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Convert tempo (BPM) to millisecond durations for musical note subdivisions

https://brylie.music/apps/bpm-calculator/
1•brylie•17s ago•0 comments

Show HN: Tasty A.F.

https://tastyaf.recipes/about
1•adammfrank•1m ago•0 comments

The Contagious Taste of Cancer

https://www.historytoday.com/archive/history-matters/contagious-taste-cancer
1•Thevet•2m ago•0 comments

U.S. Jobs Disappear at Fastest January Pace Since Great Recession

https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikestunson/2026/02/05/us-jobs-disappear-at-fastest-january-pace-sin...
1•alephnerd•2m ago•0 comments

Bithumb mistakenly hands out $195M in Bitcoin to users in 'Random Box' giveaway

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2026-02-07/business/finance/Crypto-exchange-Bithumb-mis...
1•giuliomagnifico•2m ago•0 comments

Beyond Agentic Coding

https://haskellforall.com/2026/02/beyond-agentic-coding
2•todsacerdoti•4m ago•0 comments

OpenClaw ClawHub Broken Windows Theory – If basic sorting isn't working what is?

https://www.loom.com/embed/e26a750c0c754312b032e2290630853d
1•kaicianflone•6m ago•0 comments

OpenBSD Copyright Policy

https://www.openbsd.org/policy.html
1•Panino•7m ago•0 comments

OpenClaw Creator: Why 80% of Apps Will Disappear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uzGDAoNOZc
1•schwentkerr•10m ago•0 comments

What Happens When Technical Debt Vanishes?

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11316905
1•blenderob•12m ago•0 comments

AI Is Finally Eating Software's Total Market: Here's What's Next

https://vinvashishta.substack.com/p/ai-is-finally-eating-softwares-total
2•gmays•12m ago•0 comments

Computer Science from the Bottom Up

https://www.bottomupcs.com/
2•gurjeet•13m ago•0 comments

Show HN: I built a toy compiler as a young dev

https://vire-lang.web.app
1•xeouz•14m ago•0 comments

You don't need Mac mini to run OpenClaw

https://runclaw.sh
1•rutagandasalim•15m ago•0 comments

Learning to Reason in 13 Parameters

https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.04118
1•nicholascarolan•17m ago•0 comments

Convergent Discovery of Critical Phenomena Mathematics Across Disciplines

https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.22389
1•energyscholar•17m ago•1 comments

Ask HN: Will GPU and RAM prices ever go down?

1•alentred•17m ago•0 comments

From hunger to luxury: The story behind the most expensive rice (2025)

https://www.cnn.com/travel/japan-expensive-rice-kinmemai-premium-intl-hnk-dst
2•mooreds•18m ago•0 comments

Substack makes money from hosting Nazi newsletters

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/feb/07/revealed-how-substack-makes-money-from-hosting-nazi...
5•mindracer•19m ago•2 comments

A New Crypto Winter Is Here and Even the Biggest Bulls Aren't Certain Why

https://www.wsj.com/finance/currencies/a-new-crypto-winter-is-here-and-even-the-biggest-bulls-are...
1•thm•19m ago•0 comments

Moltbook was peak AI theater

https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/02/06/1132448/moltbook-was-peak-ai-theater/
1•Brajeshwar•20m ago•0 comments

Why Claude Cowork is a math problem Indian IT can't solve

https://restofworld.org/2026/indian-it-ai-stock-crash-claude-cowork/
2•Brajeshwar•20m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Built an space travel calculator with vanilla JavaScript v2

https://www.cosmicodometer.space/
2•captainnemo729•20m ago•0 comments

Why a 175-Year-Old Glassmaker Is Suddenly an AI Superstar

https://www.wsj.com/tech/corning-fiber-optics-ai-e045ba3b
1•Brajeshwar•21m ago•0 comments

Micro-Front Ends in 2026: Architecture Win or Enterprise Tax?

https://iocombats.com/blogs/micro-frontends-in-2026
2•ghazikhan205•23m ago•1 comments

These White-Collar Workers Actually Made the Switch to a Trade

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/white-collar-mid-career-trades-caca4b5f
1•impish9208•23m ago•1 comments

The Wonder Drug That's Plaguing Sports

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/us/ostarine-olympics-doping.html
1•mooreds•24m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Which chef knife steels are good? Data from 540 Reddit tread

https://new.knife.day/blog/reddit-steel-sentiment-analysis
1•p-s-v•24m ago•0 comments

Federated Credential Management (FedCM)

https://ciamweekly.substack.com/p/federated-credential-management-fedcm
1•mooreds•24m ago•0 comments

Token-to-Credit Conversion: Avoiding Floating-Point Errors in AI Billing Systems

https://app.writtte.com/read/kZ8Kj6R
1•lasgawe•24m ago•1 comments
Open in hackernews

Lee Felsenstein

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Felsenstein
66•nickt•3mo ago

Comments

internet_points•2mo ago
> Felsenstein was influenced in his philosophy by the works of Ivan Illich, particularly Tools for Conviviality (Harper and Row, 1973). This book advocated a "convivial" approach to design which allowed users of technologies to learn about the technology by encouraging exploration, tinkering, and modification. Felsenstein had learned about electronics in much the same fashion, and summarized his conclusions in several aphorisms, to wit – "In order to survive in a public-access environment, a computer must grow a computer club around itself." Others were – "To change the rules, change the tools," and "If work is to become play, then tools must become toys."
snovymgodym•2mo ago
I highly recommend Tools for Conviviality, it's extremely poignant and ahead of its time.
JSR_FDED•2mo ago
I wanted an Osborne 1 so badly when I was a kid - all that power in a handy portable suitcase form factor!
noir_lord•2mo ago
8 bit guy on YouTube has a nice three part series on restoring and demoing the Osborne 1, I watched the last part this morning.

Looked like a neat little machine but (just a little) before my time, I’d have been in nursery when it released.

gnerd00•2mo ago
Coding on an Osbourne Executive.. portable yes, but the screen was so small, the external monitor was essential. Pick green or orange monitor phospher (very different looking). Big floppy disks and CP/M, Wordstar and .. Visi-Calc? Basic language.. authors workstation and could dial in with a modem to a BBS.
themadturk•2mo ago
I was in my late 20s when one of the trust managers at the bank I worked for brought in his Osborne. I was so very, very jealous. I'd just purchased the CP/M cartridge for my Commodore 64 and tried to convince him let me borrow the WordStar disk, but he wouldn't do it (and I really never went anywhere with CP/M on the C=64).
kragen•2mo ago
Could we maybe change the title to something like "Lee Felsenstein is still alive"? I was worried when I saw the title.
croisillon•2mo ago
i'd suggest "Lee Felsenstein turned 80 this year" :)
ludwik•2mo ago
Good call. I would feel extremely weird seeing "[my full name] is still alive" as a title somewhere...
kragen•2mo ago
Oh, yeah, my suggestion was pretty dumb.
croisillon•2mo ago
especially on a website formatted like a todo list :)
Iridiumkoivu•2mo ago
Yeah, that’s a good one. I also thought that he had passed away because of his age and how the title was not very informative.

( ;^^)b

robterrell•2mo ago
Please, this was my first thought too.
noufalibrahim•2mo ago
This was an era before my time but the book "Hackers" by Steven Levy does a great job of painting an evocative picture of this era. It evokes a feeling of nostalgia (as in, we missed being in those times) but when you think properly, you see that you still have the same types of opportunities in a field where the frontiers are ever widening.
partomniscient•2mo ago
I remember the quote, maybe not word for word, but Lee said something like:

"You're going to do all that for the computer? What are you going to do for the people?"

JKCalhoun•2mo ago
For someone whose claim to fame was during the onboarding of the personal computer, I wish Wikipedia would provide period-appropriate images.

For example, I found this one of a younger Lee: https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/still-i...

kevinwang•2mo ago
Good idea! Anyone should be able to add it if it's in the public domain.
DonHopkins•2mo ago
I asked Lee about that great photo and he wrote:

Prototype for the Automatic Photoelectric Keratometer, (US 4,345,437 - 1966, to Westheimer and Felsenstein). Taken by myself in the lab of Gerald Westheimer in 1965.

Vacuum tube electronics of my design controlling an oscilloscope pattern focused on a sumulated eyeball with two photomultiplier tubes catching the glint (specular) reflection and reversing the sweep direction.

A poor idea which went nowhere but it got a patent for the professor who generously included me as co-inventor and coauthor of a paper.

UC Berkeley School of Optometry — I was a Lab Helper at $2.03/hour. Prof. Westheimer later moved to Physiology. He was 99 in 2023 when we last met.

kragen•2mo ago
For the primary photo on biographies of living people, Wikipedia prefers photos to be as current as possible.
Triphibian•2mo ago
Just recently read his memoir, "Me and My Big Ideas," which gives a fascinating look at the meeting of modern computing and the counterculture. It feels more and more important to get these stories down while we still can.
DonHopkins•2mo ago
To quote Lee: "To change the rules - change the tools!"

http://www.FelsenSigns.com

He's reissued the classic Homebrew Computer Club t-shirts he sold at the final meeting, and also posters!

https://felsensigns.com/engineers-and-programmers-with-attit...

>The cartoon shows a caricature of Chares Proteus Steinmetz – a hero of mine, posing for a photograph at the inauguration of one of his big generators (he taught American engineers how to calculate with alternating current starting around 1890). He was a German immigrant hunchback dwarf and was never admitted to “polite society” of the day, but he changed to world.

>The front of the shirt shows him in front of the massive, throbbing machine – hand on the switch, dressed in formal wear. The rear of the shirt shows the rear view, with Steinmetz’ fingers crossed as the photographer takes his shot.

dmazin•2mo ago
If this guy is interesting to you, I recommend "What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry"[1]. Really good computing history book, and I've read a lot of them. Lee is a major character in the book.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Dormouse_Said

croemer•2mo ago
Brother of the famous (in phylogenetics circles) Joe Felsenstein: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Felsenstein
robterrell•2mo ago
Lee will be speaking next month in San Jose at an event for the 50th anniversary of the Byte Shop computer store. Incredible opportunity to hear from the man himself. For computer designers of the 8-bit era, I’d say he ranks next to Woz in terms of importance: the Sol-80, Osborne, Homebrew Computer Club, member of the Berkeley free speech movement. Curious to hear his thoughts on the industry today.
benjedwards•2mo ago
Are you related to Paul? I noticed the last name. :)
robterrell•2mo ago
Yep! Paul is my uncle. My parents had a franchise Byte Shop in Greensboro, NC when I was a kid.
dopamean•2mo ago
This is so cool. How lucky to have such a close experience to that scene. I'm jealous.
benjedwards•2mo ago
That's really neat. I had no idea there was a Byte Shop in Greensboro. My wife's family is from that area. I live in Raleigh, NC. Now I am wondering if my nerdy father-in-law ever visited it back in the day.
rohitkhare•2mo ago
Any link or details for the event?

I tried looking for SJSU events and found the earlier Vintage Computing Fair talks, but at least I can trade this time capsule link from that era even if it doesn't quote me toon the Byte Shop specifically: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1977/04/04/bytes-and-chip...

robterrell•2mo ago
I know it's been days but since you asked he made a link:

https://byteshop50thyearbirthdayp.rsvpify.com

nickpinkston•2mo ago
Lee is so cool and humble.

In my mid 20s, I ran the SF Hardware Meetup, and Lee came and just told me something like: "Oh yea, I've been into hardware for a long time.", and only later did I realize who he was haha.

Like others here, I was concerned seeing his name trending here, and I'm so glad he's still alive.

Lee represents the best of mentalities of the tech scene, and I hope we can get back to a more pro-social place and away from this profit-first bubble shit.

ohjeez•2mo ago
Jesus Christ you just scared me. Next time, post a title like "Lee Felsenstein (is fine)," please!
ChrisGammell•2mo ago
Interview with Lee at the end of 2024 on The Amp Hour podcast: https://theamphour.com/684-lee-felsenstein-the-computer-revo...
sakebomb•2mo ago
If you haven't read his book, check it out: Me and My Big Ideas: Counterculture, Social Media, and the Future http://amazon.com/Me-My-Big-Ideas-Counterculture/dp/B0DJ8T45...
lproven•2mo ago
For those afflicted by Meta syndrome, Lee F is a fairly regular poster and commenter in the Vintage Computer Club group. :-)