How Bluesky draws its logo on screenshots

https://timmarinin.net/2026/bluesky-screenshots/skeet.jpg
User noticed a hidden Bluesky logo in a screenshot, which disappears when taking the actual screenshot. The logo is actually rendered as part of a secure text field that gets blanked by iOS during the screenshot process.

Quake Shareware, a CD-ROM just a little too full

https://fabiensanglard.net/quake_shareware_cd/compusa.webp
id Software released Quake shareware on a CD-ROM in 1996, allowing gamers to buy the game and unlock it with a phone call. However, hackers quickly discovered that they could bypass the system by decrypting the full version of the game from the shareware CD using QCRACK.EXE.

GPU Offload in Rust: Portable, Safe, and Fast

https://arxiv.org/static/browse/0.3.4/images/arxiv-logo-fb.png
A new framework allows Rust to compile for GPUs without sacrificing memory safety. The framework, built into the Rust compiler and LLVM backends, efficiently manages data transfers using type systems and aliasing guarantees.

Fairphone 6 and PostmarketOS working main camera

https://catcrafts.net/media/e2924a02871d8548.png
The author has successfully integrated a wide lens camera into their Linux phone, improved image quality with color correction, and is now working on shipping the Fairphone 6+ worldwide except for US and Canada due to insurance issues. They are also planning to create a non-profit company to back their future projects, including making an RISCV-based Linux phone.

A Preview of DuckDB v2.0

https://duckdb.org/images/blog/thumbs/github-40k-stars.svg
DuckDB v2.0, codenamed "Cyanoptera", is coming this fall with several key features including a server mode, triggers, the VARIANT type and asynchronous I/O. The new version will also introduce a modern SQL parser and improved storage format.

AI-Generated GitHub Copilot “Autofix” Allowed Compromise of Snowflake's Jira

https://www.datocms-assets.com/75231/1786964856-image.png?fm=webp
Wiz Research's Red Agent tool identified a critical GitHub Actions workflow vulnerability in Snowflake's public repository, which was introduced by an AI-powered commit. The vulnerability allowed an unauthenticated user to execute arbitrary commands within a GitHub Actions runner, but was patched by Snowflake on the same day it was reported.

Incident with Github.com

https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/19292210/60553865-044dd200-9cea-11e9-859c-d6f266e2f01f.png
GitHub's Status Page - Incident with GitHub.com.

AI;DR (AI; Didn't Read)

https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!v6i6!,f_auto,q_auto:best,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Frickmanelius.substack.com%2Ftwitter%2Fsubscribe-card.jpg%3Fv%3D-1034328908%26version%3D9
The author is concerned about AI-generated content, particularly when it's unedited and sent by respected individuals. They believe a human touch is essential in personal communication to convey intended meaning accurately.

Olo (Color)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Olo_color_approximation.jpg?utm_source=en.wikipedia.org&utm_campaign=index&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled
Researchers at UC Berkeley discovered an imaginary color called olo, which can only be seen using specialized tools that target M cone cells. Olo is described as a blue-green color with unprecedented saturation, but some scientists question its existence as a genuinely new color.

Judge sets framework for Nine PBS to retrieve archival data

https://current.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Gavel-iStock-2248362348-e1786652801546.jpg
A Denver District Court judge ordered Iron Mountain Data Centers to return archival data and programming to Nine PBS after the station sued for its 50 terabytes of stored material. The court found Nine PBS as the rightful owner, allowing it to retrieve its data within 30 days with assistance from a third-party vendor.

How to disable or avoid intrusive AI

https://www.librarian.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/48920624132_01c82cd654_b-600x880.jpg
This guide helps users disable or avoid intrusive AI in their tech environment, including disabling Gemini and Apple Intelligence features. Users can also block AI enhancements in Firefox, change default search engines to DDG, and turn off specific AI features in various applications such as Gmail and Zoom.

GPT 5.6 Sol is the best "vision" model OpenAI ever released

https://storage.ghost.io/c/2c/8d/2c8d8c0d-1c15-4b6d-825e-02b78d61d40a/content/images/size/w1200/2026/07/img-blog-gpt-5-6-sol-best-vision-model-to-date.jpg
OpenAI's GPT-5.6 lineup, including Sol, Terra, and Luna models, has shown significant improvements in vision capabilities such as object detection and counting. The Sol model outperforms the others in these tasks.

Sun Clock

Sun Clock is a 24-hour clock that displays the sun's position and times for sunrise, solar noon, sunset, and twilight. It also shows the moon's phase and rising/set times, with adjustable direction based on user location.

My friends all hate AI; I just joined an AI startup

https://www.fast.ai/posts/2026-08-18-returning-to-AI/exclusive.jpg
The author, who previously left the AI field due to its negative impact, has returned to focus on using AI in education and promoting human judgment and autonomy. They aim to create tools like Answer.AI's SolveIt that treat AI as fallible and allow humans to control the process.

Intriguing stories in computer science

https://inventwithpython.com/images/cover-automate3-thumb.webp
The user shared a list of interesting stories about programming and software design, including anecdotes from Microsoft engineers Raymond Chen and Joel Spolsky. These stories cover various topics such as bugs, design patterns, and the evolution of software development.

How do functions like alloca allocate memory from the stack?

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2019/02/ShowCover.jpg
Raymond has been involved in Windows evolution for 30 years, creating a popular website and book. He occasionally shares entertaining stories on Twitter that convey no useful information.

Launch HN: Speko (YC S26) – OpenRouter for Voice AI

https://speko.ai/_next/image?url=%2Fbadges%2Fsoc2.png&w=640&q=75&dpl=dpl_q8cuVYEWFjRuNjTk4ZQg7736wN7n
Use published measurements to choose the best model for each language and objective, as vendor rankings may not be accurate. A single model is not optimal everywhere, so select based on user's native language.

Roboflow Playground: Try and Compare 30 Computer Vision Models

https://storage.ghost.io/c/2c/8d/2c8d8c0d-1c15-4b6d-825e-02b78d61d40a/content/images/size/w1200/2025/09/img-blog-roboflow-playground.png
Roboflow Playground allows users to compare up to five zero-shot computer vision models for various tasks like object detection, image classification, and OCR. Users can upload an image and set prompts to test the models without provisioning APIs or infrastructure individually.

GPT-5.6 Sol Pricing Cut by 50%

https://t0.gstatic.com/faviconV2?client=SOCIAL&type=FAVICON&fallback_opts=TYPE,SIZE,URL&url=https://nousresearch.com&size=256
OpenRouter compares different companies' models based on routing modes and metrics like price, speed, accuracy, and performance. It provides a ranking system to help users choose the best model for their needs.

A simple fix for LLM tail latency

https://engineering.myhoai.com/posts/a-simple-fix-for-llm-tail-latency/index.png
To improve real-time LLM performance, consider sending each request twice to take the faster response. This approach can significantly reduce 10-second silences in phone calls by making it unlikely both copies are slow on the same turn.

A particle made of force: physicists say they've found mysterious 'glueball'

https://media.nature.com/lw767/magazine-assets/d41586-026-02498-1/d41586-026-02498-1_53111270.jpg
Physicists in China have observed evidence of a mysterious particle called a glueball, made entirely of force-carrying particles. The discovery provides direct evidence that gluons can interact with themselves and improves understanding of mass origin.

Ask HN: Alternatives to GitHub

Github's downtime has raised concerns about switching to alternatives like DSCI, Gitea, or Codeberg for version control and CI/CD. These options offer similar features with more flexibility in programming languages and a community-driven approach.

Colorado River plummets as lakes Powell and Mead drop to record lows

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An update on leaving Gmail for Fastmail

https://moddedbear.com/images/share.png
The author has been using Fastmail since leaving Gmail and is happy with the switch, citing its value and organization features. They've found that subdomain addressing helps keep their inbox organized without needing to create rules.

Qwen3.8 27B scores 52 on Artificial Analysis

https://artificialanalysis.ai/models/qwen3-8-27b/opengraph-image
The Qwen3.8 27B model is a high-intelligence open-weight model that supports text and image input, generating text output with a context window of 260k tokens. It scores well on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, indicating its strong reasoning and knowledge capabilities.

scScript for Linux

https://scapplications.com/images/sign1.svg
scScript is a C-like scripting language that compiles to efficient bytecode and runs in a fast virtual machine. It integrates with scEmacs, is written in C, and runs on 64-bit Linux with easy customization and portability.

The oldest bar in every state

https://i.insider.com/627ac64bdd983300191c7eda?width=700
The oldest bar in the US is a matter of debate, with various establishments claiming to be the oldest. The Griswold Inn in Connecticut (1776) and The Pirate's House in Georgia (1753) are among those that have been operating for centuries.

How to put 170 atoms in an atom

https://i0.wp.com/signoregalilei.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Rydberg_Polaron_schematic.svg_.png?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1
Scientists created a "Rydberg polaron" by exciting an electron in a strontium atom, allowing up to 170 more atoms to fit inside. This unusual molecule has no practical use yet but teaches us about quantum mechanics and atomic behavior.

We Are Forking dotenvy into dotenv-ng

https://secretspec.dev/social-card.png
We released dotenv-ng 1.0, a modern Rust implementation for loading and rendering .env files, after identifying issues in the original dotenv crate. The new version adds features like literal dollar signs by default and improved parsing of complex values.

Some Virtues of Narrative Poetry