Amazon's AI crawler is making my Git server unstable

User's Gitea server is being hammered by bots, with 10% of requests not having an AmazonBot user agent. User requests AmazonBot team to block their domain and offers payment for legitimate crawling.

VS Code Pets

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tonybaloney/vscode-pets/main/docs/source/_static/screenshot.gif
Install vscode-pets extension in VS Code to boost productivity with cute pixelated pets. Run 'Start pet coding session' command to see a cat in VS Code.

Show HN: Interactive systemd – a better way to work with systemd units

https://isd-project.github.io/isd/assets/images/social/index.png
isd is a TUI for systemd management with fuzzy search, auto-refreshing previews, and customizable interface. It provides a unified interface for power-users and newcomers to interact with systemd units.

I've been advocating for RSS support, and you should too

https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/herman-1683556668-0.png
User advocates for RSS support, emailing various organizations to add feeds, and successfully adding feeds to some sites. They recommend using a feed reader app to stay updated on desired content without ads or algorithms.

Kalman Filter Tutorial

https://www.kalmanfilter.net/img/profile.png
The Kalman Filter algorithm is explained in a free online tutorial and an e-book that covers both theoretical concepts and practical applications. The e-book provides a step-by-step guide to designing, simulating, and evaluating the performance of the Kalman Filter.

Why do bees die when they sting you? (2021)

https://www.subanima.org/content/images/size/w1200/2021/11/beedead.png
Bees die when stinging due to their barbed stinger, but this suicidal mechanism is effective for delivering venom and defending the colony. Evolution of eusociality in bees is linked to their unique haplodiploid genetics, which favors kin selection and the sacrifice of worker bees for the queen's reproductive success.

Can you read this cursive handwriting? The National Archives wants your help

https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/UY7Ar3brNbOai46R5Y1x9ddq6mg=/1000x750/filters:no_upscale():focal(1000x752:1001x753)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/32/94/3294bdbb-bd00-4fc7-8ab3-88faf17855d7/cursive.jpg
The National Archives needs volunteers to transcribe and organize historical documents written in cursive. Volunteers can sign up online and help make digital documents more accessible to scholars, genealogists, and history buffs.

Using ChatGPT is not bad for the environment

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The author argues that concerns about the environmental impact of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT are exaggerated and that their benefits outweigh the costs. They claim that LLMs are useful tools that can help people learn and access information, and that their energy and water use is comparable to or even less than other online activities.

The AMD Radeon Instinct MI300A's Giant Memory Subsystem

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AMD's Radeon Instinct MI300A is a massive chip with 24 Zen 4 cores and 228 GPU compute units, designed for high-performance computing and AI tasks, but its CPU side has high latency due to its large memory subsystem. Despite this, the MI300A's CPU cores can still provide decent performance and are well-suited for quickly sharing data with the GPU, making it a strong contender in the ...

EFF statement on U.S. Supreme Court's decision to uphold TikTok ban

https://www.eff.org/files/styles/teaser/public/banner_library/free-speech-cat3.jpg?itok=yMgywvC7
Shutting down a communications platform or forcing its reorganization based on concerns of foreign propaganda and anti-national manipulation is an eminently anti-democratic tactic, one that the US has previously condemned globally.

Garmin's –$40B Pivot

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Garmin, a GPS pioneer, survived the iPhone and Google Maps by investing heavily in R&D and pivoting to outdoor and fitness tracking, resulting in a $40B+ market cap. The company's vertically-integrated approach, emphasis on customer needs, and fiscal conservatism have allowed it to adapt to competitive threats and thrive in a rapidly changing market.

Windows BitLocker – Screwed Without a Screwdriver

https://neodyme.io/_astro/bitlocker_wide.D8M-GZtW_Z1lzcJD.png
A Windows 11 vulnerability, bitpixie, allows attackers to access encrypted files without a password by downgrading the Windows Boot Manager, exploiting a bug that existed since 2005. This can be done with a LAN cable and keyboard, and the exploit is still possible due to Secure Boot's design.
https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/google-getty.jpg?w=1024
Google requires JavaScript for Google Search to protect against malicious activity and improve search results, but this may add friction for users with accessibility tools. Millions of searches are done without JavaScript, which could be a motivation for Google to limit third-party tools that analyze search trends.

Dusa Programming Language (Finite-Choice Logic Programming)

Dusa is a logic programming language with finite-choice logic programming, also related to Datalog and answer set programming. It can be used through a web editor, command-line utility, or JavaScript API.

Ask HN: Has anyone tried alternative company models (like a co-op) for SaaS?

You're building a yearly SaaS with a permissive license, considering a member or worker-owned company structure, and exploring open-source hosting and billing applications.

The Toyota Prius transformed the auto industry

https://spectrum.ieee.org/media-library/a-1997-first-generation-toyota-prius-against-a-black-background.jpg?id=55641543&width=1200&height=749
Toyota introduced the world's first mass-produced hybrid vehicle, the Prius, in 1997 to meet future emissions standards. The Prius combined gasoline and electric power to reduce fuel consumption and emissions, spurring other automakers to develop hybrid vehicles.

O1 isn't a chat model (and that's the point)

https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_520,h_272,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3e97fcc3-a572-4a87-b2c2-6fc016edd5dd_1276x598.png
Ben Hylak shares his experience of going from hating OpenAI's o1 to using it daily for important questions by treating it like a "report generator" that requires a lot of context. He provides tips on how to use o1 effectively, including giving a ton of context, explaining what you want the output to be, and developing good criteria for evaluating the model's output.

Show HN: I made a mini golf in my lunch time

A fun mini golf game with dice rolls

WASM GC isn't ready for realtime graphics

Wasm GC has performance issues with binary data manipulation, particularly with accessing multi-byte numbers and large binary data, which can be a hindrance for applications like real-time graphics programming. The Wasm community needs to address these issues, such as direct access to packed arrays from JavaScript, to make Wasm GC a viable option for performance-critical applications.

Nation-scale Matrix deployments will fail using the community version of Synapse

https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/mastodon20230613091142146000000001/cache/preview_cards/images/001/067/032/original/d1396d1edc221727.png
Element's Synapse Pro is a paid version of the open-source Synapse server designed for large-scale deployments, addressing scalability issues and providing a more manageable solution for huge public sector deployments. However, some users question the approach, suggesting that it may be perceived as paywalling features and that enterprise support or a non-profit membership model could be more ...

A notification for you, Apple: There is no husband

https://i1.createsend1.com/ei/d/41/AB7/0A0/csimport/STERN-TECH-THINGS-1-16-25.082358.jpg
Your friend should pack 2-3 pairs of long underwear for the Swiss Alps in January. You're attending the World Economic Forum in Davos and will cover Apple's AI notification issues, TikTok's ban, Sonos's app problems, and Samsung's new phones.

Skymont: Intel's E-Cores reach for the Sky

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Intel's Lunar Lake chip features a new E-Core architecture called Skymont, which replaces Crestmont in Meteor Lake. Skymont boosts multithreaded performance and handles low priority tasks with improved power efficiency.

Rule-Based Programming in Interactive Fiction

https://eblong.com/zarf/essays/rule-based-if/pics/slide-001.png
The speaker presented a talk about Inform 7, a tool for creating interactive fiction, and its underlying programming model. They discussed the rule-based programming model and its advantages in handling complexity and exceptions in IF design.

Pharaoh's Tomb HD – A Remake Made in JavaScript with Kaplay

https://pt-hd.iocaihost.me/assets/img/pt-meta.png
Follow the adventure of archaeologist Nevada Smith in a reimagined classic video game from 1990.

Perplexity AI submits bid to merge with TikTok

https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/vtobb68s1b8yujb2lsfk.jpg?w=150
Perplexity has submitted a bid to merge with TikTok US, creating a new entity combining the two and new equity partners. The merger aims to bring more video to Perplexity's AI search engine, avoiding a US ban on TikTok.

ATProto and the ownership of identity

atproto provides a unified identity layer between apps and user data, unlike the Fediverse where each app has its own schema. This allows for user-owned identity and easier app development, paving the way for new social services and financially viable open networks.

Honest Ahmed (2011)

A user is requesting Mozilla to add a CA root certificate for Honest Achmed's Used Cars and Certificates, but the application fails to meet Mozilla's inclusion policy due to lack of audit requirements. The user suggests donating the audit cost to charity.

Show HN: Terraform Provider for Inexpensive Switches

https://opengraph.githubassets.com/8c35d2a7bc6e921fb3d722efc0a248d7da9b4ef68db9828717fa2b08359873b7/brennoo/terraform-provider-hrui
A Terraform provider is being developed for HRUI switches using goquery and Horaco ZX-SWTG124AS as a reference. The provider supports web-managed switches and can be used with other brands that use the same hardware.

Prime Numbers So Memorable That People Hunt for Them

https://static.scientificamerican.com/dam/m/614371f60bf10f0c/original/Red_numbers_on_blue_background.jpg?m=1737052384.492&w=600
Alexander Grothendieck was asked to name a prime number and replied 57, which is not prime. Mathematician Freeman Dyson provided a prime number, 231 - 1, but was asked to recite a large prime number.

Borrowchecker.jl – Designing a borrow checker for Julia

https://opengraph.githubassets.com/43e8b76d25874bb32977180e2afbe3e5bbb389bcfe3a3e43aef321bc9569dbd6/MilesCranmer/BorrowChecker.jl
BorrowChecker.jl is a Julia library that simulates Rust-like ownership and borrowing semantics through a macro-based system for runtime checks to flag memory safety issues. It allows developers to create owned values, references, and mutable references, and provides various macros for managing ownership and borrowing, including @own, @move, @clone, @take, and @ref.

Reverse-engineering a carry-lookahead adder in the Pentium

https://static.righto.com/images/pentium-adder/pentium-labeled-w600.jpg
The Pentium's floating point unit uses a carry-lookahead adder, specifically a Kogge-Stone adder, to perform addition quickly without waiting for carries to ripple through each bit. The adder is implemented in four layers of circuitry, with the first layer producing propagate and generate signals, the second layer merging pairs of neighboring signals, the third layer generating ...

Looking at some claims that quantum computers won't work

Investing in post-quantum cryptography is necessary due to the potential risks of quantum computers breaking current encryption methods, and arguments against upgrading are often based on misconceptions or wishful thinking. Experts have already made significant progress in developing post-quantum cryptography, and it's essential to prepare for the possibility of quantum computers being built ...

The Los Angeles wildfires are self-inflicted

https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdGE2jfVIeUGYc9ZFSKZZ8RBNzSOUCn3bT_AUA-ZKQNeEKOEi-lmLMxudBrbczycMzk_LpP7R597cQSEbxqT6I8jdeuFCCafbAKI06PgrvTx_PUUqOfYIeNt_bKaZ004FynFkYkHw?key=M_2oEP93YHiN4fmdc7a2k8gf&crop=1
The user recounts their personal experience with the Eaton fire in Altadena, California, which destroyed thousands of structures and killed dozens of people, and argues that the disaster was preventable through hazard reduction burns and better land management practices. The user criticizes the regulatory policies and bureaucratic inefficiencies that hindered effective fire prevention and ...

Ask HN: Which RSS reader do you use?

Users have shared various RSS readers they use, including Newsboat, Fidder, Fever, Selfoss, Miniflux, Feedbro, and Inoreader, with some preferring self-hosted options and others using web-based or mobile apps. Many users are satisfied with their chosen RSS readers, citing features such as ease of use, reliability, and customization options.
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Residents in Jersey are being recommended bloodletting to reduce high levels of "forever chemicals" in their blood due to contaminated drinking water supplies. The government plans to launch a clinical service by early 2025 to treat affected residents.

AWS will discontinue support for AWS App Mesh

https://d2908q01vomqb2.cloudfront.net/fe2ef495a1152561572949784c16bf23abb28057/2024/09/23/AppMeshtoServiceConnect-ServiceDiscovery.png
AWS App Mesh will be discontinued on September 30th, 2026, but existing customers can use it until then. AWS recommends migrating to Amazon ECS Service Connect, a managed service that streamlines service mesh abstractions and provides built-in health checks and observability.

ELIZA Reanimated

https://arxiv.org/static/browse/0.3.4/images/arxiv-logo-fb.png
ELIZA, the world's first chatbot, was created by Joseph Weizenbaum at MIT in the 1960s. It was reanimated on a restored CTSS system, running on an emulated IBM 7094, and made open source for users to run.

BYD just launched the largest car carrier to charge up its global EV ambitions

https://electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/01/BYD-Worlds-largest-car-carrier.jpeg?quality=82&strip=all&w=1400
BYD's new ro-ro ship, the Shenzen, has undocked and can carry 9,200 vehicles, making it the world's largest. BYD aggressively expands overseas with new vehicles launching in multiple regions, aiming for more global market share in 2025.

The Greenland Shark, the Longest-Living Vertebrate on Earth (2017)

https://media.newyorker.com/photos/59fa0a01004b351b8dc2ea4b/master/w_2560%2Cc_limit/OConnor-Strange-Gruesome-Story-Greenland-Shark.jpg
Greenland sharks are the longest-living vertebrates, with one estimated to be 272-512 years old. Scientists believe their slow metabolism and cold water habitat may contribute to their extraordinary longevity.

Portrait of the Hilbert Curve (2010)

https://corte.si/posts/code/hilbert/portrait/ccube.png
The Hilbert curve has good clustering properties, making it useful in computer science for storing records on disk in a way that minimizes disk access. A 3D Hilbert curve traversal of the RGB colour space can be used to visualise the 2D Hilbert curve with clustering properties directly visible as patches of similar colour.

Thoughts on having SSH allow password authentication from the Internet

Not accepting passwords over the Internet protects against password cracking, stolen password cracking, and generic account exploitation. However, it may limit access in unusual situations where a keypair is unavailable.

Under new law, cops bust famous cartoonist for AI-generated CSAM

https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/GettyImages-1258473947-640x425.jpg
California law against AI-generated CSAM went into effect on January 1, and a 49-year-old Pulitzer-prize-winning cartoonist Darrin Bell was arrested for possessing AI-generated child sex abuse material. Bell is being held on $1 million bail after police found evidence related to the case at his home.

Is the TikTok ban a chance to rethink the whole internet?

https://media.newyorker.com/photos/619588fc0ba0535eaf20e5e9/1:1/w_270%2Cc_limit/undefined
Frank McCourt, a Boston-born billionaire, is trying to buy TikTok to create a "people's bid" and give users more autonomy over their online identities and experiences. He wants to use the app to further his goal of building an Internet where users, rather than big tech companies, own their data.

FTC bans Genshin Impact dev from selling lootboxes to under-16s, fines them $20M

https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/styles/crop_thumbnail/public/images/images/nov-18-2013-924am/ftc_hq6_400x350.jpg?itok=sO6cBfTu
HoYoverse agreed to pay $20 million and block children under 16 from making in-game purchases without parental consent. The company settled FTC allegations of violating children's privacy law and deceiving users about in-game transaction costs and odds of winning rare prizes.

What if no one misses TikTok?

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/01/17/business/00roose/00roose-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale
TikTok may disappear due to US government's forced sale to ByteDance's Chinese parent company. Few Americans seem concerned about the app's potential ban, with some users jokingly joining alternative Chinese social media apps.

Is Atlas Shrugged the New Vibe?

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Hollis Robbins and Henry discuss Atlas Shrugged as a novel, focusing on its themes of reason, morality, and the importance of individual achievement, rather than its ideological implications. They analyze the book's characters, particularly Dagny Taggart, and compare it to other great novels, such as Middlemarch and Pride and Prejudice, highlighting its unique blend of romance, drama, and ...

NASA's Next-Level Discovery: Webb Exposes Dazzling Interstellar Web of Dust

https://scitechdaily.com/images/Webb-Reveals-Intricate-Layers-of-Interstellar-Dust-777x302.jpg
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope captured the infrared glow of an ancient supernova's light echo, revealing 3D details of interstellar dust and gas. The telescope's observations allow astronomers to map the true three-dimensional structure of the interstellar medium for the first time.

Fixing a uname bug (Apache NuttX RTOS)

https://lupyuen.org/images/uname-title.jpg
A seemingly simple bug in NuttX Shell turned out to be a broken Static Var issue. It was fixed by anjiahao, and the team plans to create a bot to automate build failure analysis and escalation.

Shapecatcher – Find Unicode characters by drawing

Shapecatcher is a tool to find Unicode characters by drawing their shape. It's still in beta, uses free fonts, and may not support all languages or characters yet.

Alligator Eggs and Lambda Calculus (2007)

https://worrydream.com/AlligatorEggs/materials_2.png
The alligator game represents the untyped lambda calculus, where hungry alligators are lambda abstractions, old alligators are parentheses, and eggs are variables. The game's rules, including the eating rule, color rule, and old age rule, correspond to beta-reduction, alpha-conversion, and removing unnecessary parentheses in lambda calculus.

Transmeta: A CPU Revolution That Never Was [video]

Building a keyboard for a 1985 Casio FX-451 calculator [video]

Chinese Innovations Spawn Wave of Toll Phishing via SMS

https://krebsonsecurity.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/lighthouse-ezdrive.png
Chinese cybercriminals are selling SMS phishing kits that spoof US toll road operators, targeting residents with fake unpaid toll warnings. The kits have been linked to a surge in SMS phishing attacks across multiple US states, with victims asked to provide payment card data and one-time passwords.

UK police seize Cybertruck because it's illegal there

https://www.popsci.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Seized-UK-Cybertruck.jpg?quality=85&w=2000
A UK resident was stopped by police for driving a Tesla Cybertruck without proper registration and insurance. The vehicle was seized due to lack of a UK "certificate of conformity" and safety concerns.

An effect system proposal for C2y

The proposal suggests extending the C type system into a type and effect system that forces functions and blocks to declare which classes of effects will result from their evaluation, improving composability in metaprogramming and allowing for MISRA-style restrictions. The system would track side effects of expressions and statements at a finer level of granularity than usual in C, with ...

Flocken Elektrowagen

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/1888_Flocken_Elektrowagen.jpg/280px-1888_Flocken_Elektrowagen.jpg
The Flocken Elektrowagen is a four-wheeled electric car designed by Andreas Flocken in 1888, considered the first real electric car. It had a top speed of 15 km/h and weighed 400 kg.

MIT Shuts Down Internal Grant Database Used to Research School's Israel Ties

https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AP24130759589054-e1737058750869.jpg?fit=6192%2C3096
MIT has received over $3.7 million from Israel for warfare technology research since 2015. The university has faced criticism for its ties to Israeli military contractors and its handling of student protests supporting Palestinian human rights.

FamiTracker free windows tracker for producing music for the NES/Famicom-systems

http://famitracker.com/images/small.png
phpBB has replaced the old forums, requiring users to sign up again. Recent releases of the software include bug fixes and new features such as improved VRC7 emulation and multi-channel support.

US Debt Clock

https://www.usdebtclock.org/art2/DCXS-2025-2.jpg
US National Debt Clock : Real Time U.S. National Debt Clock

Italy seeks to curb 'fake' online reviews for hotels and restaurants

https://img.rasset.ie/0021b445-500.jpg
Italy's government proposes a law to regulate online reviews by requiring verifiable ID and proof of visit, and banning paid or sponsored reviews. The law aims to stop fake reviews and protect businesses from unfair competition.