AI Titans Clash as Cash and Control Collide!

Show HN: enveil – hide your .env secrets from prAIng eyes

Key Points

• Secrets never exist in plaintext on disk; .env contains only ev:// references.
• Encryption uses Argon2id-derived keys and AES-256-GCM with per-write nonces.
• Install via cargo (when published) or build from source; initialize per project and add .enveil to .gitignore.

The Weird OS Built Around a Database [video]

Key Points

• Video topic: an operating system built around a database.
• Page metadata: 913K subscribers; runtime 34:34; engagement count 8.2K.
• Context via linked videos: UNIX PC history, OS evolution, and Oracle/SQL/relational databases.

Genetic underpinnings of chills from art and music

Key Points

• Familial relatedness explains up to 29% of variation in chills proneness, with about one-fourth due to common SNPs.
• Genetic correlation of 0.58 indicates shared genetic influences across aesthetic and music chills.
• Polygenic index for openness to experience is associated with susceptibility to both chills types.

Firefox 148 Launches with AI Kill Switch Feature and More Enhancements

Key Points

• Firefox 148 adds an AI kill switch and selective AI feature blocking.
• New privacy controls let users opt out of remote updates and minimize data collection.
• Security and platform enhancements include Trusted Types, Sanitizer API, and service worker support for WebGPU.

Unsung heroes: Flickr's URLs scheme

Key Points

• Flickr’s URLs were clean, readable, and predictable, aiding navigation and sharing.
• Short URLs integrate smoothly in text formats and avoid truncation in tools.
• Proposed updates include removing /photos and adding human-readable slugs.

The Engine Behind the Hype

Key Points

• OpenClaw’s renaming due to an Anthropic trademark complaint and its subsequent crypto scam incident.
• OpenClaw is built by Peter Steinberger and powered by the Pi coding agent from Mario Zechner.
• The author highlights context window overhead in Claude Code and surveys a wide range of AI coding tools.

Diode – Build, program, and simulate hardware

Key Points

• Browser-based platform for building, programming, and simulating hardware.
• Library includes common components like resistors, capacitors, transistors, LEDs, 555 timer, switches, and wires.
• Featured Projects suggest curated example circuits are available.

Show HN: Cellarium: A Playground for Cellular Automata

Key Points

• Rust cell logic is cross-compiled to WGSL and executed via wgpu on the GPU.
• State is packed into up to 8 rgba32float textures, updated with double-buffered passes.
• Neighborhoods and a rich Neighbors API enable aggregation and differential operators.

Graph Topology and Battle Royale Mechanics

Key Points

• Model the map as a graph and verify connectivity with BFS after each city removal.
• Use the Wiener number to quantify and prefer maps that maintain strategic richness.
• Replace greedy pruning with beam search to consider multiple sequences and avoid local minima.

A distributed queue in a single JSON file on object storage

Key Points

• Single JSON queue on object storage replaces sharded queues, cutting tail latency ~10x.
• CAS ensures atomic push/claim operations and strong consistency.
• Group commit batches writes to overcome object storage latency and boost throughput.

The Missing Semester of Your CS Education – Revised for 2026

Key Points

• Course teaches practical tooling and integrates AI across lectures.
• Schedule covers shell, command-line, dev tools, Git, packaging, agentic coding, and code quality.
• Videos on YouTube; discussion via OSSU Discord; community translations available.

Atlantic: Sam Altman Is Losing His Grip on Humanity

Key Points

• Altman compares AI and human energy use, claiming AI may be as efficient per query.
• The article emphasizes AI’s climate impact via data center power (gas, coal) and CO2 levels.
• Anthropic’s product choices and CEO comments reflect broader industry anthropomorphism.

ΛProlog: Logic programming in higher-order logic

Key Points

• λProlog directly supports HOAS and λ-tree syntax with higher-order unification.
• Abella provides a two-level logic approach and features for reasoning about bindings.
• ELPI/OCaml enables compiling λProlog to JavaScript for browser execution (e.g., MLTS).

Decimal-Java is a library to convert java.math.BigDecimal to and from IEEE-754r

Key Points

• Converts BigDecimal to/from IEEE-754 decimal32/64/128 byte formats.
• Java 17+ required for v2.x; available via Maven, MIT-licensed.
• Configurable overflow handling and exceptions for special values.

The Righteous EV Owners Who Won't Let Their Broken Cars Die

Key Points

• Fisker’s bankruptcy left Ocean owners without clear support, prompting reliance on a Facebook community.
• Remote volunteer guidance enabled battery revival and hood access to aid the stranded vehicle.
• Owners are organizing to share technical know-how and source parts to keep their Fisker Oceans operational.

ATAboy is a USB adapter for legacy CHS only style IDE (PATA) drives

Key Points

• Works with CHS-only IDE (PATA) drives and presents them as USB Mass Storage without special drivers.
• Firmware is proof‑of‑concept, AI-assisted, buggy, and incomplete; use at your own risk.
• Provides a serial console UI to set drive geometry, with EEPROM saving and default write protection.

Show HN: SNKV – SQLite's B-tree as a key-value store (C/C++ and Python bindings)

Key Points

• Bypasses SQLite’s SQL stack to use B‑Tree APIs directly.
• Retains pager and OS layers for ACID, crash safety, and efficient I/O.
• Claims ~50% faster performance on mixed KV workloads due to reduced overhead.

Goodbye InnerHTML, Hello SetHTML: Stronger XSS Protection in Firefox 148

Key Points

• Firefox 148 ships the standardized Sanitizer API with the setHTML() method.
• Developers can customize which elements and attributes are allowed during sanitization.
• Trusted Types can be combined with setHTML() to enforce stricter HTML injection controls.

Discord cuts ties with Peter Thiel-backed verification software

Key Points

• Discord ended a short test with Persona after researchers found exposed Persona code and files.
• Exposed materials show extensive checks including facial recognition and adverse media screening.
• Discord clarified age verification is optional except for age-restricted areas and promotes on-device video selfies.

Tiny QR code achieved using electron microscope technology

Key Points

• World’s smallest readable QR code: 1.98 µm² on a ceramic film using focused ion beams.
• Electron microscope required; 49‑nm pixels are below visible light resolution.
• A4 ceramic sheet could hold >2 TB; future work targets new encodings, materials, and practical deployment.

I Pitched a Roller Coaster to Disneyland at Age 10 in 1978

Key Points

• Space Mountain inspired the author’s idea for a looping roller coaster.
• He designed and built a scale model of the four-loop “Quadrupuler.”
• Heat-bending plastic solved the challenge of forming the model’s loops.

IRS Tactics Against Meta Open a New Front in the Corporate Tax Fight

Key Points

• IRS uses real-world profit data to challenge offshore IP valuations.
• Meta faces a claim of nearly $16 billion in back taxes and penalties.
• Success could lead to broad recoveries from multinationals.

We installed a single turnstile to feel secure

Key Points

• Turnstiles and key card readers were activated, causing significant entry and elevator delays.
• Mock turnstile mode required scans without blocking, followed by full activation with long queues.
• A Jira-related tool used repeated re-authentication and stored credentials in cookies, illustrating insecure design.

Samsung Upcycle Promise

Key Points

• Samsung’s 2017 plan aimed to unlock bootloaders and build an open-source app marketplace for repurposing older Galaxy phones.
• iFixit co-launched the initiative; prototypes demonstrated practical uses like Bitcoin mining and smart devices.
• The 2021 “Upcycling at Home” release was limited and diverged from the original concept, then faded.

Show HN: Out Plane – A PaaS I built solo from Istanbul in 3 months

Key Points

• Zero-config GitHub-to-edge deployments in under 60 seconds
• Automatic scaling (including scale-to-zero) with 99.99% SLA
• Managed PostgreSQL/Redis and OpenTelemetry-native observability with integrations

Software 3.1? – AI Functions

Key Points

• AI Functions runs LLM-generated code at runtime and returns native Python objects.
• Outputs are continuously verified via post-conditions with automatic retries.
• Built on the Strands Agents SDK, using an @ai_function decorator for natural-language specs.

Stripe valued at $159B, 2025 annual letter

Key Points

• Tender offer values Stripe at $159B, funded by major investors and Stripe’s own buyback.
• $1.9T 2025 volume (+34% YoY) and Revenue suite nearing $1B ARR.
• 2025 cohort outperformed: faster growth, global mix (57% ex-US), and quicker monetization via Atlas.

Extending C with Prolog (1994)

Key Points

• Prolog’s declarative model and built-in unification/backtracking complement C/C++ for complex logic.
• Examples use the Amzi! Prolog API and adhere to the Edinburgh Prolog standard for portability.
• Industry cases (ADW, ICARUS, Pacific AI) demonstrate Prolog integrated into commercial tools.

Kansai Airport has never lost a baggage in the 30 years since it opened

Key Points

• 30-year record of zero permanently lost baggage at Kansai Airport.
• Eighth “World’s Best Airport for Baggage Delivery” award in 2024.
• Operational measures include sensors, patrols, and manual handle alignment.

Open Letter to Google on Mandatory Developer Registration for App Distribution

Key Points

• Google’s policy would mandate developer registration for distributing Android apps outside the Play Store.
• The letter warns of expanded gatekeeping and ecosystem-wide control, including potential app disabling.
• Privacy and entry barriers are major concerns; authors urge Google to withdraw the policy and pursue alternatives.

Catherine of Braganza, the Queen Who Brought Tea to England

Key Points

• The marriage secured an Anglo-Portuguese alliance with territorial and trade concessions to England.
• Catherine’s Catholic faith and reserved background complicated her reception in the English court.
• Court scandals involving Barbara Palmer deepened the queen’s personal difficulties; Catherine brought tea to England.

I'm helping my dog vibe code games

Key Points

• Dog keystrokes are routed via Raspberry Pi and DogKeyboard to Claude Code for game generation.
• A custom prompt with guardrails and a quality checklist turns nonsense input into playable designs.
• Games are produced in Godot 4.6 with all logic in C#, typically within 1–2 hours.

Why the KeePass format should be based on SQLite

Key Points

• KDBX’s encrypted, gzipped XML design rewrites and loads the entire file on update.
• Features like TOTP and passkeys are stored via custom attributes, causing clutter and incompatibilities.
• The article proposes SQLite as a more extensible foundation for KeePass.

Scientists crack the case of "screeching" Scotch tape

Key Points

• Screeching arises from supersonic micro-cracks creating shock waves during tape peeling.
• Tape exhibits triboluminescence and can produce X-rays only in vacuum conditions.
• Scotch tape’s origin and dispenser design trace back to 3M engineers in 1930.

Denver dumps Flock, awards contract to Axon

Key Points

• Denver replaces Flock Safety with Axon for ALPR services.
• Council approval will be required for the new contract.
• Auditor flagged legal risks with Flock’s data-sharing and PII handling.

Show HN: Tag Promptless on any GitHub PR/Issue to get updated user-facing docs

Key Points

• Promptless 1.0 adds automated screenshot updates and improved writing quality.
• Trial via GitHub tagging (@promptless) and a 30-day free access option.
• Free program for CNCF/Linux Foundation projects; supports Vitess docs.

The 7-Year Bug That Took 3 Minutes to Fix

Key Points

• 400-meter cable induced inductive noise, reproducing the fault.
• Root cause: noise coupling into the safety detection circuit, misread as a fault.
• Fix: add a larger filter capacitor to ground; issue resolved.

OpenAI, the US government and Persona built an identity surveillance machine

Key Points

• Shodan-led recon surfaced hostnames implying an OpenAI-linked watchlist database under Persona’s domain.
• 53 MB of unprotected source maps were reportedly accessible on a FedRAMP government endpoint.
• The article claims identity verification uses facial recognition, watchlist screening, and periodic automated re-screening.

HuggingFace Agent Skills

Key Points

• Standardized Skills package AI/ML tasks and work across Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, and Cursor.
• Clear installation and fallback instructions enable setup even without native skill support.
• Included skills span Hub operations, datasets, evaluation, jobs, and model training with TRL and GGUF conversion.

Nearby Glasses

Key Points

• Heuristic BLE-based detection using manufacturer IDs and device names.
• Significant limitations: false positives/misses; proceed with caution.
• No telemetry or personal data collection; logs remain local.

Tesla registrations crash 17% in Europe as BEV market surges 14%

Key Points

• Tesla’s January 2026 registrations fell 17% to 8,075 in EU+EFTA+UK while BEVs grew 13.9%.
• BYD doubled Tesla’s volume, up 165% to 18,242, reaching 1.9% market share.
• EU powertrain mix shifted: petrol/diesel down sharply; PHEV and HEV gained, BEV share rose to 19.3%.

1Password pricing increasing up to 33% in March

Key Points

• Family plan price rises from $59.88 to $71.88 annually.
• New rate applies at renewals on or after March 27, 2026.
• 1Password cites recent feature investments and security enhancements as justification.

OpenAI resets spending expectations, from $1.4T to $600B

Key Points

• OpenAI cut its compute spending target to ~$600B by 2030 from earlier $1.4T commitments.
• A funding round exceeding $100B is being finalized, with Nvidia discussing up to $30B and a $730B pre-money valuation.
• ChatGPT surpassed 900M weekly active users; Codex reached 1.5M, alongside stronger-than-target 2025 revenue and lower-than-target burn.

Steel Bank Common Lisp

Key Points

• High-performance, open-source Common Lisp compiler and runtime with an interactive toolset.
• Cross-platform support across Linux, BSDs, macOS, Solaris, and Windows.
• Documentation available online and in-source; bugs reported via Launchpad or SourceForge mailing list.

Show HN: Emdash – Open-source agentic development environment

Key Points

• Runs multiple coding agents in parallel with Git worktree isolation and side-by-side diffs.
• Integrates with Linear, Jira, and GitHub Issues; supports remote development via SSH/SFTP.
• Supports 21 CLI providers; local SQLite storage and opt-out anonymous telemetry via PostHog.

Show HN: Chaos Monkey but for Audio Video Testing (WebRTC and UDP)

Key Points

• Simulates 1,500+ WebRTC participants with standards-compliant RTP using H.264/Opus.
• Injects configurable network impairments and schedules spikes via multiple strategies.
• Scales on Kubernetes with auto-partitioning, UDP relay chain, and full observability.

Hacking an old Kindle to display bus arrival times

Key Points

• Kindle Touch (4th Gen) converted into a live bus time display with per-minute refresh.
• Core tools: KUAL, MRPI, USBNetwork; key guides from MobileRead and Kindle Modding Wiki.
• SSH over USB confirmed via new network interface; OTA updates optionally disabled.

Build Your Own Forth Interpreter

Key Points

• Build a Forth-like interpreter with a REPL and support for core stack-based arithmetic.
• Learn Forth using resources like “Starting FORTH” and “Easy Forth.”
• Understand Forth’s naming origin and historical context (IBM 1130 constraint, standardization).

Pentagon threatens to make Anthropic a pariah

Key Points

• Pentagon threatens to end Anthropic’s $200M contract and set a blacklist if safeguards are not relaxed.
• Anthropic refuses to support autonomous weapons or mass domestic surveillance.
• Officials may invoke the Defense Production Act and impose a supply chain risk designation.

Why High FOV Sucks – Fixing It with Panini Projection

Key Points

• Rectilinear projection causes edge stretching at high FOVs.
• Panini projection reduces distortion, enabling very wide, usable FOVs.
• The video shows an implementation of Panini projection in Godot.

Apple Accelerates US Manufacturing

Key Points

• Mac mini production moves to Houston, marking its first U.S. manufacturing.
• AI server production in Houston is expanding and ahead of schedule.
• A new Advanced Manufacturing Center will train U.S. manufacturers in Apple production techniques.

Looks Like it is Happening

Key Points

• Corrected arXiv counts based on original submission dates show modest increases, not a doubling.
• Initial spike was an artifact of counting by last modification date in arXiv searches.
• Further systematic analysis is needed to assess AI’s role in submission trends.

How we rebuilt Next.js with AI in one week

Key Points

• vinext is a Vite-based, drop-in replacement for Next.js with single-command deploys to Cloudflare Workers.
• Benchmarks show up to 4.4x faster builds and ~57% smaller gzipped client bundles versus Next.js 16.1.6/Turbopack.
• Approach avoids reverse-engineering by reimplementing Next.js APIs on Vite; compatible with existing Next.js app structures.

Variable interpolatable smooth curves and outlines

Key Points

• Explains MetaPost/Hobby curve fitting with tension and tangent controls and notes MetaPost’s 2024 SVG support.
• Highlights Raph Levien’s two-parameter curve method with a JavaScript demo and prior use of spiral splines in Manjari.
• Outlines workflows for curvature optimization, parallel outlines, variable strokes, and skeleton-based error correction.

Show HN: Recursively apply patterns for pathfinding

Key Points

• Algorithm uses recursive patterns at obstacles and intersection math instead of grids.
• Runtime depends on obstacle count and path complexity, not area size.
• Interactive demo lets users draw obstacles and move start/end points, with pattern visuals provided.

We Are Changing Our Developer Productivity Experiment Design

Key Points

• New data suggest potential AI speedups but are biased low due to selection effects.
• Developers increasingly refuse non-AI conditions, distorting task samples.
• METR will redesign the study to improve reliability of productivity estimates.

Pi – a minimal terminal coding harness

Key Points

• Minimal, extensible terminal harness with four modes and no sub-agents/plan mode by default.
• Supports 15+ AI providers with mid-session model switching and custom provider integration.
• Tree-structured session histories with robust export/share and context engineering features.

Show HN: Moonshine Open-Weights STT models – higher accuracy than WhisperLargev3

Key Points

• On-device, streaming-optimized ASR toolkit with multilingual support.
• Claims higher accuracy than Whisper Large v3 and offers models down to 26MB.
• Comprehensive cross-platform setup with examples and build instructions.

Show HN: Declarative open-source framework for MCPs with search and execute

Key Points

• Declarative MCP server framework exposing only search and execute to agents.
• Built-in auth, caching, and observability; no glue code required.
• Apache 2.0–licensed, community-driven open-source project.

Optophone

Key Points

• Invented in 1913 by Dr. Edmund Fournier d’Albe, the optophone converted print to sound via selenium photosensors.
• Early reading was very slow (about 1 wpm), later improving to up to ~60 wpm for some users.
• Barr and Stroud contributed to enhancing resolution and usability of the device.

Dream Recorder AI – a portal to your subconscious

Key Points

• Converts spoken dream recollections into low-fidelity visual dreamscapes.
• Standalone, phone-free device with seven slots to store a week of dreams.
• Open-source, DIY build with off-the-shelf hardware and 3D-printed shell, no soldering.

The history of knocking on wood

Key Points

• The superstition is widespread with documented variants across multiple countries.
• Steve Roud questions popular origin theories and proposes a 19th‑century English game as a likely source.
• Further evidence and analysis are needed; data visualization tools may help investigate historical patterns.

Ask HN: Programmable Watches with WiFi?

Key Points

• Wear OS supports Wi‑Fi and Android‑based development; notable devices include TicWatch Pro 3 Ultra and Galaxy Watch4.
• AsteroidOS provides a Linux/SSH environment with QtQuick (QML/JS/C++) for UI development on supported watches.
• ESP32‑based Watchy enables standalone firmware and network features but requires more DIY effort.

Fed's Cook says AI triggering big changes, sees possible unemployment rise

Key Points

• AI may raise unemployment and reduce participation before new jobs emerge.
• Conventional monetary policy may be limited in offsetting AI-related job losses without spurring inflation.
• AI investment could lift the neutral rate short term, then potentially lower it if inequality rises.

Mercury 2: The fastest reasoning LLM, powered by diffusion

Key Points

• Diffusion-based parallel refinement enables >5x faster generation versus autoregressive decoding.
• 1,009 tokens/sec on NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs; pricing set at $0.25/M input and $0.75/M output tokens.
• Designed for latency-critical use cases with features like 128K context, tool use, and schema-aligned JSON.

Aesthetics of single threading

Key Points

• Multitasking is framed as costly context switching that drains cognitive resources.
• Burnout is analogized to computing “thrashing” from excessive task switching.
• Intentional blocking and single-threaded focus are proposed as methods to regain depth and efficiency.

Corgi Labs (YC W23) Is Hiring

Key Points

• Hiring two Founder's Associates in the US and Singapore.
• Role focuses on cross-functional execution, process setup, and founder support.
• Company uses explainable AI and machine learning for payment fraud prevention.

Justifying Text-Wrap: Pretty

Key Points

• Text-wrap: pretty aims for balanced line breaks; Safari shipped an implementation in 2025.
• When paired with text-align: justify, spacing can become visibly inflated.
• WebKit’s dynamic programming targets slightly less than maximum width, which can conflict with justification.

Amazon Busted for Widespread Scheme to Inflate Prices Across the Economy

Key Points

• California AG seeks immediate injunction against alleged Amazon price-fixing scheme.
• Amazon’s scale (Prime, Buy Box, $426B NA revenue) is central to the alleged impact.
• Third-party prices reportedly rising 7% annually; prior D.C. lawsuit provides context.

US Military leaders meet with Anthropic to argue against Claude safeguards

Key Points

• Pentagon set a Friday deadline for Anthropic to accept DoD usage terms for Claude.
• Anthropic resists enabling mass surveillance and autonomous lethal weapon applications.
• DoD expanded classified-system access to xAI’s chatbot; xAI and OpenAI accepted terms.

Anthropic Drops Flagship Safety Pledge

Key Points

• Anthropic dropped its pre‑guaranteed safety pledge and overhauled its RSP.
• New commitments focus on transparency, disclosures, competitor‑matching safety, and conditional delays.
• The change aligns with strong growth and a shifting regulatory and evaluation landscape.

Code has always been the easy part

Key Points

• Standardizing on PHP at Etsy unlocked product delivery after stalled rewrites.
• AI tools like Claude Code are rapidly lowering the cost of code creation, changing team workflows.
• Past tech waves (web, CI/CD, SPAs, ML) similarly required reinventing how teams work.

Capybara: A Unified Visual Creation Model

Key Points

• Supports T2I, T2V, TI2I, and TV2V with distributed multi-GPU inference.
• Added ComfyUI custom nodes and FP8 quantization in the 2026-02-20 update.
• Provides detailed installation, model checkpoint structure, and example inference workflows.

What Happened to Fry's Electronics

Key Points

• Fry’s lagged in e-commerce, only unifying its online brand under frys.com in 2006.
• Customer service issues worsened the impact of growing online competition.
• A major embezzlement scandal inflicted tens of millions in losses and legal fallout.

Georgian wine culture dates back, uninterrupted, approximately 8k years

Key Points

• Georgian winemaking dates back to 6,000–5,800 BCE and has remained continuous.
• Qvevri winemaking is UNESCO-recognized and central to Georgia’s distinct styles.
• Amber wine from qvevri is the fastest-growing category, with defined style tiers.

Ask HN: Share your productive usage of OpenClaw

Key Points

• Custom “claw” agent interfaces via Telegram bot and email for natural-language automation.
• Generates SOC2 documentation, trip summaries, and daily top-three to-dos from existing inputs.
• Provides proactive alerts and curated feeds (weather, AI news, and hardware listings).

Scheme on Java on Common Lisp

Key Points

• Runs Common Lisp and Kawa Scheme together via OpenLDK within one SBCL process, no FFI or IPC.
• Supports evaluating Scheme, calling Scheme from CL, registering CL functions for Scheme, and value conversion.
• Demonstrates a CL → Scheme → Java pipeline using java.lang.String and Java 8 JDK prerequisites.