Hacker News
1Let me pay for Firefox
- A Mozilla supporter advocates for introducing a paid version of Firefox browser while keeping it open-source. They argue this would provide direct funding for development, avoid reliance on advertising revenue, and still allow free alternatives through forks. The proposal suggests running an experiment with a premium version featuring no sponsored content, telemetry, or Google integration.
Mozilla's management issues
Users criticize Mozilla's resource allocation, executive compensation, and numerous failed side projects. Many express willingness to support Firefox directly but distrust Mozilla's leadership and spending decisions.Paid vs free software
Discussion about the viability of paid browser models, linguistic distinctions between "free" meanings, and how ad-supported models have negatively impacted software quality and user experience.Browser development sustainability
Debate about Firefox's funding needs, alternatives to Google search deal revenue, and whether forking or paid models could sustain independent browser development long-term.
2New Date("wtf") – How well do you know JavaScript's Date class?
- A quiz-style exploration of JavaScript's Date class, with all questions validated using Node.js 24.4.0 in the BST timezone (UTC+1).
TypeScript vs other languages
Debate about TypeScript's merits as a programming language, with some praising it as the best language to get paid writing, while others prefer alternatives like Kotlin, Rust, or C#, or criticize TS for not fully solving JavaScript's issuesTimezone complexities
Discussion of why "just use UTC" isn't a complete solution for handling dates/times, especially for future dates, local time requirements, and timezone changes. Developers share war stories about timezone edge casesJavascript date parsing
Critiques of JavaScript's Date object's eager and unprincipled parsing behavior, with many noting its inconsistencies. Discussion of the upcoming Temporal API as a potential solution
3Reading Neuromancer for the first time in 2025
- A reflection on reading William Gibson's Neuromancer for the first time in 2025, exploring how this pioneering cyberpunk novel from 1984 influenced modern science fiction and accurately predicted many technological developments, while missing others like mobile phones. Despite its dense prose, the book remains surprisingly relevant and fresh today.
Personal impact of Neuromancer
Deeply personal stories of how the book affected readers, including one who read it 100+ times during high school in Greece and later married the girl who gave him the copy, and others discussing their experiences with various translations.Gibson's technical naivety
Discussion of how Gibson wrote Neuromancer without owning or understanding computers, leading to debates about whether this technological ignorance helped create more compelling, romanticized sci-fi.Cyberpunk's evolution
Exploration of how cyberpunk has changed since Neuromancer, with some arguing it's become dated as counterculture died and others suggesting it evolved into new forms or was absorbed into mainstream culture.
4Zig's New Async I/O
- The content discusses Zig's new approach to I/O operations, introducing a new interface that separates I/O implementation from code execution. This change allows developers to choose how I/O operations are handled and enables better concurrency support while maintaining code reusability and optimal performance across different execution models.
Function coloring in Zig
Debate over whether Zig's new IO interface truly solves the function coloring problem, with some arguing it just shifts coloring to IO/non-IO functions, while others say the flexible implementation approach makes it less problematic.Performance implications
Discussion of performance tradeoffs between green threads, stackless coroutines, and runtime polymorphism in Zig's IO implementation, with varying opinions on whether virtual dispatch overhead matters for IO operations.Implementation approach
Clarification that Zig isn't committed solely to green threads but plans to support multiple IO implementations including stackless coroutines, with focus on getting the API right before optimizing specific implementations.
5Kimi K2 is a state-of-the-art mixture-of-experts (MoE) language model
- Kimi K2 is a powerful language model with 1 trillion parameters and 32 billion activated parameters, designed for reasoning, coding and tool use. It comes in two variants - a base model for customization and an instruct model for general chat. Built using mixture-of-experts architecture, it achieves strong performance across various benchmarks.
Duplicate discussion notice
Comments indicate this is a duplicate thread, with discussion moved to another Hacker News post (ID: 44533403)
6How does a screen work?
- This appears to be a title or header for an article about the technology behind digital displays and screens, exploring their evolution from early electron gun technology to modern liquid crystal displays in computing history.
Screen technology evolution
Discussion contrasts CRT, LCD and OLED technologies, with nostalgia for CRT's unique features like phosphor persistence and electron guns, while acknowledging modern LCD/OLED advantages in power consumption and form factorVisual explanation excellence
Praise for the website's clear explanations, interactive elements, and high-quality visual demonstrations, with commenters appreciating the teaching approach and comparing it to other exemplary technical educatorsDisplay refresh mechanics
Technical discussion about how modern displays refresh content, clarifying misconceptions about simultaneous vs scanning refresh patterns, and how this can be observed through slow-motion recording
7OpenAI delays launch of open-weight model
- Sam Altman announced a delay in launching their planned open-weight model, citing the need for additional safety tests and review of high-risk areas. The timeline for release is uncertain, but they emphasize the importance of getting it right since the weights cannot be retracted once released.
Safety concerns around LLMs
Debate over whether "safety tests" are legitimate precautions or marketing. Some argue LLMs can cause harm through bad advice, while others say it's censorship and that words alone can't kill. Parallels drawn to other technologies' risks.Deepseek vs US AI companies
Discussion of Deepseek's $5M training cost claim, with clarification that this only covers final GPU hours. Debate over true costs including R&D, failed runs, and personnel expenses. Comparison of open vs closed source approaches.Competition and delays
Speculation that OpenAI's delay relates to Kimi K2's release and competition with Grok-4. Discussion of OpenAI needing to ensure their open weights model stands out amid increasing competition.
8Arizona resident dies from the plague
- A person died from plague in Northern Arizona after being rushed to Flagstaff Medical Center. The case follows a prairie dog die-off linked to plague-infected fleas. While rare in the US with only seven cases annually, plague remains present in Western states and requires prompt antibiotic treatment for survival.
Timeline of symptoms
Debate about whether patient died within 24 hours of first symptoms or had been ill longer before seeking care. Discussion notes ambiguity in reporting and typical disease progression.Modern treatment vs historical
Improvements in plague treatment centered on antibiotics, germ theory and sanitation. Historical methods like plague masks contrasted with modern medical knowledge and 90% survival rate with treatment.Transmission vectors
Discussion of how plague spreads through prairie dogs, rodents and fleas, particularly in Western US states. Several warnings about plague risk in camping areas and regular cases in Four Corners region.
9The fish kick may be the fastest subsurface swim stroke yet (2015)
- The article explores the fish kick swimming technique, where swimmers move underwater horizontally like a fish. Pioneered by Olympic gold medalist Misty Hyman and her coach Bob Gillet, this technique may be faster than traditional surface swimming due to reduced water resistance and the creation of propulsive vortices unimpeded by pool surfaces.
Side swimming efficiency
Discussion of how swimming on one's side can be faster than traditional dolphin kick due to reduced water resistance and constraints from pool surfaces, with debate about lane advantages and competitive rulesTerrestrial mammals swimming
Exploration of how various land mammals swim effectively, with focus on bears, moose, beavers and hippos, and how human body plan compares for swimming despite not evolving specifically for itCompetition rules and safety
Debate about swimming competition restrictions like the 15m surface rule and stroke requirements, with emphasis on safety concerns around underwater swimming and the balance between competition and spectator appeal
10Malware found in official gravityforms plugin indicating supply chain breach
- A critical security update regarding Gravity Forms plugin revealed a potential supply chain attack where malicious code was discovered in version 2.9.12, prompting an investigation. The backdoor involved unauthorized HTTP requests to gravityapi.org, though infection appears limited. A patched version 2.9.13 has been released and the malicious domain has been suspended by Namecheap.
Infrastructure security concerns
Discussion about how malware detection is getting harder as systems get faster and more complex, debating whether infrastructure becoming untrustworthy is inevitable or beneficial in driving better security practicesAttack scope and impact
Clarification that only manual downloads and composer installations were affected, not auto-updates. Impact limited to small number of users despite Gravity Forms' wide usage in WordPress ecosystemPlugin pricing discussion
Debate over $259 price tag for WordPress form plugin - some viewing it as excessive while others defend it as reasonable given development costs and business value provided