The HackerNoon Newsletter: Your Chatbot Isn’t Reading Words—It’s Counting Tokens (2/5/2025)

How are you, hacker?

🪐 What’s happening in tech today, February 5, 2025?

The HackerNoon Newsletter brings the HackerNoon homepage straight to your inbox. On this day, we present you with these top quality stories. From Win Up to $2000 in the #blockchain Writing Contest by Aleph Cloud and HackerNoon to 🏆 Startups of The Year: 2 Months Left to Cast Your Vote!, let’s dive right in.

Win Up to $2000 in the #blockchain Writing Contest by Aleph Cloud and HackerNoon

By @hackernooncontests [ 3 Min read ] Join the #blockchain Writing Contest and share your insights on decentralized AI, cloud, or dePIN. Win up to $2,000! Contest open Feb 5–May 7, 2025. Read More.

DIY Enthusiast Hacks His Way Into Building His Own Musical Instrument (And It Rocks!)

By @matteopisani91 [ 34 Min read ] A cybersecurity engineer built a sci-fi bass from scratch, packed with a synth, a wireless transmitter, a hacked built-in tuner and voltmeters. Read More.

This Startup Founder Spent $600k on a Domain—And the Risk Paid Off Big

By @jbecke [ 2 Min read ] Jacob Beckerman spent $600k to buy macro.com when his startup only had $2 million. The go-big or go-home mentality had a surprising effect. Read More.

🏆 Startups of The Year: 2 Months Left to Cast Your Vote!

By @startups [ 7 Min read ] HackerNoons Startups of The Year voting ends March 31, 2025. You still have time to support your favorites—cast your vote today! Read More.

Your Chatbot Isn’t Reading Words—It’s Counting Tokens

By @paulr [ 9 Min read ] Tokenization is the gateway through which raw text transforms into a format usable by large language models (LLMs) like GPT. Read More.

🧑‍💻 What happened in your world this week?

It's been said that writing can help consolidate technical knowledge, establish credibility, and contribute to emerging community standards. Feeling stuck? We got you covered ⬇️⬇️⬇️

ANSWER THESE GREATEST INTERVIEW QUESTIONS OF ALL TIME

We hope you enjoy this worth of free reading material. Feel free to forward this email to a nerdy friend who'll love you for it.See you on Planet Internet! With love, The HackerNoon Team ✌️