Cognitive Load Is What Matters

This was a big one. The main idea is that when you're building software, what really matters is how much mental effort it takes to understand and work with it. But here's the kicker from the comments: people were debating what "simpler" actually means. Is it simpler because it's genuinely less complex, or just because you're already used to it? Someone pointed out that even writing code that's easy to maintain later on is a huge mental effort itself. Also, a good tip from a comment was that just asking questions is key to understanding why someone made a certain architectural choice.

Check out the discussion here: https://github.com/zakirullin/cognitive-load

Are We Decentralized Yet?

This site is basically a scorecard for how truly decentralized various tech is. It's a cool concept. In the comments, people were talking about "Personal Data Servers" and how they're kinda like running your own blog, which makes sense. But then someone else brought up how even with all this talk about decentralization, big players like Coinbase still act as a central hub for money, which creates a sort of de facto centralization. Another comment suggested that new decentralized services might follow the "Gmail playbook" – free for consumers with ads/tracking, but restricted APIs and subscriptions for businesses.

See the site and comments: https://arewedecentralizedyet.online/

FBI Cyber Cop: Salt Typhoon Pwned 'Nearly Every American'

Okay, this one's a bit alarming. An FBI cyber cop apparently said that a group called "Salt Typhoon" pretty much compromised "nearly every American." The comments section quickly went to "Hanlon's razor" – is it malice or just plain stupidity? Many people doubted the tech literacy of government officials. And here's a surprising one: apparently, all telecommunications companies in the US don't encrypt phone calls in the core of their networks. Wild, right?

Read the full story: https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/28/fbi_cyber_cop_salt_typhoon/

Six Months Into Tariffs, Businesses Have No Idea How to Price Anything

Remember all the tariff talk? Well, six months later, businesses are apparently totally lost on how to price their products. One comment connected this directly to the recent removal of the 'de minimis' rule, which used to let small parcels ship duty-free. Someone else speculated that the goal of these tariffs might actually be to replace income tax, which is a pretty bold theory.

Here's the article: https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/trump-tariff-business-price-impact-37b630c8

You Have to Feel It

This was a more philosophical article about needing to have a good "feeling" or "vibe" about the work you're doing. It's about intrinsic motivation. A really cool point in the comments was what someone called the "weekend test": would