hackernews

1. Solarpunk is already happening in Africa Total comment counts : 27 Summary Climate Drift argues Sub-Saharan Africa’s off-grid solar is the era’s infrastructure breakthrough, driven by startups selling solar on pay-as-you-go. In 2024, 30 million solar products were sold; ~400,000 new installations monthly; 50% of the market is held by firms founded in the last 15 years; loan repayment among very-low-income households exceeds 90%. The grid may never reach deep rural areas, but cheap hardware, near-zero-cost payments, and pay-as-you-go unlock scale....

1. NoLongerEvil-Thermostat – Nest Generation 1 and 2 Firmware Total comment counts : 24 Summary The article promotes an experimental firmware loader for Nest Thermostat Gen 1/2 that uses the OMAP DFU interface to flash a custom bootloader and kernel. Once installed, the device stops contacting Nest/Google and runs on a NoLongerEvil backend, granting user control but risking device brickage and unpredictable behavior. It outlines setup steps (tools for macOS/Linux/Windows, libusb), DFU-mode flashing, and linking to the NoLongerEvil account after reboot....

1. Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2025) Total comment counts : 211 Summary Pomelo Care is a Series B, multi-disciplinary team of clinicians and engineers focused on improving care for moms and babies. They’re hiring engineers to shape product, codebase, and culture—writing clean code, building systems for personalized care, and delivering a strong mobile experience. Tech stack includes GCP, Kotlin, Typescript, React/React Native, Terraform, Spanner, BigQuery, DuckDB, Dagster, DBT, and Kubernetes....

1. Using FreeBSD to make self-hosting fun again Total comment counts : 8 Summary Seeking change in tech habits, the author embraced BSD, choosing FreeBSD for its multi-workload capabilities over OpenBSD. They set up a Hetzner server using BastilleBSD for jails and vm-bhyve for VMs, documenting the learning curve and personal process. They praise BSD for its simplicity, thorough docs, and long-term compatibility, with community support helping them overcome questions about base system release cycles....

1. Updated practice for review articles and position papers in ArXiv CS category Total comment counts : 29 Summary error Overall Comments Summary Main point: The discussion centers on how LLMs and AI-generated content are disrupting academic publishing (preprints, reviews, and arXiv policies) and what reforms might be needed. Concern: The main worry is that incentive systems reward volume over quality, inviting noisy, AI-generated content and gaming, while policy changes risk stifling legitimate work or lagging behind technology....

1. Introducing architecture variants Total comment counts : 23 Summary Ubuntu 25.10 adds architecture variants, letting packages be optimized for x86-64-v3 (amd64v3) while preserving older hardware compatibility. Changes to dpkg, apt, and Launchpad enable multiple package versions for different x86-64 levels. Some packages are opt-in amd64v3-enabled in 25.10 (about 2000 main-source packages); testing is still light. In 26.04 LTS, all packages will be rebuilt and rigorously tested. Expected gains are modest ( ~1% on average, larger for numerically intense workloads)....

1. Affinity Studio now free Total comment counts : 90 Summary It warns that the user is on an old or unsupported browser and directs them to update to a recent version of a supported browser to continue using the product. Overall Comments Summary Main point: The Affinity suite, originally three standalone one-time-purchase apps by Serif, was acquired by Canva and relaunched as a single freemium app with AI features, marking a shift away from the old pay-once model....

1. Uv is the best thing to happen to the Python ecosystem in a decade Total comment counts : 52 Summary uv is a free, open-source Python tool by Astral that simplifies installing and managing Python projects. Written in Rust for speed, it creates per-project virtual environments based on a pyproject.toml, enabling consistent environments across machines. Install with a simple one-liner—it won’t disrupt existing Python setups. Use uv init to scaffold a project, uv run (or uvx) to execute commands within the correct env, and uv add to add dependencies and automatically update pyproject....

1. What we talk about when we talk about sideloading Total comment counts : 20 Summary The post rebuts Google’s new Developer Program and the claim that sideloading will continue. It defines sideloading as installing software from non-vendor sources and argues Google’s rules will block users from choosing what runs on their devices. By requiring developers to register, pay fees, provide ID, and accept non-negotiable terms, Android updates could curb direct installs, undermining openness and digital sovereignty....

1. Claude for Excel Total comment counts : 43 Summary Claude for Excel is a beta research-preview that embeds Claude in Excel to analyze an entire workbook, including nested formulas and multi-tab dependencies. It provides cell-level citations for explanations, lets you update assumptions across the model while preserving formulas, and highlights changes when you test different scenarios. It can trace #REF!, #VALUE!, and circular references to their sources and explain fixes....