xk3's recent activity
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Comment on How I feel about LLM (AI) writing in ~tech
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Comment on Goldman Sachs flags Amazon and Alphabet for inflating S&P 500 earnings growth figures in ~finance
xk3 (edited )Link ParentOther than free queries, I really don't think they are subsidizing much (except in unforeseen cases like openclaw where people are using more resources than expected). But it really varies a lot...We're still in 'very heavily subsidized' territory with that $2k spend
Other than free queries, I really don't think they are subsidizing much (except in unforeseen cases like openclaw where people are using more resources than expected). But it really varies a lot between providers and how you use it.
It only takes a few premium copilot queries to scaffold out a complex project with hundreds of files. On the other hand, Gemini will often refuse to provide useful output by stalling when there isn't enough capacity.
When $2k can still buy a decent GPU and a few months of electricity, it's not really subsidized territory. The economies of scale are very real but if you have enough demand for 24/7 LLM usage you could easily break even within a few months of spend or less.
They're separate markets which allow for thousands of percents in markup the same way that cloud vs bare metal is.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
xk3 Link Parentbe sure to curl with the host header: curl -H 'Host: www.example.net' http://ip/path/ If you don't want to roll your own DNS or certificates you can add host entries in /etc/hostsbe sure to curl with the host header:
curl -H 'Host: www.example.net' http://ip/path/
If you don't want to roll your own DNS or certificates you can add host entries in /etc/hosts
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
xk3 Link ParentLet’s Encrypt doesn't care how you route to the server, only that the domain name in the browser matches the domain name on the certificate. So one strategy for this is to use split-horizon DNS...Let’s Encrypt doesn't care how you route to the server, only that the domain name in the browser matches the domain name on the certificate.
So one strategy for this is to use split-horizon DNS where you configure the DNS on each client to point to the private address when in your local network and the public address when outside your local network.
Let's Encrypt needs that public routing to verify you own the domain but after that you could copy the certificate to another machine and it would still be valid until it expires.
You will need to ensure VLAN A can talk to VLAN B on the specific port the server uses (443?) but as long as this is simply inter-VLAN routing and not crossing a NAT boundary then there should be no problem with this.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
xk3 (edited )Link ParentIf you have a domain name (not a .local) or want to sign a public IP address then Let's Encrypt is definitely the way to go:...If you have a domain name (not a .local) or want to sign a public IP address then Let's Encrypt is definitely the way to go:
https://letsencrypt.org/2025/07/01/issuing-our-first-ip-address-certificate
If it's a private IP address then this page has a few ideas:
https://old.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/1fxaaza/ssl_with_local_ip_addresses/
Or just use SSH or VPN layer for security and use http
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
xk3 Link Parenthmm yeah... maybe you could do a rolling search for identical 200ms segments. Though the audio streams are likely not bit for bit identical for multiple encodings with different ads (except maybe...hmm yeah... maybe you could do a rolling search for identical 200ms segments. Though the audio streams are likely not bit for bit identical for multiple encodings with different ads (except maybe if they are lossless)
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Comment on Are there alternative ways to invest savings? in ~finance
xk3 Link ParentFunding a small local business or co-op is likely more ethical but it is a lot more risky.Funding a small local business or co-op is likely more ethical but it is a lot more risky.
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Comment on Linux privilege escalation (CVE-2026-31431) in ~comp
xk3 Link Parentgrep API_AEAD= /boot/config-$(uname -r) For enterprise kernels where CONFIG_CRYPTO_USER_API_AEAD=y add initcall_blacklist=algif_aead_init to the kernel command line and reboot...grep API_AEAD= /boot/config-$(uname -r)For enterprise kernels where CONFIG_CRYPTO_USER_API_AEAD=y
add
initcall_blacklist=algif_aead_initto the kernel command line and reboot
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
xk3 Link ParentWhat podcast platforms have you seen this work on? In my imagination only ones big enough to be YouTube have fully integrated with Albania's legal requirements so I'm curious about the reality of...What podcast platforms have you seen this work on? In my imagination only ones big enough to be YouTube have fully integrated with Albania's legal requirements so I'm curious about the reality of things
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Comment on Need help making an atlas-styled map without ultramega distortion in ~creative
xk3 LinkEPSG:6933 (NSIDC EASE-Grid 2.0 Global) strikes a nice balance between accuracy and still looking somewhat Mercator-like.EPSG:6933 (NSIDC EASE-Grid 2.0 Global) strikes a nice balance between accuracy and still looking somewhat Mercator-like.
Knowles (1993) states that "Two of the most important characteristics of maps are whether they are conformal or equal-area. No map projection is both, and some are neither." On conformal maps, angles within a small area are reproduced accurately so a small circle on the globe will look like a small circle on the map; by definition, the aspect ratio remains 1:1 everywhere, while the areal distortion varies, e.g. from -6% at the pole to +276% at the equator. On equal-area maps, a small circle placed anywhere on the map will always cover the same area on the globe, though the shape may be distorted. A very popular map that is neither conformal nor equal-area is the cylindrical equidistant map, also known as the lat-lon grid. This map suffers from both areal and shape distortion. The EASE Grids utilize an equal-area projection because that minimizes the amount of distortion over the poles, using the Northern and Southern Hemisphere projections, and on other key areas of the globe, using the temperate and global projections. Since areas don't change between grid cells, visualization and intercomparison operations are greatly simplified and analysis is more convenient.
https://nsidc.org/data/user-resources/help-center/guide-ease-grids
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Comment on Nostr: a simple open spec for passing notes to friends in ~comp
xk3 Link ParentWell it's kinda like picking an Email or RSS client. But I agree they should at least just pick one to be recommended for each category of task based on community feedbackWell it's kinda like picking an Email or RSS client. But I agree they should at least just pick one to be recommended for each category of task based on community feedback
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Comment on Nostr: a simple open spec for passing notes to friends in ~comp
xk3 (edited )Link ParentSemble looks really interesting. Thanks for calling that out. ATproto is definitely one of the better ones! Personally, I'm not 100% convinced about Nostr and while I have generated nsec...Semble looks really interesting. Thanks for calling that out. ATproto is definitely one of the better ones!
Personally, I'm not 100% convinced about Nostr and while I have generated nsec "accounts" on two different websites I haven't really explored the network. But as a technology Nostr is remarkably simple and easy to understand. The clarity of why it works the way it does is a lot more clear than reading 5x more about ActivityPub or ATproto. So I think it is a very notable "case study" and I'm surprised that I hadn't heard of it before
Two other interesting articles:
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Nostr: a simple open spec for passing notes to friends
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Guifi.net - Spain's autonomous wireless network
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Comment on Is there a FLAC equivalent for digital comics? in ~comics
xk3 (edited )LinkWAV is pretty unique in that it almost always is uncompressed (there are ways like ACM but usually people use a different file extension so that it isn't confusing). FLAC can recreate a WAV file...WAV is pretty unique in that it almost always is uncompressed (there are ways like ACM but usually people use a different file extension so that it isn't confusing). FLAC can recreate a WAV file bit for bit (or at least the PCM part) and it actually has a compression option which is why it's so much better than WAV.
I think audio gets away with this because audio is so small. Purely uncompressed image pixel matricies are huge which is probably why it isn't very common.
For images I think you can find an analogy of TIFF to PNG. You can convert between them losslessly, depending on your settings. But the results might be much less impressive as TIFF is a much more robust format with many compression options built-in. So your file might even increase in size if the TIFF compression algorithm of the original file is better than PNG.
For a lossy option you might try this, I wrote a multi-file optimizer that will, among other things, convert images and even CBZ/CBR archives to AVIF images. This can reduce file sizes A LOT. The default settings might be too extreme but you can override them with flags like setting the max image width/height:
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
xk3 LinkTwo projects this week have provided moderate enjoyment: One is a geospatial search tool. The bones are finished but could use a lot of tweaking to figure out the right sorting. Two of the cool...Two projects this week have provided moderate enjoyment:
One is a geospatial search tool. The bones are finished but could use a lot of tweaking to figure out the right sorting. Two of the cool things are the ability to search places directly from PBF files (without indexing first). It's slower but needs a lot less space than Bleve. The second cool thing is a similar idea but pmtiles.
PBF is the most complete data to seach because it's the full OpenStreetMaps database and still it is surprisingly fast for small areas!
PMTiles are a much smaller subset of data but they still scale up to larger areas because you can use their built-in spatial index.
https://github.com/chapmanjacobd/poisearch
The other thing is a tool to make global satellite image pmtiles maps from the ESA's preaggregated quarterly mosaics. The code is much smaller but almost equally satisfying:
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Comment on Shawn Phillips - Rumplestiltskin's Resolve (1976) in ~music
xk3 Linkinterestingly... I think they misspelled Rumplestiltskin's name... but I'm sure it counts. I'm sure they would have pronounced it perfectly well ergo they probably could get the baby back, etc....interestingly... I think they misspelled Rumplestiltskin's name... but I'm sure it counts. I'm sure they would have pronounced it perfectly well ergo they probably could get the baby back, etc. Probably couldn't be bothered to go to a library and loan a dictionary as they were too busy making music!
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Shawn Phillips - Rumplestiltskin's Resolve (1976)
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Comment on George Benson - I Always Knew I Had It In Me [Version 2] (1977) in ~music
xk3 LinkVersion 1 is also pretty good (and completely different)! But listening to Version 2 first seems to lend to a more powerful experienceVersion 1 is also pretty good (and completely different)! But listening to Version 2 first seems to lend to a more powerful experience
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George Benson - I Always Knew I Had It In Me [Version 2] (1977)
6 votes
I think it's more that HN commenters either just read the title and not the article, or that they don't care anymore and are more interested in discussing the prompted topic.
It's true that human writing feels more authentic and I often prefer handmade items to mass-produced plastic garbage. I empathize and also yearn for simpler times when spam was simple Markov chains. But eventually the complaining about slop becomes its own noise.
On reddit you just have bots posting slop and bots complaining about slop. The dead internet theory has fully arrived at its terminus.