2026/02/01
Article:
The article discusses how to prevent malware infections and suggests running antivirus scans on personal devices or asking network administrators to check corporate networks for misconfigured or infected devices.
Discussion (257): 54 min
The comment thread discusses various alternatives to Tailscale for network connectivity, focusing on self-hosted solutions and zero trust networking. Users share opinions on the pros and cons of different services, with a general sentiment leaning towards neutral. Key themes include the importance of sovereignty considerations, the desire for open-source alternatives, and the need for efficient and secure network management.
Article: 11 min
The article recounts a personal experience of the author teaching their neighbor to keep the TV volume down by exploiting interference between two remote controls with similar frequencies. The story highlights the use of an RF (radio frequency) remote control and its potential for causing unintended consequences in shared living spaces.
Discussion (315): 1 hr 20 min
The comment thread discusses various issues related to living in apartment complexes or shared spaces, including noise disturbance from neighbors, lack of consideration for others' privacy, and the impact of activities like smoking on non-smokers. It also touches on technological solutions such as TV-B-Gone devices to mitigate these issues.
Article: 17 min
The article discusses the process of defeating a 40-year-old copy protection dongle used for an older accounting software package. The author, involved in helping a friend's accounting firm transition from using legacy software, discovered that running this software requires a hardware dongle attached to the computer’s parallel port. After examining the disk image and disassembling the executables with Reko, the author found clues suggesting the copy-protection routine communicates over the parallel port. The routine was eventually patched by brute force, allowing the software to run without the physical dongle.
Discussion (141): 39 min
The comment thread discusses various aspects of software copy protection mechanisms from the past, particularly focusing on hardware-based solutions like dongles. Opinions vary on their effectiveness and the impact they had on both users and developers. The conversation also touches upon the evolution of technology, business models, and legal implications related to cracking copy protections.
Article: 1 hr 10 min
The article discusses the author's experience in building a custom opinionated and minimal coding agent, detailing its components, design philosophy, and features compared to existing tools like Claude Code, Codex, Amp, Droid, and opencode.
Discussion (162): 46 min
The comment thread discusses various opinions on minimalist design and security concerns in agent-based tooling, with a focus on context management and AI model integration. There is agreement on the benefits of minimalism but debate over its practicality, while security discussions highlight varying perspectives on sandboxing and credentials management.
Article: 12 min
NanoClaw is a lightweight personal assistant application that runs securely in Apple containers, offering core functionality with a codebase easy to understand. It provides AI-driven assistance for tasks like message management, scheduling, and web access.
Discussion (112): 30 min
The comment thread discusses a project that serves as a starting point for custom software development using AI tools. Users appreciate its utility but express concerns about security implications of running AI bots locally and the quality of AI-generated content. There is a desire for better documentation to improve understanding, and some users are wary of AI-generated code due to potential inaccuracies or malicious intent.
Article:
This is an interactive game that challenges players to list as many animals with Wikipedia articles as possible within a time limit, with the condition of not having overlapping terms. The game adjusts the time for each animal listed.
Discussion (182): 27 min
The comment thread discusses an interesting game that challenges players to list animals without repetition, using a dataset from Wikidata. Players share strategies and techniques to improve their scores, note inaccuracies in the game's responses, and suggest improvements such as adding features like a leaderboard or showing missed animals for improvement.
Article: 7 min
Adventure Game Studio is an open-source software for creating graphical point-and-click adventure games, offering a platform to create and play games on multiple platforms. It features an active community for support and showcases user-created games.
Discussion (61): 9 min
The comment thread discusses the enduring popularity of Adventure Game Studio (AGS), a game development platform that has been instrumental in fostering software development and nostalgia for classic adventure games. Participants share their experiences with AGS, its impact on indie game development, and compare it to other tools like RPG Maker or Klik & Play. The conversation also touches upon the evolution of game engines, alternative platforms for kids' game creation, and the compatibility issues faced by macOS users.
Article: 16 min
The author discusses their experience with a machine learning model (MLX LLM) on different Apple devices, encountering discrepancies in results between an iPhone 15 Pro and an iPhone 16 Pro Max, which led to the discovery of potential hardware issues.
Discussion (123): 16 min
The comment thread discusses various calculator apps on iOS devices, compares their features, and criticizes Apple's Calculator app. Technical discussions about floating point arithmetic issues in software are also present.
Article: 20 min
The article provides a recap of FOSDEM 2026, an annual open-source conference held in Brussels, focusing on themes such as digital sovereignty, open infrastructure, and Europe's technological future. The event saw a shift towards self-hosted solutions, decentralized networks, and community-driven software, reflecting growing awareness around these topics within the open-source community.
Discussion (145): 40 min
The comment thread discusses various aspects of FOSDEM, including its value as a networking event, concerns over overcrowding, and political polarization within the open-source community. Attendees share opinions on talk quality, conference dynamics, and the evolving nature of FOSDEM's focus.
Article: 8 min
The article is about the introduction of Apple's first low-cost microcomputer system in 1976, which includes a video terminal and 8K bytes of RAM on a single PC card. The system offers advantages over traditional teletype machines, such as faster processing speed, less noise, and more information display capabilities. It also highlights the use of new memory chips that are faster and take up less space and power.
Discussion (127): 31 min
The discussion revolves around historical computing hardware, web development trends, and Apple's evolving business strategies. Opinions are mixed on topics such as the impact of proprietary platforms versus open standards, Apple's decision to discontinue support for older hardware and OS versions, and nostalgia surrounding past technologies.