in feature that works very well: https://www.iterm2.com/documentation-status-bar.html

nels··on Ask HN: Should I move in with my co-founder?
Assuming you have a good current working environment away from home, I don't see the potential benefits of moving in together outweighing the likely negative consequences that you've mentioned. I definitely agree with you on that your home environment will become too intense.

Everyone needs time away from work, not only to rest but also to be able to take a step back and reflect on your considerations and decisions.

nels··on Show HN: PageDash, Your Personal Web Archive
Have you considered saving files (such as fonts and JS libs) loaded through major CDNs centrally just once instead of storing it again each time a page is saved?

Maybe you already have plans for this, but it would be smart to implement a system that checks whether files are already present on your server so you don't waste any of your user's quota and the server's disk space.