fnordpiglet (u/fnordpiglet)

fnordpiglet commented on Tell HN: AI coding is sexy, but accounting is the real low-hanging target · Posted by u/bmadduma

clarle · 16 hours ago

Isn't that the benefit of LLM-powered accounting over existing rules-based software?

LLMs can help to handle the subjectivity in how GAAP is applied and provide justifications, which previous rules-based tax software could not before.

fnordpiglet · 16 hours ago

Yeah exactly. This is where an LLM could really shine. The trick though is consistency and that it’s often more on the basis of how the organization typically treats something and rationale to its applicability to GAAP. The creation and consistent adherence to internal standards and providing them and proving them to auditors is the key and LLMs would need infra to accomplish this.

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fnordpiglet commented on I failed to recreate the 1996 Space Jam website with Claude j0nah.com/i-failed-to-rec... · Posted by u/thecr0w

Wowfunhappy · 10 days ago

Claude is not very good at using screenshots. The model may technically be multi-modal, but its strength is clearly in reading text. I'm not surprised it failed here.

fnordpiglet · 10 days ago

Especially since it decomposes the image into a semantic vector space rather than the actual grid of pixels. Once the image is transformed into patch embeddings all sense of pixels is entirely destroyed. The author demonstrates a profound lack of understanding for how multimodal LLMs function that a simple query of one would elucidate immediately.

The right way to handle this is not to build it grids and whatnot, which all get blown away by the embedding encoding but to instruct it to build image processing tools of its own and to mandate their use in constructing the coordinates required and computing the eccentricity of the pattern etc in code and language space. Doing it this way you can even get it to write assertive tests comparing the original layout to the final among various image processing metrics. This would assuredly work better, take far less time, be more stable on iteration, and fits neatly into how a multimodal agentic programming tool actually functions.

fnordpiglet commented on Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros about.netflix.com/en/news... · Posted by u/meetpateltech

xp84 · 12 days ago

I think Netflix's incentives, especially now that they have an ad tier, have changed.

With a subscription service 10 years ago, you just need to have enough must-see content:

- Original scripted TV series that become mainstream known and/or seen as prestige TV, like "The Crown," "Mindhunter," "Bridgerton," "Stranger Things" etc.

- "Crown Jewel" reruns with huge fanbases such as The Office, Friends, Seinfeld, Modern Family, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Arrested Development, etc.

- Unscripted TV series that become buzzy - like Love Is Blind, Tiger King, etc.

Having those categories all well-stocked ensures that only a fool would cancel their Netflix subscription as they'll be out of the loop when the new season of a 'zeitgeisty' show drops. You don't really need all your viewers to watch more hours to get more money every year, you can grow revenue with a combo of new viewers and price increases as long as users just watch regularly.

I think present-day Netflix sees incentives:

- to get as many people on the ad tier as possible so they can scale revenue with watch time

- to increase watch time which is a solved problem via psychological manipulation if you have good ML like they do

- more watch time without spending more money points pretty obviously to lowering cost per show as much as you can, which manifests as worse quality, more reality, more imported dubbed shows, etc. and drastically curtailing giving huge checks to the Matthew Weiners, David Benioffs, and Vince Gilligans of the world to bet on a massive superhit.

So they will want to focus heavily on the unscripted category plus whatever they can slap together cheaply, then autoplay and optimize their way to growth.

fnordpiglet · 12 days ago

I’d note they’re not mutually exclusive revenue streams and both add meaningfully to their value. I think the reality is they peaked the first one and growth is in the second one. Subscriptions that are sticky however are much more valuable individually than an advertising tier user. But if you can cater to both and not downgrade subscriptions to ads tier you win in two parallel markets via the same platform. This is not a bad business strategy. But they need to not lose the subscriptions and their reason for being in the quest for growth or they’ll see nominal growth with decline in value.

fnordpiglet commented on John Giannandrea to retire from Apple apple.com/newsroom/2025/1... · Posted by u/robbiet480

fnordpiglet · 15 days ago

What a ducking surprise

fnordpiglet commented on New magnetic component discovered in the Faraday effect phys.org/news/2025-11-mag... · Posted by u/rbanffy

sosodev · 23 days ago

But there’s no quantum explanation of gravity, right?

fnordpiglet · 23 days ago

There’s no explanation of gravity, quantum or no. There are merely descriptions.