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This article recounts the author's experience of being effectively 'kidnapped' by Deutsche Bahn, Germany's national railway company, after missing their train. It details the frustrating bureaucratic process they went through to resolve the situation and highlights the lack of clear policies and communication from the company.

The Hughes Lectures series features noted scholars discussing a variety of topics, including history, science, and the humanities. The lectures provide in-depth examinations of complex subjects for a general audience.

How small can a language model be while still doing something useful? I wanted to find out, and had some spare time over the holidays.

Z80-μLM is a character-level language model with 2-bit quantized weights ({-2,-1,0,+1}) that runs on a Z80 with 64KB RAM. The entire thing: inference, weights, chat UI, it all fits in a 40KB .COM file that you can run in a CP/M emulator and hopefully even real hardware!

It won't write your emails, but it can be trained to play a stripped down version of 20 Questions, and is sometimes able to maintain the illusion of having simple but terse conversations with a distinct personality.

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The extreme constraints nerd-sniped me and forced interesting trade-offs: trigram hashing (typo-tolerant, loses word order), 16-bit integer math, and some careful massaging of the training data meant I could keep the examples 'interesting'.

The key was quantization-aware training that accurately models the inference code limitations. The training loop runs both float and integer-quantized forward passes in parallel, scoring the model on how well its knowledge survives quantization. The weights are progressively pushed toward the 2-bit grid using straight-through estimators, with overflow penalties matching the Z80's 16-bit accumulator limits. By the end of training, the model has already adapted to its constraints, so no post-hoc quantization collapse.

Eventually I ended up spending a few dollars on Claude API to generate 20 questions data (see examples/guess/GUESS.COM), I hope Anthropic won't send me a C&D for distilling their model against the ToS ;P

But anyway, happy code-golf season everybody :)

The article discusses the use of Kubernetes, an open-source container orchestration system, to deploy and manage a Squid proxy server. It covers the process of creating a Kubernetes deployment for the Squid proxy and providing instructions for configuring and scaling the proxy service.

The article provides a comprehensive guide on how to create custom HTML tags, including the steps involved and the benefits of using them to improve website organization and developer productivity.

The article discusses the increasing size of software binaries, examining the reasons behind this trend and the potential implications for developers and users. It explores the factors contributing to the growth of binary sizes, such as the inclusion of additional features, dependencies, and debugging information, and the need to balance binary size with functionality.

The article discusses the Block Editor, a new user interface introduced in WordPress 5.0. It provides an overview of the Block Editor's features, including the ability to create rich, visually-appealing content layouts using pre-designed blocks, and the potential for developers to create custom blocks for their websites.

The article describes the author's experience in setting up a Meshtastic network, a decentralized mesh network using low-power radio devices. It covers the setup process, the capabilities of the network, and the potential applications of this technology for communication in remote or disaster-prone areas.

This article compares the Mono and .NET frameworks used in the Unity game engine, discussing their performance, features, and compatibility, to help developers choose the best option for their projects.

The article discusses the rising prices of RAM (random access memory) and the impact of AI chips on the memory market. It explains how the increasing demand for AI-powered devices has led to a surge in the prices of memory chips, affecting consumers and businesses alike.

The article explores how market design principles can be applied to improve food distribution and aid programs to better serve the needs of the poor. It discusses how insights from economic theory and practical implementations can help address challenges in delivering food assistance effectively and equitably.

The article explores the author's journey towards a more cynical outlook on life, acknowledging the complexities and disillusionment that come with age and experience, while still maintaining a sense of hope and the desire to find meaning in the face of life's challenges.

Hi HN,

Every year, we ask thousands of readers (and authors) to share their 3 favorite reads of the year.

Now you can enter a book/author you love and see what books readers loved who also loved that book/author.

Try it here: https://shepherd.com/bboy/2025

This goes wide and doesn't try to limit itself to the genre, so you get some interesting results.

What do you think?

Background:

I want better recommendations based on my reading history. I'm incredibly frustrated with what is out there.

This system is based on 5,000 readers voting on their 3 favorite reads from 2023 to 2025. So, this covers ~15,000 books and is a high-quality vote. We wanted to keep the dataset small for now while we play with approaches.

We are building a full Book DNA app that pulls in your Goodreads history and delivers deeply personalized book recommendations based on people who like similar books (a significant challenge).

You can sign up to beta test it here if you want to help me with that:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1VOm8XOMU0ygMSTSKi9F0nExnGwo...

The first beta is coming out in late January, but it's pretty basic to start.

Past Show HNs as we've built Shepherd:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40084193

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38600246

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26871660

Thanks, looking forward to your comments :)

Ben

The article discusses the lessons learned from fighting internet censorship in Iran and Russia, and outlines strategies for staying ahead of censors in 2025. It emphasizes the importance of developing adaptable, decentralized technologies to circumvent censorship and empower users to access the open internet.

The article discusses the growing use of remote exams and AI-powered tools in the accounting industry, with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) addressing concerns about AI-assisted cheating and ensuring the integrity of professional qualifications.

The article discusses a study that found molecular differences in the brains of individuals with autism compared to those without autism. The study provides insights into the potential biological mechanisms underlying autism spectrum disorder.

The article describes the development of an Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) system using the Brainfuck programming language, a simple and minimalistic language. The author explores the potential of Brainfuck for building complex and powerful AI systems, highlighting its unique approach and challenges faced during the development process.

The article explains the 'MongoDB Bleed' vulnerability, a security flaw that allowed unauthorized access to private data stored in MongoDB databases. It discusses the potential impact of the vulnerability and the importance of keeping MongoDB instances secure and up-to-date.

This article introduces the concept of Software-Defined Radio (SDR) and its applications, covering topics such as signal processing, radio communication, and hardware platforms used in SDR development.

The article discusses the importance of developers actively working on and using the software they design, arguing that it is essential for creating effective and user-friendly applications. It emphasizes the benefits of this hands-on approach, including a deeper understanding of user needs and the ability to make more informed design decisions.

I've been working on a little open source [1] search engine, nilch. I noticed that nearly all well known search engines, including the alternative ones, tend to be run by companies of various sizes with the goal to make money, so they either fill your results with ads or charge you money, and I dislike this because search is the backbone of the internet and should not be commercial, so it runs in a not-for-profit style and aims to survive on donations. Additionally I'm personally really sick of AI in my search results so I got rid of that, and I wanted DuckDuckGo bangs so it supports all of them. Like many alternative search engines, it is fully private.

Sadly, it currently does not have its own index but rather uses the Brave search API. Once I'm in a financial position that it's possible, I would absolutely love to build a completely new index from the ground up which is open source, as well as an open source ranking and search algorithm, to back it.

I posted on Reddit and got an amazing amount of feedback which I implemented a number of feature requests, so I would really like your ideas, critiques, and bug reports as well. Thank you and sorry for the long post!

[1] https://github.com/UnmappedStack/nilch

The 'spherical-cow' crate provides a set of traits and types for working with spherical geometry, such as points on a sphere, great circles, and geographic coordinates. It offers functionality for performing calculations and conversions related to spherical objects.

The article explores the use of the Lean theorem prover to formally verify peephole optimizations in a compiler. It discusses the process of expressing the compiler's semantics in Lean and proving the correctness of specific optimization rules, demonstrating the potential of formal verification to improve the reliability of compiler implementations.

The article discusses the use of RF over fiber technology, which transmits radio frequency signals over fiber optic cables. This technology enables the distribution of cellular, broadcast, and other wireless services to remote locations, improving coverage and reliability.

The article discusses the Koine Greek language, its historical context, and its influence on the development of modern languages. It explores the key characteristics of Koine Greek and its significance in the spread of early Christianity and the translation of important religious texts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse_(programming_language)

https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1979-07/page/198/m...

https://www.amazon.com/MOUSE-Language-Microcomputers-Peter-G...

The Mouse Programming Language on CP/M - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41400380 - Aug 2024 (14 comments)

This article discusses the image processing techniques used in line scan cameras, including image sensor characteristics, data acquisition, and image processing algorithms. It provides insights into the practical application of line scan cameras in various industries.

The article discusses a competition to find the most energy-efficient quantum computer design. It explores the challenges and potential implications of this competition, which aims to advance the development of practical quantum computing technology.