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Top stories from https://news.ycombinator.com (with 100+ score) Contribute to the development here: https://github.com/phil-r/hackernewsbot Also check https://t.me/designer_news Contacts: @philr
Essential node in global semiconductor supply chain hit by Hurricane Helene (Score: 150+ in 17 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6ftN8
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6ftN8
YC criticized for backing AI startup that simply cloned another AI startup (🔥 Score: 167+ in 1 hour)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6fvAH
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6fvAH
MtCellEdit – Lightweight Spreadsheet Program (❄️ Score: 150+ in 2 days)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6fkEh
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6fkEh
Varlink – IPC to replace D-Bus gradually in systemd (Score: 150+ in 1 day)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6fpc7
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6fpc7
How we built ngrok's data platform (Score: 150+ in 23 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6frsJ
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6frsJ
Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods (Score: 150+ in 18 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6frR6
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6frR6
Right, here's the thing: If you are using AirPods(or any Bluetooth headphones with a mic in fact) on Mac and something activates the mic(i.e. you Shazam a song), the sound will be interrupted momentarily and will return in very low quality. This is happening because Bluetooth can't handle both way high quality streaming and the bandwidth is decreased to make it work.
It's a known issue and here's what Apple recommends to fix it: https://support.apple.com/en-hk/102217
Most of the time(unless you are on a Mac Mini/Studio/Pro), you have much higher quality microphones built in, so in most use cases, you want to hear from your AirPods but be heard from your internal microphone, which means if every time you connect your AirPods and go into the settings and set the default input device as the internal mic, you won't have sound quality degradation on mic activation, and if you use your mic to talk to people or record something, you will have better sound quality too.
Based on this observation, first I tried to create a script or some automation that can do it for me but found out that it can be clunky or needlessly complex.
Here's someone who used this approach to fix this issue: https://www.dermitch.de/post/macos-force-microphone-when-usi...
Anyway, I decided to take the "build your app for that" route and created this app and called it CrystalClear Audio which doesn't involve any technical setup to use. Making it was also not as easy I hoped, I was expecting this to be a half an hour project but ended up filing bug reports with Apple because some API wasn't behaving as expected or mysterious things were happening when using it(like phantom device changes).
After spending that much time with all this, I decided to publish it on Mac AppStore and after too many rejections(all my mistakes) I got it published: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/crystalclear-sound/id669572374...
The app is not free but comes with a free trial. I decided to go with a very cheap subscription model because I suspect further development might be needed as bugs emerge or API behavior changes. I know its a hated business model but IMHO it's better than ads or tracking of any sort to justify the work done. It's not free because supporting a free app is just as hard as supporting a paid one and it's not one time payment because I don't know what would the right price be for supporting an app for years to come and still have people willing to pay for it.
I hope other people find this useful and if you do, you can support by upvoting on Producthunt so even more people can find it sueful: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/crystalclear-sound
PS: the app is also useful for quickly switching between giving the sound out of the laptop speakers and the headphones, I ended up using that quite often.
Show HN: qrframe – generate beautiful qr codes with javascript code (Score: 150+ in 8 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6ftJe
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6ftJe
I originally built a QR code generator as a resume project using Rust and I realized a web interface would make customization way easier.
This still generates the "data" using that rust library via wasm, but the rendering is all editable javascript to make an SVG or paint on an HTML canvas.
I was especially inspired by https://qrbtf.com which had some unique style options I had never seen before, which I ended up copying, and then I made some more.
Keep Track: 3D Satellite Toolkit (Score: 150+ in 20 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6frws
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6frws
GnuCash 5.9 Released (Score: 151+ in 7 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6ft84
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6ft84
MusicBrainz: An open music encyclopedia (🔥 Score: 153+ in 3 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6ftzw
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6ftzw
Screenpipe: 24/7 local AI screen and mic recording (Score: 152+ in 9 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6frSA
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6frSA
Liquid Foundation Models: Our First Series of Generative AI Models (🔥 Score: 150+ in 3 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6fsFB
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6fsFB
Syncthing: Open-Source Continuous File Sync with Privacy in Mind (Score: 150+ in 21 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6fqeP
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6fqeP
Alan Kay on Messaging (1998) (Score: 150+ in 1 day)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6fnFJ
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6fnFJ
Kris Kristofferson has died (Score: 151+ in 13 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6fqvC
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6fqvC
Ask HN: Should you reply STOP to unwanted texts? (Score: 152+ in 13 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/c/6fug2
I have been advising people I know to block, then delete and report junk (iOS) to unwanted texts. Others have argued with me that you should reply STOP. I disagree, especially after checking a shortened link in a “campaign” text and finding the link was a phishing attempt. What do you think?
Text2CAD: Generating sequential cad designs from text prompts (❄️ Score: 150+ in 2 days)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6fnCu
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6fnCu
Ask HN: Any good essays/books/advice about software sales? (Score: 151+ in 1 day)
Link: https://readhacker.news/c/6freW
I'm a software engineer trying to build an agency, would love to hear anything(literally) about how can an engineer learn to generate leads and convert them.
Thanks!
BorgBackup 2.0 supports Rclone – over 70 cloud providers in addition to SSH (Score: 151+ in 9 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6ftWd
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6ftWd
Phrase matching in Marginalia Search (Score: 151+ in 18 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6frWg
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6frWg
Boris Vallejo and the pixel art of the demoscene (Score: 152+ in 6 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6fuef
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6fuef
AI chipmaker Cerebras files for IPO (Score: 150+ in 6 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6fu6F
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6fu6F
The best browser bookmarking system is files (Score: 150+ in 12 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6fs7s
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6fs7s
FFmpeg 7.1 release: a tons of codecs (Score: 150+ in 14 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6frC3
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6frC3
Apple No Longer in Talks to Invest in ChatGPT Maker OpenAI (🔥 Score: 150+ in 2 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6ftmJ
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6ftmJ
California bans legacy admissions at private universities (🔥 Score: 159+ in 1 hour)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6ftn6
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6ftn6
Do AI companies work? (Score: 151+ in 18 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6fqCZ
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6fqCZ
'Three New York Cities' Worth of Power: AI Is Stressing the Grid (Score: 150+ in 22 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6fpQm
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6fpQm
Y Combinator Traded Prestige for Growth (🔥 Score: 179+ in 1 hour)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6fsfS
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6fsfS
The Arch Linux team is now working directly with Valve (Score: 150+ in 5 hours)
Link: https://readhacker.news/s/6frnM
Comments: https://readhacker.news/c/6frnM