Koralm Railway
The article discusses the construction of the Koralm Railway, a major infrastructure project in Austria that is part of the Southern Railway Line connecting Vienna and Villach. The Koralm Railway aims to improve transportation links and reduce travel times between the two cities.
The Tor Project is switching to Rust
The article discusses the ongoing effort to rewrite the Tor anonymity network in the Rust programming language, aiming to improve performance and security. It outlines the progress made and the potential benefits of the Rust-based Tor implementation.
Journalism students expose Russian-linked vessels off the Dutch and German coast
The article explores the use of drones in archaeology, highlighting their potential in mapping and surveying archaeological sites. It discusses the applications of drones in various archaeological projects and the challenges associated with their use, such as regulatory and ethical concerns.
Why isn't online age verification just like showing your ID in person?
The article discusses the challenges and privacy concerns associated with implementing online age verification systems, arguing that they are not as simple as showing a physical ID in person and highlighting the need for more privacy-preserving solutions.
Show HN: Epstein's emails reconstructed in a message-style UI (OCR and LLMs)
This project reconstructs the Epstein email records from the recent U.S. House Oversight Committee releases using only public-domain documents (23,124 image files + 2,800 OCR text files).
Most email pages contain only one real message, buried under layers of repeated headers/footers. I wanted to rebuild the conversations without all the surrounding noise.
I used an OCR + vision-LLM pipeline to extract individual messages from the email screenshots, normalize senders/recipients, rebuild timestamps, detect duplicates, and map threads. The output is a structured SQLite database that runs client-side via SQL.js (WebAssembly).
The repository includes the full extraction pipeline, data cleaning scripts, schema, limitations, and implementation notes. The interface is a lightweight PWA that displays the reconstructed messages in a phone-style UI, with links back to every original source image for verification.
Live demo: https://epsteinsphone.org
All source data is from the official public releases; no leaks or private material.
Happy to answer questions about the pipeline, LLM extraction, threading logic, or the PWA implementation.
Show HN: Jottings; Anti-social microblog for your thoughts
I built Jottings because I was tired of my own thoughts getting trapped inside algorithmic feeds where I had to perform. There was a huge mental load before posting something on X or Instagram.
Every time I wanted to share something small or unfinished, I opened Twitter and lost 20 minutes to the timeline. Writing a blog post felt too heavy for those smaller, quick thoughts. I just wanted a place to write something down quickly and hit publish.
Jottings is that place. It gives you a clean microblog on a domain you own. Posts show up in simple chronological order. No likes. No followers. No feed trying to decide what matters.
What Jottings is - A microblogging platform that builds fully static microblog sites - A free subdomain (you.jottings.me) or connect your own domain on PRO plans - Markdown, tags, RSS feed, links with preview, and image uploads - An optional AI writing helper when you are stuck or lazy to fix grammar - Optimized for SEO and AI search friendly - Analytics for your sites
What it is not - Not a social network - Not an engagement funnel - Not trying to keep you on the site - Not a replacement for long-form blogging, though you can use it that way
How it works Each Jot publish triggers a static site rebuild. The site is stored in Cloudflare R2 and served directly at the edge. Custom domains go through Cloudflare SSL for SaaS. I built it to be boring, reliable (barring Cloudflare's latest issues), and cheap to run.
Pricing Free tier for a subdomain, text posts, and a lot more. USD5 per month for custom domains, images, full Markdown, and the writing helper. I priced it to be an easy yes.
Limitations - No comments (on purpose) - No native apps yet (iOS is coming) - The writing helper is helpful but not magic - I am a solo founder, so features move at human speed
I use Jottings regularly to document what I build. It has been the lowest-friction way I have found to publish anything publicly.
Demo of Jottings site for product updates: https://jottings.jottings.me/ Demo of my personal Jottings site: https://jottings.vishalvshekkar.com (with custom subdomain)
I would love feedback from this community. What would make this better or more useful for you?
Check it out here: https://jottings.me (2 min set up) Feel free to write to me at vishal@vishalvshekkar.com
— Vishal
How to break free from smart TV ads and tracking
The article provides a comprehensive guide to 'dumb TVs', which are basic, no-frills television sets without smart features. It discusses the benefits of dumb TVs, such as simplicity, lower cost, and longer lifespan, as well as the drawbacks and considerations for those seeking a minimalist television experience.
Censorship in Western Academia and the War in Ukraine
The article discusses the issue of censorship in Western academia, particularly in relation to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. It examines how certain perspectives and narratives surrounding the war are being suppressed or marginalized within academic and intellectual circles.
A Chinese whistleblower living in the US is being hunted by Beijing with US tech
The article discusses a former China-based tech executive who has become a whistleblower, exposing the widespread use of surveillance technology by the Chinese government and tech companies, including its potential use to target minorities and dissidents.
Native ads coming soon to Stack Overflow and Stack Exchange
Stack Overflow and Stack Exchange are introducing native ads, which are ads that blend in with the rest of the website content. This change aims to provide a more seamless advertising experience for users while generating revenue to support the platforms.
Humans were making fire 400k years ago, earlier than thought
Archaeologists in the UK have discovered evidence that Neanderthals used fire to cook food and transform raw materials, providing new insights into their technological capabilities and daily lives.
Show HN: Base UI v1.0 Unstyled UI Components from the Creators of Radix and MUI
After two years of development (and endless bikeshedding), we’ve finally pushed Base UI v1 out the door.
Base UI is an unstyled UI library for building accessible component libraries and user interfaces with React. 35 accessible, configurable, composable, customizable components with a focus on a11y.
Base UI is already in production at startups like Paper, Zed, and Unsplash, and being trialled by larger companies like GitHub and Vercel. There is a growing community of open-source libs built on top of it, such as Coss UI, Basecn, 9UI, and Pure UI.
Since Base UI doesn’t bundle any styles, it plays nice with Tailwind, CSS Modules, CSS-in-JS, plain CSS, or whatever styling solution you prefer. It also works with JavaScript animation libraries like Motion, or just plain CSS transitions.
The project is backed by MUI (who are profitable and UI-focused), and maintained by a full-time team of 7 engineers, designers, and managers.
https://base-ui.com
Senator endorses discredited book that claims chemical treats autism, cancer
The article examines U.S. Senator Ron Johnson's promotion of chlorine dioxide as a COVID-19 treatment, despite the lack of scientific evidence supporting its effectiveness and concerns about its safety. It explores Johnson's relationship with physician Pierre Kory, a proponent of the controversial treatment.
Reddit launches high court challenge to Australia's under-16s social media ban
Reddit has launched a high court challenge against a new Australian law that would ban under-16s from using social media without parental consent. The law aims to protect young people's privacy and wellbeing, but Reddit argues it infringes on free speech and access to information.
Cursor's new visual editor: Right idea, wrong implementation
The article discusses the implementation of a new visual cursor editor in the Nordcraft game, highlighting its potential benefits but also criticizing certain aspects of the execution that could be improved to better serve the needs of the game's community.
The Quiet Scandal of Affirmative Action for Men
The article argues that affirmative action policies designed to increase gender diversity in higher education should no longer favor men, as women now outperform men academically and are underrepresented in university enrollment. It suggests that ending this preferential treatment for men could help address the growing gender imbalance in college admissions.
Disney accuses Google of 'massive' copyright infringement
Disney has sent a cease and desist letter to Google, alleging that the tech giant's AI-powered image generation tool, Bard, is infringing on Disney's copyrights by creating images based on the company's intellectual property without permission.
How to Identify AI-Written Web Fiction
The article discusses techniques for identifying AI-generated web fiction, including analyzing language patterns, character development, and plot coherence. It provides practical tips for spotting the telltale signs of AI-written stories and distinguishing them from human-authored works.
The Resonant Computing Manifesto
Resonant Computing explores the frontiers of quantum computing, exploring topics like quantum algorithms, hardware, and the societal implications of this emerging technology. The site provides educational resources and insights into the latest developments in this rapidly evolving field.
Suneung: South Korea exam chief quits over 'insane' English test
The article discusses the increasing popularity of vertical farming, a method of growing crops indoors in vertically stacked layers. This innovative approach aims to address challenges such as limited land availability and environmental concerns, potentially transforming the future of agriculture.