Paper HN

Escape the walled garden and algorithm black boxes with RSS feeds

johnwalker.nl — Table of contentsWhat is RSS or AtomFeed readersFinding feedsMeetups and eventsYouTube and PeerTube channelsPodcastsSocial media and Fediverse accountsNewslettersBlogs and website postsWebsites without a feedDiscovering new contentSearchCuration and recommendationConclusion ESCAPE, 1

TikTok says it is restoring service for U.S. users

nbcnews.com — TikTok said Sunday that it would be restoring service to U.S. users after blocking it the evening before. TIKTOK, 2

All Lisp Indentation Schemes Are Ugly

aartaka.me — Once you get used to Lisp, you stop noticing the parentheses and rely on indentation instead. That's partially why there are several alternative syntaxes based solely on indentation. Like Wisp, or sweet expressions. But then, the question stands: how to indent the code, actually? Especially so—in Lispy syntax. ALL, 3

Please don't force dark mode

iamvishnu.com — Please don’t force dark mode on your users. If dark mode is a characteristic of your brand, please ensure you choose a comfortable contrast ratio for the text. PLEASE, 4

Using your Apple device as an access card in unsupported systems

github.com — Using your Apple device as an access card in unsupported systems USING, 5

Hacking the Yamaha DX9 to Turn It into a DX7 (2023)

ajxs.me — In light of reaching the milestone of releasing Version 1.0 of the DX9/7 firmware, I've made a few updates to this article. The most significant update is the addition is about some interesting leftover data found in the Yamaha DX9 ROM. Also, a big thanks to the amazing Olli Niemitalo for correcting an error in how I was calculating the DX7/9's voice update frequency! HACKING, 6

Ancient Phoenician Shipwreck Recovered, Sank 2.6k Years Ago Off Coast of Spain

smithsonianmag.com — Piece by piece, experts carefully transported the Phoenician vessel to dry land, where it will be studied and preserved ANCIENT, 7

Why is Git Autocorrect too fast for Formula One drivers?

gitbutler.com — Why does Git's autocorrect wait 0.1s before executing a mistyped command? Let's dig in. WHY, 8

The surprising struggle to get a Unix Epoch time from a UTC string in C or C++

berthub.eu — So how hard could it be. As input we have something like Fri, 17 Jan 2025 06:07:07 in UTC, and we’d like to turn this into 1737094027, the notional (but not actual) number of seconds that have passed since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC. SURPRISING, 9

Physicists have shown that an idealized form of magnetism is heatproof

quantamagazine.org — Kristina Armitage/Quanta Magazine PHYSICISTS, 10

Build a tiny CA for your homelab with a Raspberry Pi

smallstep.com — TL;DR In this tutorial, we're going to build a tiny, standalone, online Certificate Authority (CA) that will mint TLS certificates and is secured with a YubiKey. It will be an internal ACME server on our local network (ACME is the same protocol used by Let's Encrypt). The YubiKey will securely store the CA private keys and sign certificates, acting as a cheap alternative to a Hardware Security Module (HSM). We'll also use an open-source True Random Number Generator, called Infinite Noise TRNG, to spice up the Linux entropy pool. TINY, 11

The Fuzzing Book

fuzzingbook.org — Welcome to "The Fuzzing Book"! Software has bugs, and catching bugs can involve lots of effort. This book addresses this problem by automating software testing, specifically by generating tests automatically. Recent years have seen the development of novel techniques that lead to dramatic improvements in test generation and software testing. They now are mature enough to be assembled in a book – even with executable code. FUZZING, 12

Chopstick Sleeves as Emissaries of Japanese Typography and Culture

letterformarchive.org — Designer and educator Angie Wang deciphers a collection of over 500 sleeves recently donated to the Archive. CHOPSTICK, 13

Build a Database in 3000 Lines with 0 Dependencies

build-your-own.org — Complex software like databases, compilers, and browsers are treated like black boxes. You use them every day as a user, but you probably don’t understand them as a programmer, even though they are nothing but code. Why? DATABASE, 14

Forgejo: A self-hosted lightweight software forge

forgejo.org — Forgejo is a self-hosted lightweight software forge. Easy to install and low maintenance, it just does the job. FORGEJO, 15

A generative model for inorganic materials design

nature.com — Nature (2025)Cite this article GENERATIVE, 16

Haskell: A Great Procedural Language

entropicthoughts.com — There are many catchphrases about Haskell. HASKELL, 17

How hard would it be to display the contents of an image file on the screen?

nereid.pl — How hard would it be to display the contents of an image file on the screen? You just load the image pixels somehow, perhaps using a readily available library, and then display those pixels on the screen. Easy, right? Well, not quite, as it turns out. HARD, 18

GitHub introduces sub-issues, issue types and advanced search

github.blog — Following our opt-in preview last year, we are excited to release sub-issues, issue types and advanced search for issues to everyone! 🎉 GITHUB, 19

Robotics and ROS 2 Essentials

henkirobotics.com — Have you been looking for a good place to start your robotics and ROS 2 learning journey? Look no further! ROBOTICS, 20

The Derelict (2015)

Making glow-in-the-dark Strontium Aluminate

maurycyz.com — Important disclaimer: Several of the reagents used here are very corrosive and can produce toxic gasses. If you try to repeat this, at the very least please wear eye protection — no project is worth permanent blindness. GLOW-IN-THE-DARK, 22

“The Traitors”, a reality TV show, offers a useful economics lesson

economist.com — Claudia Winkleman, a television presenter with a helmet of shiny hair, is not a typical economics teacher. Yet students should consider her game show. Those learning outside Britain may opt for any of the 20 or so versions of “The Traitors” screened elsewhere, including a popular American option that has featured celebrities such as Deontay Wilder, a boxing great, and John Bercow, a disgraced British parliamentarian. The game, which involves lying and betrayal, is a chance to study both the theory and reality of game theory, as well as to watch the panic on the face of someone who, having decided a fake Welsh accent would make them more trustworthy, comes across a native Welsh speaker. TRAITORS, 23