Firefox 148 Launches with AI Kill Switch Feature and More Enhancements

68 shaunpud 2026-02-24 06:05:08 UTC serverhost.com Llama Share 25

Firefox 148 introduces an AI kill switch and enhanced user controls, allowing users to disable AI features and opt out of remote updates. The update also includes various performance and accessibility improvements, such as XSS protection and screen reader compatibility.

Terence Tao, at 8 years old (1984) [pdf]

177 gurjeet 2026-02-24 03:05:08 UTC gwern.net Llama Share 44

Terence Tao, a mathematically gifted child, was assessed by the author in 1983 at the age of 7. He demonstrated exceptional mathematical abilities, solving complex problems with ease and showing a preference for non-visual, analytic methods.

Blood test boosts Alzheimer's diagnosis accuracy to 94.5%, clinical study shows

179 wglb 2026-02-24 04:05:08 UTC medicalxpress.com Full Share 56

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I Ported Coreboot to the ThinkPad X270

139 todsacerdoti 2026-02-24 00:05:08 UTC dork.dev Llama Share 25

User successfully ported libreboot to their X270 laptop, a Kaby Lake model, after overcoming initial issues with a missing capacitor and debugging problems with NVMe and WiFi. With the help of Leah Rowe, the founder of Libreboot, they were able to identify and fix the issues, resulting in a working libreboot installation with GRUB, wireless, and NVMe support.

Show HN: X86CSS – An x86 CPU emulator written in CSS

80 rebane2001 2026-02-24 03:05:08 UTC lyra.horse Llama Share 23

x86CSS is a CSS-only x86 CPU/emulator that runs native 8086 machine code without JavaScript. It can be built and run using Python scripts and GCC, with a custom I/O interface for user interaction.

The Age Verification Trap: Verifying age undermines everyone's data protection

1378 oldnetguy 2026-02-23 15:05:08 UTC spectrum.ieee.org Llama Share 1049

Regulators are pushing social media platforms to verify users' ages, but this creates a technical problem: collecting personal data to prove age. Platforms are using intrusive verification systems that often conflict with data-privacy laws.

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

16 parkaboy 2026-02-24 06:05:08 UTC github.com/greatscott Llama Share 12

enveil is a tool that encrypts secrets in a project directory, preventing AI tools from accessing them. It uses a master password to derive a 256-bit AES key for encryption and decryption.

Baby chicks pass the bouba-kiki test, challenging a theory of language evolution

40 beardyw 2026-02-24 03:05:08 UTC scientificamerican.com Llama Share 9

Baby chickens make the same sound-shape connections as humans, suggesting the link to human language may not be unique. The study challenges a long-standing theory about the bouba-kiki effect, which may be an innate perceptual bias rather than a learned behavior.

Show HN: Steerling-8B, a language model that can explain any token it generates

107 adebayoj 2026-02-24 01:05:08 UTC guidelabs.ai Llama Share 15

We are releasing Steerling-8B, a new interpretable model that can trace generated tokens to input context and training data. It achieves competitive performance with significantly less compute and unlocks capabilities like concept control and training data provenance.

Making Wolfram Tech Available as a Foundation Tool for LLM Systems

134 surprisetalk 2026-02-23 23:05:08 UTC writings.stephenwolfram.com Llama Share 68

The author is building on their 40-year foundation tool, Wolfram Language, to supplement LLMs with precise computation and knowledge. This integration will make LLMs more powerful by providing deep computation capabilities.

UNIX99, a UNIX-like OS for the TI-99/4A (2025)

167 marcodiego 2026-02-23 21:05:08 UTC forums.atariage.com Full Share 52

Intel XeSS 3: expanded support for Core Ultra/Core Ultra 2 and Arc A, B series

16 nateb2022 2026-02-24 05:05:08 UTC intel.com Full Share 1

You don't have permission to access "http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/785597/intel-arc-graphics-windows.html" on this server.

“Car Wash” test with 53 models

174 felix089 2026-02-23 21:05:08 UTC opper.ai Llama Share 189

53 AI models failed a simple car wash test, where the correct answer is to drive the car to the car wash because it needs to be there, but most models chose to walk due to the short distance. Only 5 models could reliably answer the question correctly, and even the top-performing model, GPT-5, failed 30% of the time, highlighting the limitations of current AI models in handling simple logic tests.

A simple web we own

212 speckx 2026-02-23 16:05:08 UTC rsdoiel.github.io Llama Share 143

The user argues that the Web and Internet can be decentralized and controlled by individuals and cooperatives, rather than large corporations, by using simpler software and technologies like Markdown and static website generators. By leveraging the abundance of computers and resources, individuals can create their own private networks and connect to the public Internet, mirroring the concept ...

Shatner is making an album with 35 metal icons

158 mhb 2026-02-24 01:05:08 UTC guitarworld.com Llama Share 68

William Shatner is releasing a metal album with an all-star cast of guitarists, including Zakk Wylde and Chris Poland. The album promises massive guitars, cinematic arrangements, and raw emotion, with Shatner hand-picking 35 metal icons for the project.

Show HN: PgDog – Scale Postgres without changing the app

235 levkk 2026-02-23 17:05:08 UTC github.com/pgdogdev Llama Share 51

PgDog is a PostgreSQL proxy that supports connection pooling, load balancing, and sharding, written in Rust for high performance and security. It can manage thousands of connections on commodity hardware and supports various deployment methods, including AWS RDS.

FreeBSD doesn't have Wi-Fi driver for my old MacBook, so AI built one for me

333 varankinv 2026-02-23 22:05:08 UTC vladimir.varank.in Llama Share 268

The user used AI to help port a Linux Wi-Fi driver to FreeBSD, but the process was complicated and messy, so they decided to create a detailed specification of how the driver works and then used the AI to implement it from scratch. The user successfully created a working FreeBSD kernel module for the BCM4350 Wi-Fi chip using the AI, but advises against using it for anything beyond a studying ...

Ladybird adopts Rust, with help from AI

1142 adius 2026-02-23 12:05:08 UTC ladybird.org Llama Share 624

Ladybird is rewriting parts in Rust for better safety guarantees and ecosystem support. The first target was LibJS, Ladybird's JavaScript engine, which was translated from C++ in two weeks with zero regressions.

Genetic underpinnings of chills from art and music

8 coloneltcb 2026-02-24 05:05:08 UTC journals.plos.org Prefix Share 2

Art can evoke strong emotional responses in humans. Here, we examine genetic contributions to chills, a marker of such responses. We gather self-reports from a genotyped sample of thousands of partly related individuals from the Netherlands (n = 15,606). Using genomic relationships based on common single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data, we find that up to 29% of the variation in proneness ...

What it means that Ubuntu is using Rust

127 zdw 2026-02-23 18:05:08 UTC smallcultfollowing.com Llama Share 140

The author reflects on Rust's adoption at scale, noting that it has crossed the chasm in some areas like data planes and low-level code, but still faces challenges in Safety Critical Software. To further its adoption, the author suggests that Rust needs to adapt to the needs of the early majority, including providing more practical and incremental improvements, and leveraging open-source ...

The Weird OS Built Around a Database [video]

11 surprisetalk 2026-02-24 04:05:08 UTC youtube.com Embed Share 3

Typed Assembly Language

21 luu 2026-02-24 03:05:08 UTC cs.cornell.edu Llama Share 11

TAL is a typed assembly language that ensures memory safety and type safety through typing rules and constructs. It's an ideal target for type-directed compilers producing verifiably safe code for secure applications.

Iowa farmers are leading the fight for repair

90 gnabgib 2026-02-24 02:05:08 UTC ifixit.com Llama Share 22

Iowa farmers are pushing for the Right to Repair bill, HSB 751, which aims to give farmers access to diagnostic tools and software needed to repair their equipment. The bill has a good chance of passing in the Iowa House after advancing in the Agriculture Committee with an 18-5 vote.

Show HN: Babyshark – Wireshark made easy (terminal UI for PCAPs)

90 eigen-vector 2026-02-23 21:05:08 UTC github.com/vignesh07 Llama Share 37

Live capture may require elevated permissions or OS configuration. Babyshark shows Observed IPs using TLS SNI/HTTP Host hints when DNS answers are not visible.

SIM (YC X25) Is Hiring the Best Engineers in San Francisco

0 2026-02-23 21:05:08 UTC ycombinator.com Llama Share

Sim Sim is an open-source platform for building AI agents, used by 70,000 developers. The company is seeking a full-stack engineer to lead the Sim platform's visual, end-to-end agent builder.

The challenges of porting Shufflepuck Cafe to the 8 bits Apple II

69 homarp 2026-02-23 21:05:08 UTC colino.net Llama Share 11

The author ported Shufflepuck Cafe to the Apple II, a 1979 platform, without losing playability or details. They overcame challenges such as sprite display, mouse handling, and memory limitations.

Lords of the Ring

28 lermontov 2026-02-24 00:05:08 UTC harpers.org Llama Share 2

Sumo wrestlers Hoshoryu and Onosato, a Mongolian and Japanese yokozuna, respectively, faced off in a grand sumo tournament in Nagoya. Their rivalry was significant due to Japan's growing nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment, fueled by the far-right party Sanseito's electoral gains.

Writing code is cheap now

126 swolpers 2026-02-23 18:05:08 UTC simonwillison.net Llama Share 180

Cheap code writing disrupts traditional engineering habits, requiring new personal and organizational practices. Developers must balance code quality with the speed of agentic engineering tools.

Why Your Load Balancer Still Sends Traffic to Dead Backends

36 singhsanjay12 2026-02-24 00:05:08 UTC singh-sanjay.com Llama Share 21

Server-side load balancing is simpler and provides a single view of fleet health, but can be a bottleneck at high scale. Client-side load balancing offers sub-millisecond failure detection, but requires distributed health state management and more complexity.

Show HN: Sowbot – Open-hardware agricultural robot (ROS2, RTK GPS)

146 Sabrees 2026-02-23 16:05:08 UTC sowbot.co.uk Llama Share 41

The Sowbot Open AgBot ecosystem provides a reproducible, lightweight robotics platform for researchers and farmers to reduce labour and environmental impact. It offers a modular, open-hardware agricultural robot with a stable, repeatable environment for experiments and field-ready system.