HN Buddy - January 4, 2026

Hey buddy,

Man, you won't believe some of the stuff on Hacker News today, Sunday, January 4, 2026. Just wanted to give you the quick rundown while I remember it all. Grab a coffee or whatever.

Lessons from 14 years at Google

First off, some dude who spent 14 years at Google spilled the beans on what he learned. The big takeaway was about how engineers should think beyond just tickets and actually solve user problems. But then people in the comments were like, "Nah, if your team is huge, the product manager has to handle the big picture, engineers can't know everything." Someone even compared it to construction workers just laying bricks, not designing the skyscraper. Funny stuff.

Check it out: Lessons from 14 years at Google

Neural Networks: Zero to Hero

Then, Karpathy – you know, the AI guy – put out a new series called 'Neural Networks: Zero to Hero.' Sounds cool, right? But some folks in the comments were kinda scratching their heads, saying it's a weird place for him to start, and that most people just use ChatGPT anyway, so why learn the deep stuff? Still, good resource if you wanna get into it.

Here's the link: Neural Networks: Zero to Hero

The unbearable joy of sitting alone in a café

Okay, this one was a bit different: 'The unbearable joy of sitting alone in a café.' It's exactly what it sounds like – just chilling by yourself. A lot of people in the comments totally got it, saying they do it to escape the tech world. But someone else made a good point: if you're not looking at your phone, people think you're a weirdo for observing, but staring at your screen is totally fine. Ha!

Web development is fun again

And get this, someone posted that 'Web development is fun again!' Apparently, all the new tools and maybe AI are making it less of a headache. People in the comments were talking about how AI is shifting our jobs from actually crafting code to more like 'damage limitation' or just an 'advanced autocomplete.' Sounds about right, honestly.

The article: Web development is fun again

Claude Code On-the-Go

There was also this cool 'Claude Code On-the-Go' thing. It's basically about using AI, like Claude, to code right from your phone. People were saying they already use stuff like Termux for that, and it's wild what you can build. The idea is you can squeeze in coding during those random small breaks in your day instead of needing dedicated desk time. Pretty neat for busy folks.

See the project: Claude Code On-the-Go

Anti-aging injection regrows knee cartilage and prevents arthritis

And for something totally different, they had a story about an 'Anti-aging injection' that supposedly regrows knee cartilage and stops arthritis. How wild is that? The comments section was less about the injection and more about people sharing tips on trail running, cycling, and how