AskHN Digest

1. Ask HN: Is anyone else just done with the industry?

Top comment by tptacek

Hi! I've been doing this since 1994 (I started in the industry instead of going to college). I feel this way approximately once every 7-8 years. What I think I've learned is that I make stupid decisions reacting to those feelings.

2. Ask HN: How to get rid of Gemini?

Top comment by projektfu

Have you tried udm=14?

https://www.google.com/search?q=quit+ai&udm=14

3. Ask HN: Anyone using augmented reality, VR, glasses, helmets etc. in industry?

Top comment by isk517

Yes, the company I work for has started using Hololens 2. We have a program that can overlay the 3D models from our CAD program onto the physical steel assemblies for QC. When it works, it works well and enables our quality checkers to perform checks faster and more accurately than using tape measures while going back and forth looking at a 2D drawing printed on 11 x 17 paper.

The biggest hurdles is that none of the large companies think there is enough profit to be made from AR. The Hololens 2 is the only headset on the market both capable of running the program required while also being safe to use in a active shop enviroment (VR with passthrough is not suitable). Unfortunately the Hololens 2 is almost 6 years old as is being stretched to the absolute limits of its hardware capabilities. The technology is good but feels like it is only 90% of the way to where it needs to be. Even a simple revision with double the RAM and faster more power efficient processor would alleviate many of the issues we've experienced.

Ultimately from what I've seen, AR is about making the human user better at their job and there are tons of industries where it could have many applications, but tech companies don't actually want to make things that could be directly useful to people that work with their hands, so instead we will just continue to toss more money at AI hoping to make ourselves obsolete.

4. Ask HN: How to regain the ability to read with focus and learn

Top comment by LeonardoTolstoy

I faced a similar thing at one point. The thing that fixed it for me was going back to fiction. Started with a fantasy series. Did a little sci-fi. Did some easy classics (e.g. Dracula). Eventually that joy of reading, long focused reading, and effortless comprehension all came back. Just took practice.

Much like advice for writer's block being often "just write!". The same goes for reading. Start with something easy breezy and eventually it'll all start flowing again IMO.

5. Ask HN: What useful AI tools do you use every day?

Top comment by hexomancer

Something never thought I would say: google AI previews. They actually helped me a lot during Iran's internet shutdown last week. I wrote a blog post about it: https://ahrm.github.io/jekyll/update/2025/06/20/iran-interne... .

6. Ask HN: What are you actually using LLMs for in production?

Top comment by petercooper

Analyzing firehoses of data. RSS feeds, releases, stuff like that. My job involves curating information and while I still do that process by hand, LLMs make my net larger and help me find more signals. This means hallucinations or mistakes aren't a big deal, since it all ends up with me anyway. I'm quite bullish on using LLMs as extra eyes, rather than as extra hands where they can run into trouble.

7. Ask HN: To anyone who cares to read this. How old are you roughly?

Top comment by marzetti

Age 77.. started with Fortran in '68 on an IBM1130, assembler on a Linc-8 in '70, then at UofWaterloo on IBM360/75 with (omg) 3MB ram. Then scientific programming mostly Fortran or asm, switched to turbo Pascal in 88-89, then Delphi and MATLAB. Currently mainly work in VsCode using markdown codeblocks in a way a bit like Jupyter (see VsCode extension Hover-Exec) for a range of stuff including art installations.

8. Ask HN: Anyone got advice for someone like me nearing 40s?

Top comment by A_D_E_P_T

Start exercising hard. You're not going to go pro, but 40-50 is the best decade to get into peak shape and participate in some new recreational sports or activities.

I may get some flak for this, but start paying attention to skincare. Botox + anti-aging treatments, well applied, can do an awful lot of good.

Stay up-to-date on new tech, particularly AI. Tyler Cowen was talking about this last month, basically saying that the people who are now 40 are going to be the ones most at risk of being left behind. (http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2025/05/wha...)

9. Ask HN: Using AI daily but not seeing productivity gains – is it just me?

Top comment by dexterlagan

I feel ya, but there's a better way. I've been writing detailed specs to direct LLMs, and that's what changed everything for me. I wrote about it at length: https://www.cleverthinkingsoftware.com/spec-first-developmen...

10. Ask HN: How do you learn Spanish guitar?

Top comment by hoytech

Flamenco can be a very challenging and technical style, but it doesn't have to be. I don't know your background, but if you just want to have fun and sound good quickly, try this.

Get a nylon string guitar. It doesn't have to be a flamenco guitar per-se, any classical will do. But steel string acoustic guitars will absolutely not work for this style. The sound is wrong and the strings are too close together.

Learn the Andalusian cadence. It's the chords A minor, G, F, and E, in that order. This is the characteristic "Spanish" sound recognisable by everyone, and is in fact a fundamental building block of Flamenco style (por arriba). The chords can be played barred or open, your choice. You can instead start in D minor (por medio) if you like.

Practice a basic rumba strumming pattern until it is drilled into your muscle memory. The easiest is to just strum, counting from 1 to 8, and on beat 5 slap the strings instead of strumming.

Do not use a pick. There are several right-hand techniques you'll want to learn. The most important is probably rasgueado ("gypsy strumming"). You essentially flick your fingers so that each one strums the strings in rapid succession. It's challenging at first, but try to make the timing in between fingers roughly even. Next is tremolo: rapidly plucking the same string with alternating fingers, while playing bass notes with your thumb. This is a common classical guitar technique too, but Flamenco takes it further, often using 4 plucks instead of 3. Actually flamenco technique breaks many classical guitar "rules".

Once you want to start mastering more specific styles ("palos"), just get some tabs and work through them. You'll probably want to start with soleares, alegrias, farruca, fandango. Unlike classical guitar, nobody will look down at you for using tabs (or learning by ear) instead of notation. Paco de Lucia famously does not read notation.

Hope this helps. Have fun!