Amazon, Google Unwittingly Reveal the Severity of the U.S. Surveillance State
The article examines how Amazon's Ring and Google's Nest home security devices can be used by law enforcement agencies to expand their surveillance capabilities, raising concerns about privacy and civil liberties. It highlights the potential risks of these technologies and the need for greater public awareness and regulatory oversight.
EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear
The European Union is implementing new rules to prevent the destruction of unsold clothes and shoes by 2026. The regulations aim to promote sustainable practices in the fashion industry and reduce textile waste.
LT6502: A 6502-based homebrew laptop
The article describes the LT6502, a low-power, high-performance microcontroller designed for embedded applications. It highlights the chip's key features, including its low power consumption, high processing speed, and extensive peripheral support.
Palantir Gets Millions of Dollars from New York City's Public Hospitals
Palantir, a data analytics company, has secured a contract with New York City's public hospital system, raising concerns about privacy and data usage. The article explores the potential implications of this partnership and the ongoing debate surrounding Palantir's involvement in government projects.
Two different tricks for fast LLM inference
The article discusses techniques for fast inference with large language models (LLMs), such as using quantization, distillation, and sparsity to reduce model size and inference time without significantly impacting performance.
Palantir vs. the "Republik": US analytics firm takes magazine to court
The article discusses a legal dispute between the data analytics firm Palantir and the German magazine Republik. Palantir is taking legal action against Republik for publishing an article critical of the company's business practices and alleged involvement in human rights abuses.
Gwtar: A static efficient single-file HTML format
The article discusses the author's experience using a GPT-3-based tool called GPT-Wiener to generate long-form content, highlighting its capabilities in creating coherent and substantive text on a wide range of topics.
Reversed engineered game Starflight (1986)
This article discusses the reverse engineering of the classic video game Star Flight, providing insights into the game's technical details and development process through the analysis of its source code.
Editor's Note: Retraction of article containing fabricated quotations
Ars Technica published an article containing fabricated quotations and has retracted it. The editors have issued a note addressing the issue, taking responsibility and outlining the steps taken to address the situation.
AI is going to kill app subscriptions
The article examines the potential impact of AI on app subscriptions, suggesting that AI-powered features could reduce the need for subscription-based models and lead to more free or one-time purchase apps. It explores how AI advancements may disrupt the current app monetization landscape.
An Enslaved Gardener Transformed the Pecan into a Cash Crop
The article explores the story of an enslaved African American gardener named Antoine who played a crucial role in transforming the pecan into a valuable cash crop in the southern United States during the 19th century, despite the systemic oppression he faced.
1940s Irish sci-fi novel features early mecha and gravity assists
Manannan is an open-source web framework for building modern, scalable, and secure web applications. It provides a modular and flexible architecture that allows developers to easily create and deploy complex web applications with minimal boilerplate.
Show HN: VOOG – Moog-style polyphonic synthesizer in Python with tkinter GUI
Body: I built a polyphonic synthesizer in Python with a tkinter GUI styled after the Moog Subsequent 37.
Features: 3 oscillators, Moog ladder filter (24dB/oct), dual ADSR envelopes, LFO, glide, noise generator, 4 multitimbral channels, 19 presets, rotary
knob GUI, virtual keyboard with mouse + QWERTY input, and MIDI support.
No external GUI frameworks — just tkinter, numpy, and sounddevice.
Show HN: Perlin Noise Terminal Animation in Rust (60 FPS, Truecolor)
The article describes a tool called Perlin Terminal that generates animated Perlin noise patterns and displays them in a command-line interface. The tool allows users to customize the noise patterns and save them as video files.
The Dark Side of the Enlightenment
The article explores the darker aspects of the Enlightenment era, such as the rise of scientific racism and the use of Enlightenment ideals to justify colonialism and slavery, highlighting the complex legacy of this period in history.
Modern CSS Code Snippets: Stop writing CSS like it's 2015
The article discusses the evolution of CSS and explores the latest advancements in modern CSS, including new features, techniques, and best practices for creating responsive and visually appealing web designs.
Wall Street could seize your retirement savings in the next financial crash
The article warns that in the event of a financial crash, Wall Street firms could seize a portion of people's retirement savings, as current laws allow this practice in certain situations. The author argues that this poses a significant risk to Americans' financial security and calls for reforms to protect retirement accounts.
AI safety staff departures raise worries about pursuit of profit at all costs
The article discusses concerns about the AI industry's pursuit of profit at the expense of safety, as evidenced by recent high-profile staff departures from AI companies. It suggests that these departures raise worries about the industry's commitment to responsible development and ethical practices.
Show HN: Clawlet – AI agent with built-in semantic memory, one binary
Clawlet is a personal AI agent that ships as a single, self-contained binary. No runtime, no package manager, no external database.
The main thing that sets it apart: built-in hybrid semantic memory search (vector similarity + full-text) using a bundled SQLite with vector extensions. The index is just a local .sqlite file — no separate vector DB to run. Drop the binary on any machine and memory search just works.
GitHub: https://github.com/mosaxiv/clawlet
Western Digital sells out 2026 HDD capacity as AI demand pushes prices higher
Western Digital has sold out its HDD capacity for 2026 due to increasing demand from the AI industry, which is driving prices higher. The article discusses the supply and demand issues in the HDD market and the impact of AI on storage requirements.