News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

befictious

It'd be hilarious if it was just some dude who looked a lot like him and is just so sick and tired of how he can't go anywhere without people thinking he's tim curry
Re:Remove AI Watermarks on Wednesday May 20, 2026 @01:53AM (#48203612)
all's fair in love and war
Good thing we trained our fortune teller calculators on all that historic shittiness!
Re:Your Website Is Not for You on Friday May 01, 2026 @05:45PM (#47980816)
If your designers are only picking colors, fonts, and spacing then you don't have designers, you have software art directors.
Re:The biggest insect ever was a "dragonfly" on Wednesday April 29, 2026 @12:53AM (#47944293)
An 18" dragonfly is terrifying
Re:On hacker mindset on Tuesday April 14, 2026 @10:42PM (#47774060)
"The purpose of a system is what it does" ...and all that jazz
Re:Hallucination Risk Calculator on Wednesday September 10, 2025 @01:43AM (#45193758)
>it just feels like a scam aimed at burning through more tokens.

I have a growing tin foil hat theory that the business model of LLM's is the same as 1-900-psychic numbers of old.

For just 25¢ 1-900-psychic will solve all your problems in just 5 minutes! Still need help?! No problem! We'll work with you until you get your answers for only 10¢ a minute until your happy!

eerily similar

then it would just be like real estate with off market listings where companies have a black market hiring pool and then just do the legal loophole steps of registering before "officially" posting and immediately hiring their desired candidate... which would probably have the shady side effect of making the policy "look efficient" without actually solving the job search problem.
Re:NSW Fair Trading – Dark Patterns on Thursday July 31, 2025 @07:50PM (#44751532)
i think they know that and are just being cheeky for affect.

however, URL dark patterns are the digital equivalent of IRL social engineering.

Re:On not noticing rather too many things on Tuesday October 24, 2023 @04:24PM (#38004959)
What a pithy example of the human experience. I love this slice of life vignette.

I would argue, even better said than the blog post.

Re:What IS your vote actually worth!? on Thursday August 13, 2020 @07:10PM (#24150838)
Really helps wrap your head around how valuable those lower population states are when campaigning.

Pretty big ROI for each individual voter.

Yes I’m ignoring all the different ways it gets “balanced” at the end of the day and ignoring popular vote is still popular vote.

From their Privacy Policy...

>We automatically collect certain information from you when you use the Platform, including internet or other network activity information such as your IP address, geolocation-related data (as described below), unique device identifiers, browsing and search history (including content you have viewed in the Platform), and Cookies (as defined below).

>We collect information about your location, including location information based on your SIM card and/or IP address. With your permission, we may also collect Global Positioning System (GPS) data.

>You can switch off GPS location information functionality on your mobile device if you do not wish to share GPS information.

The above makes it sound like you have to turn off GPS for everything. They could likely be skirting different methods for collecting this. and the only way to prevent it is turning off gps at the device level not app permission level

>We use the 'Region' you select in Settings to customise your TikTok experience. When you use the Platform on a mobile device, we will collect information about your location. In certain jurisdictions, with your permission, we will collect Global Positioning System (GPS) data and mobile device location information. If you do not wish to share your precise location with us, you can switch off location services via the settings on your mobile device

>5. Where we store your personal data. The personal data we collect from you may be stored on a server located in Singapore or the United States, outside of the country where you live. We maintain major servers around the world to bring you our services globally and continuously.

Re:The Mac is not an Open Platform anymore on Tuesday June 23, 2020 @10:34PM (#23623335)
clickbait title. fluffy content.
Have you gone to https://www.douyin.com/ ? it IS TIKTOK...
Re:Peacetime CEO/Wartime CEO (2011) on Thursday March 12, 2020 @08:31PM (#22563554)
War isn't Hell. War is war, and Hell is Hell. And of the two, war is a lot worse." What is business? Lemonade.

Love this. just wanted to punch up the end.

Re:Ask HN: Bloated engineering titles? on Monday March 09, 2020 @02:56PM (#22528483)
Have you worked in a tech company where the engineer's have some sort of licensure? I haven't experienced that. I'm not doubting you just curious.
Re:On the shoulders of the giants on Monday March 09, 2020 @02:06PM (#22527880)
Halt and Catch Fire is SO underated! It's fun. I try and describe it as if the team that made Mad Men created Silicon Valley.

It's fun, nostalgic, and shows a fairly accurate few of the devil-may-care and slightly-charlatan approach to early (and some current) startups.

Re:Products I Wish Existed on Tuesday January 07, 2020 @03:29AM (#21978111)
you just described facebook's feed algorithm
Re:Keyboard vs. The Mouse, Part 1 (1989) on Tuesday December 17, 2019 @05:00PM (#21819398)
Maybe not the same, but it is a fundamental user experience principle.

"Showing users things they can recognize improves usability over needing to recall items from scratch because the extra context helps users retrieve information from memory."

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/recognition-and-recall/