Ask HN: What is happening in tech unrelated to AI?

In the web framework world, libraries are moving from a react component style of authoring to an older knockout based model. This means, instead of rendering an entire block of HTMl on each render pass, just a minimal subset will be rerendered, as the variable is bound to specific DOM elements. This effort started with Knockout, fell out of favor, and saw a resurgence with the success of SolidJS. Svelte has started moving in this direction. It's my opinion that React's compiler will eventually serve the same purpose to allow their giant user base to get the same benefits.

In the web performance space, there's some interesting stuff happening in origin trails around shared dictionary compression. It has been tried and failed before but the latest iteration/spec hopefully improved those shortfalls that made them unusable. Also, ZSTD compression has taken the crown from brotli.

Metas new AR glasses seem to be approaching the ideal hardware, IMO it's still searching for its killer app. Microsoft exited the AR space by killing hololens.

Startup space is dying right now, with very low VC risk tolerance / interest. Some funds have returned money to investors rather than risk it in investing.

mooreds · a year ago

Still seeing new auth companies joining the party, whether they are focusing on SSO, customer identity and access management, or authorization. Most are open source, some are SaaS.

Tech meetups seem to be coming back. People want to chat in person. Finding space to meet and sponsors is still not easy, but the demand from the community is there.

Rails continues to deliver a best-in-class batteries included solution for standing up web apps. I see some new folks being pulled into the community; some who enjoy it so much they participate even though their day jobs use some other stack.

As someone else mentioned downstream, IaC is still happening and getting pushed further and further. Whether you are talking about the more standard TF/OpenTofu IaC or some of the newer declarative environment options (I've chatted with the nitric folks), defining infrastructure as software gives you so much power that it seems to be unstoppable.

jeanlucas · a year ago

I am aware, at least a bit, of the Hotwire/liveview/Laravel turbo idea of just streaming DOM diffs instead of full pages, and how that is becoming a real force to reckon for SPAs.

ericb · a year ago

Agreed! The pitch is great. Deliver twice as much by writing half as many apps as your competitors to deliver the same features. Let your competitors write a server app and a client app, and keep them in sync, while you. just. don't.

taurath · a year ago

When I think knockout, I think more about the MVVM method of 2 way data binding, which creates some of the most complicated and difficult to debug apps I've ever worked on - is that the same thing, or is that just in how they're authoring views?

I've largely fixed phpbb 1.4.4

https://phpbb.go-here.nl/index.php

It's from December 2000[1] (phpBB 2.0.0 was released in April 2002)

The idea the only thing that remained of 1.4.4 was a broken screenshot[2] didn't agree with me.

[1] - https://www.phpbb.com/about/history/#:~:text=phpBB%201.4.4%2...

[2] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhpBB#/media/File:PhpBB1-defau...

mooreds · a year ago

Wow. Congrats on what was surely a large effort to resurrect an old piece of software.

6510 · a year ago

No actually, it was very relaxing. I recommend it. Unlike normal coding you don't have to stop to ponder architecture. There is a pseudo code example of everything you need to write right in front of you. Things are so blatantly obviously wrong that they stick out like a sore thumb and the correct way of doing things is for the most part completely obvious.

For example: The language files have strings with undefined $variables in them. The variables are later set then it uses eval() on the strings. I just make a function with the same name, replace the undefined variables with function params and return the string. The eval() is replaced with the function call (in all files) then do the same with the next string. The php mysql instructions don't work. The sql is mostly fine. It just needs to be prepared statements.

You can just sit down and start writing code (finally!) without pondering what the hell you are doing every other line. Like in the movies.

MisterKent · a year ago

drewrv · a year ago

AR/VR is in a hype superposition, large companies have made large investments yet the tech is arguably in the "trough of disillusionment". Few people think it will break into mainstream use anytime soon.

So far, 99% of sales are in the "expensive gaming accessory" category. There is fun and interesting UI and gameplay innovation happening here.

The one non-gaming thing everyone seems to want is just a large virtual desktop workspace. Apple has probably come closest here. It sounds like an easy problem but without a high resolution and a wide field of view, it's not a good experience.

jankyxenon · a year ago

It is an interesting space - where do you think it'll play out from here? Lots of money quietly flowing into the space from big players.

kolja005 · a year ago

Is there a lot of innovation happening in this space for military applications? I ask this as someone totally unfamiliar with the technology in general. It seems like it could greatly benefit pilots, people on the battlefield, and anyone else who needs access to some kind of visual information while still having both of their hands.

Dead Comment

kypro · a year ago

There's quite a lot of investment in AR/VR for new educational applications. I think there is some potential there.

d0mine · a year ago

Python 3.13 has free-threaded mode support (--disable-gil) https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.13.html#whatsnew313-fre...

JohnBrookz · a year ago

Bambu labs got me into 3d printing. It’s the most seamless and simple 3d printer and functions as basically an appliance. Huge leap for 3d printing and I suspect we’re closer than ever to making jt affordable and easy.

S_Bear · a year ago

I replaced my old Elegoo Neptune with a Bambu A1, and what a huge difference! I hated FDM printing for years, but now I use it all the time. I'm upgrading my resin printer next year, and can't wait to see what advances have been made in that realm.

al_borland · a year ago

I keep looking at 3D printers, but then I start looking up if they are safe to use inside and various things like that, and I get scared off.

I think I need to give it a few more years before it reaches a maturity level I would actually use.

jazzyjackson · a year ago

Really? It's been nearly 20 years since Reprap, it's hard to imagine it maturing any more. If I get one I'll probably treat it like a belt sander or something, a tool that sits in the garage with plenty of fresh air. Agreed that it's a little concerning knowing some people that sit in a closed space with a dozen of these running (at that point you can smell the hot plastic...) but using common sense with good ventilation goes a long way.

admissionsguy · a year ago

PHP 8.4 comes out next month and will bring new functions, including array_find, array_find_key, array_any, and array_all. It will also introduce property hooks.

Why is this controversial (judging by the fluctuation in net upvotes)? You folks should be more down to earth.

mmarian · a year ago

I'd love it if there was a site where I could follow developments at the intersection between business and tech that don't mention whatever's being hyped up at that point in time.

reureu · a year ago

we just need to code up some llm-based, blockchain-enabled, genAI apps to automatically remove hyped tech from hn

You forgot the secret ingredient - quantum computing. That's what will enable us to run everything efficiently using coal energy that's offset by purchasing carbon credits.

shswkna · a year ago

The lack of responses so far on this thread is just sad.

nitwit005 · a year ago

People tend not to be enthused about a request to essentially write an essay for a stranger.

antifa · a year ago

I think a lot of valid answers could be a sentence or short paragraph, if the writer did not want to write an essay.

How lazy from them.

ActorNightly · a year ago

The issue is that humanity right now is sort of capped on innovation in any area outside AI. There is plenty of room for optimization of stuff. For example, quad rotor drones replaced the necessity to have a helicopter flying overhead for a lot of industries.

normanthreep · a year ago

we could copy paste the front page for them